REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in London October 30, 2009 "Fleetwood Mac stick to what they do best"

Fleetwood Mac
Wembley Arena
by: David Smyth
The Evening Standard

Fleetwood Mac stick to what they do best

How heartwarming it is when a band of a certain vintage recognises that another new album would be about as welcome as rheumatism and heads out to play everyone’s favourite songs with no ulterior motive.

“This time we said: ‘Let’s just go out and have fun,’” claimed guitarist Lindsey Buckingham as Fleetwood Mac’s Unleashed tour arrived in London for the first of three arena shows. There have been rumours of a new album and even of Sheryl Crow taking the place of the long-departed Christine McVie but perhaps they got bored waiting for inspiration and decided to remind themselves of their many finest moments.

With a set drawn largely from the classic Seventies album trilogy of Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk, there could be few complaints about song choices. Other bases were briefly covered with a solo composition each for Buckingham and co-vocalist Stevie Nicks, a nod to the band’s early hard-blues incarnation with Peter Green’s stormy Oh Well and even a gibbering Mick Fleetwood drum solo.

But the music that dominated was that written by Buckingham and Nicks when they were in the middle of an agonising relationship break-up. Dreams, Second Hand News and Go Your Own Way all summoned glorious melodies from a painful place.

Here the ex-couple arrived on stage arm in arm and embraced after Nicks had finished her ballad Sara. In his sixties, Buckingham has become more of a rock singer than he was, often barking his lines and offering a finger-bruising solo interpretation of Big Love.

Nicks remained instantly recognisable in floaty outfits that were only missing a maypole. In black here, if she had appeared on your doorstep this weekend you would have handed over all your sweets quick for fear of being egged. That reedy voice, though, remains a thing of witchcraft.

With Rumours still high on the list of the biggest-selling albums ever, the band can’t be journeying the globe again just for the money.

Furious drawn-out versions of Gold Dust Woman and World Turning demonstrated an undimmed passion for playing and suggested a simple truth: they still love these songs as much as the rest of us.

OVER 35,000 TICKETS SOLD FOR FLEETWOOD MAC HOPE ESTATES GIG

FLEETWOOD MAC AUSTRALIA

The Sunday Telegraph

One of the most influential rock bands of all time, Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967 and experienced huge success during the 70's and 80's.

Despite affairs and drug and alcohol addictions making for a tempestuous history, the supergroup re-formed in 1997 for their 20 year Rumours Anniversary and in December, 2008 announced their new tour Unleashed - minus Christine McVie - which they've been performing throughout North America since March.

"The chance to work together again without all the conflicts that had once made things so difficult and hard to restart" Stevie Nicks said.

Classic tracks such as Go Your Own Way and Black Magic Woman have fans lined up to see Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham and John McVie perform in Sydney this year, and their Hunter Valley date in December will be the largest ever held in the wine growing region selling over 35,000 tickets.

For Tickets go to ticketmaster.com.au and ticketek.com.au

"DON'T STOP" FLEETWOOD MAC DOC. BBC ONE

"DON'T STOP" FLEETWOOD MAC

BBC One's iplayer is loaded with the new Fleetwood Mac documentary "Don't Stop" that just aired in the UK. New Interview footage is included from each member of the band including John McVie who NEVER gives interviews in print, on the radio and definitely not for tv! So that's a bonus right there... Sadly Christine McVie didn't contribute to the documentary but does appear in the program via older interview footage taken from previous documentaries.

If you missed it, and you live in the UK, check out the BBC iplayer BBC One.

On TV the program will broadcast again:

Fri 6 Nov 2009 21:00 BBC Four

Sat 7 Nov 2009 02:25 BBC Four

Mon 9 Nov 2009 01:30 BBC Four

(PRESS PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC LONDON

PRESS PHOTOS

FLEETWOOD MAC

LONDON OCTOBER 30th

    

   

       

FLEETWOOD MAC'S "THE VERY BEST OF" LOGS 2ND WEEK IN UK TOP 10

WEEK 2 IN THE UK TOP 10
Fleetwood Mac's "The Very Best Of" 2cd set spends a 2nd week inside the Top 10 on the UK charts dropping 4 places down to #10.

Sales for the second week: 17,541.
Previous weeks sales: 18.763

Top 10 UK Albums This Week:

1. (NEW) 3 WORDS (Cheryl Cole) 1 wk 125,271
2. (2) CRAZY LOVE (Michael Buble) 2 wks 112,314
3. (NEW) THIS IS IT (Michael Jackson) 1 wk 78,097
4. (NEW) COMING HOME (Soldiers) 1 wk 56,558
5. (1) OVERCOME (Alexandra Burke) 2 wks 55,429
6. (NEW) BELIEVE (Katherine Jenkins) 1 wk 30,572
7. (3) I LOOK TO YOU (Whitney Houston) 2 wks 25,400
8. (NEW) PEACE IN THE VALLEY (Daniel O'Donnell) 1 wk 18,095
9. (5) SUNNY SIDE UP (Paolo Nutini) 22 wks 17,706
10. (6) THE VERY BEST OF (Fleetwood Mac) 2 wks 17,541

(The Number 1 Album by Cheryl Cole includes the song "Boy Like You" which heavily samples Fleetwood Mac's "Little Lies".)

Other Charts:
European Top 200 Albums
For the week 10/31/09 - Fleetwood Mac's The Very Best Of debuts at #39.

Irish Top 100 Albums:
For the week 10/29/09 - Fleetwood Mac's The Very Best of jumps from #32 to #14.

Re-listen to Johnnie Walkers Sounds of The 70's

If you missed Johnnie Walkers broadcast on BBC2 today interviewing Mick and Lindey - you can relisten to the broadcast on Johnnie's site: HERE It's available for 7 days. The section with Fleetwood Mac begins at 1:11:33 - advance the player up to that point to listen.

Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham join Johnnie Walker to discuss the stories behind their incredible 70s back catalogue, which includes the hits Go Your Own Way, Dreams, The Chain and Rhiannon.

Mick and Lindsay have reunited with Stevie Nicks and John McVie for Fleetwood Mac's first live tour in five years and have released a remastered collection of their greatest hits.