Review | Photos | Video: Fleetwood Mac Live in Montreal - February 5, 2015

No weak links in Fleetwood Mac's chain
by Jordan Zivitz
Montreal Gazette

Photo: John Kenney
VIEW PHOTO GALLERY (17 photos)

For a band that was once famously defined by personal drama and rancour, Fleetwood Mac’s members were almost as generous toward one another as they were to the nearly 12,400 fans who spent 2 1/2 hours in their company at the Bell Centre Thursday night.

The narrative of this tour is the return of keyboardist Christine McVie, which completes the group’s most popular lineup for the first time since 1998. She certainly received her due welcome from the audience and from her bandmates, but the quintet shared the glory, both between its members and as an ensemble.

And what glory. There’s no new album to promote (although one is in the works), and the most recent numbers in Thursday’s show were from the 1987 disc Tango in the Night, with more than half of the set list drawn from the 1975 self-titled release and 1977’s world-conquering Rumours. But this didn’t feel like a nostalgic evening. The performance was absolutely contemporary and, with McVie back, there was an air both of taking care of unfinished business and setting up a new venture.

The crackling energy was there from the walk-on to The Chain, while drummer Mick Fleetwood’s clockwork timekeeping, John McVie’s strapping bass and Lindsey Buckingham’s swampy guitar telegraphed that the band’s locked-in interplay hadn’t diminished. (About the only wrong note of the night was a breakdown in the Bell Centre welcome staff’s usual military efficiency, with security checks causing a chaotic logjam at the entrance.)

Speaking of precision, Stevie Nicks made an early note that this was the 51st show of the tour. “In the beginning, I would have said: a) ‘Welcome, Montreal,’ and second, ‘Welcome, Chris.’ … Today I think we can say, with caution abandoned, ‘She’s ba-ack!’ ”

Charismatic even when she was rooted in place, Nicks went on to lose herself inside Dreams before Buckingham — the only member to routinely venture to the lip of the stage — led a bracing Second Hand News as if the 38-year-old cut was being shared for the first time. Although Christine McVie’s upper-register vocals were a touch strained in Everywhere (but appealingly earthy everywhere else), that sunny delight was also rejuvenated, and stripped of its ’80s gloss.

Buckingham offered his own welcome to McVie when he spoke of “beginning a profound and prolific new chapter.” It may not have been a coincidence that Fleetwood Mac’s most forward-thinking member said this before a mini-block from 1979’s Tusk, the band’s messy masterpiece of art over commercialism.

The title track’s marching-band strangeness remained delightfully odd — and not just by this group’s classicist standards — with Christine McVie on accordion, Buckingham playing the madman card to the hilt, and three auxiliary players contributing more than the almost imperceptible shading offered elsewhere. Nicks’s carefully possessed lead in Sisters of the Moon was supplemented by haunted harmonies from an understated trio of backup singers.

The quick-change pacing of the show’s first hour or so turned far more casual in the back half, starting with an intimate acoustic section that could have taken place in a club setting. Buckingham made conversation before his solo performance of Big Love, once “a contemplation on alienation and now a meditation on the power and importance of change.” True to his words, the solemn but flashy fingerpicking was a revelation, and far removed from the slick original. Nicks joined Buckingham for Landslide, stunning in its stillness, before the duo added a note of darkness to Never Going Back Again.

Over My Head saw the return of the full band, the introduction of Fleetwood’s front-of-stage “cocktail kit” and a reminiscence from Christine McVie about the time spent “sort of floundering, looking for a new guitarist” before Buckingham joined for the eponymous 1975 album. Setting up Gypsy, Nicks offered a history lesson of her own, a touching recollection of window shopping at San Francisco’s Velvet Underground rock-star clothing boutique before she was a star herself. The songs-and-stories format may have helped slow the show’s momentum, but they also helped make one of the top-selling bands in the world seem approachable.

The home stretch included a number of extended showcases: Gold Dust Woman climaxed with Nicks swaying across the stage in a glittering shawl; Buckingham enjoyed a caustic centrepiece in I’m So Afraid; Fleetwood had the stage to himself for a crazy-eyed shamanic routine in the middle of World Turning.

But of course, Go Your Own Way and Don’t Stop were the real climactic crowd-pleasers. The quintet’s camaraderie was at its strongest in the former, with the tireless Buckingham speeding around Nicks, who had donned a bejewelled top hat, and careering into John McVie.

