Fleetwood Mac News

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

CITY GETS READY FOR FLEETWOOD MAC ATTACK

Businesses prepare for concerts influx

By MATT RILKOFF

TARANAKI, prepare for D-Day.

Accommodation providers, cafe and bar owners, transport operators and retailers got their first glimpse yesterday of how the New Plymouth District Council is preparing for the expected arrival of 20,000 visiting Fleetwood Mac fans later this month.

Addressing 50 people at the civic centre in New Plymouth, Venture Taranaki head Stuart Trundle worked hard to make sure they were aware of the true scale of event. ‘‘On December 18, 19, 20 and 21 Taranaki is going to have it’s own D-Day,’’ he said, comparing the coming dates to the massive invasion of Nazioccupied France by the Allies during World War II.

The difference of this event to the ones previously held at the Bowl of Brooklands was the balance of outsiders to locals, he said.

‘‘Two-thirds are usually from Taranaki and one third are honoured guests. This time most of the people at the concert will be away fans . . . Everyone coming up will be putting extra pressure on everything from petrol stations to retail outlets. We say Taranaki is like no other and have to make sure we prove that.

‘‘What we don’t want is people leaving here with [bad] memories,’’ he said. In order for that to happen the council asked local hospitality big gun Craig Macfarlane to speak about what he had been doing to prepare for the unprecedented influx.

‘‘I’m not doing a lot actually,’’ he joked before getting serious.

‘‘We have to be careful not to underestimate this event because the concerts we have had till now at the bowl, the numbers have been inflated. They said there was 15,000 at Elton John but I don’t for a minute believe there was that many. Now we have 20,000 coming in from outside the province. There is no doubt we will be busy. We will all be busy, from the Daily News Cafe to the cafes in Oakura,’’ he said.

Christchurch pubs and clubs had not prepared properly for the 30,000 people hitting the streets after the Pearl Jam concert last week and punters had been left hungry, thirsty and frustrated, he said.

To avoid this he said increasing staffing levels for the weekend was essential and getting supplies in early would help things flow smoothly.

Council enforcement manager Lloyd Crow said licensed premises especially should make sure they are ready for the Sunday concert and apply for a special liquor licence if need be. ‘‘Five have done so and if you need to do it you should do it now, or tomorrow, as soon as possible,’’ he said.

Licensed premises will be closed at the usual 3am on Sunday and can remain open, provided they have the special licence, until 2am on Monday.

The council will also be talking with police about the possibility of relaxing the rule to have all outdoor areas brought inside by 1am on both concert nights.

IN MODERATION

* New Plymouth's CBD liquor ban is to be extended over the weekend of the Fleetwood Mac concerts.

* In addition to the normal operating days (Thursday to Sunday), the ban will be in place from 7pm on Sunday, December 20 to 7am the following day.

* During these hours it will be an offence to be in possession of liquor for consumption within the ban area.

* More signs about the liquor ban extension will be posted in the CBD.

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in Melbourne Night 1 and 2

Going their own way along an endless road
Patrick Emery
The Australian

THE addition of Californian duo Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham to the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie transformed Fleetwood Mac from a tight blues outfit to one of the outstanding pop successes of the 1970s. Far from curtailing the band's creativity, the tumult of intra-band affairs and substance abuse that characterised Fleetwood Mac at the time provided the fuel for some of pop music's most enduring tracks.

Now into its fifth decade, Fleetwood Mac was in Melbourne to begin the Australian leg of its Unleashed world tour. Opening with Monday Morning from 1975's Fleetwood Mac, the group was true to its promise for a show replete with classic hits.

Dressed in black and wearing platform boots with her trademark tassels, Nicks projected a gothic-boho visual aesthetic. Despite some warbling renditions of her signature tracks, Rhiannon, Gypsy and Dreams, Nicks remains a charismatic stage performer, and the theatrical antics that heralded the finale of Gold Dust Woman attracted wild applause from the crowd.

Clad in black britches, tights, white shirt, waist-coat and with bells dangling from his belt, Fleetwood looked more like a Morris dancer than a seasoned blues veteran. On bass McVie was typically enigmatic, his bass playing a model of elegance and precision.

While the rhythm section of Fleetwood and McVie is as precise as it was in the band's blues era of yore, it was Buckingham's frequent stadium rock-sized guitar solos that stole the show. In tracks such as Second Hand News, I Know I'm Not Wrong and Go Your Own Way Buckingham relived the drama of his break-up with Nicks.

The rest of the band filed into the wings, leaving Buckingham centre stage for an acoustic version of Big Love from 1987's Tango in the Night. Nicks returned to join him for Landslide, before Fleetwood and McVie returned to the stage for the rarely performed Storms.

In World Turning Fleetwood entertained the crowd with an extended drum solo punctuated with shrieking chants, before the first encore concluded with the perennial baby boomer anthem Don't Stop. The night ended on a softer note as Nicks led the band through the ballad-like Silver Springs.

