(PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC, LONDON - WEMBLEY ARENA 30/10/09

Photos sent in by Marcus Clackson
FLEETWOOD MAC - LONDON
WEMBLEY ARENA OCTOBER 30

Marcus and his girlfriend Cathy along with Cathy's sister Jennifer experienced Fleetwood Mac in London on October 30th and had a blast! From the pictures they had an awesome vantage point to the stage... It didn't quite start out that way. Their seats were initially a few blocks back - but they saw some people milling around up front by the stage and decided to walk down thinking they would be turned away - but it didn't happen. Just as they made it up front the band arrived on stage. Needless to say the two girls were in shock. It's been a lifelong dream to see the band play.  And the added bonus was they all got to strum Lindsey's guitar!!

Marcus took some shots with his iphone... He wished he had a better camera... and by the look of some of his work on his site, Marcus Clackson Photography, I do too... But at the end of the day, I love all the photos taken of the band, whether amateur or professional - there's always something redeeming and interesting within each... Photos capture a moment in time that otherwise would be lost or forgotten. So thank you Marcus for taking the pictures and for sending them in.

(PHOTOS) LONDON - FLEETWOOD MAC - OCTOBER 30th & NOVEMBER 6th

FLEETWOOD MAC - WEMBLEY ARENA

LONDON - 30/10 & 6/11 2009

Photos by: Kathryne (Gallery)

Slideshow

(BLOGGER REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC - LONDON (2 NIGHTS)

TWO NIGHTS OF FLEETWOOD MAC AT WEMBLEY
Wembley Arena, 30 & 31 October 2009
Trackaghost

"When I was 14 my Dad took me to see Stevie Nicks, on her one lone UK tour, as a birthday present. I was madly obsessed with her and Fleetwood Mac at the time having discovered the band two years earlier when their album Tango In The Night broke big. Even though our seats were terrible, and by all accounts it was one of her least impressive tours voice- and energy-wise, it was a magical evening for me and started what would be a lifelong passion for music, concerts and, of course, anything Fleetwood Mac."

Continue for the full review

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Survived 42 Years of Madness

John Walsh:
Independent.co.uk

'Fleetwood Mac survived 42 years of madness, sex, drugs, failure and success'

I went to see Fleetwood Mac at Wembley Arena and, musically speaking, it was wonderful. The strains of "If You Go Your Own Way" (which Lindsay Buckingham wrote about Stevie Nicks after their stormy relationship came to an end), the passion that Stevie Nicks put into "Sara" (the song she wrote about her best friend, for whom Mick Fleetwood left his wife after he'd ended his affair with Stevie), the tenderness of "You Make Loving Fun" (which the keyboards player Christine McVie wrote in a tribute to the lighting-rigger for whom she conceived a passion when her husband, the bassist John McVie, hit the bottle), [note: that song was not in the setlist] and the final singalong of "Don't Stop" (which Christine wrote after her eight-year marriage packed up,) were inspiring indeed, although my favourite moment was Buckingham's gorgeous solo rendition of "Never Goin' Back Again" (about Stevie's breakdown, after her well-documented cocaine addiction...)

You can try and keep the music separate from Fleetwood Mac's emotional serpentinings, but it wouldn't be so much fun. No beat combo in rock history has had such combustible permutations of personnel, or such terrible luck. They've survived 42 years of madness, drugs, marital bust-ups, sexual rivalry, drink, failure, bankruptcy, wild success, rehab clinics, and a whole gamut of peculiar hairstyle choices. Their heyday was of course 1975, when Fleetwood and the warring McVies signed up Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks and they made Rumours out of their tormented relationships. Many thought it commercial schlock at the time, but the tunes got inside your head and stuck like fishhooks.

So I went to see them at Wembley – and what a weird sight they make these days. Mick Fleetwood, now 62, shiny-pated and white-bearded, whacked the drums like a deranged pirate king, widening his scary eyes until the whites glowed. During an extended solo, he appeared to hold a conversation with the tom-toms. McVie, the inscrutable former tax inspector, wore a white Kangol beret and a black waistcoat. We looked at him and Fleetwood, their grizzled chins and stolid Britishness. "My God," breathed the person beside me, "it's Chas 'n' Dave."