Fleetwood’s splashy introductions of his colleagues in the encore were brimming with affection: Buckingham with his “beady eye on the future,” Nicks the “eternal romantic,” John McVie “always on my right-hand side,” Christine McVie “making all of this so complete — our songbird has returned.”

Nice tee-up, as McVie returned for a second encore of Songbird, delivering her most tender vocal of the night accompanied only by Buckingham. It was a poignant final word, given an equally poignant afterword when Nicks made an endearingly rambling speech. In all her cosmic wisdom, she credited the audience for willing McVie back into the band. Her gratitude for the circle being unbroken tied into Buckingham’s earlier prediction of a “profound and prolific new chapter.” We’ll see about prolific. In light of the rewards from Thursday’s concert, profound is a fait accompli.

Fleetwood Mac au Centre Bell en PHOTOS
Le Huffington Post Québec

Le groupe Fleetwood Mac était de passage au Centre Bell jeudi 5 février. Amorçant son spectacle avec des pièces de son célèbre album Rumours, le groupe a su ravir les 12 000 spectacteurs qui occupaient l'amphithéatre.

Voici la prestation en photos:

by David Kirouac

VIEW GALLERY

Fleetwood Mac à Montréal: ce n'est qu'un au revoir
by Ismaël Houdassine
Photo Ben Pelosse
fr.canoe.ca

MONTRÉAL - C'était soirée nostalgie jeudi soir au Centre Bell pour l'ultime tournée du groupe mythique Fleetwood Mac. Baby-boomers et amateurs de folk rock atmosphérique 1970 se sont donné rendez-vous dans une ambiance où le quintette a enchaîné les succès.

Sans perdre de temps, les cinq membres du groupe britano-américain dont les vétérans Mick Fleetwood et John McVie (qui ont donné leur nom à la formation), pour la première fois réunis à Montréal, ont amorcé le spectacle en interprétant coup sur coup The Chain, You Make Loving Fun et le superbe Dreams, tous tirés de Rumours, leur légendaire album, vendu à 40 millions d'exemplaires.

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Photo: Ben Pelosse

Fleetwood Mac Au Centre Bell
La totale définitivement totale
by Sylvain Cormier
Le Devoir

Photo: Annik MH De Carufel

Mais comment donc avais-je pu sortir si pleinement satisfait la dernière fois, en 2009 ? Alors qu’elle n’était pas là ? Alors qu’il manquait tant de chansons à la liste des essentielles ? « Toutes jouées, toutes bien jouées », avais-je titré. Toutes ? Sans You Make Loving Fun, Over My Head, Say You Love Me, Little Lies ? Sans la ballade piano des ballades piano, exquise Songbird ? Comment avais-je pu me contenter d’un Fleetwood Mac sans Christine McVie ?

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DREAMS

Review | Video: Fleetwood Mac Return to Toronto - February 3, 2015

Fleetwood Mac Live in Toronto
February 3, 2015 - Air Canada Centre

by Jane Stevenson
Toronto Sun

The return of The Mac proved to be just as sweet the second time around.

British-American ’70s folk-rockers Fleetwood Mac, boasting their most successful lineup of singers Stevie Nicks, keyboardist Christine McVie and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham (Nicks’ ex-boyfriend), bassist John McVie (Christine’s ex-husband) and drummer Mick Fleetwood, returned to the Air Canada Centre Tuesday night after performing at the same venue on the same tour with the same set list back in mid-October. No matter. Torontonians — another 17,000 or so of them — liked a double serving of The Mac particularly since this tour features the return of the 71-year-old Christine McVie who stayed off the road for 16 years.

With everyone else in the group in their mid to late 60s, there was no time like the present for this reunion.

Thankfully, the Fleetwood Mac back catalogue has held up so well with special mention to the songs from their beloved 1977 discs Rumours that’s sold 45 million albums and counting.

Not surprsingly, the group kicked off the night with The Chain from that album before McVie took over on lead vocals for You Make Loving Fun, also from Rumours.

“Welcome back, Toronto.” said Nicks in her usual black flowing outfit, black suede boots and various shawls throughout the night.

“Tonight is our 47th show and I think we can safely say, ‘She’s back!,’ ” added Nicks, referring to McVie. “So that being said, let’s get this party started!”

