REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Nashville, TN February 27, 2019

The new Fleetwood Mac finds its groove at Nashville concert
Dave Paulson, Nashville Tennessean
Photos Larry McCormack - view more at The Tennessean

If you attended Fleetwood Mac’s last concert in Nashville back in 2015, there’s at least one moment that probably stuck with you.

In the middle of performing “Landslide,” Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham paused for a moment and held hands. The crowd roared at the gesture, knowing these two had weathered more than 40 years of ups and downs together, both personal and professional.

That audience would have cheered even more loudly if they'd known how the next few years were going to go.

Ahead of the legendary rock band’s latest tour — which stopped at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday — Buckingham and the rest of the band acrimoniously parted ways.

In concert, his absence is impossible to ignore (unless you’re the members of Fleetwood Mac, who didn’t so much as hint at his existence on Wednesday).

On the other hand, it’s a challenge that has reinvigorated the band as a live act, more than 50 years after it formed.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Charlotte, NC February 25, 2019

At Fleetwood Mac show, Stevie Nicks confuses North and South Carolina. Or... something.
BY THÉODEN JANES | PHOTOS JEFF SINER
Charlotte Observer

Stevie Nicks was threatening to steal the evening, as can tend to happen when Stevie Nicks is in your band.

Not that there’s anything wrong with what the rest of Fleetwood Mac was doing on Sunday night at Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

It’s just that, well, Christie McVie — as remarkably velvety as her voice still sounds, relatively speaking, at 75 — isn’t much of a showwoman; and Mick Fleetwood — while he still seems to be having oodles of fun beating on the drums and shouting “WoooOOOOOOOooooo!,” at 71 — is perhaps too much of a showman, so that his manic persona almost feels like a schtick; and John McVie — I mean, he still can tickle the bass authoritatively, at 73 — but he now blends into the scenery as much as the band’s lesser-known seventh, eighth, and ninth men.

As for Lindsey Buckingham replacements Neil Finn and Mike Campbell, I’ll get to them in a minute.

But for now, like I was saying, it’s kind of hard to take your eyes off of Stevie Nicks. Or your ears.

Something about the way she drifts around the stage, twirling 360 degrees on her toes, shaking her tambourine to what seems like the beat of her own drum, waving her hands like a madwoman — it’s almost like everyone else is performing a show for middle-aged couples in button-down shirts and dressy blouses while Nicks is at Burning Man riding a pot-brownie high.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Columbia, SC February 22, 2019

Without Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac Offered as Many Gems as Duds
Fleetwood Mac ripped the bandaid right off.

By Jordan Lawrence
Free-times

The bass drum started that familiar thump, keying one of classic rock’s most recognizable slow builds, forming into the bittersweet anthem “The Chain.” But on this night, it wasn’t guitarist Lindsey Buckingham yowling out the opening number’s searing rejoinder — “And if you don't love me now / You will never love me again / I can still hear you saying / You would never break the chain.”

Friday in Columbia, New Zealander Neil Finn, best known for his time fronting Crowded House, took lead vocal duties. He and former Tom Petty backer Mike Campbell joined Fleetwood Mac following Buckingham’s dismissal last year. Finn never quite mustered the frenzied indignation that gives the song its spark, making for an uneven start to an equally uneven concert, one that offered stirring highs and frustrating missteps in equal measure.

Regardless of whether they feel they were justified in firing Buckingham, Mac’s remaining core of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie broke the chain. And while their new hires brought impressive skills to the table, their insistence — displayed during “The Chain” — that they could sub Finn and Campbell in without losing anything marred some of the band’s best songs. It also made them seem like entitled jerks.

Stevie Nicks Stand Back Collections Available This Spring From Rhino

Release Date Fri, 03/29/2019

STEVIE NICKS STAND BACK 
ULTIMATE COLLECTION CELEBRATES ICON'S SECOND ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION

Career-Spanning Collections Outlining Nicks' Entire Solo Catalog Available On 3-CD, 1-CD, 6-LP Vinyl, And Digital Versions This Spring From Rhino

PRE - ORDER HERE: STAND BACK

LOS ANGELES - Stevie Nicks makes history in March when the beloved singer-songwriter becomes the first female artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice - first as a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1998, and this year for an extraordinary solo career that spans nearly 40 years.

