SUMMER RE-RELEASE OF RUMOURS

Fleetwood Mac

Rumours still hot

By JANE STEVENSON - Sun Media

Fleetwood Mac expects to hit studio after tour

In addition to Fleetwood Mac's so-called Greatest Hits -- Unleashed Tour (Stevie Nicks describes it "as unleashing a fury which is what Fleetwood Mac is a lot of the time"), the band is also planning a summer re-release of Rumours, as an expanded CD/DVD box set that includes studio outtakes, stills and film.

Drummer Mick Fleetwood points out it's the first time the band has ever gone on the road without a new album but he expects they'll go back into the studio once they've wrapped up their North American tour.

"There have been discussions for sure that we would love to make some more music," Fleetwood said.

"And I think it's really down to the whole sort of bio-rhythms of how everyone is feeling and what's appropriate. ... So I think the feeling is and the consensus is that we would love to be challenged to go out and do in a couple of years something with some new songs.

"My heart says I believe that will happen."

(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN ROCHESTER

Fleetwood Mac sticks to basics at Rochester show

Jeff Spevak
Staff music critic

DemocratandChronicle

Critic's standard review form (please fill out completely and submit for spelling corrections). Concert: Standard legacy rock act, Fleetwood Mac. When and where? Monday night, Blue Cross Arena. Attendance: About 8,000. Just a few hundred seats empty at the back of the building.

What was the band wearing? Drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie sported white shirts, black vests and motorcar caps, like a couple of chaps out for a spin in the English countryside. Fleetwood was also wearing knickers. Guitarist/singer Lindsay Buckingham chose a black leather jacket. Singer Stevie Nicks opted for several outfits, opening with a basic-black Wiccan gown with bat wings, later a wine-colored, sequined Victorian wing-backed chair cover.

What was Christine McVie wearing? Probably flannel pajamas and fuzzy slippers, the standard uniform for a night in front of the telly. She hasn't toured with the band for almost two decades. Three back-up singers filled her backing-vocal parts (and ably supported the husky-voice pixie, Nicks).

Did they play their hit songs? Opened with "Monday Morning." "The Chain," "Rhiannon," "Second-Hand News," "Stand Back," "Say You Love Me," "Go Your Own Way," "Don't Stop." You could have gotten many of them on the CD for $18.99. My ticket cost $149.50 (plus service charge of $11.35).

Continue to full Review

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits Concert at Mohegan Sun

Fleetwood Mac Shines With Greatest-hits Concert At Mohegan Sun

By Kristina Dorsey

TheDay.com

Even bitter breakups can't kill great musical chemistry.

They certainly didn't for Fleetwood Mac, whose hook-ups and bust-ups were well-documented back in the 1970s - and whose intra-band animosity would occasionally bubble up in the years after that.

Now, 32 years after releasing its biggest album, “Rumours,” Mac still bristles with the feisty energy of opposites coexisting. But now they seem to be coexisting happily. During their Saturday concert at Mohegan Sun Arena, the band members emanated a distinct, shared joy.

Central to Mac's success are the quirky contradictions between its two lead singer/songwriters. (Christine McVie, the third singer/songwriter, has retired.) Lindsey Buckingham sparks with edgy intensity. Stevie Nicks swirls with ethereal lyricism. It certainly made for a neat balance Saturday; after Buckingham's screaming guitar on one number, Nicks would swoop in to soothe with a ballad.

Buckingham - who is 59, a year younger than Nicks - performed as if the term “a man possessed” was invented for him. He attacked guitar solos, snapping and pawing at the strings, on “I'm So Afraid” and “Big Love.” He cooed and yelped, injecting each song with fresh emotion. It was heartening to see that he was having a hell of a great time, and so was the audience.

The beauty of this go-round, their first tour in five years, is that there is no new album to promote, so Fleetwood Mac is staging a greatest-hits, fans-dream concert. And Mac isn't merely settling for a musty revival-for-revival's-sake tone. Instead, the band goosed the old songs with fervor and new angles. The once countrified loping cadence of “Second Hand News,” for instance, was sped up and sung by Buckingham with a distinct aggression.

Nicks, too, often toyed with the familiar melodies - sometimes, granted, because she might not be able to hit the high notes like she used to, but often because it made for an intriguing twist.

Nicks' purr is now more of a growl when it comes time to rock, but her voice sounded supple on mellow tunes like “Sara” and “Storms.” And, yes, Nicks rotated through a number of costume changes that inevitably ended up a different variation on her signature look - flowy dark, gypsy-like ensemble, shawl optional.

Much quieter a stage presence was John McVie, but his bass work was sharp as ever. Animated Mick Fleetwood thwacked and swatted the drums in his own inimitable style, especially on that hugely entertaining drum rhythm on “Tusk.”