McVie told the crowd later: “I love you very much!”

What followed was a nostalgic but mostly riveting evening of music as the group, propelled by the guitar maniac that is still the fastfooted, lightning-fingered Buckingham, made their way through such crowd pleasers as the Nicks-sung Dreams and Rhiannon — with some twirling from her on that latter one — the McVieled Everywhere and the Buckingham-sung I Know I’m Not Wrong in the first third of the show.

Five other musicians and an impressively large video screen and smaller video strips certainly helped to fill out the group’s sounds and sights.

“Well, we were here not too long ago — I guess a few more people wanted to see us,” Buckingham said with a chuckle. “So we came back.... I think it’s safe to say we’ve seen our share of ups and downs and I think that kind of makes us what we are. In this particular moment, with the return of the beautiful Christine, she is a beautiful soul, and I think her return now signals the beginning of a poetic, profound and I think prolific new chapter of this band — Fleetwood Mac!”

The next two thirds of the main set saw such highlights as Tusk, with McVie breaking out the accordion, but the marching band appeared only on the big screen and not as a live accompanmient, sadly; Buckingham’s incredible guitar display and gutteral shrieks on Big Love, his quieter vocals but no less stellar playing on Never Going Back Again and plugging in big time for I’m So Afraid; and Nicks’ ’60s San Franreminiscent Gypsy and Gold Dust Woman (complete with gold shawl) with yet more twirling from her on both.

But the emotional centre of the show proved to be the pretty and delicate Landslide, with just Nicks and Buckingham on stage with the former couple holding hands toward the end of the song and again at its conclusion.

Otherwise, the tunes that made me sleepy last time did it to me again, Nicks’ Sisters of the Moon and Seven Wonders but these are small quibbles.

The mighty Mac is back and they don’t appear to be going away again anytime soon.

Fleetwood Mac Live in Toronto
T-MAK WORLD also reviewed the Toronto show and took the below shot of some fancy new footwear that I've never seen Stevie wear before... Check out the review and what Stevie had to say about her boots, along with more photos from the show, here.

Photo by T-MAK WORLD

Gypsy
Gold Dust Woman
Introductions
Don't Stop

Review | Videos: Fleetwood Mac Live in Buffalo, NY - January 31, 2015

Fleetwood Mac bewitches crowd at First Niagara Center
By Jeff Miers
Buffalonews.com

View Photo Gallery (18 Photos)

There needs to come a point when you believe in the band. Otherwise, you’re watching a classic rock jukebox.

We look for that moment when we forget about the baby sitter, the $200 or so spent on the ticket, the fact that we’ve heard these tunes more than a million times.

On Saturday, during Fleetwood Mac’s close-to-sold-out performance in First Niagara Center, that moment came early. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham strode to the edge of the stage after the lights had been dimmed, looked around, said a brief hello to the front rows, and then dug into the swampy and sultry deep blues riff that signifies the beginning of the Mac’s evergreen hit, “The Chain.”

Buckingham hunkered down, dug into it, and made it plain to all that he had come not merely to collect a paycheck, but to play.

From there on, it was smooth sailing.

Buckingham led the version of Fleetwood Mac that most of us know and love – the group responsible for “Rumours,” “Tusk,” and “Tango In the Night” – through a hits-heavy set that walked the tightrope between easygoing ’70s pop-rock and deep-cutting avant-garde pop.

Of course, Buckingham is not the most famous member of Fleetwood Mac. That would be Stevie Nicks, his ex, and forevermore his partner in pop. Nicks is an icon, but Buckingham is a musical genius. On Saturday, their sparring made for abundant entertainment.

Fleetwood Mac has made a habit of including Buffalo in its tours since re-forming in the late ’90s. But this particular tour stop boasted something more than simply a run-through of “Rumours” and associated hits. This was in fact the first time area audiences have seen keyboardist and vocalist Christine McVie perform with the band in more than 15 years. McVie’s tunes – her “You Make Loving Fun,” “Everywhere,” “Say You Love Me” and “Over My Head,” among others – offered soulful highlights. She seems to have lost nothing in the vocal department – she nailed every part she should have, and did so with soul.

