STEVIE NICKS INFO

Category: Concert Reviews

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac can still bring it

Fleetwood Mac’s On With The Show Tour in Miami

It’s been nearly 38 years since Fleetwood Mac appeared in Miami with Christine McVie, whose smooth vocals and strident keyboards were so essential to the sound of this legendary rock band.

That last Magic City show starring all five members of the group’s classic lineup was at the long-gone Miami Stadium for megahit album Rumours. Now, all these decades later, the quintet is back together and still playing many songs off that 1977 record for its On With the Show tour.

So, needless to say, it was a historic reunion the other night at the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami. And thankfully, for many latecomers, Fleetwood Mac hit the stage on Miami time, around 25 minutes past 8 p.m., though thousands were still scrambling to their seats after the band kicked off the show with “The Chain.”

Christine McVie, once retired from the band is back. (Timothy Norris / Miami New Times)

On paper, the song — which equally features the band’s trio of singers: McVie, Stevie Nicks, and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham — was a great choice. Though the voices of McVie and Buckingham have clearly been roughened by time, Nicks’ raspy vocals have only improved with age. But the most egregious problem with the opener came from the its steady, deliberate beat, through no fault of drummer Mick Fleetwood. It was potently played, but an annoying echo bounced down from the upper level of the arena following each lick of the drum kit.

Much of Fleetwood Mac’s charm is its knack for creating an enveloping sense of intimacy. And though it’s unrealistic to expect this hit machine to play a small theater with proper acoustics, that would be the ideal setting for a band mostly defined by smooth, dreamy songs featuring distinctive voices. But if there is one thing that can fill an arena besides hits, it is charisma, and this band has that to spare.

After “The Chain,” Nicks played up McVie’s return to the Fleetwood Mac fold, which, after her departure in 1998, was something hardly anyone expected to see again. She noted the Miami show marked their 67th performance with McVie since she decided to rejoin the group last year. “I feel there are all kinds of things she could say, but I won’t go into that,” said Nicks in a clear reference to the band members’ tumultuous relationship. Later, McVie said, “On a personal note I’d like to thank John [McVie, her former husband and the band’s bassist], Mick, Stevie, and Lindsey for letting me do this again.”

Throughout the show, one of the most interesting things was how the band members played with their history and the personal stories that inspired the songs. “I think it’s fair to say we are a group of individuals and a band that’s seen its ups and downs,” Buckingham offered later that night. “We have been able to evolve but also prevail in the good and bad times.”

Though supplemented by a trio of backing singers, as well as an extra keyboardist and guitarist, the band’s most compelling numbers of the night came about when Buckingham picked up an acoustic guitar. Alone on stage, he again brought up Fleetwood Mac’s history before playing a spare yet energetic version of “Big Love.”

“We lived our lives the way we thought we were supposed to,” he said before noting the significance of the single off the group’s 1987 album, Tango In the Night, which was Buckingham’s last album with Fleetwood Mac before he “took leave.” He mentioned that the lyrics of the song have evolved in meaning for him over the years. “It began as a contemplation on alienation, but it became about the power and importance of change,” he said.

He then broke into a spirited version of the song, lashing at the nylon strings of the acoustic in his distinctive style of flicking downward on the instrument. Stripping “Big Love” of all of its embellishments, he was able to highlight the lyrics and even enhance the song’s energy. This was the first of a trio of acoustic songs that would be the evening’s highlights. After the song, Buckingham got the night’s second standing ovation. (The first was for a spirited version of the 1979 single “Tusk,” with the marching band part coming from a backing track enhanced by a giant screen projecting images of the ‘70s-era marching band.)

Then Nicks, who was Buckingham’s girlfriend when he joined the group, came out for the next song. She was one of the night’s chattiest members. “This song is my dad’s favorite song, and he said he thought I wrote it about it him,” she offered. “I didn’t, but I wanted to mention that because it brings him closer.” After three other dedications, she offered the song’s title: “This song is called ‘Landslide,’” and Buckingham played that familiar, sad, rambling guitar line. It was a beautiful moment capped off with the couple holding each other’s hands to another standing ovation.

“Every place that that’s been played there has been snow,” Nicks said, whose emphasis on “snoooow” in the lyrics got nary a notice from the Miami crowd. “Real snow. Not here.”

Indeed, Miami could have responded to the band with more enthusiasm. There was an almost collective zoning out during a pair of extended songs — “Gold Dust Woman” and “I’m So Afraid” — featuring indulgent but potent solos. Of course, they were a pair of challenging, slow-burning deep cuts from the earliest years of this lineup that appeared toward the end of a nearly two-hour set. So sleepy fans can be forgiven, and it was a relief to some when the band delivered an enthusiastic “Go Your Own Way” afterward.

Fleetwood Mac perform in Miami (Timothy Norris / Miami New Times)

Buckingham, who gave the most energy that night, sometimes letting out primal roars instead of words, played an epic guitar solo and even bent over to the front row, allowing fingers to reach up from the pit to play on his fretboard at the hit single’s conclusion.