To honor Nicks' groundbreaking achievement, Rhino has assembled a variety of new releases that celebrate her solo career with essential recordings chosen from studio albums, live performances, and soundtrack contributions, plus several of her most-celebrated collaborations with artists including Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Don Henley, Lana Del Rey, and Lady Antebellum.

STAND BACK will be available on March 29 from Rhino as an 18-track, single-CD ($14.98) collection. Accompanying versions will be released through digital download and streaming services on the same day. STAND BACK: 1981-2017, a 50-track, 3-CD version ($34.98) will then be released on April 19, followed by a 6-LP vinyl version ($109.98) on June 28.

In 1981, six years after joining Fleetwood Mac, Nicks went solo for the first time with her debut Bella Donna. A massive success, it sold more than five million copies in the U.S., topped the album charts and produced four hit singles, including her signature anthem, "Edge Of Seventeen." More platinum albums followed - The Wild Heart (1983), Rock A Little (1985), and The Other Side Of The Mirror (1989). Music from all eight of Nicks' studio albums are included in the set, from Top 10 hits like "Stand Back" and "Talk To Me" to "The Dealer" from her latest, 2014's 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault.

On STAND BACK, those solo tracks are joined by Nicks' memorable collaborations with other artists, including "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, "Leather And Lace" with Don Henley, "You're Not The One" with Sheryl Crow, and "Beautiful People Beautiful Problems" with Lana Del Rey.

Beyond Nicks' work as a recording artist, STAND BACK also explores her career on stage with outstanding live recordings, including performances from her 1981 Bella Donna tour ("Dreams" and "Rhiannon"), and her 2009 live album The Soundstage Sessions ("Sara" and a cover of Dave Matthews Band's "Crash Into Me.") Rounding out the collection are several of her contributions to film soundtracks, like "Blue Lamp" from Heavy Metal and "If You Ever Did Believe" from Practical Magic.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live at Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL February 18, 2019

Review: Fleetwood Mac, remade and re-energized, salutes Tom Petty at Tampa's Amalie Arena
It was a homecoming of sorts for Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, who along with Neil Finn replaced Lindsey Buckingham in the band.

Review and Photo by Jay Cridlin
Tampa Bay Times

Most reviews of a legendary rock band that’s been around half a century don’t lead with the replacement guitarist who joined last year.

But this is Florida, and the heck if we’re not kicking it off with Mike Campbell.

"I gotta say, for myself personally, it’s so good to be back in the state of Florida where I grew up," the Fleetwood Mac guitarist -- man, that still sounds so weird -- told 17,000 fans midway through Monday's sold-out concert at Amalie Arena in Tampa. "Orlando, Jacksonville and of course Gainesville, where I started my band many years ago with my friend Tom."

And with the ovation that followed, the Heartbreaker hero removed his hat, bowed, and, in his first Florida show since Tom Petty’s death, ripped through a version of the vintage Mac cut (and Heartbreaker favorite) Oh Well that would’ve made his late bandmate proud.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Tampa, FL February 18, 2019

In Tampa, Fleetwood Mac survives a slow start and hypnotizes a sold-out Amalie Arena
Gold dust and rust can coexist, right?

BY RAY ROA | PHOTOS KAMRAN MALIK
Creative Loafing View Photos

Forty-five minutes. That’s approximately how long many Fleetwood Mac fans waited before heading to the facilities during the band’s sold-out, Monday night show at Tampa’s Amalie Arena.

The exodus happened as Christine McVie and Crowded House’s Neil Finn (one of two newly minted Mac-ers) dusted off an old Fleetwood Mac cut from Kiln House. The band rarely played the song until last year. In fact, it’s been nearly half a century since the album it was pulled from was released.

But last night was as good a time as any to find new levels of nostalgia.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in New Orleans February 16, 2019

A reborn Fleetwood Mac showed all its strengths during sold-out New Orleans concert
BY KEITH SPERA
The Advocate | Photos: Jeff Strout

Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks had just concluded “Gypsy” on Saturday at the Smoothie King Center when guitarist Mike Campbell stepped to the microphone.

“She is our gypsy!” Campbell enthused.

He didn’t say, “She is Fleetwood Mac’s gypsy.” Instead, he used the first-person plural possessive, “our.”

