Fleetwood Mac has outlasted the drugs, inner turmoil, and hiatuses to remain one of the greatest rock outfits in the world

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in Atlanta, GA
December 17, 2014 - Philips Arena
By Collin Kelley
Atlanta In Town

When I saw Fleetwood Mac at the old Omni Coliseum in Downtown back in 1987, the souvenir stand was selling a button with the band’s familiar penguin logo and the proclamation that “The Mac Is Back.” Flash-forward 27 years (gulp!) and band namesake Mick Fleetwood was  standing at the lip of the stage at Philips Arena (which sits on the former site of The Omni) proclaiming the very same message to a sold-out audience at last night’s show.

The difference between last night and 1987 was that this was indeed the “full Mac” lineup that everyone knows and loves. Earlier this year, songwriter and keyboardist Christine McVie came in from the cold after a 16-year hiatus to rejoin the band, which immediately set out on a world tour to celebrate. Fleetwood Mac has carried on recording and touring in the intervening years, but without her voice behind the hits of “You Make Loving Fun,” “Don’t Stop,” “Say You Love Me,” “Over My Head,” “Little Lies, “Everywhere” and emotional encore “Songbird.” Those songs were all back in action last night, with McVie’s smoky contralto rendering of each bringing some of the night’s biggest cheers.

But the band’s other two songwriters – Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks – were also in fine voice, with Buckingham offering  up his frenzied guitar solo version of “Big Love” and an ominous “Never Going Back Again,” which he seemed to be directing toward former flame Nicks. While the Buckingham-Nicks split back in the 1970s offered fuel for the Rumours album, they have been milking their still combative relationship for more than 30 years now. It does make for great stage drama, especially when Nicks turns and stares him down for “Silver Springs” (“You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you…”) and Buckingham yowls through “Go Your On Way” (“Packing up, shacking up is all you wanna do…”).

Pop Tart: The pure 24 Karat Gold of Stevie Nicks

by Richard Burnett
Montreal Gazette

When my boozing buddy Jamie and I made our entrance at the absolutely packed, internationally-famed annual Stevie Nicks drag queen rock’n’roll tribute Night of a Thousand Stevies in New York City some years ago, New York hadn’t seen so much trash since the Teamsters’ citywide garbage strike of 1990.

No, I didn’t trip and slide face-first into the gutter like I did on Bourbon St. in New Orleans one Halloween, but I knew I was in deep trouble when my bartender told me she couldn’t serve me triple vodka-sodas because her glasses weren’t big enough.

As beautiful as the audience was – girls and boys everywhere dressed in Stevie’s trademark leather and lace – the real entertainment was on the stage. There were lip-syncing drag queens and kick-ass live performers. Then to close the show, Goon Squad – featuring Blondie’s Debbie Harry on lead vocals – destroyed the place with their balls-to-the-wall punk version of The Chain.

I have been to every major drag event in London, Sydney, Paris, New Orleans, Vegas and Montreal, and I’m telling you, NOTS is hands-down the most fun drag event I’ve ever been to. Revellers get dolled up à la Stevie, including past attendees Courtney Love, Cyndi Lauper and Boy George. Even I wore a blond wig.

“I hope next year maybe Stevie will come,” ab-fab NOTS co-hostess Hattie Hattaway (a.k.a. Brian Butterick), who produces NOTS with her fellow Jackie Factory NYC co-founders Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi Valenti, told me after the show.

Now flash-forward to Stevie’s new critically-hailed 2014 solo album 24 Karat Gold –Songs From The Vault, produced by Dave Stewart, Waddy Wachtel and Nicks, and recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles. The songs were written between 1969 and 1995, and the artwork for the CD includes never-before-seen Polaroid photos snapped by Nicks throughout her career. The album leads off with Starshine, for my money Stevie’s best rock number since Edge of Seventeen, and the emotional highlight is the country-soul of Blue Water, with backing vocals by Lady Antebellum.