Even Mick Fleetwood had his own moment to interact with the crowd from his epic kit, which featured an impressive array of cymbals, two of the longest rows of chimes you will ever see, and a giant gong. During the night’s encore, which kicked off with “World Turning,” the rest of the group wandered off as Fleetwood pounded through a lengthy solo and inspired a call-and-response with the crowd. “Goodness gracious me,” said the drummer. “One thing is for sure, much fun was had by all tonight.” Then the full band came back to play a rollicking version of “Don’t Stop.”

It had already been a long, lovely evening, and though many in the audience began trickling out to beat traffic as Fleetwood Mac played a perky version of “Don’t Stop,” Fleetwood Mac was not done. The five reunited members offered a wonderful version of “Silver Springs” to end the night. It’s rare for a band that began in the late ‘60s and had high points in both the ‘70s and ‘80s to be able to draw an arena-size crowd so many years later.

Fleetwood Mac can still bring it. It was a mythic, historical moment this past Saturday night. And who knows if Miami will ever get one like it again.

Critic’s Notebook

Fleetwood Mac’s Setlist
-“The Chain”
-“You Make Loving Fun”
-“Dreams”
-“Second Hand News”
-“Rhiannon”
-“Everywhere”
-“I Know I’m Not Wrong”
-“Tusk”
-“Sisters of the Moon”
-“Say You Love Me”
-“Big Love” (Acoustic)
-“Landslide” (Acoustic)
-“Never Going Back Again” (Acoustic)
-“Over My Head”
-“Gypsy”
-“Little Lies”
-“Gold Dust Woman”
-“I’m So Afraid”
-“Go Your Own Way”

Encore
-“World Turning” (Featuring Mick Fleetwood drum solo)
-“Don’t Stop”
-“Silver Springs”

Hans Morgenstern / Miami New Times / Monday, March 23, 2015

March 23, 2015
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac offers smorgasbord of nostalgia

Fleetwood Mac performs classic hits at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
[slideshow_deploy id=’58561′]
Photos by Jamie Hernandez

If Fleetwood Mac wanted to phone in last night’s show at the Bridgestone Arena, they totally could have. The crowd — predictably mostly middle-aged, mostly white — was the kind of crowd that would dance to anything. Before the band even took the stage, folks around us grooved to the anonymous instrumental house music, a sure sign that these people are ready to boogie to whatever is put in front of them. But Fleetwood Mac obviously has no interest in just getting through. This is a band that has persevered through decades of adversity; this is not a band who takes shortcuts.

From opening number “The Chain,” Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and, back after a 16-year absence, Christine McVie all flawlessly and seemingly effortlessly delivered the goods as though they were holding their proverbial middle fingers in the air and defying any onlooker to even contemplate uttering the phrase, “They still rock … for a bunch of old folks.”

But it wasn’t just a collection of well-performed hits, played as though they were trapped in an unforgiving casino circuit driven by fans who can’t let go of the past. As a full band, Fleetwood Mac is incredible, yes, but they’re also such iconic musicians in their own right, and the remarkable thing about Wednesday night’s performance was that everyone had his or her own moment to shine, with obvious respect and support from their bandmates.

With Christine McVie back, the set list had a liberal sprinkling of Mac’s more yacht-rock-friendly tunes — “Everywhere,” “You Make Loving Fun,” “Say You Love Me” — all with gentle, warm imagery of trees and sunsets glowing behind the band. McVie claimed to be nervous, but she performed like she had never been gone, her voice sounding as strong and capable as her bandmates’, who’ve all had over a decade-and-a-half to keep their talents sharp.

Buckingham had plenty of opportunities to show off his jaw-dropping shred skills on songs like “Second Hand News” and the stellar minutes-long guitar solo during “I’m So Afraid,” of course, but the moment that felt truly special was right before he played “Big Love” — standing on the stage alone, he got all VH1 Storytellers on us, offering a long and humble explanation of how this song was written during an unhealthy time in his life (he didn’t overtly say drugs, but he basically blamed drugs), and while it could be a hard tune to play today, he noted that the song has taken on a new form. A form in which he’s able to look back and appreciate how far he’s come as a human being, now capable of healthy relationships.

Another charming moment came immediately after, when Stevie joined Lindsey onstage to perform “Landslide.” She admitted that her future could’ve been a lot different if it weren’t for Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey and “Landslide,” the band’s first hit and a song she’s performed “3 million times.” She said because her and Lindsey had another more country-inclined music project, she could’ve just as easily ended up in Nashville, married with babies and living a life so unlike the one she has and loves now. She dedicated the song to Lindsey and a friend’s newborn baby, of whom she’s the “fairy godmother.” And yes, a few happy tears rolled down The Spin’s cheek.

(As for John McVie, well, he played bass. In the shadows. While wearing a hat. Maybe the band is still mad at him or something.)

After a brief traipse down each individual path, the band would come back together, performing all-hands-on-deck hits like “Tusk” and “Go Your Own Way” with a herculean effort. Then the encore came. And it was Mick’s turn to shine. After playing two-thirds of “World Turning,” the band stepped off the stage and hid in the shadows as Mick obviously delighted in finally being the center of attention. It started innocently enough: a drum solo from behind the unnecessarily (but understandably) massive drum kit that included a gong. But as the crowd started to groove, Mick got weird. He squeezed his eyes closed and started to grunt into his headset mic, popping his eyes open from time to time, as wide as possible, like one of those bug-eyed stress dolls. “Don’t be shy now,” he said before inviting the tens of thousands of fans to partake in his goofy call-and-response of hoots and hollers. The longer it went on, the delightfully weirder it got, like he was testing the crowd’s ability (and willingness) to make random, high-pitched howls.