That Campbell felt comfortable enough and empowered enough to count himself in that "our" spoke volumes about his status in Fleetwood Mac. The Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers alumnus, as well as Crowded House singer/guitarist Neil Finn, joined the band last year to replace the fired Lindsey Buckingham.

But as Campbell’s comment illustrated, and as the whole of the two-plus hour performance demonstrated, he and Finn are not simply stand-ins. They are fully ingrained members of a new incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, the latest of many roster re-configurations.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in NOLA February 16, 2019

Fleetwood Mac’s New Orleans gig proves yesterday’s not gone at all
By Doug MacCash | Nola.com
Photo Dinah L. Rogers

Fleetwood Mac summoned the magic of the 1970s at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday (Feb. 16) with a string of hits that are wound into the musical DNA of multiple generations.

I was late to Saturday’s concert, but it didn’t take long for Stevie Nicks to put the squeeze on my heart yet again with her fragile, girlish voice, as she sang “Landslide." Nicks' melancholy contemplation of the passage of time probably seemed more profound than ever to her audience, many of whom had silver hair that shone like snow-covered hills. 

Before the song, Nicks had congratulated guitarist Neil Finn (a newcomer to the band) on the imminent arrival of a grandchild. 

But, as anyone in attendance will tell you, the years have not dimmed the band’s passion or musicianship. Mick Fleetwood attacked his array of drums and cymbals as athletically as in days of old, Christine McVie’s understated vocals still poured from beneath her shaggy bangs as unwaveringly as ever and Mike Campbell (an alumnus of the late Tom Petty’s band who is replacing Lindsey Buckingham on the current tour) provided the soaring symphonic leads the band’s classics demanded.

The group closed the concert with “Go Your Own Way,” Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” and “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow,” a trio of anthems that seemed to capture the sweep of the band’s tumultuous half-century career (the group’s personal and professional ups and downs are legendary).  

Fleetwood Mac (whose original members have all entered their eighth decades) ended their New Orleans show with a wistful duet by Nicks and McVie called “All Over Again,” that left no doubt that they wouldn't trade their long experience together. “Let's stop before it's too late,” the venerable rockers sang, “and leave it all up to the fates, ‘cause in spite of the heartaches and troubles in love, I'd do it all over, I’d do it all over again.”

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Birmingham, AL February 13, 2019

What happens when Fleetwood Mac says bye-bye Buckingham?
By Mary Colurso
AL.com

Photos: By Joe Songer

Fact: It takes two people to replace Lindsey Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac.

Opinion: Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers did a fine job of it on Wednesday night at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena in Birmingham.

Confession: It’s difficult to evaluate the current incarnation of Fleetwood Mac without taking note of Buckingham’s absence. He made an indelible mark on the classic rock band during its heyday in the 1970s and ’80s, defining much of the music as a guitarist, songwriter and singer. That’s not to diminish the contributions of the other band members -- Fleetwood Mac made its fame as a complex and multi-faceted piece of machinery -- but to say that Buckingham mattered. He definitely mattered.

Now that Buckingham is absent from the roster -- he was fired by the other band members, filed a lawsuit, settled it and recently underwent emergency heart surgery -- Fleetwood Mac is a less thorny outfit. That can be regarded as a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. Creative tension fueled the band at its peak, and Buckingham was a key instigator of it.

At Wednesday’s performance, the four remaining principals -- singer Stevie Nicks, singer and keyboard player Christine McVie, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood -- collaborated on stage in a polished, congenial, ultra-professional way. Nostalgia ran high during their 8:15 p.m. set, which featured 22 songs and lasted for more than two hours.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Austin, TX February 9, 2019

Fleetwood Mac Goes a New Way at Frank Erwin Center
Slow start aside, don’t dream it’s over

The Austin Chronicle
By Doug Freeman | Photos David Brendan Hall

When Fleetwood Mac rolled through Austin in 2015, Lindsey Buckingham provided the spark for the now half-century-old institution. With the longtime guitarist now unceremoniously fired, the double-axe add of Crowded House’s Neil Finn and Tom Petty mainstay Mike Campbell has received mixed reviews.

As irreplaceable as Buckingham, 69, may be, Fleetwood Mac’s new lineup ultimately proved a worthy evolution over the two-and-a-quarter-hour, 22-song showing this past Saturday night – even after a far from stellar beginning.