As if proving that you don't have to repeat history, Nicks and Buckingham worked better and seemed more figuratively in tune as the night went along, and they actually came out for the encores hand-in-hand

BUCKINGHAM NICKS IN FINE FORM (Mohegan Sun Review)

Fleetwood dazzles
Monday, March 16, 2009
By KEVIN O'HARE
Masslive.com

If you're sick of superstar bands going out and playing too many obscure songs during their concerts, then Fleetwood Mac's first tour in five years will hold a whole lot more appeal for you.

The 1970's superstars are out on the road and bringing a truckload of hits with them on their "Unleashed" tour, which was unleashed Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

While the Mac went through plenty of personnel changes during decades of rockin', this tour features four-fifths of their most famous lineup. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, singer Stevie Nicks, and founding fathers Mick Fleetwood on drums on John McVie on bass are all there. Unfortunately the great keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie, who retired from the band in the late 1990s to return home to England, is not back on board for the latest reunion and early rumors that Sheryl Crow would take her place blew up when Crow blabbed about it before the agreement had been finalized.

Nevertheless, there's plenty to like about this tour, which finds Buckingham in particular as well as Nicks out front and in fine form.

With tickets priced between $125 and $175, this wasn't a cheap seat, but the band nevertheless played to a packed house.

Accompanied by two additional musicians and three female backing vocalists, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees opened the two-hour and 20 minute performance with "Monday Morning" before Fleetwood's huge, pounding beat drove "The Chain," and Nicks said it was time to "get this party started" with a crowd-pleasing take of "Dreams."

Early in the concert, Buckingham acknowledged Fleetwood Mac's "convoluted and complex emotional history." It was a supreme understatement for anyone who's followed the band's soap opera-like journey through the decades.

"Because there is no new album to promote - yet," he said, teasing the audience with the implication, "we're just going to do the things that we love and hopefully you love as well."

It appears they succeeded on all levels.

Centered between two of Nicks' signature songs, "Gypsy," and "Rhiannon," Buckingham turned in a drop-dead brilliant "Go Insane," filled with the mesmerizing finger-picking and pure passion that he exhibited nearly every time he stepped into the spotlight Saturday.

"Tusk" started slow and somewhat eerie but built to a huge ending before Nicks brought her raspy lower range into focus for "Sara," while Buckingham offered the high harmonies.

An acoustic triad featuring "Big Love," "Landslide" and "Never Going Back Again," was placed perfectly into the set, which also included a few genuine rarities, including one they had never played live before this tour, 1979's "Storms."

While this is definitely a Buckingham and Nicks kind of tour, they did acknowledge Christine McVie with a sharp arrangement of the latter's "Say You Love Me."

Buckingham's firepower reached staggering heights when he did "Oh Well (Part 1)" from the days when Peter Green played lead guitar for Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham's take brought the house down, as did the follow-up "I'm So Afraid."

The night wound down with highlights that included "Go Your Own Way," and encore faves such as "World Turning," complete with a very amusing tribal drum solo courtesy of Fleetwood; "Don't Stop;" and a moving version of "Silver Springs."

CRAZY FLEETWOOD MAC JOURNEY - Mick Fleetwood Interview

Fleetwood Brings Back Blues And Beats Pop Icons In The Process

ANDPOP.COM
by: Ilan Mester

You may know Mick Fleetwood as a blues artist, a legendary rock drummer or as one of the founders of the Grammy Award winning band Fleetwood Mac. But you may not know that this drummer has his own line of wine and that he recently beat out the Jonas Brothers, Nickelback and Britney Spears on iTunes the day his latest album “Blue Again” became available for download.

In a recent phone conference, Fleetwood reminisced about his blues roots. “We were very much just a formatted blues band,” says Fleetwood. “Our love for the genre of music was extreme.”

As the drummer explained, since Fleetwood Mac started off as a blues band in 1967, he was able to return to his blues roots with “Blue Again.”

And in what he defined as the “crazy Fleetwood Mac journey,” there were members that came and gone, one of them being guitarist/singer Rick Vito. “I got to know him as a player and as a friend,” says Fleetwood of Vito. The two friends worked together on Fleetwood’s album.

“How we got here is really an affinity and a love from Rick and myself with blues music,” says Fleetwood. “And hence ‘Blue Again,’ you know, blues once more.”

The album features new takes of classics like “Looking For Somebody,” “Rattlesnake Shake” and “Black Magic Woman.”

But that’s not all the drummer has going on for him. Fleetwood is currently on the road with Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and John McVie for Fleetwood Mac’s sold-out North American tour — a first in five years.

“We’re right at the beginning of our tour which is going great, and as with anything you’re sort of nurturing some of the technical stuff and the production stuff to make sure everything is going,” tells Fleetwood. “So we try to pay as much attention to that until everything is as right as it can be.”

The tour kicked off on March 1 in Pittsburgh and features seven Canadian dates including Ottawa (March 23), Montreal (March 25), Toronto (March 17 & 26), Calgary (May 12), Edmonton (May 13), and Vancouver (May 15), before wrapping up in San Diego on May 31.