The giant screen behind Fleetwood, which featured only close-up shots of his face, started to do cheesy video effects — the image of him shrinking down and shooting around the screen like a game of pong — and it felt like we suddenly stumbled upon a random guy’s 2 a.m. public-access show.

After one last song, “Silver Springs,” the band all took a bow and verbally gushed with gratefulness. Stevie, once again, giddily thanked Christine for rejoining the band and bringing back the “girl power,” and instead of leaving it on that wonderful note, Mick popped onto the stage, thanked the fans, and popped his collapsible red top hat against his crotch and waved goodbye. Stay weird, dude.

The Spin / Nashville Scene / Thursday, March 19, 2015

March 19, 2015
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac enthusiastically together again

Fleetwood Mac, back intact after 16 years, perform at the Greensboro Coliseum on St. Patrick’s Day, Tuesday, March 17, 2015.
[slideshow_deploy id=’58386′] Photos by Joseph Rodriguez / News & Record

Stevie Nicks moved to the side of the stage to pound her tassled tambourine at the Greensboro Coliseum on Tuesday night while the other members of Fleetwood Mac wailed on “Go Your Own Way.” As she walked behind Christine McVie, Nicks gave her a gentle pat on the back.

It was a fleeting, seemingly offhand gesture, but it summed up the way the band members appear to feel about each other 40 years after this version of the group first coalesced. Christine McVie, who first joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970, returned last year after a 16-year absence. The rest of the group seemed delighted to have her back.

Drummer Mick Fleetwood is one of the band’s founding members along with bass player John McVie, the two giving name to what was originally a British blues band in 1967. During extended introductions in the encore Tuesday night, Fleetwood hailed Christine’s return “making this all so very complete.”

She was in fine voice throughout the show, her creamy alto restoring several classics to the band’s set, including “You Make Loving Fun,” “Dreams,” “Say You Love Me” and “Over My Head.”

Nicks and songwriter-singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham joined the band as a unit slightly more than 40 years ago, adding a California pop-rock sensibility that catapulted Fleetwood Mac to stardom — and a notorious, soap opera-style descent into substance abuse, love affairs and acrimony.

In 2015, the band’s set list is still dominated by its two smash-hit albums of the mid 1970s, Fleetwood Mac and Rumours.

The group’s runaway popularity and rock star excesses may have helped inspire the punk rock explosion of that era, but decades later, their own music still has the power to surprise with its burning intensity. That energy came through Tuesday night in multiple songs, particularly “ Rhiannon ,” “Tusk,” “Never Going Back Again” and “Go Your Own Way.”

About 14,000 people attended the 21-song, 2 1/2 -hour concert. Enthusiastic young fans were sprinkled throughout the largely AARP-eligible crowd. The show opened with a ferocious version of “The Chain,” with Christine McVie adding gorgeous harmonies to Buckingham’s lead vocals.

Though the first instrumental solo of the night came from John McVie’s bass, oddly enough, Buckingham quickly reminded the crowd that he started out as something of a proto-Eddie Van Halen. His nimble solo on “The Chain” was fast and fierce, and his undiminished enthusiasm for his art came through in every song. Buckingham’s solo on “Big Love” alluded to classical and flamenco guitar styles.

Nicks told an endearing story to introduce the 1982 hit “Gypsy,” about a 1968 trip to a store in San Francisco where Janis Joplin and Grace Slick bought their clothes. She said her visit gave her a premonition of the stardom awaiting her: “I walked out of that store a different girl.”

She achieved that stardom with a marvelous rock ’n’ roll bleat, a voice that somehow ends up beautiful despite sounding like a cross between Laura Nyro and a goat. She has lost some of her range through the years but still pulled off “Rhiannon,” “Sisters of the Moon,” “Gold Dust Woman” and one of the most beautiful songs in the English language, “Landslide.”

Nicks and Buckingham did that last one as a duet. Band members came and went throughout the concert, the core quintet supplemented by a couple of multi-instrumental utility players and three backing vocalists. Buckingham never left the stage until Fleetwood’s drum solo toward the end.

Fleetwood wore vibrant red shoes, knickers and dangling (ahem) accessories, his entire getup an homage to the outfit he wore on the cover of Rumours. He dropped the drum solo into the frenetic funk of “World Turning,” played during the encore.

Using a headset microphone, he egged the audience on throughout his solo — which was long enough to give the rest of the musicians a breather. Though I would be happy never to hear a drum solo again, I must say that hearing one narrated by a consummate showman like Fleetwood was a refreshing change of pace.

The show ended with the inevitable “Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow),” one of the big Rumours hits and a song that had a second run in the spotlight as the theme for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.

In a concert dominated by the songs of yesterday, the optimism of the closing number suited a show defined by the band’s enthusiasm for restoration of its classic lineup.