Working through a heavy dose of Rumours to start, hits “The Chain,” “Dreams,” and “Second Hand News” all spun out lethargically. Granted, nearly every song from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers struck familiar to the rafters-packed Erwin Center. Nevertheless, the kickoff run churned rote and uninspired.

The switch flipped six songs deep, as the core sextet – Mick Fleetwood, 71; John McVie, 73; Stevie Nicks, 70; Christine McVie, 75; Finn, 60; and Campbell, 69 – reclaimed founding F-Mac guitarist Peter Green’s “Black Magic Woman.” Nicks enchanted on lead with one hand gloved in lace and the other leather, but Campbell lit the fire as he worked the stage and guitar throughout the jam, ultimately pulling up next to Christine McVie’s keys, hat reverentially in hand.

REVIEW FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN AUSTIN FEBRUARY 9, 2019

Fleetwood Mac makes way without Buckingham at Erwin Center
By Peter Blackstock | Photos Photos: Ana Ramirez
Austin360

Last year’s trademark Fleetwood Mac drama that led up to the group’s current tour had already been plenty: the dismissal a year ago of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who then took legal action that was settled out of court. But the day before the tour pulled into Austin for Saturday’s Erwin Center show, word circulated that Buckingham had undergone emergency open heart surgery a week ago.

Buckingham’s reportedly recovering, though there’s concern about possibly permanent vocal cord damage. At 69, he’s the youngest of the five musicians who recorded the mid-1970s classic “Rumours” and “Fleetwood Mac,” which together sold more than 25 million copies and eventually put the band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Recasting Fleetwood Mac without him was a challenge, though he’d been absent from the group for an extended stretch before, and Fleetwood Mac’s 52-year history is interwoven with significant lineup changes. Drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, keyboardist Christine McVie and singer Stevie Nicks welcomed Crowded House leader Neil Finn and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell into the fold for this tour, which began last fall and continues through September of this year.

How’d it work? Well, mixed results. There are moments when they clearly miss Buckingham. Finn’s a fine singer and did his best on indelible Buckingham imprints such as “Second Hand News” and “Monday Morning,” though it was hard not to think of them as a Buckingham cover band in those moments. Finn couldn’t hit Lindsey’s high notes on “World Turning” (a Buckingham/Christine McVie co-write), though he seemed fully up to speed on “The Chain” and “Go Your Own Way,” definitive Fleetwood Mac numbers that bookended the main set.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Dallas, TX February 7, 2019

Fleetwood Mac played a landslide of greatest hits at Dallas concert, sans mention of Lindsey Buckingham
Guidelive.com
By Tiney Ricciardi

Fleetwood Mac's split with Lindsey Buckingham marked one of the biggest breakups of 2018. But if the iconic rock band's longtime guitarist and vocalist was missed Thursday night at American Airlines Center in Dallas, it wasn't obvious. 

Fans packed the venue, floor to rafters, for a two-hour journey through a collection of Fleetwood Mac's greatest hits. Throughout the show, the group proved to be an indomitable and engaging force, despite missing one of its core members.

Guitarist Mike Campbell (Tom Petty's Heartbreakers) and vocalist Neil Finn (Crowded House) joined singer Stevie Nicks, keyboardist Christine McVie, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitar player John McVie, expertly filling in the musical spaces left behind by Buckingham, who is said to have left over creative differences. Only once did any of the members seem to acknowledge their former bandmate, though they stopped short of mentioning of him by name. 

"What a crazy, magical ride it is, this band Fleetwood Mac," said namesake drummer Fleetwood about halfway through Thursday's set, addressing the crowd before turning to Campbell and Finn. "We're absolutely overjoyed to welcome you to the band."

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Dallas, TX February 7, 2019

Yesterday’s Gone, But Fleetwood Mac is Still Here
CODY STARR | Photo: Mike Brooks
Dallas Observer

If you were to make a short list of bands that shaped music during the post-Vietnam era of the 1970s, Fleetwood Mac is arguably in the top five. While Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Eagles and a host of others were easily holding down the rock ‘n’ roll, Fleetwood Mac found massive success on the pop end of the spectrum.

