Fleetwood Mac News

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

WMMS CLEVELAND... STILL MORE FLEETWOOD MAC ATTACK

Still More Mac Attack… from WMMS

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CLEVELAND PRESS

CONFERENCE

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Sydney, Australia December 8th

Loyal fans ignore the cracks in heritage rock
By: Bernard Zuel

Fleetwood Mac
Acer Arena, December 8

THIS is not meant to be a story about change. Things don't change in a hurry, if at all, in what the Americans call heritage rock. As in, solid as a rock. As in, preserved just as it was when we first saw it rock.

This of course is hardly going to cause complaints in an audience who have come for the security and comfort of the familiar: if they wanted new songs, they would buy a new album by some new artist. And what's an MP3 anyway?

The structure of this tour is much the same as five years ago: the songs - the hits, naturally, with one song each from a Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks solo album; the solo spots (Buckingham alone for Big Love; Buckingham and Nicks duet for the excellent Landslide); and the solos (Buckingham, as often as possible; John McVie briefly and Mick Fleetwood once).

There were also the absences. Without Christine McVie's songs this show is diminished and let's not get started on the wiped-from-history pre-1975 versions of Fleetwood Mac. And the additions (the multiple extra voices and instruments augmenting the remaining parts of the ''classic'' line-up).

But there were some changes worth noting and not just the fact that Mick Fleetwood's banal drum solo, complete with gibbering, was kept to less than 10 minutes (oh hallelujah!). Or that apart from occasional great moments such as Second Hand News and the set-closing Go Your Own Way, tempos and energy levels were frustratingly half a pace off, deadening songs such as Storms.

First, while Nicks's voice is in even poorer state than five years ago - the top range is long gone, the middle range is wobbly and songs such as Rhiannon can never recover - and her movements more stiff and limited, she seemed much more engaged with the songs, the audience and her bandmates this time.

On the other hand, a self-satisfied Buckingham was even more over the top, balancing his evident status as the healthiest and most capable musician in the band with a tendency to mug furiously and ridiculously. Perhaps unwittingly his voice was considerably louder than anyone else's in the mix so that when he and Nicks sang together her voice disappeared.

Not that the audience, wildly applauding anything and everything and offering standing ovations freely, minded. That's another thing which never changes.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

19,000 CAPACITY CROWD AT FLEETWOOD MAC'S HOPE ESTATES SHOW

Capacity crowd at Hope Estate for Fleetwood Mac
Cessnock Adviser

A 19,000-capacity crowd filled the Hope Estate amphitheatre for last Saturday night’s Fleetwood Mac concert.

It was the biggest winery concert ever held in Australia and according to Hope Estate owner, Michael Hope “It went a treat, the feedback has been very positive.”

He said the whole wine and entertainment industry was watching to see how the venue and infrastructure coped, and it went beautifully.

The crowds started to arrive around 4.30pm with Stevie Nicks arriving by helicopter and the remainder of the group jetting into Cessnock Airport.

Crowds were well behaved and the venue coped well with the record number.

Mr. Hope said that while he has no exact figures, the area would have received a huge boost to the economy through the number of visitors who booked local accommodation and transport, not to mention meals and other needs.

He said the big challenge was to get cars back on the road and the winery will be beefing up its message for people to take public transport in the future.

He said a big percentage did use public transport and this is backed up by figures supplied by Michael Kerr at Rover Coaches.

Mr. Kerr said the company organised 121 coaches and then needed to bring in an addition seven to meet the demand.

He estimates there were 40 mini buses on the road and another 15 coaches from outside the area.

Mr. Kerr said the biggest number of coaches used previously was about 90 at the Elton John and Rod Stewart concerts. “This has been the biggest by far,” he said.

Licensing sergeant Barry Meyers said the crowd was well behaved and that Hope Estate had enlisted 20 user pay police officers. Police set up a mobile command station at the winery.

He said the road structure does not lend itself to so many people and he also urged future concert goers to consider using public transport.

Upcoming concerts at Hope Estate feature Rob Thomas on February 12 and 13 and the following Saturday Cliff Richard and The Shadows, followed by Whitney Houston on February 27.