Contact Eddie Huffman at hu***********@***il.com, and follow @eddiehuffman on Twitter.

Eddie Huffman/ News & Record / Thursday, March 19, 2015

March 19, 2015
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac returns whole again

After 17 years, Fleetwood Mac returns whole again with Christine McVie

It’s been less than two years since Fleetwood Mac played Time Warner Cable Arena, but the return of the legendary group’s seminal lineup Saturday marked a special occasion. Although it was, as Stevie Nicks noted early on, the band’s 62nd show with Christine McVie since reuniting for the On With the Show Tour in September, it was McVie’s first Charlotte show since leaving the band in 1998.

The warm response she and Mac received as Lindsey Buckingham hit the first note of “The Chain” was electric. The crowd roared with excitement, and I wondered how McVie could have walked away from such adulation presumably forever – Nicks has stated she thought McVie would never return to the band.

Good thing she did. Fleetwood Mac was whole again able to perform McVie-showcasing tunes like “You Make Loving Fun,” “Everywhere,” “Say You Love Me,” and “Over My Head,” McVie, whose voice has remained intact, made the addition of songs like “Little Lies” possible, filled out “Don’t Stop,” and beefed up harmonies elsewhere.

Nicks seemed in stronger voice Saturday than in 2013. She hasn’t bothered to reach for the high notes on “Dreams” and “Rhiannon” for years, but she was in fine form on “Seven Wonders.” She thanked “American Horror Story: Coven” for bringing back (Nicks sang it on the show) the song. She also soared on “Gypsy” and “Landslide.” She dedicated the latter to the people that marched from Selma on the historical march’s 50th anniversary and talked about the impact of that moment. She and Buckingham were 15 and 16 years old. She later shared a story of how they met and their first band while introducing “Gypsy.”
[slideshow_deploy id=’54765′]
While the entire band seemed reinvigorated with the always subdued John McVie’s bass lines punching up the backbeat, Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood remained the band’s fire. Buckingham, who stole the 2013 show, was again a tireless showman who seemed to revel in the spotlight, bouncing his guitar against his knee, hopping on one leg, and goofing with fans in front of him. He of course demonstrated his six string dexterity on “Big Love” and “Never Going Back Again.”

Fleetwood’s atypical drum solo, which occurred midway through the encore’s “World Turning,” found him verbally rallying the crowd while taking in their feedback with eyes closed before the solo escalated against a loop of his verbal antics.

Although known best as a mainstream pop-rock band, “Tusk,” “Gold Dust Woman” and “I’m So Afraid” allowed Mac to stretch into psychedelic jam territory with Nicks bucking wildly across the stage in her platforms during “Gold Dust’s” extended jam.

Of course with a collective career – not to mention individual ones – that extend over 40 years, there were omissions. The woman shouting “Hold Me’s” request was unmet. Gone were Nicks and Buckingham’s solo hits. Instead the focus was on Fleetwood Mac’s history from the first album the lineup made together in 1975 to its 1997 hit “Silver Springs” (which Nicks had originally written for Rumours).

The aging pop group (from McVie, who looks incredible for 71 to Buckingham, the baby of the band at 65) relied on the support of two backing musicians, Neale Heywood and Brett Tuggle and three vocalists, including Lori Nicks and Sharon Celani who have been with Nicks since her first solo album.

If it turns out that Fleetwood Mac decides it’s never going back (on tour) again after this, it will have left fans satisfied. But the members seem to be enjoying it and each other so much I doubt that will be the case.

Courtney Devores / Charlotte Observer / Sunday, March 8, 2015

March 8, 2015
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac gives Houston extended encore

Stevie Nicks remains in fine shawl even 60 dates into Fleetwood Mac’s reunion tour. (Jack Gorman)

Fleetwood Mac
Toyota Center
March 3, 2015

Tuesday night marked, according to Stevie Nicks, the sixtieth show on this string of dates for Fleetwood Mac. It’s a hell of a run. It’s even the second time they’ve hit Houston’s Toyota Center. How do they maintain the fire? Even 60 shows in, they are just as energetic, just as vital, and just as masterful as ever.

Nicks’ comment was actually in reference to the fact that she had been welcoming back keyboardist and singer Christine McVie after a 16-year hiatus from the band for 60 shows, and that it was a bit redundant at this point. Put simply, she’s back. The same could be said for the entire band.

It’s not just that this is their second appearance in Houston in a matter of months. This, as the band stated repeatedly throughout the show, is a new chapter for them. It’s the return of the band to their place as a relevant, vital entity in the world of pop music.

How about a little love for Lindsey Buckingham on the guitar? (Jack Gorman)

After so many years of being largely dormant, there are finally plans in the works for a new album, and with their renewed influence in the world of pop and indie-rock, it is a new lease on life for their career.

That being said, you would never know it from the brilliant set list, a career-spanning overview of their most famous work from 1975’s Fleetwood Mac to 1987’s Tango In the Night. Just don’t go in hoping for a taste of new material. Fleetwood Mac knows where their bread is buttered, and they leave any murmurings of even their 2013 EP off the table.