Having just acquired the romantically involved duo of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood’s band hit pay dirt with their 1975 self-titled album and topped it with 1977’s Rumours, which is one of the best-selling records of all time. Despite the commercial success, the band’s 50-year history of strife and dysfunctional behavior has resulted in numerous lineup changes. That tradition continued last year when Buckingham was fired just before the group embarked on their tour. With big shoes to fill, Fleetwood and company went big by enlisting the help of Mike Campbell (lead guitar of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Neil Finn (lead vocals/guitar of Crowded House).

Thursday night, the newly revamped Fleetwood Mac lineup played to a sold-out American Airlines Center. Mac kicked off the show with longtime opener “The Chain.” Mick Fleetwood’s kick drum thumping in the darkness, joined by that signature guitar intro and reaching a crescendo with those big Fleetwood Mac harmonies belting, “Listen to the wind blow…” started the night off perfectly.

PHOTOS Fleetwood Mac Live in Houston February 5, 2019

Fleetwood Mac still casts a spell in Houston
By Joey Guerra

Fleetwood Mac's legacy is as much about music as it is drama. And they don't stop giving us what we want.
Houston Chronicle
Photos: Karen Warren

Lindsey Buckingham was fired from the band in early 2017 after Stevie Nicks issued an ultimatum -- it was her or him. Nicks is still with the band.

Buckingham was replaced by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House. The current An Evening with Fleetwood Mac tour boasts more than 50 dates, including Tuesday's show at Toyota Center.

Nicks was last here in 2016 for a solo show. Fleetwood Mac's last local performance was earlier than that.

The current setlist includes everything you want to hear: "The Chain," "Dreams," "Don't Stop," "Gold Dust Woman."

Photos Fleetwood Mac Live in Sioux Falls, SD February 2, 2019

Fleetwood Mac Sioux Falls, SD February 2, 2019
(Rescheduled show from October 24, 2018)

Photos: Photos by Chad Mercurio via Denny Sanford Premier Center

 

INTERVIEW Christine McVie Attitude Magazine

FLEETWOOD MAC'S CHRISTINE MCVIE ON 'AMERICAN HORROR STORY', PLAYING WEMBLEY, AND POTENTIAL NEW MUSIC
"I don't see any reason why we can't do another tour and make another record."

With a 50-year legacy of friendship, fallouts and iconic folk-rock hits, the Fleetwood Mac story is as epic as they come in music.

Over the years band members Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have married, divorced, made up, fallen out, and continued to release some of the most defining pop hits of the last century - and the drama hasn't waned now most of them are in their seventies.

Disagreements over current world tour 'An Evening with Fleetwood Mac' led to Buckingham's sacking from the group in April last year, with the guitarist and vocalist settling a lawsuit against his former bandmates in December.

Talk of that lawsuit is strictly off-limits as Attitude meets Christine McVie ahead of Fleetwood Mac's two planned dates at Wembley Stadium this June, but the British-born singer is a characteristically open book when it comes to discussing the legacy of a band that has defined her life since 1970.

Despite standing as the (relative) calm at the centre of the Fleetwood Mac storm, McVie has had plenty her own ups and downs during the course of her career, most notably retiring from the group in 1998 for 16 long years after developing a debilitating phobia of flying.

Since rejoining the group onstage at Wembley in 2014 McVie hasn't looked back however, and as the 75-year-old songstrees discusses eveything from Fleetwood Mac's unlikely inclusion in American Horror Story to why the popularity of her signature track 'Songbird' has been both a blessing and a curse, it's clear she's having the time of her life...

You've had a bit of a break from touring over the last few weeks - do you feel fully rested and recuperated?

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Denver January 31, 2019

Fleetwood Mac Brings Out the Worst in Denver at Pepsi Center Show
By Kyle Harris | Westword

The bickering started in the ticket line.

A fifty-something security guard attempted to persuade a crowd blocking the sidewalk to form an orderly line outside the Pepsi Center Thursday night ahead of the Fleetwood Mac concert.

A seventy-something man belted out, “I’m not moving again!”

“Don’t get fussy with me,” the security guard clapped back. Just as the older man started to lunge, his wife grabbed his arm.

Then two teens and their mom cut in line, ignoring the glares of everyone around them by staring at their phones like zombies.

Millennials, Gen-Xers and baby boomers had all bought tickets to see a band that has given the world brilliantly crafted, durable soft-rock soundtracks for breakups, hopes and sorrows. But last night made clear that fans of the band are just as unpredictable as Fleetwood Mac itself.

