FLEETWOOD MAC - DETROIT REVIEW (BILLBOARD)

Fleetwood Mac/ March 8, 2009/ Auburn Hills, Mich. (The Palace)
Billboard Magazine
Gary Graff, Detroit

Early in the fourth show of Fleetwood Mac's Unleashed tour, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham referenced the group's "fairly complex and convoluted emotional history," drawing a laugh from the crowd and even some knowing smiles from his bandmates.

But can there be a Fleetwood Mac without the drama?

The Unleashed outing makes a case that there certainly can. For the group's first tour in five years there's no new album and therefore none of the attendant tension that comes when introducing fresh material. Everyone is purportedly getting along well these days. And the group has had even more time to adjust to life without Christine McVie, now 11 years (but only one tour) removed from Fleetwood Mac. 

What that leaves the Mac and its audience with is hits -- an abundance from one of the most successful catalogs in rock history, more than enough to keep the two-hour and 20-minute show airborne from start to finish. The Fleetwood Mac that's trotting around North America now is comfortable in its position and is cheerfully celebrating its legacy, and the warm familiarity of its 23-song greatest hits set is likely just what its fans -- particularly those paying $80 or $150 for their tickets -- want.

The parade began with "Monday Morning" before sliding into "The Chain" and "Dreams," each in their usual No. 2 and 3 positions on the set list. "Gypsy," "Rhiannon," "Sara," "Landslide," "Gold Dust Woman," "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop" had everyone singing along. And the group still managed to deliver a few surprises including "Tusk," album deep cuts such as "I Know I'm Not Wrong" and "Storms," the return of "Second Hand News," and a rendition of McVie's "Say You Love Me" with Buckingham and Stevie Nicks trading verses. 

But more than ever, the Unleashed show underscored the fact that in McVie's absence, Fleetwood Mac has become the Buckingham and Nicks show -- which does not minimize the continuing strength of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie as a rhythm section or the six additional musicians' role in bringing a studio-quality sheen to the songs. It gave the night two distinct flavors -- Nicks' ethereal cool and Buckingham's manic edge.

It's an equation that gives a dominant edge to Buckingham, with his fluid, finger-picked guitar styles and aggressively inventive melodies such as "Go Insane" and a solo acoustic rendering of "Big Love." He delivered a spirited take of the original Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well (Part 1)," then tore the roof off with a searing solo at the end of the slow-burning "I'm So Afraid" that made it as much a highlight as any of the set's bigger hits. Nicks did rise to the occasion with her 1983 solo hit "Stand Back," and had the night's last word with "Silver Springs," but even she seemed respectful of, and perhaps resigned to the sheer force of her former boyfriend's musical personality.

Buckingham noted during the concert that "every time we get together again it's always different, always a sense of forward motion, and we always have more fun." The Unleashed show is more like a holding pattern, but few in the audience would deny there's fun in hearing all those hits.

FLEETWOOD MAC REVIVES A TIRED ROCK FAN

A reporter finds a recent Fleetwood Mac concert to be much more tame -- and enjoyable -- than the rock shows of the '70s

By KEVIN HELLIKER
WSJ.Com

CHICAGO: Back in the 1970s, a family friend in the arena business gave me passes to nearly every rock concert in Kansas City, making me the envy of my teenaged peers -- until the moment arrived when I couldn't take it anymore. Arrogant performers and their out-of-control worshipers had turned even the free-of-charge concert into punishment. 

But recently my wife, not knowing about this boycott, presented me with two tickets to the Fleetwood Mac concert Thursday night in Chicago, near the start of the group's multi-city tour. Having frowned at the gift, I owe her an apology.

The experience was sprinkled with Rip-Van-Winkle moments, even before the band appeared. When did everybody get so old? And so courteous? At a Styx concert in the '70s, a long-haired dude, impatient in the restroom line, took a swing at me for refusing to use the sink as a urinal. But in the crowded restroom Thursday night I heard only, "Excuse me."

When the band appeared -- very nearly on schedule -- the crowd did not go wild, at least by '70s standards, and that worried me, especially in light of a few empty seats in the upper reaches of the Allstate Arena. Back in the '70s I'd heard Stephen Stills, clearly furious about having filled only half the hall, spew contempt toward those of us who had bothered coming. Those temperamental artists.

But from the first to last moments of a two-hour set, the four remaining members of Fleetwood Mac -- Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie -- expressed what appeared to be heartfelt gratitude toward the sizeable audience they'd drawn. And they gave the crowd what it wanted: a complete dose of nostalgia, from "Rhiannon" and "Landslide" and "Gold Dust Woman" to "World Turning" and "The Chain" and "You Can Go Your Own Way."

I'm no music critic, but the band members looked and sounded great. Mr. Buckingham, always a masterful and eccentric guitarist, played the electric without a pick, sharper and faster than ever. And at age 60, Ms. Nicks showed once again that adding shawls and top hats to her long-dress-and-gloves attire can be more provocative than baring flesh a la Madonna. 

After two encores, Mr. Fleetwood bent his tall frame into a bow and said, "We are so blessed that you came."

Renowned for caustic divorces and boozy intra-band affairs

FLEETWOOD MAC BACK FOR ANOTHER AFFAIR

By JOSEPH BARRACATONEW YORK POST

Renowned for caustic divorces and boozy intra-band affairs, Fleetwood Mac never seemed likely to celebrate a 42nd anniversary. Throughout the years, the only constant has been drummer Mick Fleetwood, who stuck it out behind the skins no matter how crazy things got. Now the band - including Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and John McVie - is back on tour for the first time in six years, playing the group's biggest hits and a new version of "Rumours." The group hits Nassau Coliseum on Friday, Madison Square Garden on March 19 and the Izod Center on March 21. We asked Fleetwood about the reunion.