This was a hits show, to be certain, but in Fleetwood Mac’s case, that needn’t be a negative. The group has scored platinum with some rather adventurous tunes, and a mid-set focus on the freak manifesto that is “Tusk” made this plain. Buckingham’s “I Know I’m Not Wrong” and “Tusk” led nicely into Nicks’ “Sisters of the Moon,” and earned the crowd’s respect, apparently. The place exploded.

Nicks doesn’t have the voice she once did, but then, who would? She’s in her later 60s now, and if she couldn’t hit the high notes during “Rhiannon” and “Dreams,” she wisely chose the low road, while three backing vocalists, joined by Buckingham and McVie, fleshed out the harmonies. None of it felt fake or forced – this was a band that seemed grateful to be playing for an appreciative audience.

Nicks told a particularly cool story that involved her trademark top hat, an accessory she was rarely seen without during Mac’s “Rumours” heyday. The singer told the assembled that it was during a tour stop in Buffalo – one assumes that it would have been the 1975 pre-”Rumours” stop that is recorded as having taken place at the old Century Theatre – that she purchased said hat. This brought a huge roar from the crowd, which was made up of a cross section of 50-, 40-, 30- and, surprisingly, 20-somethings.

Fleetwood Mac still has it, as Saturday’s show made plain. Everyone pulled their weight, especially the recently returned McVie, whose voice was pure gold.

But like every other Fleetwood Mac show since he joined the band in 1974, this one belonged to Lindsey Buckingham. He is one of the true pop geniuses to have emerged from the ’70s, and on Saturday, he proved it one more time.

Fleetwood Mac Live in Buffalo
T-MAK WORLD also reviewed the show... Check out their review here.

Gold Dust Woman
Silver Springs
< Don't Stop

Video: Fleetwood Mac Live in Washington, DC - January 30, 2015

Fleetwood Mac Live - Washington, DC
Verizon Center - January 30, 2015

Gypsy intro story.... Different angle from what you normally see.. Shot from the side of the stage showing Christine and John taking a break while Stevie tells her story.

Go Your Own way... Stevie let's a couple of people in the front row touch her tamborine as she passes by.

I Know I'm Not Wrong

Landslide... including the dedication

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in Providence, RI January 28, 2015

Fleetwood Mac celebrates its songbird’s return
by Andy Smith
Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — “She makes us all complete,” said Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood.

He was referring to singer and keyboard player Christine McVie, back with the band after a 16-year absence. Her return brings the band back to its most successful lineup, the one that sold a zillion copies of “Rumours” back in 1977.

McVie doesn’t have the mystic gypsy-witch appeal of Stevie Nicks, nor the guitar prowess of Lindsey Buckingham, but her presence solidifies the band — and she’s written some of the most appealing songs in their catalog.

Fans at the band’s show at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center Wednesday night looking for prime-time Fleetwood Mac got their wish, with a two-and-half hour show that included big chunks of “Rumours” and its predecessor, 1975′s “Fleetwood Mac.”

The three singers, McVie, Buckingham and Nicks, ranged across the front of the stage, with the rhythm section of Fleetwood and bassist John McVie just behind. At the back of the stage were some reinforcements — an additional guitarist, keyboard player and three backup singers.

As a wise man once said, we get by with a little help from our friends, and the augmented Fleetwood Mac mostly sounded good Wednesday. The exception was the drums, which were mixed too loud, particularly early in the show, and nearly drowned out the singing on numbers such as “Second Hand News.”

The show opened with a potent string of hits: “The Chain,” “You Make Loving Fun” “Dreams,” “Second Hand News,” and Nicks’ signature “Rhiannon.”

Band members were in a talkative mood, heaping praises upon McVie. They had come to Providence from New York, which has been spared the brunt of the snowstorm, but thanked the packed audience at the Dunk for coming out after the storm.

Buckingham took center stage on a rocking “I Know I’m Not Wrong” “Tusk” and “Big Love,” the latter a showcase for his solo acoustic guitar playing.

The band offered some interesting new takes on familiar songs.

For “Never Going Back Again,” Buckingham and Nicks sang very quietly, sometimes just above a whisper. There was an extended version of “Gold Dust Woman,” with Nicks donning a glittering gold shawl over her black outfit. The song faded to a ghostly echo as Nicks turned her back to the audience and stretched the shawl out like an angel’s wings.

Not that familiarity is a bad thing. “Go Your Own Way,” once it revved up, it had the crowd dancing and singing along, while Nicks shook her tambourine festooned with streamers and Buckingham leaned his guitar over the front row.