Still, despite five decades of operatic drama, with members sleeping with each other, marrying, divorcing, flaming out, returning and whatnot (a confusing saga that rivals the Trump White House in its indecipherable tangle of who’s in, who’s out and who’s suing or screwing whom) — the group managed to deliver a solid performance Thursday night.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live at the Forum Los Angeles December 11, 2018

Fleetwood Mac Find Freedom in Buckingham Departure at the Forum
LINA LECARO | LA WEEKLY
Photos: Rich Fury

The year may be winding down but in Los Angeles, the live music offerings have been more abundant than ever, a true gift for concertgoers that reflects the seasonal merriment and giving vibes of December. Except, of course, nobody is giving away anything for free, which means that for fans on a budget, decisions have to be made (many of you probably already maxed out your plastic for those Stones at the Rose Bowl tickets, not to mention Christmas presents). Obviously the live music industry is thriving, though. How else could Nine Inch Nails sell out six nights at the Palladium (look for my review of Saturday’s show next week) and Fleetwood Mac fill three nights at the Forum, sans Lindsey Buckingham?

I had never seen Fleetwood Mac live, so the prospect of finally doing so at the urging of my 12-year-old daughter (“Children get older/I’m getting older too”) was exciting, but I was admittedly skeptical that I’d enjoy it as much without the dominant male voice of the group. For my daughter, it was “all about Stevie,” and I’m sure a lot of people — especially females — feel that way. Nicks’ bewitching persona and gorgeous gravelly vocals have always made her the focal point and the one we want to join in with for an enchanted sing-along. But true fans know that Buckingham is as important to the band’s sound as Stevie Nicks, the McVies and its namesake percussionist. Or is he?

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in LA at The Forum December 11, 2018

5 impressions of the new version of Fleetwood Mac and its first concert at the Forum
By PETER LARSEN | LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
Photos: Kelly A. Swift

Fleetwood Mac played the first of three shows at the Forum on Tuesday and yes, despite what you’ve thought or heard, it is still Fleetwood Mac even without Lindsey Buckingham, the longtime singer-guitarist was ousted earlier this year.

Is it the same band it was? No. And neither is it the same band it was before Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks joined in the mid-’70s and – with members Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood – made Fleetwood Mac one of the biggest acts in the world.

The question you ask then is whether this version is good, and with the additions of Crowded House singer-guitarist Neil Finn on Buckingham’s vocals, and Mike Campbell, long a member of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers on Buckingham’s lead guitar licks, the answer is: absolutely.

In a set that packed 22 songs and one massive old-school drum solo into two hours and 45 minutes, the fans got almost all the hits they wanted and a few rarer numbers that probably wouldn’t have shown up if Buckingham was still in the band, while both Finn and Campbell got spotlight moments for their work in their longtime bands.

Here are five impressions that stick in the memory the morning after.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Los Angeles December 11, 2018

Thinking through Fleetwood Mac's tour without Lindsey Buckingham
By MIKAEL WOOD | LA Times Photo: Luis Sinco

The idea of turnover is baked into Fleetwood Mac, the long-running British American band that arrived in its latest (and possibly strangest) iteration at the Forum on Tuesday for the first show in a three-night stand.

Formed as a crusty blues-revival outfit in London in the late 1960s, the group burned through a series of singers and guitarists before resettling years later in Los Angeles, where Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks helped transform Fleetwood Mac into a polished hit-making machine.

So in a sense it comes as no surprise — as secondhand news, if you will — that the band is on the road this year after it fired Buckingham (allegedly because he didn’t want to tour) and replaced him with a pair of skilled but distantly connected pros: Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers.

For this famously mercenary group, no one — not even the architect of 1977’s gazillion-selling “Rumours” — is safe from elimination.

Yet Buckingham in recent years had taken to describing Fleetwood Mac as a kind of monument to durability. Having quit the band himself in the ’80s (only to return a decade later), he seemed to be putting across the idea that the members’ ability to “rise above the dysfunction,” as he put it to me in a 2017 interview, gave their music a “heroic” quality that distinguished the group from other classic-rock acts still doing business.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in San Diego December 9, 2018

Fleetwood Mac soars and dips at first San Diego concert with two new band members
By George Varga San Diego Union Tribune

Ouch!  The newly revamped lineup of Fleetwood Mac that performed Saturday at San Diego State University’s Viejas Arena didn’t begin its concert by burning in effigy recently ousted guitarist and singer-songwriter, Lindsey Buckingham, at least not literally. Nor did the 51-year-old band — now touring with two new members in his place — display any Photo-shopped pictures of Buckingham being poked in the eye on any of the three video screens that bedecked the stage.