Buckingham, in skinny leather jacket and collarless T-shirt, talked about the band's emotional rollercoaster, struck attitudes and scrubbed his guitar during long solos. It was very much the Lindsey Show. Ms Nicks sang gorgeously in her low contralto and did her twirling-with-a-shawl routine, but sounded emotionally conflicted, like a pissed-off Pollyanna.

They look absurdly different – how did they ever work together? Mick and John, like retired yeoman farmers, relaxing after a hard day's pig-scratching. Lindsey and Stevie, seeming half a generation younger, so Californian, neurotic, theatrical. Buckingham, though an astounding guitarist, seemed prattish and full of himself beside the cool beardies. At the end, he teased the crowd with hints of another album. Mick Fleetwood wasn't bothered about such things. "Look after each other in this crazy world," he told the crowd, with evident emotion, and was rewarded with a mighty cheer – not for being a rock star, for being such an indestructible old (English) buzzard.

***

REVIEW: FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN LONDON... "The Band were in implausibly good form"

Fleetwood Mac, Wembley Arena, London
Financial Times
By Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
4/5 STARS

Expectations for a sedate night of heritage rock from a group of sexagenarians notorious for living well but unwisely were shattered as soon as Fleetwood Mac struck up “Monday Morning”. The 1975 track sounded vibrant and crisp, with Mick Fleetwood hammering his kit and Lindsey Buckingham giving some Springsteen-style welly to the vocal. The band were in implausibly good form.

The “Unleashed” world tour is their first get-together in five years. The songs mainly dated from the band’s 1970s heyday, when the Brit blues outfit founded by Fleetwood and John McVie in 1960s London morphed into Anglo-Californian soft-rockers with the addition of Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

It wasn’t quite the return of the full Rumours-era line-up: McVie’s keyboardist ex-wife Christine was missing, having quit touring in the 1990s. The surviving foursome showed no scars of their turbulent past, an epic tale of excess encompassing drugs, drink, chaotic romantic affairs and Spinal Tap-style follies.

The grey-bearded, pony-tailed Fleetwood, clad eccentrically in black knee-breeches and red court shoes, with a trademark pair of wooden balls dangling from his belt in the style of a mysterious fertility symbol, played with an antic gleam in his eyes: Prospero with a pair of drum sticks. His flat-cap-wearing sidekick McVie was rock-solid on bass, giving tracks such as “The Chain” bite beneath the irresistible West Coast harmonies.

Nicks, “our lady of Fleetwood Mac”, as Fleetwood introduced her, suffered from a low mix on “Dreams” but this was soon rectified. Her look combined rock-chick leather boots and floaty outfits that flowed poetically around her, stirred by a wind machine and her slow, swirling dance moves. Yet there was nothing mystical about her vocals, which had the powerful nasal twang of a country-rock grande dame.

Buckingham led from the front, barking out vocals and playing scorching guitar solos, such as the virtuoso axe heroics at the climax of “I’m So Afraid”. His whoops and “Yee-aahs!” were pure arena-rock ham. No wonder there was no stage scenery – Buckingham would have chewed it up. Yet his performance was tight as a spring. There was nothing bloated about this group of rock survivors.

REVIEW: Stevie Nicks emerged like a gothic fairy - Live in London

FLEETWOOD MAC, WEMBLEY ARENA, LONDON
By Gary Nicks
Daily Star

FLEETWOOD Mac could have retired gracefully years ago knowing their place in rock history is assured.

But they keep coming back for more - and can still conjure up the same magic that made them megastars in their 1970s heydey.

From the moment Stevie Nicks emerged like a gothic fairy, you knew it was going to be business as usual.

The band may have a combined age of 251 years, but they deliver their timeless hits like the grand masters of soft rock they truly are.

With no new material to promote, their Unleashed world tour is all about serving up bucketloads of classic tracks for fans.

And they really are plundering their back catalogue going way back to when they formed as a blues-rock outfit in 1967.

From Peter Green's charging Oh Well through to the synth pop 80s of Tango in the Night, it’s all there in a packed two and a half hour set.

The hair may be greying and the vocals sometimes strained, but that didn't seem to matter.