For their encore, the band did “World Turning,” with a drum solo from Fleetwood while he exhorted the audience (“Give it up!) through his headset mike. I have a “Just say no” policy towards drum solos, but many in the audience seemed to like it.

“Don’t Stop” might be over-played by now, but it had the audience singing along anyway.

The last word — or at least the last song — fittingly went to McVie, who did “Songbird” solo until she was finally joined by Buckingham at the finish.

VIDEO | PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Live in Uniondale, NY January 25, 2015

Fleetwood Mac Live - Uniondale, NY
Nassau Coliseum - January 25, 2015

TUSK
SILVER SPRINGS

SO AFRAID

GOLD DUST WOMAN

Fleetwood Mac Live in New York City and Uniondale, NY
Photos by Paul Searing
View Gallery

VIDEO: Fleetwood Mac Live in Atlantic City, NY - January 24, 2015

Fleetwood Mac Live - Atlantic City, NJ
Boardwalk Hall - January 24, 2015

SECOND HAND NEWS

GYPSY

LITTLE LIES

SAY YOU LOVE ME

#ICYMI Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks gives Rolling Stone a private performance of one of her last album's stand-outs

Watch Stevie Nicks Perform a Serene, Solo 'Blue Water'

Rolling Stone's most recent cover story is a long, intimate look into the life of Stevie Nicks. While the issue was coming together, the Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter sat behind a piano and played a handful of songs for our cameras. Above, watch her perform "Blue Water," a meditative track that from last year's 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault. Lady Antebellum provide harmonies on the record, but here Nicks goes completely solo.

More at: Rolling Stone

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

Out Now! Order from Stevienicksofficial.com

Fleetwood Mac's Wednesday show in Providence, RI may be pushed to Thursday

Due to the blizzard warning and state of emergency issued by Gov. Gina Raimondo, the Providence Journal is reporting that -- "Fleetwood Mac: Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and crew are scheduled to play at the Dunk on Wednesday night. Their stage crew traveled to Providence Monday and the performers are due to drive from New York City to Rhode Island Wednesday but if the state of emergency isn’t lifted by early Wednesday, the concert will be pushed to Thursday."

Source: Providence Journal

So depending on the severity of the storm and whether or not travel is allowed on the roads, the Fleetwood Mac show scheduled for Wednesday, may be pushed to Thursday.  Please check with the Dunkin' Donut Centre before heading out on Wednesday.  They will likely post updates to their facebook page as well.

Update: 4:00PM ET January 27th - The show is still scheduled as planned.

Review | Photos | Video: Fleetwood Mac Live in NYC January 22, 2015

Fleetwood Mac Live in New York City
Madison Square Garden
January 22, 2015

Photos by Jason Sheldon
View Gallery at Live Nation on Facebook

AS V CONTINUE TO CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF OUR 2015 MUSIC ISSUE, ONE OF THE INDUSTRY’S MOST LEGENDARY BANDS TAKES THE STAGE IN NEW YORK CITY. BELOW, V BRING YOU A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF FLEETWOOD MAC'S TOUCHING SHOW, WHICH  WAS JAM-PACKED WITH EMOTION, A WHOLE LOT OF SHAWL-TWIRLING, AND OVER FORTY YEARS OF ROCK-AND-ROLL MEMORIES.

V Magazine

Photos Carl Scheffel

Review: William Defebaugh

View More Photos

“We’re a band that has had our fair share of ups and downs… But I think what makes us who we are is that we have persevered,” said rock legend Lindsey Buckingham to a packed arena at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

With the return of Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mack's On With The Show tour marks the first time the entire band has played together in 16 years, making it an emotional affair. Each of the group's four other members—Buckingham, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and of course, Stevie Nicks—pay tribute to their “Songbird” at various points throughout the show in their own touching ways. 

Watching five incredibly talented individuals who have suffered loss and heartbreak, who have broken up and gotten back together more times than anyone can count, won countless awards and sold millions of records, stand on stage together again after so many years feels powerful in and of itself. Nicks even thanks the audience for her return, saying—in very Stevie Nicks fashion—that she knows it was the fans that willed her back to the stage.

