Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in Saskatoon Nov 12, 2014

New prolific, profound chapter for Mac
By Cam Fuller, The StarPhoenix
Photos by Gord Waldner - View Gallery

About 10,000 people showed up to watch iconic Fleetwood Mac perform in Saskatoon at SaskTel Centre, November 12, 2014

Not that they needed it but Fleetwood Mac got a kind of do-over after their last appearance here only 18 months ago.

That show, in the same venue, was a full-on, fully fulfilling rock show that found the legendary band still playing with commitment and zeal. But it did come with an asterisk in the form of the absent Christine McVie. At the time, it was too much to hope that she'd rejoin her band mates.

But clearly, fear of flying can be beaten, and it was the band's best-loved lineup that inhabited SaskTel Centre on Wednesday: McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

The set list was extensive and, if you think about the millions those songs have earned their creators, expensive - 20 plus massive hits that have become part of the cultural fabric without going out of style.

The Chain opened the show fittingly, since the links are again joined. The sound was full and percussive with forceful vocals by Buckingham (and he was just warming up). The big thrill here though was that iconic bass riff by John near the end. The strings sounded thick as fingers, the fathoms deep notes thumping in your chest.

The fans were sure to welcome Christine back with warm applause when she started singing You Make Loving Fun. Later she expresses her thanks for "a rare chance to do this twice."

With the missing link back, Stevie Nicks seemed more relaxed and into it.

"We don't get to do snow very often so this is pretty cool," she said after doing Dreams.

Review - The StarPhoenix Nov 13, 2014

After a stirring, fast Second Hand News it was clear this band was in fantastic form. Almost every song was made to be special - Tusk was almost scary and positively demented. Frequent nature scenes on the huge backdrop added mood to songs like Rhiannon. Not to be overlooked were the two backing players and three backup singers. Even the ballads had guts and drive.

This was no nostalgia act, Buckingham hinted, saying a new, prolific and profound chapter has begun. It's a big claim but hard to dispute.

Mac is back.

The band has seen its share of drama but that's what you get with strong personalities. The payoff comes when everyone is pulling in the same direction. The concert seemed to concentrate that passion and let it fly, whether it was Fleetwood's god of thunder drumming on Gold Dust Woman or Buckingham's furious strumming on the very cool I Know I'm Not Wrong. And with post-deadline landmarks still to pass, whether it was Go Your Own Way or Don't Stop, the well travelled road of this band seems to extend into the horizon.

Fleetwood Mac Never Sounded Better

Fleetwood Mac Live in Winnipeg
MTS Centre - November 10, 2014

by Scott Taylor
mytoba.ca

Concert reviews never seem to capture the quality of a rock show. They don’t capture the intensity or the response of the crowd. Concert reviews are often beautifully written and sometimes technically snobby, but they never seem to grab your ass like the band does.

Monday night at MTS Centre, Fleetwood Mac returned to Winnipeg and had about as much fun as any group of 20-year-old rock stars could possibly have. Considering that Lindsay Buckingham is 65, Stevie Nicks is 67, Mick Fleetwood is 68, John McVie is 69 and that hot blonde keyboardist/songbird, Christine McVie, is 71 says, quite clearly, that you are NEVER too old.

I’ve been to dozens of rock shows, but few have been as technically sound or as joyfully performed as Fleetwood Mac’s return to the ‘Peg as the original band on Monday night. They weren’t perfect, but they were damn close and the full house — and it was jam-packed to the rafters — nearly wet its collective self.

Now, I know this sounds a little hyperbolic, but hang with me for a second. These people are not young. They started touring a month ago and they are on tour until February. There are 68 dates in the On With the Show Tour. If they were going to take a night off, a Monday night in Winnipeg would be a good choice. Like, who’d ever know, right? Play a few hits and get on the bus. The rubes in central Canada would never suspect anything.

But they didn’t take the night off. They played for 2 ½ hours and they nailed it. From the opening song, The Chain, until an absolute killer rendition of Don’t Stop, they tore the roof off the place.

I know, it surprised me, too. In fact, the people around me were generally jaw-dropped. Fleetwood Mac has been doing this together for 40 years, it can’t be new or fun or shockingly good. But it was. It was 10 times better than I expected and 100 times better than my 29-year-old companion expected.

