Concert Review: After 38 Years, Fleetwood Mac Is Still Going Their Own Way And Sounding Fine
By John Voket The Newtown Bee
Photo by Brad Joblin
UNCASVILLE — After enjoying modest success as a hard rocking blues band throughout the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Fleetwood Mac catapulted its presence to the center of the rock-and-roll radar screen in 1975, after acquiring the talents of a pair of musical star-crossed lovers – Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
While the rhythm section of band co-founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie continues to anchor the band’s material — including a brand new song — the talents of Buckingham and Nicks were a driving force behind the band’s satisfying 2½-hour show April 20 at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Fleetwood Mac – Still Great After All Those Years
by MJ Hanley-Goff Womanaroundtown.com
Whatever the players of Fleetwood Mac are having, I want some of that. The enduring rock and roll/pop band played to an appreciative full house (pun intended) at the Mohegan Sun Casino Arena in Montville, Connecticut on Saturday night. Between them, the four 60-something players, Stevie Nicks, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, and Mick Fleetwood, total 250-plus years… young. And “young” is most certainly the optimum word here.
For close to 2½ hours, without an intermission (just a few quick disappearances during another member’s solo), the band played a remarkable set of their best of the best. Stevie began the night with a welcome to the fans who erupted in approval at her promise to “let you forget your troubles” for the next few hours. And from then on, there was no stopping them. I can’t think of one song of their repertoire of hits, (there was only one new song tossed into the mix, the rocker, “Sad Angel”), that they omitted, and each one was played with vitality and enthusiasm, a feat when you think of the thousands of times they’ve played them. Lindsey owned the stage with his quick-finger, guitar picking, and jumped and hollered, and panted when the song was done. The album Tusk, Lindsey explained, bewildered the music executives at the time, and continues as a reminder for Lindsey to not keep doing the same thing, that change is good.
Remembering that Stevie and Lindsey were a couple during the early years of the band, it was endearing to see them play off each other, glancing at one another when they each performed songs written for the other. Stevie sang an oldie, almost-forgotten song, “Without You” (she said the band truly had forgotten it, but it turned up on YouTube), and Lindsey, in return, replied with “Say Goodbye.” When Stevie was explaining the genesis of her song, she went on and on a bit, and then glanced at Lindsey and said, “Oh, I know, I’m rambling.” Still in grand gypsy form, Stevie danced, swayed and waved her capes and scarves around, at times playing air guitar and air piano. At one point, she led the audience along with her and Lindsey during the big favorite, “Silver Springs.”
Without a doubt, the highlight of the night came during Mick Fleetwood’s sweaty, non-stopping, pounding solo, and with the movie screen above him, he was bigger than life; eyes closed, he beat the drums and shouted, “Are you with me?” Of course we were. At one point Stevie addressed that fact, commenting that it was the audience who made the songs come alive. “We throw it out to you and then you throw it back to us. That’s the magic.”
Introduced as the “backbone of Fleetwood Mac,” a big nod goes to John McVie, the oldest of the bunch, most noticeably the least flamboyant, who wore his trademark vest and beret, and is still adding the back bass notes that take on a life of their own. (Give a listen to Tusk and you’ll see what I mean.) After three encores, it was easy to see that the audience wasn’t ready to let them go, and Fleetwood Mac didn’t want to leave, but finally, Stevie came to the mike and sent us off with a reminder to “always listen to music – it’s good for the soul.”
Fleetwood Mac Live in Uncasville, CT at Mohegan Sun Arena - April 20, 2013
by John Voket - SoundSpike Contributor
After enjoying modest success as a hard rocking blues band throughout the late 1960s and early '70s, Fleetwood Mac catapulted its presence to the center of the rock-and-roll radar screen in 1975, after acquiring the talents of a pair of musical star-crossed lovers -- Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
Thirty-eight years and several personnel changes later, Fleetwood Mac is on the road again, headlining a world tour that will see them playing shows through October.
While the rhythm section of band co-founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie continues to anchor the band's material -- including a couple of brand new songs -- the talents of Buckingham and Nicks were a driving force behind the band's satisfying two-and-a-half hour show Saturday (5/20) at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun Arena.
Opening with the upbeat "Second Hand News," Fleetwood Mac wove its way through a hit-laden set of material, inserting a few lesser-known cuts and reworking several others enough to keep things interesting, but not so much as to frustrate the fans.
Since the current tour is celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the monster selling album "Rumors," nearly a third of the songs played were drawn from that seminal project. "The Chain," "Dreams," and "Don't Stop," were delivered virtually note for note from the album.
But other cuts like "Gold Dust Woman," with its extended frenetic jam, the sprightly acoustic "Never Going Back Again," and explosive "Go Your Own Way," seemed to be infused with renewed energy that fired up both the band and audience.
The legendary band Fleetwood Mac performed at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday April 20th and The Hour's John Nash was there to capture these images from the show. Click through here.... 39 Photos in the gallery.
CONCERT REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac at Mohegan Sun
By Donnie Moorhouse, The Republican Masslive.com
UNCASVILLE: Fleetwood Mac performed a sold out show at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night, offering up over two hours of music culled from a historic, Hall of Fame career. Now a quartet due to the departure of Christie McVie who has spurned the touring life, the group of Stevie Nicks, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, and Mick Fleetwood delivered 22 songs over the course of their set.
It was essentially a “greatest hits” styled performance, although the band did drum up a new song that Buckingham revealed would be part of an EP release due out in the week ahead. The song, “Sad Angel,” fit in well when bookended by the mid 70s hits “Rhiannon,” and “Dreams.”
Other than that foray into new material and a way-back peek at the Buckingham-Nicks song “Without You,” there were few surprises on the evening, unless of course you were expecting anything less than a raucous and inspired performance from a group that is in its fifth decade of touring.
As was the case with recent classic rock concerts from Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac has staked their claim on the arena concert circuit and aren’t likely to relinquish it until something better (or even as good) arrives to fill the void.
They opened with “Second Hand News,” and followed it with “The Chain.” After “Dreams” and “Rhiannon,” they were able to scrape the rust off of “Tusk,” pulling out the title track and the hit “Sara” before Buckingham’s solo acoustic version of “Looking Out for Love.” Nicks joined him on stage and the two offered a duet on “Landslide.”
Hit after hit after hit…
“We have come to take you away from your everyday problems,” said Nicks at the start of the show. “The journey starts now.”
The journey included Buckingham and Nicks sharing an acoustic “Never Going Back Again,” a full band “Gypsy,” and “Gold Dust Woman,” and a Buckingham guitar solo that brought the crowd to its feet. The band closed out the set with “Stand Back,” and “Go Your Own Way.”
The encore began with “World Turning,” and a tolerable Fleetwood drum solo before the sing-along “Don’t Stop.” The band was called back for another turn and opened the second encore with “Silver Spring.”
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