But until then, the band has plenty of shows to put on, and plenty of time to play around with the set list. “As the months go by we may, you know, have fun changing around the set, cause we are blessed with a chunk of excessive amount of songs,” jokes Fleetwood.

He says the set list was carefully thought about, and they made sure to include songs that had never been heard live before. “It’s all about what we’ve thought would be an interesting set, we’re doing ‘Storms’ which we’ve never done on stage.”

The concert will open with the hit “Monday Morning,” a song which they haven’t performed in about 30 years according to Fleetwood.

During the phone conference, Fleetwood also answered the question that’s probably on everyone’s mind: Why did it take them so long to return to the stage as a band?

“We had talked about this probably about 18 months, nearly two years ago and in truth, Lindsey did not put out a double album, he put out two single albums and that sort of put a dent in the planning of the timing of it.”

Fleetwood says this five-year gap worked out for the best, adding they have all “ended up happy and brought that energy” to the stage.

“We’ve all brought sort of things back into Fleetwood Mac, you know, certainly the fact that I’ve been very active playing as a musician, you know, I’ve gotta be in good shape to do this,” Fleetwood admits.

However, he says there was a time period in the 80’s where he ditched practicing to party. “I confess I was so busy sort of galavanting around and partying way too much that [drumming] got put by on the sideline.”

But this has obviously changed today, as the drummer says he’s been playing more today than in his early 30’s.

And when Fleetwood isn’t busy with his music, he’s busy with his wine. The musician has one of the most sold celebrity-branded wines and says that letting go of his wine, is like “letting go of a song or letting go of an album. You do what you feel you can do with hopefully the right integrity.”

For more Mick Fleetwood news visit mickfleetwood.com.

MOST OF THE BIG SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS CAME FROM BUCKINGHAM

Fleetwood Mac Focuses On Familiar In Uncasville
By THOMAS KINTNER
The Courant
March 15, 2009

There is no false pretense to the current Fleetwood Mac reunion tour. With no new album to push, it is a pure nostalgia play, a look back and the band's considerable height of popularity in the 1970s and '80s. At Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville Saturday night, the group focused on precisely that, a parade of hits that retained their accessible appeals even when the people forging them showed signs of wear.

With four of the five members from its commercial heyday on hand, the act leaned heavily on the familiar from the outset, opening with the contoured pop rock of "Monday Morning" as a showcase for guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who recalled the greatest part of his past appeals when barking lyrics. He was the sharpest part of the vocal harmony as he joined with vocalist Stevie Nicks for "The Chain," which John McVie's plump bass line pushed toward its familiar driving finish.

Always a somewhat unconventional vocalist, Nicks retained some of the ragged sweetness that was her hallmark, but made her offerings with limited intonation that stiffened the otherwise fluid pulse of "Dreams." The musical backdrops over which she hovered were sturdy and smooth, strong enough to cover for her flattening the lyrics of "Gypsy" and a brittle reading of the otherwise supple "Rhiannon."

Drummer (and lone original from the band's initial 1967 incarnation) Mick Fleetwood manufactured robust pacing for the likes of the rattling "Second Hand News" and the bounding "Tusk," the latter of which saw its marching band passages replicated by keyboard player Brett Tuggle, one of two support musicians who, along with three vocalists, filled out the show's arrangements.

Alongside such familiar fare as a Nicks/Buckingham acoustic duet on "Landslide" and a jaunt across "Say You Love Me," the show also ranged a bit off the beaten path, forgoing bigger hits (including some sung by the now-retired Christine McVie) for the likes of the flowing ballad "Storms" and the rumbling, propulsive 1969 number "Oh Well." Buckingham and Nicks also dipped into one solo catalog tune apiece; he strummed hard on an acoustic guitar for "Go Insane," while Nicks yelped at the synthesizer backbone of "Stand Back."

Most of the big spotlight moments came from Buckingham, who extended "I'm so Afraid" with an indulgent electric guitar solo, and turned the set closer "Go Your Own Way" into a finale that amounted to little more than everyone else in the band watching him work out. After an initial encore that included a full-bore trip through "Don't Stop," the group returned a second time, stretching its show to two hours and twenty minutes with "Silver Springs," an outtake from its 1977 album "Rumours." The show featured seven other tunes from that popular album, and not a one from the most recent Fleetwood Mac disc in 2003, a tally certainly in keeping with the show's greatest hits theme.

Fleetwood Mac's performance Saturday night included the following songs: "Monday Morning," "The Chain," "Dreams," "I Know I'm not Wrong," "Gypsy," "Go Insane," "Rhiannon," "Second Hand News," "Tusk," "Sara," "Big Love," "Landslide," "Never Going Back Again," "Storms," "Say You Love Me," "Gold Dust Woman," "Oh Well," "I'm so Afraid," "Stand Back," "Go Your Own Way," (Encore) "World Turning," "Don't Stop," (2nd Encore) "Silver Springs."