FLEETWOOD MAC'S Return To NZ

Blog On The Tracks

Stuff.co.nz

by Simon Sweetman

By now many of you will be aware that Fleetwood Mac is playing in New Plymouth before the end of 2009. You may also be aware of my love for this band. Or should I say bands.

My love for Fleetwood Mac (and you can click on that link to get the full soap-opera behind the band if you don't already know it) started when I was about five years old.

And then, a few years on from that - maybe I was nine or ten? - I watched a documentary which alerted me to the previous blues band Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.

Next thing I was obsessed with the early years. I knew Albatross - I just didn't know it was the same group that did Say You Love Me - and of course it's not really the same group, but you know what I mean...I knew Albatross but just from hearing it on the radio; I didn't know who played it. Didn't really care at that age.

But this documentary had me obsessed with Fleetwood Mac. I loved the stories of the drinking and drug-taking that had meant some members had disappeared to join cults; moved to Africa and wanted to give all their money away; started having affairs with the partners of other band members (this practice would continue for years in the band); and - very sadly in the case of Danny Kirwan - were sent to a home for the mentally ill.

When I say I loved these stories, I was just fascinated with the soap-opera of Fleetwood Mac. And of course when the band created its second permanent lineup in the mid-1970s - the one that would go on to become global superstars - the soap-opera kicked up a few gears.

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were a couple; they had been drafted in to the band as a pair - a songwriting duo and a...

To read the full article along with many many comments on the article (and to leave yours) go HERE