Crowd favourites were always going to be tunes from their self-titled 1975 album and their career-defining 1977 album Rumours.

Don't Stop and Go Your Own Way had the seated arena on its feet and air guitaring, while the slower Landslide and Sara rekindled the band's trademark dreamy atmospherics.

The biggest cheers went to foot-stomping anthem The Chain.

Frontman Lindsey Buckingham strutted around the stage like his ego was still about to burst.

The guy is a clearly a six-string genius, but it was like he was trying to be cooler than your dad on a wedding dancefloor.

Bassist John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, the founding members, were steady as ever (and bizarrely looking like Chas & Dave with flatcaps and waistcoats.)

But what a shame the line-up lacked Christine McVie, who quit years ago, meaning no more of those lovely harmonies with Stevie.

Mick was barmy, grunting like a mad man in his solos and emerging from behind the drums with spiny red shoes brighter than Dorothy's.

They all - apart from John - gave mini-speeches about surviving in one of the world's biggest bands.

Lindsey thanked fans and reminded us: "You know, we have a convoluted and emotional history."

It's ok, we know Lindsey, and that's what makes Fleetwood Mac still being together that much more alluring.

VIDEO: Fleetwood Mac Fan Reaction to Wembley Show in London

Fleetwood Mac

by Entertainment Reporters

We went to Wembley Arena to talk to Fleetwood Mac fans about their concert their on 30 October 2009. See fan views and reviews here!

Winkball.com

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live at Wembley "They Hit The Home Runs Early"

FLEETWOOD MAC Live in London at Wembley Arena

By Sam Hart
9/10
Virgin.com

The debate surrounding whether the legendary big bands from yesteryear should continually reunite, rehearse and play shows - a few extra wrinkles visible with each comeback jaunt - rages on. Everyone has an opinion on damaged legacies, damaged voices and whatever else, but one overriding fact remains: people still want to hear the songs, buy the tickets and fill the arenas. And, let’s be honest, there are some bands for whom many would do unspeakable things to see back on stage (Led Zeppelin, anyone?)

Fleetwood Mac, finally back at Wembley Arena, are one such group who have the timeless songs and the millions of loyal fans that still clamber for them as if they were touring a debut record. And the tracks sound, almost, as good as they always did.

They hit the home runs early: 'The Chain', probably the best and most iconic thing that Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and co ever recorded, warmed everybody up, before 'Dreams' teleported the crowd back to 1977. Indeed, a sentimental trip down memory lane with Nicks, to humble beginnings in San Francisco – "back to the way we were" - preceded 'Gypsy' and had the audience thinking about digging out their 'Rumours' LPs and 70s party gear for Halloween.

Nicks' instantly recognisable voice is still in fine condition, as are Buckingham's fingers. As well as a solo acoustic version of 80s single, 'Big Love', some instrumental highlights from the just-turned-60-year-old showed that, despite its mammoth pop success, Fleetwood Mac are a rock band at heart . As well as the savage guitar playing, there was some tenderness, too. Moments before, the former lovers had shared an emotional embrace that will long live in the memory.

The age demographic of the audience at this show spoke volumes about how great – truly great - music transcends and has the ability to touch anybody willing to listen. From the golden oldies who were there at the time, to the teenagers looking to reconnect to the music they listened to in their parents' car as a kid; everyone was enthusiastically enjoying themselves.

The high point of the night (along with a rarely played, but gorgeous, 'I Have Always Been A Storm') was an elongated version of 'Go Your Own Way', which produced a huge reaction and mass sing-along from the sell-out crowd, Buckingham bending down to allow those in the front row to get their hands on his guitar.

Aside from the absence of the Christine McVie-penned, 'Little Lies', and co-founder Mick Fleetwood briefly seeming to lose his mind during a customary drum solo, it was a rousing performance from one of the biggest-selling acts of all time.

This night, climaxing with the classic, 'Don’t Stop', and this tour, has been a hugely successful reunion for a band whose career has been an emotional rollercoaster. There seems to be a new appreciation, both for the music that made them great, but, more importantly, for each other. And long may that continue.