But figuratively and musically?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by FLEETWOOD MAC NEWS (@fleetwoodmacnews) on Dec 10, 2018 at 9:58pm PST

Double-ouch!

The new/old band, which fired Buckingham in January, kicked off its hits-fueled, two-hour Saturday concert here with an especially impassioned version of “The Chain.” Not coincidentally, Fleetwood Mac performed the same song to open its 2014 Viejas Arena show, when Buckingham was still front and center. (It was the second song played at the band’s 2013 Viejas Arena concert.)

A standout number from “Rumours,” Fleetwood Mac’s classic 1977 album, “The Chain” was co-written by Buckingham and the group’s four remaining veterans, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie (who co-founded the band), and three longtime members who joined in the 1970s — singer-keyboardist Christine McVie and singer Stevie Nicks, Buckingham’s former girlfriend.

A love-gone-wrong song, “The Chain” is also tribute to tenacity and overcoming obstacles. Those attributes have defined Fleetwood Mac through its numerous lineup changes, including Christine McVie’s 16-year absence between 1998 and 2014.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Fresno December 6, 2018

Fleetwood Mac was in town with a new lineup. How did it stack up to the classics?
BY JOSHUA TEHEE FRESNOBEE
PHOTOS: CRAIG KOHLRUSS

Fleetwood Mac isn’t what it used to be; quite literally.

In April, the band fired its longtime guitarist and singer and announced it would be touring with a new lineup. So, Lindsey Buckingham was out (and not for the first time), to be replaced with Tom Petty’s ax-man Mike Campbell and Neil Finn of Crowded House.

Buckingham might take solace in knowing it took two men to replace him.

While hardcore fans might balk at the idea of a Fleetwood Mac without Buckingham, the crowd that packed into Save Mart Center Thursday night didn’t seem to mind as the band ran through two-plus hours of its biggest hits, plus a few choice surprises just for the tour.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Denver December 3, 2018

FLEETWOOD MAC KEPT IT CLASSIC AT THE PEPSI CENTER
Kori Hazel 303 Magazine
photo by Bridget Burnett

Few bands have had as storied a past and embodied as many different sounds and textures as Fleetwood Mac. Over the course of their 50-year legacy, they’ve lost members, regained them, pivoted directions — rinse and repeat. Stopping by the Pepsi Center Monday night, the conditions were almost no different than they’ve ever been, except at this juncture in their career, they stepped into the fray without core member Lindsey Buckingham. Stevie Nicks and Buckingham were the catalysts that launched Fleetwood Mac onto the charts and led the band to create some of their most cherished songs, so the absence was particularly jarring. In his place, Mike Campbell — the former guitarist of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers — and Crowded House’s Neil Finn took the reins. In Buckingham’s void, two people were required.

Much like the music Fleetwood Mac makes, the feeling was complicated. It hovered somewhere between the deep dive into the nostalgia of their incredible discography, and the unwavering desire to relive it. Nevertheless, the night offered such nostalgia, surprises and despite the circumstances, wide-reaching delight.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Las Vegas November 30, 2018

Fleetwood Mac delights Vegas audience at T-Mobile Arena
By Brock Radke - Las Vegas Sun

After Fleetwood Mac opened its T-Mobile Arena concert on Friday with the reliable, rollicking “The Chain” — a 1977 track from best-selling album “Rumours” that was used in the soundtrack for last year’s superhero epic “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” — singer Stevie Nicks reminded an already worked-up packed house that this was show 25 in the band’s “An Evening with Fleetwood Mac” tour. Then she suggested we all get this party started as the band rolled into 1987 hit “Little Lies.”

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Phoenix, AZ November 28, 2018

Fleetwood Mac go their own way with new lineup in Phoenix concert, paying tribute to Tom Petty
Ed Masley, Arizona Republic
Photos: Cheryl Evans

Fleetwood Mac have always found a way to tour regardless of which members could agree to tolerate each other's company on stage enough to pull it off.