So, who caved in and got the reunion going?

There really wasn't any single person doing the coercing. We've been talking about it for two years, but needed to wait for the right time. Lindsey was working on solo records, I was touring with my blues band and both Stevie and Christine [McVie, a former member] were working on projects.

Is the group still tight?

Yes. John lives in Oahu and I live in Hawaii, so we see each other a lot. And Stevie has always been like family. We've all gone through such an emotional roller coaster together - everyone falling in and out of love with each other. Our story is pretty damn unique. A lot of the troubles Stevie and I went through are so well-documented, they've almost become boring.

Most of the band's insane alcohol- and drug-fueled stories are commonly known.

Any chance of creating new ones?

[Laughs] The days of putting up silver paper over the windows to keep the sunlight out are well and truly over. There's not much "partying" anymore. We still have fun . . . sitting around sharing old war stories, but nothing crazy. Most of us are in our 60s, with kids.

Which outlandish tale(s) stand out?

The thing that truly amazes me was the time we spent in the studio recording "Rumours." We made that album under impossible circumstances - everyone's life was falling apart. I was divorcing my wife, John and his wife Christine were separating, and Stevie and Lindsey were breaking up. It was a hell of a mess. But even though it was a horror show, we created something special that has withstood the test of time.

Any chance you'll be back into the studio?

I have three hairs left. If they all don't fall out following the tour, we've talked about recording again. I don't think we want to just sit around for another five years. We're all healthy, we still have loads of energy. [Laughs] Plus, some of us still have mortgages to pay.

I miss Maui," said Mick Fleetwood

FLEETWOOD AND MAC ON ROAD

Starbulletin.com

"I miss Maui," said Mick Fleetwood over the phone from Chicago. Fleetwood and John McVie, who lives on Oahu, have reunited with their Fleetwood Mac bandmates for a "Greatest Hits Unleashed North American Tour."

Fleetwood Mac is readying a special DVD/CD boxed edition of their 1977 album, "Rumours," which has sold 30 million copies already.

The band's four dates into the tour. "Business is incredible," notes Mick. "We are truly blessed to have loyal fans in this strange economic time." But, he notes, both he and McVie now have "too thin blood" to be happy in cold climes.

He's going to take advantage of a break in the Fleetwood Mac touring schedule to fly back and do a few island dates with Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, the members of which now, like Fleetwood, live on Maui. Their "Blues Again" album, not yet released as a CD, climbed to No. 18 on the iTunes sales chart immediately after release.

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Also, from BlogTalkRadio - here's an interview with Mick Fleetwood from March 6th to promote his "Blue Again" cd to be released March 17th. Mick speaks briefly about how the Fleetwood Mac tour is going and how they are getting along.

THEY make singin' fun

Newsday.com Full Article

One thing that's sure to happen is a new Fleetwood Mac record, though the timing of it hasn't been worked out, since it depends on how long the current tour goes. "We will have time to hang and maybe throw some new material around, whether it's after 46 dates or after we do some playing in Europe and some other places," Buckingham says. "Eventually, we will get down to making an album, but it will be after we've had time to be not only close as people but sharp as musicians, too."

And Nicks says she is just as determined.

"I think the world should have one more kick-ass Fleetwood Mac record," she says. "We're going to do it so the world can have it."

THEY make singin' fun

For its new tour, Fleetwood Mac is planning to play songs by former member Christine McVie, with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks handling the vocals, for the first time since McVie retired from touring in 1998. "Christine really was the singles queen," says Nicks.

Here are some of the songs they've considered:

"Say You Love Me" (1975) - Sweet harmonies and "Fallin', fallin', fallin'."

"You Make Loving Fun" (1977) - "Oh, woh-oh, can it be so?"

"Don't Stop" (1977) - A smash even before the Clintons.

"Hold Me" (1982) - Videorific, harmony-filled single from "Mirage."

"Little Lies" (1987) - Classic Mac updated with '80s pop.

-Glenn Gamboa

BRAND NEW "STUDIO" VERSIONS OF CLASSICS

Here's an interesting bit of information on Stevie Nicks' "Soundstage Sessions" CD that is being released on March 31st. The 10 track CD being released in conjunction with the "Live in Chicago" DVD appears to be studio versions of Stevie's classics along with two new songs "Crash" by Dave Mathews and "Circle Dance" by Bonnie Raitt. Triple A Radio Stations have already been serviced with a two track promo CD containing "Crash" and "Landslide" (orchestra version). Both tracks on the promo CD were assumed to be the audio taken directly from Stevie's live Soundstage show in Chicago. And that very well still may be the case, where they used her live vocals from the show.

But a Stevie fan has heard the promo CD and confirmed that the vocals DO NOT appear to be live vocals and are not the same as what is on the DVD.

This adds a whole new twist to this release... So are all the tracks on the CD really NEW updated studio versions of old Stevie tracks? Are they the vocals from the live Soundstage show but without the audience? Many many questions!!! Might explain why Stevie's website The Nicksfix says "The CD includes brand new studio versions of classics like "Stand Back", "Sara", "Landslide" and MANY, MANY MORE!"

1. Stand Back
2. Crash (Dave Matthews Band cover)
3. Sara
4. If Anyone Falls in Love
5. Landslide (orchestra version)
6. How Still My Love
7. Circle Dance
8. Fall From Grace
9. Sorcerer
10. Beauty and the Beast