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in London October 30, 2009 "Fleetwood Mac stick to what they do best"

Fleetwood Mac
Wembley Arena
by: David Smyth
The Evening Standard

Fleetwood Mac stick to what they do best

How heartwarming it is when a band of a certain vintage recognises that another new album would be about as welcome as rheumatism and heads out to play everyone’s favourite songs with no ulterior motive.

“This time we said: ‘Let’s just go out and have fun,’” claimed guitarist Lindsey Buckingham as Fleetwood Mac’s Unleashed tour arrived in London for the first of three arena shows. There have been rumours of a new album and even of Sheryl Crow taking the place of the long-departed Christine McVie but perhaps they got bored waiting for inspiration and decided to remind themselves of their many finest moments.

With a set drawn largely from the classic Seventies album trilogy of Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk, there could be few complaints about song choices. Other bases were briefly covered with a solo composition each for Buckingham and co-vocalist Stevie Nicks, a nod to the band’s early hard-blues incarnation with Peter Green’s stormy Oh Well and even a gibbering Mick Fleetwood drum solo.

But the music that dominated was that written by Buckingham and Nicks when they were in the middle of an agonising relationship break-up. Dreams, Second Hand News and Go Your Own Way all summoned glorious melodies from a painful place.

Here the ex-couple arrived on stage arm in arm and embraced after Nicks had finished her ballad Sara. In his sixties, Buckingham has become more of a rock singer than he was, often barking his lines and offering a finger-bruising solo interpretation of Big Love.

Nicks remained instantly recognisable in floaty outfits that were only missing a maypole. In black here, if she had appeared on your doorstep this weekend you would have handed over all your sweets quick for fear of being egged. That reedy voice, though, remains a thing of witchcraft.

With Rumours still high on the list of the biggest-selling albums ever, the band can’t be journeying the globe again just for the money.

Furious drawn-out versions of Gold Dust Woman and World Turning demonstrated an undimmed passion for playing and suggested a simple truth: they still love these songs as much as the rest of us.

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live at Wembley in London

Fleetwood Mac at Wembley
Making Strange
"Even though it probably isn't so, it feels like every lyric about lost love is about the sad end to the relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. The way they move around and connect with each other on stage is either a very clever act to engage the audience or they made a terrible mistake all those decades ago when they broke up."


Continue To Full Review

REVIEW: FLEETWOOD MAC - Live in London October 30, 2009

Fleetwood Mac, Wembley Arena
by Joe Muggs
The Arts Desk

The first signs were good. I've been to a lot of shows by “heritage bands” in my time, but I don't think I've ever seen a crowd for a band of Fleetwood Mac's vintage that had such an even age distribution. Sure, it was heavily weighted towards the greying end of the scale, but every age group down to teens – including teens there in groups under their own steam, not just with parents – was well represented, right across class boundaries too.

But then Fleetwood Mac have always been a lot of things to a lot of people. From the bluesy 60s underground Peter Green era, through the spectacular 70s pinnacles of rock-Babylon mega-success following Green's decline and departure and the arrival of sparkly-eyed Californians Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, to the shiny pure pop of their late-80s Tango In The Night creative swansong, they covered an awful lot of ground. Everyone was hoping their setlist might suit their own tastes – in my case the Tango In The Night songs of my schooldays. Sadly they did not play this.

On stage, the band managed the extraordinarily impressive feat for such a repeatedly split-and-reformed act of actually looking like a band. Other than the lack of Christine McVie, who has seemingly permanently retired from live performance, this was the classic 70s/80s lineup of Nicks and Buckingham out front and the founder-members' British rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie (the original “Fleetwood” and “Mac”) on drums and bass behind them – plus backing vocalists and two session musician multi-instrumentalists in the wings.

Fleetwood and McVie looked rather like a multimillionaire Chas & Dave with their matching flat caps, waistcoats and beards, while Buckingham had the air of an over-dressed pervy music teacher and Nicks of a wonderfully batty goth aunt, complete with one black glove, tinsel hanging from her sleeves and a mic stand draped with witchy decorations. But somehow, among the arena lightshow and moving set decorations, despite all the history, they still looked like their relationship was musical.