This shouldn’t be a problem for most. The fact is that Fleetwood Mac has more fans in their twenties now, myself included, than they’ve probably netted since their late-’70s heyday. Most of us haven’t had a chance to see them before, so it’s well worth our time and money to see them play a greatest hits set like this, especially when a band is this passionate about their hits.

The #blessings of long-lens photography… (Jack Gorman)

After 60 shows you might start to wonder if Lindsey Buckingham gets bored during the extended guitar solo outro of “I’m So Afraid,” or if Stevie Nicks just wants to get yet another performance of “Landslide” over with. Any thoughts like that were immediately quelled last night.

Fleetwood Mac’s members are all over sixty now and have been doing this longer than many of us have been alive, yet Buckingham and Nicks were as animated and fired up as ever. During “I’m So Afraid,” Buckingham was literally leaping up and down during his solo. Rather than dreading having to play this song again, it seems he relishes each and every opportunity to trot it out.

Nicks similarly gave impassioned renditions of songs like “Gypsy” and “Gold Dust Woman.” The songs filled her with the same life as they seemed to so many years ago. Even telling the same story to introduce “Gypsy” night after night, she still seems to find something new in it that drives her.

The “dramatic mood lighting” shot. (Jack Gorman)

Meanwhile, McVie’s return to the band has reopened a whole other world for the band. No longer must they skip over the hits she sang. That meant we were treated to songs like “You Make Loving Fun” and “Little Lies,” massive tracks which Fleetwood Mac had been unfortunately lacking for so long.

It was a triumphant return to those songs for them, as they not only are recapturing the public eye; they are recapturing themselves. For the first time in many years, Voltron is whole again.

Being the consummate professionals they are (as well as brilliantly talented musicians), they put on a show that is almost impossible to find fault with. That they ended out on a downer ballad like “Songbird” instead of the rollicking “Don’t Stop” is a minor quibble. The only fault I could find is in the fact that the Mac played this exact same show, right down to the stories between the songs, in Houston back in December.

For fans who paid to see both, it might be frustrating to see a repeat so soon after the last one. In this case, however, it might be more a matter of “so nice, you had to say it twice.” The flawless show of master musicianship that Fleetwood Mac displays will never get old, even if every show they play for the rest of their lives consists solely of this exact same setlist.

If nothing else, this tour is proof once again that Fleetwood Mac have crafted enough quality music to last them a lifetime. Yet, they are still restless. They are still moving forward; still creating; still forging new chapters. That the book never ends for them is remarkable even to themselves, something they commented on throughout the show.

While that is something that is nothing but a joy to witness for us, perhaps the greatest joy to be found in their show is the love. After all the years, all the breakups, all the divorces, and all the bitter spats played out in their music and the media, Fleetwood Mac are finally whole again and filled with love. It was evident in the performance and in the glances and touches exchanged between the members of the band.

With McVie back in the fold, they are once again the unstoppable force, united for a common goal. And for maybe the first time, they’re enjoying themselves doing it. It’s a joy and a love that spread to all of us in the audience, and that’s the true pleasure of seeing this band perform.

Personal Bias: Inundated with the band since I was a small child, but only relatively recently gave thought to how wonderful the group is as songwriters and musicians.
The Crowd: Lots of older people, of course, but a very decent amount of young fans. More than a few witches.

Overheard in the Crowd: “Lindsey still rocks the skinny jeans. That’s going to be me at 65 too.”

Random Notebook Dump: Like I said, Fleetwood Mac knows where their bread is buttered. Nicks thanked American Horror Story during the show.

Corey Deiterman / Houston Press / Wednesday, March 4, 2015

March 4, 2015
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac proves age is nothing but a number

Brendan Hall

The big news about the current Fleetwood Mac jaunt — dubbed the On With the Show tour — was the return of Christine McVie after her departure in 1998. The recent reconciliation certainly added an element of awe to their Sunday night performance at the Frank Erwin Center, the beloved band’s first appearance on that stage since 1982.

Brendan Hall

Yet, while the songstress shone during her spotlights — particularly on a rousing romp through “Little Lies” and again with the show-ending, stripped-down piano ballad “Songbird” — there were poignant performances by each musician. During the course of the almost 3-hour show, the real headline became clear: 40 years on, the members of this quintet, filled out by bassist John McVie, drummer Mick Fleetwood, vocalist Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, are as essential to each other as they are to the foundations of rock and roll.

Brendan Hall

One only had to soak in the unassailable chemistry of the tracks pulled from this group’s first and second full-lengths together, 1975’s self-titled Fleetwood Mac and 1977’s Rumours, to attest to that fact. Opening track “The Chain” imbued the audience with an instant jolt, while Buckingham’s virtuoso solo run of “Never Going Back Again” inspired equal parts reverent silence and wild cheers throughout its perfectly-picked valleys and peaks, “Over My Head” was still striking in its perfect pop splendor, and Nicks’ bewitching throes during “Gold Dust Woman” supplanted any notions of age with arresting allure.

Brendan Hall

Similar transformations occurred throughout the show, first as Buckingham sashayed and shredded across the stage during “Tusk” with the brashness of a teenage boy, and again during Fleetwood’s extended drum solo on “World Turning” where he was reminiscent of a young punk riling his crowd for one final rally.