Continue to the full review

Say You Love Me
Rhiannon

Everywhere
Gypsy
You Make Loving Fun
Don't Stop

Review: 'Last night belonged without question to Christine McVie'

Fleetwood Mac proves triumphant at MTS Centre
Winnipeg, MB - November 10, 2014
By Nigel Moore
Metro

The chain has kept them together, after all these years. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Fleetwood Mac – the classic 1970s lineup of five – thrilled many baby boomers on a date night yesterday, as the band’s On With The Show tour triumphantly landed at the MTS Centre for a 2½-hour concert.

The mischievous 6’6” drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and his band co-founder, bassist John McVie (hence the Mac’s name), Lindsey Buckingham (guitars and vocals) and Stevie Nicks (vocals), who both joined back in ’75, and the returning songbird, Christine McVie (keyboards and vocals): five distinct personalities who have somehow stayed together and made it work, going on almost four decades. Buckingham came back after quitting for several years in the late ‘80s, but last night belonged without question to Christine McVie, who is touring for the first time in 16 years after a hiatus brought on by her fear of flying.

Photos: David Lipnowski
VIEW GALLERY

Fleetwood Mac opened with “The Chain” from Rumours (1977), silencing any doubts they’re still a ferocious rock band. The follow-up song was Christine McVie’s “You Make Loving Fun”, which got a roar of approval from the audience to welcome her back. “Thank you for giving me a second chance; you don’t often get that,” she said before “Everywhere” from 1987’s Tango in the Night. Still sounds great, by the way.

Many came to see Stevie Nicks, whose sexy, raspy voice on “Dreams”, followed shortly by “Rhiannon”, doesn’t quite soar as it once did, but has gained a smoky quality that she makes work. Nicks can still twirl the heck out of a shawl and, at times, when she was dancing she looked eerily like her 20-something self, shimmying under her black top hat.

Buckingham led the band in an explosive “Tusk”, the title track from their 1979 double LP, which sounded surprisingly current and vital, then a heavy version of “Sisters of the Moon” from the same album – a damn cool song that Nicks really sold on vocals.

Mid-way through their set, the Mac stripped it down for a few self-indulgent acoustic numbers that slowed things down a bit too much. Nicks took the stage for a truly gorgeous “Landslide”…she is “getting older too,” but the gypsy hasn’t lost any of her mystery, nor magic. There were a few other, shall we say, less-than-exhilarating parts of the show. The worst offender was Buckingham, whose solos – one in particular that seemed to go on forever (another beer, anyone?) – were clearly appreciated most by the notoriously egotistical guitarist himself. But still, seeing him sing “Go Your Own Way”, the mother of all bitter break-up songs, with Nicks some 37 years after their split is still a blast.

Fleetwood left his gigantic drum kit in the back of the stage for a smaller one up front. Watching him play in person, you can see he’s a fluid, effortlessly powerful drummer. His trademark fills put the punctuations on his status as one of rock’s greatest drummers. Later for the encore, his extended drum solo within “World Turning” from Fleetwood Mac (1975) was both awe-inspiring and hilarious, as only Fleetwood himself can be.

Meanwhile, apart from a couple of short bass breaks, John McVie hung back near the drums and made almost no impression on stage. He could have been mistaken for a session player, which is probably just as he likes it.

Review | Photos: Fleetwood Mac Live in Winnipeg

Fleetwood Mac's terrific live show more than just Rumours
By: Jen Zoratti
Winnipeg Free Press
MTS Centre
November 11, 2014

Photos above: John Woods - View Gallery

Fleetwood Mac is easily one of the most rock ’n’ roll bands in rock ’n’ roll.

From the cocaine binges to the in-fighting to the affairs to the cults (founding member Jeremy Spencer left to join one in 1971) to the extravagant contracts (Nicks and McVie reportedly wanted their hotel rooms freshly painted in specific colours before they arrived), the band has the kind of history rock biographers dream of.

Dishy drama aside, Fleetwood Mac is also responsible for one of the best-selling albums of all time — 1977’s landmark Rumours — and a catalogue of enduring classics. And then, of course, Fleetwood Mac also has Stevie Nicks — that quintessential blonde California girl in her shawls and fringes, who inspired a thousand imitators with both her songwriting prowess and her iconic image.

It’s easy to get romantic about Fleetwood Mac, whose current (and aptly titled) On with the Show tour rolled into the MTS Centre on Monday night, the band’s second show in Winnipeg in less than two years. As Jada Yuan wrote in a Vulture profile of Nicks, "you don’t come to one of their shows just for the music; you come to watch them masochistically stare down their past before a live audience." The history onstage is palpable.