It is this degree of history—a muddled mixture of fact, rumor, and myth—that gives each song an added layer of emotional significance. Despite their tumultuous history, when Nicks comes out to sing “Landslide,” she bows to Buckingham as he performs his brilliantly executed guitar solo. Even with such a small gesture, the audience can’t help but be moved.

The band cycles through their incredible compendium of hits—“The Chain,” “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,”—that have earned it icon status. Even the more straightforward and upbeat hits feel somehow more sentimental. The expression on Buckingham's face and the emotion in his voice as he sings “Never Going Back Again,” stirs an unexpectedly awestruck reaction in the audience.

Perhaps one of the most touching moments is when Nicks introduces “Gypsy,” and explains that the song conjures one of her most poignant memories of the band’s early days: she was in San Francisco vintage store The Velvet Underground, looking at the same four people with whom she shares the stage, and she knew that they were then—and always would be—Fleetwood Mac. 

SILVER SPRINGS
LITTLE LIES
GO YOUR OWN WAY
EVERYWHERE
SEVEN WONDERS

Stevie Nicks interview... This week's Maclean's Magazine (Canada)

‘I lived that song many times’: In conversation with Stevie Nicks

Elio Iannacci

McLeans Magazine

Stevie Nicks talks with Elio Iannacci on a recent cameo, a Fleetwood Mac reunion and a new solo album decades in the making.

Q (Elio Iannacci): Your album 24 Karat Gold took more than 30 years to make. Has there been some sort of cathartic release now that the demos are re-recorded?

A (Stevie Nicks): I haven’t gotten to enjoy it at all. Rehearsal for the Fleetwood Mac tour started the sixth of August, and we made 24 Karat Gold in three five-day weeks in Nashville, and then came back to my house in Los Angeles and did three more five-day weeks.

Q: Rather than have a current photo of yourself taken for the album cover, why did you choose to use a photograph from the ’70s?

A: It takes away the conceptual thing of finding a photographer that you like, that’s going to shoot you right, that’s going to get a picture where you don’t look 9,000 years old. I have all these old Polaroids smashed together in shoeboxes. I pulled out one [photo] and said, “This is the cover; it’s a golden picture. That’s solved.”

Q: Who took them?

A: I took all of them. In those days, Polaroids came with a little [self-shooting] plug that had a button on the end of it. So I can be sitting here and build my set around this couch if I wanted to. I’d usually put flowers or found a lamp to put a shawl over and then start shooting.

Q: Would you consider them your version of selfies?

A: It’s not a selfie at all. It’s a self-portrait. I did most of those Polaroids on the road. I’d read something by Horst, the photographer. He said, “Don’t take a lot of pictures. Pretend like you have no film.” With phone cameras, you take millions of shots. This was carefully planned. An exhibit of them already showed in L.A. and Art Basel in Miami. I’ve made a lot of money.

Q: You’ve also sketched quite a bit. Are there plans to exhibit your drawings?

A: Yes, at some point. Strangely enough, I’ve been drawing all afternoon. I’ve just been working on a drawing I drew in 2007 when Mick [Fleetwood]‘s little girl [Ruby]—who has a twin [sister, Tessa]—almost drowned. I started with a drawing of [Tessa], who felt responsible. Then I drew another girl next to her and she became like the fairy queen. I called it the Fairy Guardians. I sketch the faces upside down because it’s like drawing from the left side of the brain or the right side of the brain. I never took an art lesson in my life.

Q: A song on 24 Karat Gold called Belle Fleur—originally from your debut disc—mines the memories of people you called “canyon ladies.” Joni Mitchell defined these women as people who were domestic and in traditional relationships in her song Ladies of the Canyon. Is there a connection?

A: This song wasn’t about that. Belle Fleur was about not being able to have a relationship because you were a rock ’n’ roll star. Those women are me, [my sister] Lori … and friends I had from 1975 to 1978. The [lyric] “When you come to the door of the long black car”—that’s the limousine that’s coming to take you away. Then your boyfriend is standing on the porch waving at you, like, “When are you going to be back?” And you’re like, “I don’t know, maybe three months?” But then we would add shows to a tour and I could end up not being back for six months. It was difficult for the men in my life. I lived that song so many times.

Q: The songs also implies there is a joy to that kind of unbridled freedom.

A: The [experience] causes you to become one with the road. I’m comparing it to the witches in the mountains. That’s just my metaphor with the [lyric] “Mountain women live in the canyon / dancing all night long.” That’s just us coming back from shows and taking Polaroids all night long.