The continuing absence of vocalist and keyboard player Christine McVie ensured this was never going to be a perfect Fleetwood Mac show. But it was a night full of hits, and for that we could excuse the lingering sense of self-indulgence that remains synonymous with Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood Mac play December 5 at Hope Estate Winery, NSW, December 7 and 8 at Acer Arena in Sydney, December 11 and 12 at Members Equity Stadium, Perth and December 15 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac - Melbourne, AU December 2, 2009

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN MELBOURNE NIGHT #2

DECEMBER 2, 2009

by Andrew Watt

HeyHeyMyMy.com.au

I’ll admit that I was expecting the Fleetwood Mac concert to be a pleasant exercise in nostalgia and the
opportunity to hear a few good (even great) old songs played competently by a band that was just on the positive side of going through the motions. I thought that there would be a few memories bought back and a slightly uncomfortable feeling that perhaps I’d be a willing participant in a session of dead horse flogging.

It’s not that I hadn’t been long time fan. I had begged my Mum to let me go the their Calder Park Rockarena concert in the 70’s (to no avail), I’d bought Rumours and the self titled album and Tusk and even a couple of vinyl bootleg albums. I’d had a schoolboy crush on Stevie Nicks and played Belladonna until the needle had worn through the vinyl.

But somehow through the passage of time and discovery of other music I’d kind of lost perspective on the band and their music. I’d consigned them to the ranks of Gold FM staples, and neglected the numerous strong album tracks and become blasé and a bit numbed to the impact of the half dozen songs that you hear frequently in the ether.

The line up changes, the half baked comeback albums and the saturation of personality based “colour” pieces in magazines had tarnished my memory of the band.

All that combined to cause me to seriously under-estimate this concert.

Last night they rehabilitated themselves totally in my eyes. (although I hesitate to say “rehabilitated” when talking about Fleetwood Mac!)

The first inkling that we were in for something special came with the first song Monday Morning. I’d almost forgotten that this song existed and it was a uplifting way to start the show. It lead into The Chain – surely a statement of intent for the band, then and now – and as the song built and Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar grew in intensity I started to remember just how much depth they had in their repertoire.

The start of the show wasn’t flawless. On Dreams the vocals of Nicks and Buckingham just didn’t seem to blend and I momentarily thought that the concert might struggle to reach great heights.

A couple of songs later Stevie told the story of how she had met Lindsey and how they came to be in a (pre Fleetwood Mac) band together. While the reason for the story was to introduce Gypsy it served a higher purpose as well. It immediately became apparent that the unspoken theme of the night was a celebration of the Nicks/Buckingham relationship. There was so much love and affection on display between the two it could have been horribly annoying but the sincerity was such that the audience were completely in tune with them.

In a way the concert was a very public act of acceptance, of understanding and reconciliation by two people who have realised that the emotional agonies of the past were just too far gone now to matter any more.

Buckingham’s solo song Go Insane was a welcome inclusion before Stevie performed her signature song Rhiannon. To be completely honest it was a dogs breakfast with her phrasing and the harmonies all over the place but it hardly mattered.

However the concert totally kicked into gear with Second Hand News. This is an under-rated song in the Fleetwood Mac songbook and when it gave way to Tusk the concert was up and away.

Sara gave us the magical and not at all cheesy Stevie/Lindsey ’moment’ but it was the next song Big Love that was the eye popper. Buckingham explained that the song was an important one to the evolution of his music and then proceeded to play some rock guitar that would have him ranked with the gods of the instrument.

Somewhere along the way I realised that I’d also under-rated Lindsey Buckingham. Perhaps its because he was only ever one of three lead singers in Fleetwood Mac, perhaps its because the band bore the names of Fleetwood and McVie, perhaps its due to the commercial solo success and media infatuation with Stevie or perhaps because he chose to leave the band for a lengthy period. Whatever the reason Buckingham has not received the credit due.

On the evidence of his performance last night he is one of the great artists of contemporary rock music. He’s a staggeringly good guitarist who plays with passion and integrity. He’s a great singer and he works tirelessly to deliver a performance that could never be described as perfunctory. His guitar playing in I’m So Afraid was Neil Young level mid-blowing. This was so far away from “easy-listening” it wasn’t funny!

Stevie best vocal for the night came on Landslide which she delivered beautifully and she did a good job with her other signature song Gold Dust Woman.

As the concert drew to a close with the obvious big finish of Go Your Own Way they had well and truly exceeded expectations.

While John McVie is rock solid and Mick Fleetwood remains a really good and fluid drummer (and a utterly loveable personality, in a crazy uncle kinda way), there’s no doubting that this is a show where Lindsey Buckingham’s star is in the absolute prime position.

This show was almost identical to the setlist from right across the tour and lets not kid ourselves that we got any special treatment. It’s quite probably that even the spontaneous moments were well rehearsed, or at least were well tested. But even allowing for this there was a real joy and commitment in the performance that had me believing all over again.

You cant possibly ask more than that.