Brendan Hall

Those vignettes of eternal youth, signs of a sublime symbiosis between the musicians and their songs, were what made the band’s return to Central Texas so special. Most of the tunes are timeless, and in those moments of pure aural abandon, it felt like Fleetwood Mac’s players could live forever, too.

Brendan Hall

Brendan Hall

David Hall / Austin Culture Map / Tuesday, March 3, 2015

March 3, 2015
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac bewitches Frank Erwin Center

A triumphant return for the Fab Five

If ever an arena rock band made a convincing case for its own unplugged club tour, it was Fleetwood Mac Sunday night at the Frank Erwin Center. At the hour mark of an epic, 160-minute, 23-song show, a stripped down mini set cushioned the stillness and enduring beauty of songs known to all. Rockers age – musicians, compositions – but intimacy never grows old.

Gary Miller

At the collective age of 338, Fleetwood Mac – Mick Fleetwood, 67, John McVie, 69, Christine McVie, 71, Stevie Nicks, 66, and Lindsey Buckingham, 65 – creak where they used to coke, but the longer they cajoled the sold-out Red River Drum, now choked by the surrounding construction of UT’s Dell Medical School, the more convincing they became. By the end of the marathon performance, you could almost believe the group’s late-Seventies heyday had returned – no worse for the wear and tear.

Opening with four straight tunes from their magnum opus, 1977’s Rumours, of which only two songs were omitted live, F-Mac’s shadow band couldn’t quite even out the headliners. Two auxiliary guitarists, three backup singers, and an unintroduced second drummer sitting behind Fleetwood’s gong augmented the all-star quintet, Nicks in elevated shoes and high heels to rival Seventies Kiss, which may or may not have explained stage moves best described as arthritic. When the band flubbed the opening to second song “You Making Loving Fun,” its author and singer, Christine McVie, shrugged helplessly across the stage to first guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.

Gary Miller

On the succeeding “Second Hand News,” Buckingham proved he’s still F-Mac’s spark, its bark and bite. Nicks’ voice, husky now where once it spooked smoky, shook off some rust on “Rhiannon.” Her sister of the moon in the band, McVie – returned after a nearly two-decade hiatus – proved best in voice, her vocal showcases “Everywhere,” “Little Lies,” and solo show closer on piano, “Songbird,” recalling her maiden name: Perfect.

“A prophetic and profound new chapter in the band,” announced Buckingham in welcoming back the former Christine Anne Perfect, a sentiment later echoed by Nicks and Fleetwood.

Gary Miller

“Tusk,” featuring many horns and backing tracks not played live onstage – and accompanied by the best use of video graphics that throughout the show could only be termed screen savers – and album mate “Sisters of the Moon” bottled still-underrated Rumours follow-up Tusk. “Go Your Own Way” to close the main set never took flight, and the drum solo in “World Turning” came too late in the show. “Don’t Stop” transcended even the band given its political overtones of the last peaceful presidency this country has enjoyed in 35 years.

At the heart of the evening beat five crystalline selections that surpassed the pomp of a classic rock concert. Buckingham’s solo acoustic delivery of “Big Love,” which then segued into a duet with Nicks on “Landslide,” and back out into his mostly unaccompanied “Never Going Back Again” brought a hush to even the FEC rafters. McVie’s stilling “Over My Head,” for which Fleetwood took to a stripped drum kit center stage, unearthed Rumours precursor Fleetwood Mac.

Gary Miller

Even then, Nicks’ Mirage marker “Gypsy” eclipsed the whole portion with a heartfelt reminisce of her roots in San Francisco’s mid-Sixties music scene – opening to Hendrix, Joplin, Santana, CCR – and a truly bewitching vocal.

Remaining was an elongated, psych-tinged delve into her “Gold Dust Woman,” Buckingham’s trademark guitar showcase “I’m So Afraid” (also from Fleetwood Mac), and his searing solos on both. If Tusk remains under-appreciated, the guitarist’s preternatural ability on six strings is still criminally unheralded. No matter, really.
The Mac is back.

Fleetwood Mac Set List
Frank Erwin Center, 3.1.15

“The Chain”
“You Make Loving Fun”
“Dreams”
“Second Hand News”
“Rhiannon”
“Everywhere”
“I Know I’m Not Wrong”
“Tusk”
“Sisters of the Moon”
“Say You Love Me”
“Seven Wonders”
“Big Love”
“Landslide”
“Never Going Back Again”
“Over My Head”
“Gypsy”
“Little Lies”
“Gold Dust Woman”
“I’m So Afraid”
“Go Your Own Way”
—————
“World Turning”
“Don’t Stop”
“Silver Springs”
—————
“Songbird”

Raoul Hernandez / Austin Chronicle / Monday, March 2, 2015

March 2, 2015
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac brings it all back

Fleetwood Mac brings it all back to sold-out crowd at the Erwin Center.