And it is. From the swagger of “The Chain” (from the quintillion-selling Rumours) onward it was clear this is more than just some ageing drug casualties propped up by technology and extra staff. The 12-string guitar jangle of Tusk's “I Know I'm Not Wrong” showed how much Fleetwood Mac's work prefigured the whole of eighties alternative rock as well as the mainstream – making them the missing link between The Byrds and The Cult. “Second Hand News” was a mighty country-rock stomp, showing precisely how much the band were always connected to heartland America. And “Rhiannon” and “Sara” showed how much Nicks's voice was born to age gracefully, it's catches and cracks only made more affecting by age's emphasis.

Source: The Arts Desk

REVIEW: FLEETWOOD MAC - FRONT ROW AT WEMBLEY

Blog Review
Fleetwood Mac - London
Wembley Arena 10.30.09
The State Of The Nation UK
Review and Photos by Stephen Chapman

I am proud to announce the 200th posting on my blog! And it's a special entry from me today following one of the most amazing concert experiences I have had, last night at Wembley Arena.

Pete, Sonny and I went to see Fleetwood Mac on their Unleashed tour and had some luck in obtaining front row seats. There's nothing like watching 12,500 people fill up an arena behind you! But better news was yet to come as one of the road crew came out and asked us if we wouldn't mind standing for the show! So we positioned ourselves right on the stage - I was actually touching the stage's carpet! He said that they were happy for photographs to be taken, so I was very pleased with that.

The show itself was truly stunning with a performance to rival any band. We were standing on the Stevie Nicks' side of the stage and she was on great form. I have always been a fan of Lindsey Buckingham's guitar playing, but he blew me away and when he came to our side of the stage for a long guitar solo, he stood right in front of me - his boots were 2 inches away from my hand!

This is the 4th time I have seen Fleetwood Mac and it's by far the best performance I have seen - the choice of songs was brilliant and the sound impressive. The strange thing about being at the very front of the audience is that you don't really hear the main crowd and get the atmosphere, so this was very much about watching the band from close quarters and enjoying the professionalism and performance.

A night to remember. I hope you like these pictures...

(BLOGGER REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC

Unhappy Fan Review (assuming it's London)... But a few nice pics go along with it... But I like this one!

"So very bittersweet - waited so long. and so disappointed. Still had a great antagonisingly fun night singing and being me. Shame though."

Read/view the review Shootingatthescreen

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in London - Night #1 Return of the Mac

Return of the Mac

Fleetwood Mac, Wembley Arena 30 Oct 2009

I was just a little tinker when Fleetwood Mac were notching up chart success in the late 1970s and early 80s when my parents were listening to the ‘Rumours‘ album.

But having obviously passed their good taste down to me, by the time I was 10 years old I was listening to ‘Albatross‘ and ‘Dreams‘ on my then industrial size Sony walkman whilst everyone else at school was being fed on a diet of Wham!

I’ve always liked The Mac, favourites being ‘Sara‘ and ‘Gypsy’ which sometimes transport me away from the hustle and bustle of a busy tube into my own little bohemian world, through the hypnotising vocals of Stevie Nicks.

And hypnotise she did tonight, as they performed at London’s Wembley Arena on their ‘Unleashed Tour’

Continue to Showbiz-i.com

FLEETWOOD MAC - TONIGHT THEY PLAY WEMBLEY

Sleeve Notes: Return of the Mac
by: Tim Jonze
Guardian

Twenty years ago, when my peers were having their parents' record collections enforced on them, I was receiving a rather more limited musical education (Paul Simon's Graceland and the soundtrack to Cats were the only albums my folks ever played, and even then on inexplicably long car journeys to a rainy French campsite). For this reason, I never received the inevitable schooling in Fleetwood Mac and their gazillion-selling Rumours album. Of course, you can run (into the shadows) but you can't hide. And by the time I hit my mid-20s, I surrendered to the Mac attack, especially the bizarre arrangements that make up their 1979 double LP Tusk. I think getting into them so late, when the first signs of complex, tangled, depressingly-adult problems were weaving their way into my life, helped me fall in love with them all the more. I ended up claiming them as my own, rather than as some guilty pleasure. Tonight, they play Wembley Arena. It will be emotional, especially if Dave Simpson's live review from Manchester is anything to go by ...