REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac - Manchester, UK October 27, 2009

FLEETWOOD MAC 
at MEN Arena 27/10/09

It's a funny thing about Fleetwood Mac, when I hear them I'm instantly transported to a fantasy 1970s that most likely never even existed and it's all what I imagine it was like based on stuff I've seen on TV. I'm pretty sure I'm to young to actually remember Rumours when it was originally released, so just why it has such an effect is beyond me. But I like it.

I'm not a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, and I'd never seen them live before but when I heard they were touring again I decided to get myself some tickets and check it out. The current line up is the same as the Rumours line up, but sadly minus Christine McVie and they're not promoting any new material so I knew it would basically be a greatest hits package, which suited me.

Continue to The Morningstar for the full review/pictures

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in Manchester "The Guardian"

Fleetwood Mac Live 

Manchester Arena - October 27, 2009

By Dave Simpson

The Guardian

"This band have a complex emotional history," begins guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, hinting at Fleetwood Mac's rollercoaster of bedhopping, cocaine, mental illness and religious cults, which is almost as famous as their music. While the antics (and some members) have been lost to the years, the music, particularly 1977's mega-selling Rumours, still defines AOR cool and inspires current acts, not least Bat for Lashes.

Without a new album to promote, the Mac are choosing songs for "fun": nothing from 2003's underwhelming Say You Will, but rather a fantasy setlist from their ravishing back catalogue. After a tumultuous The Chain, a hallucinatory Dreams and a wistful Gypsy, the band charge into Rhiannon, Sara and a drumming-led Tusk. It feels like seeing off an army only to face bigger cannons coming over the hill.

The songs don't sound exactly as they did. With leather-jacketed Buckingham – the band's Clash fan – seemingly on a mission to prove the band remain relevant, the AOR sheen has been stripped away to reveal the emotional turmoil and even anger that inspired them. The delicate counterpoint is the ethereal Stevie Nicks, whose dulcet tones cast a spell. The hug between her and lost-love Buckingham might be scripted, but it nonetheless seems as poignant as Landslide's lyrics about "getting older".

In two and a half hours, there isn't a dull moment. Highlights are a dark Gold Dust Woman and a Buckingham guitar rampage, delivered to a standing ovation. Fans of the Mac's 1960s blues-rock incarnation are sent into raptures when the band pile into Oh Well, so electrifying it could power a small town. As an exultant Mick Fleetwood puts it: "The Mac are back!"

(PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC - MANCHESTER MEN ARENA 10.27.09

FLEETWOOD MAC

MANCHESTER, UK - 10.27.09

A few shots by: PJ

(Gallery)

REVIEW and PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Live in Manchester, UK

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE

MANCHESTER, UK - October 27, 2009

REVIEW AND PHOTOS

IORR.ORG

Photos by: SimonN

BBC 1 THIS SUNDAY.... FLEETWOOD MAC "DON'T STOP" DOCUMENTARY

What's on the box this week?
'Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop' 
(BBC 1, Sunday)
Meathchronicle.ie

Almost everything that ever happens to a rock band has happened to Fleetwood Mac. One of the greatest and most enduring acts in popular music, they began in the 1960s and can still sell out stadiums in 2009, surviving countless personnel changes and inter-band meltdowns.

Featuring new interviews with Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, this documentary delves deep into the heart of the band, tracing the relationships, turmoil and changes and unwinding the complex love story between Nicks and former partner Buckingham.

Now, Fleetwood, McVie, Buckingham and Nicks are back onstage together, singing the songs that were fuelled by their 1970s relationships and their fall-out. Together they are Fleetwood Mac, one of the biggest names in rock. But it still hurts.

(PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC - MANCHESTER UK

Fleetwood Mac 

MEN Arena, 

Manchester, UK

27th October 2009.

Photos by: Phil Lee 

(gallery)