“You tend not to honor or respect or trust nostalgia,” Fleetwood Mac’s fellow 1970s Southern California traveler Jackson Browne said last week on the radio program “World Cafe.” “To indulge yourself in just enjoying the music you really loved 30 or 40 years ago only, to limit yourself to that, is to sort of suffer a kind of death. But this guy I met in Italy said, ‘You’ve got this wrong: The most beneficial thing you can do is to go listen to the music that you were listening to when you were first deciding what kind of life you would have, when you were first passing barriers. It’s like a bond, to be connected to that part of your life in which all things were possible and you were really moving out into your life.’”

A sold-out crowd on Sunday night at the Erwin Center clearly shared that sentiment. Though the audience members ranged from teens to retirees, the majority were fans who first bonded with Fleetwood Mac’s music through Rumours, the 1977 classic that eventually sold 40 million copies and remains the band’s touchstone. Indeed, 10 of the 24 songs in Sunday’s set came from the Rumours album.

That included all of the first four songs: The bone-rattling, bass-driven “The Chain,” which allowed the anchoring rhythm section of bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood to shine; the radio hit “You Make Loving Fun,” which put the spotlight on keyboardist-singer Christine McVie recent return to the band after a 16-year absence; “Dreams,” the Stevie Nicks signature vocal that topped the charts in June 1977; and “Second Hand News,” the irrepressible Rumours opening track that epitomizes the livewire kinetic energy guitarist-singer Lindsey Buckingham brings to the band.

Arnold Wells

There’s perhaps less nostalgia in Tusk, the 1979 follow-up that wasn’t as hit-filled but took more chances, as a three-song passage shortly after the Rumours-dominated opening demonstrated. Stage lighting and back-screen images changed dramatically as Buckingham led the launch into “I Know I’m Not Wrong,” followed by the anthemic “Tusk” title track and the dark, mystical “Sisters of the Moon.” It was a brilliant turn toward one of the most fascinating passages of the band’s career.

Buckingham dipped into 1987’s Tango in the Night to open a mid-set acoustic section, giving “Big Love” a fresh and illuminating solo treatment on a classical guitar. Nicks then joined him for a transcendent duo rendition of “Landslide,” the song that directly validated Browne’s reflection on how music reconnects you to a pivotal time and place in the greater arc of life.

Indeed, if you first heard the song as a youth in the 1970s, there was no escaping the full-circle emotions that hung in the air as Nicks reached the line, “Even children get older/ And I’m getting older too.” And when she asked, “Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? / Can I handle the seasons of my life?” — those four seasons transposed into four decades, and the understanding that we all managed to handle them in our own way.

“Landslide” was hard to top, but Buckingham did so with “Never Going Back Again,” the show’s surprise highlight and the last number of the acoustic portion. As one of the deeper album cuts on Rumours, it carries a little less nostalgic resonance, in part because it’s all about not looking back: “Been down one time/ Been down two times/ Never going back again.”

The last stretch of the main set found the band losing a little bit of steam. Though the McVie-penned cuts “Over My Head” and “Little Lies” were welcome reminders of her return to form, Nicks’ drama-dripping “Gold Dust Woman” and Buckingham’s solo-heavy “I’m So Afraid” felt like indulgences.

The defining rocker “Go Your Own Way” refocused the band as the main set ended, leading into a thoroughly delightful four-song encore that began with “World Turning,” in which Fleetwood took a deserved but thankfully not indulgent drum solo (with Buckingham seated at stage left taking it all in).

Everyone sang along on “Don’t Stop,” the song that became a presidential campaign theme in 1992 and helped plant the seeds for the initial 1997 reunion of the band. “Silver Springs,” the exquisite “lost” track from Rumours, followed before stagehands wheeled out a baby grand piano so that McVie could close the show just as she had done at the Erwin Center in 1982, the last time she’d appeared with the band here.

“And the songbirds keep singing, like they know the score,” she sang out on the final chorus of “Songbird,” which floated into the Erwin Center’s rafters as Fleetwood Mac reached another swan song. Nicks and Fleetwood each took a moment to thank the crowd at the very end, but with more tour dates coming up and a new record in the works, something Buckingham had said earlier carried the greatest promise: “At this particular moment, with the return of the beautiful Christine, we begin a poetic, profound and prolific new chapter in the story of this band.”

Peter Blackstock / Austin360 / Monday, March 2, 2015

March 2, 2015
REVIEW: Christine McVie’s return lifts Fleetwood Mac

Christine McVie’s return lifts Fleetwood Mac back on its Hall of Fame Pedestal
[slideshow_deploy id=’43740′]
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Mick Fleetwood said it best Wednesday night.

Rising his full 6-foot-5 frame from behind his massive DW drum set, he pointed to keyboardist-vocalist-songwriter Christine McVie, on tour with her Fleetwood Mac bandmates for the first time in 16 years.

“Making all this complete,” the wild-eyed Fleetwood thundered to a sold-out Quicken Loans Arena as the spotlight shone on McVie. “Yes, indeed, our songbird has returned!”

It’s so, so true.

Two years ago, Fleetwood Mac sans McVie cut a wide swath through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band’s expansive catalog, relying on vocals from Stevie Nicks, who never had much range to begin with and has lost much of that over time, and a valiant effort by guitarist-vocalist Lindsey Buckingham. It wasn’t a marathon sonic waterboarding, but those limitations did make for some torturous moments over the course of more than 21/2 hours.

