LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - EQ MAGAZINE

Lindsey is featured in the April, 2009 issue of EQ Magazine  Multiple page spread where Lindsey discusses his approach in the studio and his technic.

FLEETWOOD MAC - TORONTO PHOTOS 3/17/09

Fleetwood Mac are currently playing in Toronto. A few TwitPics courtesy of concertaholics:

(Review) Mistress Stevie Nicks lived up to expectations

ROCHESTERCITYNEWSPAPER

By Dale Evans

It was a celebratory crowd that nearly filled Blue Cross Arena for Fleetwood Mac Monday, March 16. And I think most of them had filled their bellies at the Dino prior to the concert. The rib-running-jam was so backed up that the hostess pleaded via loudspeaker for patrons to exit their tables ASAP and move on over to the bar because hundreds of concert-goers were still waiting to eat. Last I heard it was a two-hour wait, but it didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits. Everyone was happy as they strolled the bridge over to the arena.

As they aren't promoting anything -- yet -- Fleetwood Mac is playing just for fun. And it could have been catching if enthusiasm for the concert hadn't already infected everyone. Most of the crowd spent the night up on their feet getting down, which made me wonder why-oh-why the promoter wouldn't book this as a general admission ticket instead of the dance-in-front-of-your-seat celebration that it was.

All the fave songs were played, and even if a few made me cringe inwardly at their corniness, I was more surprised at just how many of the band's songs are really, really good.

Lindsey Buckingham floored me with his playing; he gave his guitar such passionate spankings that I'm sure some bottoms blushed. And if you were in the nose-bleed section, it mattered not, as the videos were masterfully manned. Yeah, that was him looking right at me.

Mistress Stevie Nicks lived up to expectations, slowly swirling and twirling in her shawl-draped costumes, caressing the glittering boas adorning her mic stand, topping off songs with poignant silhouetted poses.

Mick Fleetwood, well, he was just insanely spectacular. Yes! We're with you! And John McVie's bass was profoundly anonymous, just like one should be.

When the band stopped playing, no one moved. After being called back for two long encores, we were finally too tired to put up much of a fight. If it could be possible, everyone left even happier than they arrived.

MICK FLEETWOOD SPEAKING TO CANADIAN JOURNALISTS

Mick Fleetwood Still About The Blues
by Elizabeth Chorney-Booth -CHARTattack-

Mick Fleetwood didn't plan on being the drummer for one of the most popular and ubiquitous rock bands of all time.

In his heart of hearts, Fleetwood is a bluesman and as hardcore fans of Fleetwood Mac already know, when he started the band way back in the late '60s, that's exactly what he originally set out to be.

A quick primer for anyone who thinks Fleetwood Mac begin and end with their massive hits of the '70s like "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop": Mick Fleetwood (the only member of the band who has survived every single incarnation of the group) began Fleetwood Mac in 1967 with guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. John McVie, who still plays bass in the band, joined shortly after their first gig.

They were pretty much straight-up blues band, who became fairly popular. Things fell apart when Green, the driving force in the band, started taking LSD, which unlocked a latent mental illness. Green was diagnosed with schizophrenia, left the band in 1970 and has spent much of his life in institutions. Spencer left the band a year later after being recruited by religious group The Children Of God. 

Fleetwood and McVie kept the band alive, eventually recruited singer-songwriters Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham (as well as McVie's wife, Christine), and morphed into the the mega-group we all know today.

But Fleetwood always kept a piece of the blues in his heart. A few years ago, he and guitarist/vocalist Rick Vito (who, to complicate things even further, was briefly a member of Fleetwood Mac when Lindsey Buckingham took hiatus from the group in the late '80s) started playing together and formed The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. That band have just released an album called Blue Again!, which is largely comprised of songs that were part of the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac's repertoire.

Speaking to a group of Canadian journalists, Fleetwood says that for him, the project has been about focusing on the excitement of the early days of Fleetwood Mac rather than the sadness of losing Green and Spencer.