There was even a tour in the '90s where the only two members connecting the lineup onstage to the albums that are destined to remain their most successful efforts – "Fleetwood Mac" and "Rumours" – were drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, the founding members whose names combined to give you Fleetwood Mac.

It's no surprise, then, to find them out touring without Lindsey Buckingham on what should've been titled the Buckingham Nix Tour (he'd have hated that).

Swapping out links in the chain that supposedly keeps together is what they do.

We've just been spoiled since the "Rumours" lineup reconvened in 1997 (with Christine McVie returning from a 16-year sabbatical for the On With the Show Tour in 2014).

So how was it?

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Delivers Solid Performance in Oakland, CA

by Ted Asregadoo
Popdose.com

Fleetwood Mac delivers a solid performance at Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA

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If there’s one word that describes the members of Fleetwood Mac through the years, it’s this: drama. The band’s rise to superstardom has been chronicled many times, but the continued tension between band members (most notably Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham) has been a source of ongoing conflict since they joined the group in the mid-’70s. However, any sense of lingering acrimony between the players after Buckingham’s dismissal from the group in January (and subsequent lawsuit by Buckingham citing breach of contract) was absent on Sunday night in Oakland. Not that one would expect pros such Fleetwood Mac to air their dirty laundry in front of a paying audience, but it was pretty obvious a major component of the group was missing. To fill the gap, the current Buckingham-less Mac found replacements for Lindsey who both hit all the right notes and brought a heavier sound to songs that are more Adult Contemporary in flair. Mike Campbell and Neil Finn are from musical backgrounds that are quite different from one another. Campbell’s career is mostly known for being the lead guitarist and songwriter of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Finn’s success is more new wave, with stints fronting Split Enz and Crowded House. Finn ably sang Lindsey’s songs and played mostly rhythm guitar, while Campbell filled the guitarist role Buckingham used to play in the group. Their addition to the group, while kind of a puzzler on paper, worked well in practice. Finn could sing in Buckingham’s key, and Campbell provided a more raw lead guitar sound to Fleetwood Mac classics. Would I have like to hear Buckingham singing “Monday Morning,” “Go Your Own Way,” and “Second Hand News?” Well, duh. Yeah. Of course I would! But Finn sang the songs with such gusto that the choice to put him in front of classic heavy hitters was the right one. In short, not only could he handle the job, he excelled at it. Sure, there are going to be purists who long for Buckingham’s return to the fold, but Fleetwood Mac has weathered changes in their line-up — with Buckingham, Nicks, Christine McVie leaving at various times. This tour, however, there are no pretensions the group can produce new music that can match the heyday of their 1975-1987 output — so they stuck to the hits on Sunday night, with a few deep cuts thrown in for good measure.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Oakland, CA November 25, 2018

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac get bluesy with new members in Oakland
by Rick Starbuck
riffmagazine

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OAKLAND — During its heyday in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Fleetwood Mac was nearly as famous for drama as for music. Despite big egos, love triangles and a penchant for indulgence, the band managed to crank out hit after hit and establish itself as true rock-pop royalty.

Following a widely publicized split with vocalist-guitarist (and key songwriter) Lindsey Buckingham, the band returned to the Bay Area, playing shows in San Jose, Sacramento and Oakland’s Oracle Arena on Sunday. For a band with such big personalities, the remaining members and two big additions showed that they are, as ever, more than the sum of their parts.

Taking the stage to the familiar opening kick drum thump, the band ripped through “The Chain,” a fan favorite that showcased the signature three-part vocal harmonies that define the Fleetwood Mac sound. Newcomer Neil Finn (Crowded House) held down the Lindsey Buckingham parts, including the iconic “Running in the shadows” line, to good effect.

A flurry of hits came next, each featuring a different lead vocalist: “Little Lies,” with Christine McVie up front, was followed by “Dreams” (Stevie Nicks) and “Second Hand News,” off Rumors, with Finn singing lead. Finn matched the soaring intensity of the original vocals without turning to mimicry. His performances throughout the night were solid and almost craftsman-like. It was clear he’s aware of the role he is now playing in a much larger musical machine. “Say You Love Me,” the Christine McVie-penned tune from the band’s 1975’s eponymous record, rounded out the string of chart toppers.