Wednesday night was a completely different experience.

With McVie back on keys, and her still-strong mezzo-soprano offering lead and harmony vocals, the night became a 160-minute prayer that the inevitable end would not happen.

Perhaps oddly, the greatest benefactors of McVie’s presence – aside from those of us in the listening audience – were Nicks and Buckingham.

Gone was the pressure on Nicks to carry an entire night of songs, many of which are out of her throaty wheelhouse.

Gone was the need for Buckingham to fill gaps with guitar solos in a valiant but futile attempt to fool us into thinking something wasn’t missing.

Instead, the two were able to focus on their strengths and the songs for which they are known.

For Nicks, that would be the ethereal “Rhiannon,” the cosmic (although pitchy) “Sisters of the Moon,” the wrenching “Landslide,” the autobiographical “Gypsy” and the even more autobiographical “Gold Dust Woman.”

Buckingham, a more than capable vocalist himself, could tackle “I Know I’m Not Wrong” “Big Love,” “Never Going Back Again” and “I’m So Afraid” (albeit with a bit too much FX on the last for my taste) and deliver the goods on the iconic “Tusk.”

But more than that, McVie’s presence seemed to free him to be what he really is: one of the best – and most unique – guitarists in rock ‘n’ roll.

His Rick Turner Model 1 guitar alternately screamed, wailed, cried, crooned and wooed throughout the night, as he furiously attacked the strings with his finger-picking style.

To be fair, he did that last time, too, and just about as well. But in 2013, it seemed like he was trying to fill those voids created by McVie’s absence. It ended up like rowing with only one oar, and all you do is go in circles.

McVie’s presence was felt from the opening strains the show-starting “The Chain,” and just got stronger with every lead and harmony vocal she did.

She killed “You Make Loving Fun” and took 14,000 of us with on a trip to “Everywhere.” “Say You Love Me” turned into a tour de force of her voice and Buckingham’s guitar work that would’ve made the night complete had it ended just there.

But it didn’t. “Over My Head” and “Little Lies” were spectacular with her in the lead role, and her harmony vocals on other songs helped recreate the lush sound for which Fleetwood Mac is known.

And yet, as important as McVie’s vocals were Wednesday night, there seemed to be a bigger thing at work. Every member of Fleetwood Mac, including bassist John McVie, her ex-husband, seemed content to have her back in the fold.

Fleetwood was right: The band is complete now. Life is good. For them, and for us.

Chuck Yarborough / The Plain Dealer / Thursday, February 19, 2015

February 18, 2015
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac sparkles at KFC Yum! Center

Fleetwood Mac last made new music together in 2003, but the band’s heyday ended nearly 30 years ago with “Tango In the Night,” its final multi-platinum album. That technically makes Fleetwood Mac a legacy act, largely living on reputation.
[slideshow_deploy id=’43388′]
You wouldn’t have thought so Tuesday night at the KFC Yum! Center, where the band performed with a passion that belied a setlist dating back to 1975. They brought new life to songs that are familiar — overly familiar in some cases — and obliterated any notions that they’re simply cashing in on nostalgia.

Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie clearly have nothing against nostalgia as the show was top loaded with the band’s finest material. It began with a run of “The Chain,” “You Make Loving Fun,” “Dreams,” “Second Hand News” and “Rhiannon” — all major hits that remain staples of rock radio.

That’s more classics in less than 20 minutes than many bands can muster in two hours, but Fleetwood Mac didn’t coast. They delivered them all with a powerful conviction that made the music seem almost shockingly vital and alive.

It didn’t hurt that Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie all sang as if time hasn’t taken much of a toll. McVie, who came out of retirement for this tour, retains much of the honeyed warmth that gives her songs such tenderness. Nicks was in surprisingly supple form, her reedy vibrato in full effect, and Buckingham didn’t hold anything back.

It’s hard to overstate how much the return of McVie informed the concert. Fleetwood Mac has had a history of rotating members since forming in 1967, but this is the definitive lineup. It just makes sense in every way.

The dynamic of McVie’s delicacy contrasted by Nicks’ multicolored daydreaming and Buckingham’s almost callous directness is what transformed Fleetwood Mac from a mildly successful band of journeymen into one of history’s biggest acts. That combination still makes magic.

Here’s the full setlist:

“The Chain”

“You Make Loving Fun”

“Dreams”

“Second Hand News”

“Rhiannon”

“Everywhere”

“I Know I’m Not Wrong”

“Tusk”

“Sisters of the Moon”

“Say You Love Me”

“Seven Wonders”

“Big Love”

“Landslide”

“Never Going Back Again”

“Over My Head”

“Gypsy”

“Little Lies”

“Gold Dust Woman”

“I’m So Afraid”

“Go Your Own Way”

Encore:

“World Turning”

“Don’t Stop”

“Silver Springs”

Second encore:

Songbird”

Jeffrey Lee Puckett can be reached at (502) 582-4160, jp******@*************al.com and on Twitter, @JLeePuckett.

Jeffrey Lee Puckett / The Courier-Journal / Wednesday, February 18, 2015

February 17, 2015