"They are all unbelievably great memories," he says. "This is where I learnt to be the player that I turned out to be.

"Peter was, specifically, an incredibly important part of mentoring me in those days. And we became great friends. The sad part is only that I have somewhat lost that connective as a friend. The music entirely inspires me and makes me really aware of these four little English guys. We had such an incredible journey in a very short space of time."

While Fleetwood is still obviously proud of his work with the contemporary Fleetwood Mac line-up, his affection for the original Fleetwood Mac, and by extension, his blues band, is unmistakable. While he's clearly just happy to be playing this kind of music again, he's also proud of the fact that his old friends who haven't been as successful in the later parts of their lives are still getting their props.

"I don't know where it all came from sometimes, but I know there's a regard for how we played music," he says. "We were pretty hardcore and elevated ourselves in our interpretation, which was as loyal as could be to the [American blues artists] that we loved. And looking back on it, I have to say, in a positive way, listening to what we did, it does really hold up. 

"The only thing that baffles me is why I didn't do it many years ago. I don't know. But now that I'm doing it, it makes me extremely happy."

Mick Fleetwood's "Blue Again" cd is in stores today March 17th.

YESTERDAY'S NOT GONE

Fleetwood Mac: Yesterday's not gone
Fleetwood Mac's current jaunt isn't a reunion tour if you accept the notion that the band never actually broke up

Vanessa Farquharson, National Post
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

It's been more than four tumultuous decades of hookups and breakups, arrivals and departures, hits and flops. But, finally, Fleetwood Mac has found some stability within its instability and the band is going on tour to prove it.

The Canadian leg of their Unleashed tour kicks off in Toronto tonight, and band members Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham spoke recently about the state of the band, its place in today's music industry and why they chose to tour without any new material.

"You know, all of the changes we've experienced have been happening since the beginning," said drummer Fleetwood. "Band members have come and gone, but that's just how our story goes. Looking back on it, it hasn't always been easy -- surviving that change is actually somewhat of a miracle -- but it's who we are."

"We never think of ourselves as a band that's broken up," added Buckingham. "We just feel that there are times to be together and times to be apart ... and we take significant periods of time apart. Because of that -- and because we continue to evolve and gain insight and appreciation for the road we've been down and for each other -- the songs can take on a bit of a new life every time we revisit them."

This, in part, is the logic behind hitting the road now, despite not having a new album to promote. And while some may be tempted to simply call it a "greatest hits" tour, the group insisted this isn't entirely accurate.

"It's the first time we've done this," said Fleetwood, "and it'll be refreshing in that we're selecting really emotive, connective songs that we've enjoyed throughout the years, that we hope people will be familiar with.

"I would love to do another album, to make more music, but it ultimately comes down to bio-rhythms, how everyone's feeling. We have careers and families, and it's a different perspective than it was 20 or 30 years ago."

Nicks concurred, adding that as long as a musician keeps playing, regardless of how much new material is written, his or her sound will remain fresh and original. What makes a good concert has less to do with the specific songs and more to do with how they're performed.

In her case, a sense of enthusiasm and originality, at least at this point in her career, comes from alternating between solo work and collaboration.

"It's kind of a blessing and you never get bored that way," she said. "It makes for a more exciting and uplifting humour because you're not stuck doing one thing, year after year."

As well, the constantly shifting dynamic between Fleetwood Mac's band members adds yet another dimension -- after Nicks and Buckingham, who joined the band as a couple, split up, there was a great deal of tension that often had to be mitigated by former member Christine McVie, who was married to the group's bassist John McVie and eventually left the band for good in 1998. Nicks, for the record, insists she doesn't need a buffer anymore.

"Look," said Buckingham, "our mantra is: Have a good time and value the experiences we've had over the years; value the friendships and the history that really underpins this whole band."

CONTINUE

CRASH / LANDSLIDE AVAILABLE TODAY

Stevie's Single "Crash" which includes "Landslide" is available TODAY to purchase through Amazon.com

The "Soundstage Sessions" CD will be released March 31st along with the "Live in Chicago" DVD