Q: Many of your songs have been able to foresee your own future.

A: The real premonition songs were I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and After the Glitter Fades, which starts with the line “I never thought I’d make it here in Hollywood.” They were poems I wrote before I joined Fleetwood Mac. The lyrics are so telling: “Now I have a big house with pillars standing tall all around / I’ve got a garden with roses dangling down to the ground / and I’ve got money, men to love me / and acres of land / I’ve got all these things / I’ve got all these things but a small gold band on my finger on my left hand.” I think that’s probably the most astute premonition I ever had.

Q: A lyric from the song I Don’t Care from 24 Karat Gold reveals your disdain for getting a proposal with a diamond ring. At what point did you know that you couldn’t get married?

A: Right away! In the beginning of my relationship with Lindsey, I realized that being in a relationship with a very powerful, controlling man probably wouldn’t work out for me in the future as an artist. Something in my little songwriter’s heart said, “This is what I’m always going to do. I’m going to do that whether I’m with Lindsey or whether I go and find another guitar player to play music for me and we go play at Chuck’s Steak House.”

Q: Were you ever close to having a husband?

A: If I look back over all the men in my life, there’s the first category: those are the great loves. They didn’t understand. Even if they were in the business, they were jealous and they were resentful and had a hard time with my life and they didn’t like all my friends. They didn’t like the fact that the witches of the canyon were around all the time. The next category were men who really liked me, guys who trusted me—they were not the least bit resentful of what I did when I was on tour. They would say, “Bye, keep in touch, have a good time, be great on stage and maybe I’ll fly out and see you some weekend,” but we didn’t connect in other ways because my life, my career, just got bigger.

Q: They couldn’t keep up?

A: Guess what: I had two full-on careers going! [My solo record] Bella Donna took three months to [record]—which was not very long. When it was put out, it went to No. 1. I did a very short six-week tour for it and then went straight back to Fleetwood Mac. My [close] friend Robin had leukemia and was dying all the way through the making of Bella Donna.

Q: Yet so many of 24 Karat Gold’s songs are not about affairs but of what you call “the great loves.”

A: Those are the glory songs. I couldn’t write that album today. None of those songs were written after a one-night stand because there weren’t very many of those in my life. Those are all about relationships that lasted. All my relationships lasted.

Q: 24 Karat Gold could easily have a Part 2 or 3 because of the number of demos you have. What would you include on it?

A: I think that this is one of the best records I’ve ever made. So I can’t just let this record go. When the Fleetwood Mac tour is over, I might go straight back to Nashville and record eight or nine songs, and Warner Brothers can take it and repackage the album. I have another 10 demos. There’s a song that’s called City of Hope that I love that needs to go out because that’s [the name of the California-based hospital] Robin was in. I spent a lot of time driving through the big sign that says “City of Hope” when there was no hope. With a bottle of brandy and a gram of cocaine, thinking, “Please God, don’t let her die.”

Q: You also have a song about JFK. Is it on your list of possibilities to record for the second volume of 24 Karat Gold?

A: I’ll probably do that, too. It’s called The Kennedys. That was about a strange dream I had about meeting the Kennedy men, at a cocktail party benefit in the Hamptons. I went in to play the piano and sing [for the party] and Martin Luther King walked me down the hallway. It has this amazing part that I just think would fit with the world right now: “Please God, show them the way. Please God, on this day. Spirits all gather round. Peace will come if you really want it. Peace will come if you fight harder. I think we’re just in time to save it.” I’m ready for Jack Kennedy’s dreams. I’m ready for there to be somebody leading the country that somehow puts some kind of a respect and  charisma into things … basically the same thing that Clinton had.

Q: When I interviewed Cher last year, she said was 100 per cent behind Hillary Clinton becoming the next U.S. president.

A: Well I am, too. Hillary is experienced. Bill Clinton will tell you that he was in college with her and she was so much more motivated than he was. She’s the one. When I first met her with her [daughter] Chelsea, it was such a moment. She’s funny and she’s really nice. You don’t think that when you meet her but she is really sweet.

Q: Why is she the best choice?