And with Christine McVie back in the band rounding out the most famous Mac lineup of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Nicks, Monday night’s show felt even more significant.

After opening with The Chain — which boasted a blistering Buckingham solo; the man is ageless — Christine was given a warm welcome back when she took over the mic for You Make Loving Fun. "Welcome Winnipeg! And welcome back Chris!" Nicks shouted before launching into Dreams.

As one would expect, the sprawling two-and-a-half-hour show was mostly a greatest hits package; if you came to hear Rumours in nearly its entirety, you were rewarded — the band played everything but Oh Daddy and I Don’t Want to Know.

Much-loved McVie songs — such as Everywhere, Say You Love Me and Over My Head — are also obviously back in rotation this time out, which was another treat; it’s been 16 years since we’ve heard Christine’s fine-wine pipes live. (She quit the band in ’98, apparently due to a crippling fear of flying.) And she delivered; her presence made the performances feel more "complete," to borrow a word from Mick Fleetwood.

She might not be able to reach the heights she used to, but Nicks’ voice has also gotten deeper and richer with age, as evidenced on Rhiannon, a purring Sisters of the Moon and, later on in the night, show-stopping performances of Landslide and the ever-haunting Gold Dust Woman. The latter, in particular, will go down as one of the year’s best concert moments. She sent shivers down this reviewer’s spine.

If Stevie Nicks, twirling in her shawls and her ribbon-festooned tambourine, is a rock ’n’ roll goddess, then Buckingham is a bona fide guitar god. I Know I’m Not Wrong — with the guitarist turning in a positively punk rock performance — was an early set highlight, as was the driving Tusk. An arresting solo-acoustic reading of Big Love — from 1987’s Tango in the Night — was a stunning reminder of what an agile guitarist he is. It’s a bit of a shame that he wasn’t given more room to stretch out on more extended jams; the solo on I’m So Afraid was a scorcher.

The energy barely waned over the course of what was a marathon show, but it never felt like it. A boisterous Little Lies had the folks in the first few rows on the floor dancing their hearts out. Main set closer Go Your Own Way — with Nicks in her top hat — was similarly resplendent.

The band returned for a sizzling four-song encore that included World Turning (which, like last time, featured a pummelling Fleetwood drum solo), a bouncy Don’t Stop, Silver Springs — written for Lindsey, according to Mac lore — and, fittingly, closed with a spare, stripped-down version Christine McVie’s lovely Songbird.

Maybe Buckingham was right when he said this was the start of a new chapter for Fleetwood Mac earlier in the night. This isn’t a mere nostalgia act. This is a band renewed.

Photo by Sarah Taylor | Chrisd.ca - VIEW GALLERY

Fleetwood Mac Announce Europe/UK Dates Through May - June 2015

MAY 2015
May 27 - The O2, London
May 28 - The O2, London

JUNE 2015
June 01 - Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam
June 04 - Lanxess Arena, Cologne
June 06 - Sportspaleis, Antwerp
June 08 - Genting Arena, Birmingham
June 12 - Manchester Arena, Manchester
June 16 - SSE Hydro, Glasgow
June 20 - 3Arena, Dublin
June 30 - First Direct Arena, Leeds

- 02 Priority Ticket Pre-sale begins Nov 12th at 9:00 AM (for London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds)
- Live Nation Pre-sale begins Nov 13th at 9:00 AM (UK Dates only)
- Tickets go on general sale Friday November 14th at 9:00 AM.

Ticket will be available either with Ticketmaster or Livenation

There are a lot of spaces between dates so there will either be multiple shows in certain places added or more dates announced.

Fleetwood Mac will announce a new UK tour on Monday (November 10th) 9am

Mick Fleetwood says Fleetwood Mac will tour the UK next summer, but rules out headlining Glastonbury

Fleetwood Mac will announce a new UK tour on Monday (November 10th), but drummer Mick Fleetwood has ruled out the band headlining next summer's Glastonbury Festival.

The band are in the midst of a huge US tour, their first with Christine McVie since 1997 and look set to announce a new batch of UK dates for next summer.

Fleetwood Mac will be touring through May and June in 2015, the full dossier will be announced on Monday. 

The Mac are back. Fleetwood Mac return with Christine McVie after a 16 year absence. Announcement, Monday at 9am. pic.twitter.com/QWli4rlQcl
— Live Nation UK (@LiveNationUK) November 7, 2014