PHOTOS | VIDEO: Fleetwood Mac Chicago #2 The "Without You" Intro That Just Won't End! - Funny!

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE

ROSEMONT, IL - ALLSTATE ARENA

JUNE 14, 2013

Photos below by Erin Brown
View the Detroit Gallery

Erin once again captures Fleetwood Mac in their finest moments. Another amazing collection of shots from last nights show.  

Erin is well versed at creating an visual story of Fleetwood Mac through her live photos.  You may have seen her previous images of Fleetwood Mac live at the United Center back on April 13th, if not then check them out here. She was also there on the opening night of the tour which can be seen here.

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WITHOUT YOU
includes an over 5 minute intro - which is just as entertaining as the song itself!

Fleetwood Mac plays Chicago Allstate Arena

Review of the June 14, 2013 concert by Dave Kohl

Music Star Universe

My first time seeing Fleetwood Mac since the Tusk tour when I saw them in Rosemont IL at the sorry venue formerly known as The Horizon. That barn continues to have the poorest sound of any venue holding more than 10,000 people no matter what it's called these days. Aside from that, the Mac put on a heck of a good show.

Putting The Chain in the #2 spot in the set list is a great call for this tour. Going from the slow and deliberate start to the energetic hard rocking fitting, so typical of the best Fleetwood Mac work clearly set the tone.

Doing four songs in a row from the Tusk album seemed like an odd move but they made it work. Personally, I found the Tusk album to have a couple of their best songs ever as well as a couple of awful songs that kept me from listening to the entire album since the first time. Sisters of the Moon has always been one of my top 3 Mac songs of all time. Yet, during the Tusk tour I thought they did it poorly live. When they announced before the tour they would be doing it, I had my hopes up, but a couple of the bootleg versions I heard of Sisters from early this tour also disappointed me.

Maybe they realized it or they listen to audience feedback. Whatever the reason, I loved the version they did of it right before my eyes! My first major highlight of the show.

The other huge highlight for me came later in the show when we were treated to a 10-minute version of Gold Dust Woman. For all these years, GDW was one of those "good" songs I like but was not among my major favorites. This version, with the expanded parts and the heavy guitar and drum presence, was clearly the best part of the show for me.

Whether it was the enthusiasm of the crowd or being back in Chicago, we were treated to a couple of "extra" songs at the end and the show ran for 2 hours 35 minutes, about 10 minutes longer than usual on this tour.

However, adding "Silver Springs" and "Say Goodbye" at the end was not the best of placement. The crowd was pumped up after Don't Stop, and coming back to do two lesser known songs calmed us all. We know they meant well to give us these extra songs, but they would have been better served coming earlier in the show.

But more important than the songs and the music was getting to see the inner workings of the group. That is what made this night special. The band has seemingly never been this cohesive. When I saw Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham walk on stage together hand in hand to start the show, I knew something positive was up. 

They have come a long way since the mid-90's tour when, even though all five of them were there, there was minimal eye contact and a group of individuals all doing their part. Now, they play off each other and showed the love. And it paid off.

Lindsey Buckingham may have become far more theatrical than ever before, but his energy and guitar playing were strong enough to make me wonder why I haven't gotten more into his earlier solo work.

He did a solo on "Looking Out For Love" while everyone else left the stage and delivered it with such force and power that if you closed your eyes you would think the entire group was out there playing it with him. That was the other of my 'top 3' highlights.

Stevie Nicks was in strong voice. It came across how much she is into this tour, to the point that after the final bows she came back out to thank the audience and let us know how much it means to her to have us all love these songs after all these years. It seemed so genuine.

Finally, I quite honestly had no idea how incredible of a drummer Mick Fleetwood is. One one of the songs he had one foot pounding out the beat, the other foot tapping into a tambourine below the drum set, and was also pounding the beat with both hands. That was nothing short of amazing. He still makes the funny faces, but it shows how much he is enjoying himself.

My expectations were totally exceeded. Now, my message to Fleetwood Mac is: "Don't Stop".

By Dave Kohl

TUSK
SO AFRAID
SAY GOODBYE (ending cut)