A: She’s so damn smart. As far as the Republicans go—and my parents were both Republicans—there is no rising star. If you think of the great Republican presidents, there is no that guy. There is no John Kennedy rising in the Republican world. There is no Ronald Reagan. In the Democratic world, there is no that guy either. There is Hillary. Period. She’s my around age, and I’m 66 and a half years old. I hope that she doesn’t go like [whispers]: “I just can’t do it,” because she has a daughter, a granddaughter and a life and Bill. You have to forget about your life and determinedly and totally throw yourself into being the leader of this country.

Q: You know something about being determined. You’ve had to fight for many of your songs to get recorded. Which song would you identify as being the toughest one to release?

A: The battle of Silver Springs was pretty bad. [Fleetwood Mac] took that off [Fleetwood Mac’s 11th studio album, Rumors] and they didn’t even ask me. They replaced it with I Don’t Want to Know—which was a good song, but it was short. They took Silver Springs off because they thought it was too long on the record and there was no way to cut it down. I was told in the parking lot after it had already been done.

Q: You must have felt avenged when it finally hit the charts 20 years later.

A: I had given that song to my mother so it was kind of a bummer, because it ended up being kind of a dead gift. What was great was that when we went back together to do [a live album, 1996’s The Dance] it was the single. My mom ended up getting a $50,000 cheque two months after The Dance went out. To my mother, it had been a million-dollar cheque.

Q: Regarding the Fleetwood Mac tour, does it get any easier to share a stage with an ex who is singing about a soured relationship you had decades ago?

A: I just try to sink back into it and that’s not the hard part for me. The hard part for me is how physically difficult the three-hour set is. I walk off stage and I get into the hallways, and the first thing that comes out of my mouth is “This is too much for me!” It’s too hard, it’s too long, this set should only be an hour and a half long—we are all over 65! This is 40 shows! I feel like my bones are breaking.

Q: On tour, you thank American Horror Story for giving your song Seven Wonders a new life. Was appearing on the show an easy thing to do?

A: It could have been corny . . . but I thought it was just awesome. We really did just make a music video with me singing parts of Seven Wonders and Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You. I must have sung it [for the series’ star, Jessica Lange] 20 times because they had to film it from every possible vantage point. Jessica Lange is not an easy girl to get to know, but after singing to her for 10 hours, I think we made a connection. Afterward, I wrote her a long letter. In the scenes [we shared], she helped me by doing her part perfect every time.

Q: What would you say has been the most emotional moment you’ve experienced while being on tour with the band?

A: When I finish [performing] Silver Springs [with Lindsey Buckingham], Christine [McVie, Fleetwood Mac’s keyboardist and vocalist] waits for me and takes my hand. We walk off and we never let go of each other until we get to our tent. In that 30 seconds, it’s like my heart just comes out of my body.

Q: Do you feel that putting your solo work and art on hold for Fleetwood Mac has been worth it?

A: You get to a point in your life where some things have got to go if anything else new is going to come in. Then you face the fact that the Fleetwood Mac tickets sold out in three weeks for 80 shows. I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. I don’t want the audiences to be disappointed. I want everybody to be happy. I want the people in Fleetwood Mac to be happy. I do adore being back with Christine. She’s had a 16-year rest [McVie took a 16-year touring hiatus from the band]. She’s like ready to rock. I had forgotten how wonderful that was. I had forgotten how close we were.

My condolences to Mick Fleetwood and family on the passing of Mick's Mother

Richard Dashut (Rumours Co-Producer/Engineer) posted to his Truth and Consequences Tumblr blog today his personal message of condolence following the confirmation that Mick's mother has passed away.

Mick with his Mother
Photo: Annabel Mehran

RIP Bridget Maureen Fleetwood (Biddy)

"I’m sorry to report that I have just received personal confirmation from Mick Fleetwood, that his Mother, Bridget Maureen Fleetwood, has passed away at the age of 98 1/2. If you want to know the origins to the character of Fleetwood Mac, you need look no further than Mick’s Mum for that answer. From all of the Punters on this blog and myself at the head of that list, we salute the life of one of the most extraordinary women to ever walk the face of this planet. This is not Biddy’s world anymore, but heaven has a new Mum and we still have Fleetwood Mac! Biddy, may you rest in the eternal peace of death, you have earned in life and I shall carry your memory in my back pocket, for the rest of my days."



So sorry Mick!

I don't know if this will affect the next few shows or not. I'll keep you posted if an official statement is made or if any shows are postponed.