VIDEO: Mick Fleetwood Interview with CBS 46 Atlanta on his Photography Collection

Reflections of Life: Mick Fleetwood at the Ann Jackson Gallery - Atlanta December 16th

Mick Fleetwood spoke exclusively with me at Ann Jackson's Art Gallery in Roswell, GA. The legendary drummer and founding member of Fleetwood Mac has started to exhibit his photography in art galleries in towns where the band will perform. This began after his friends and family urged him to display his talent. Mick has received a welcoming response from fans that turn out to witness and support his new outlet of art.

Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in Atlanta Dec 17, 2014 "Twizzler-thin Buckingham was a riveting presence"

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Concert review: A fresh, fun Fleetwood Mac dazzles Atlanta
by Melissa Ruggieri
AJC.com

Fleetwood Mac has never been considered a “fun” band.

Between the tempestuous relationships among its members and the differing opinions about musical direction over the decades, the collective of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham was never the cheeriest bunch.

But wow, did that drama make for some amazing music.

The band returned to the road in October after taking some off late last year for John McVie to combat cancer, and this time they had a secret weapon that has elevated Fleetwood Mac to a new level of vitality – Christine McVie.

Back with the gang after a 16-year gap, McVie, an unbelievable-looking 71, injected a palpable energy into the band, both by allowing them to further open their songbook and by providing Nicks with her perfect female vocal foil.

When was the last time you heard Nicks girlishly squeal, as she did when welcoming McVie with an enthusiastic, “She’s baaaaaack!”? For that matter, when was the last time Mac fans heard “You Make Loving Fun” and “Everywhere” played live (OK, it was 1997’s “The Dance” tour, but you get the point)?

From the moment Mick Fleetwood ushered in the band’s standard opener “The Chain” with his heartbeat bass drum, to more than 2 ½-hours later when McVie closed the show with her tingly “Songbird,” the show felt fresh and alive and yes…fun.

The sold-out crowd at Philips Arena Wednesday night erupted into cheers for McVie before the complete opening phrase of “You Make Loving Fun” –  “Sweet wonderful you” – exited her mouth, setting the appreciative tone of the night.

Video: Lindsey Buckingham's interview on Tavis Smiley on the reunited Fleetwood Mac

If you missed Lindsey's interview last night on Tavis Smiley... The show is posted on-line at PBS-Video.

December 17, 2014: Lindsey Buckingham, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer talks about reuniting with the iconic band, Fleetwood Mac, for its "On With The Show" concert tour.

Denver Review: On With the Show Tunes: A Refueled Fleetwood Mac Truck Delivers Again

Photos by Michael Bialas
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On With the Show Tunes: A Refueled Fleetwood Mac Truck Delivers Again
by Michael Bialas
Huffington Post

Putting on a show to match the grandeur and longevity of Fleetwood Mac is a massive undertaking, but Stevie Nicks needed just a minute to personalize it for the crowd of mostly Coloradans in the sold-out Pepsi Center on Dec. 12, 2014.

"I have like a whole tribe here because one side of my family is all from Colorado," Nicks said to a roaring audience in Denver. It was about an hour into the 35th performance of this "On With The Show" tour that marks the return of songbird/keyboardist Christine McVie to the stage -- and the band -- for the first time in 16 years.

"My great-great grandmother came across the Rocky Mountains in one of the last Indian massacres," Nicks (left) added. "Seriously. And she crawled in the trunk (of a wagon train) and stayed there. And she was the only survivor. Strong woman."

The Rooster Photos
Photo by Svetlana Joukova
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Nicks, who dedicated her tender "Landslide" to the 100 or so friends and family members -- "my entire tribe" -- in attendance, thus making the Colorado connection feel even stronger, certainly shares the strength of her ancestors.

McVie, Nicks and the male members of this lineup -- frontman Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie (the pair for whom the band is named) -- also possess those staunch survival instincts long after all coming together in 1975.

This stunning show was a perfect example of that willingness to sustain a coexistence, finally blessed with the valuable missing piece of the puzzle that turns an already priceless picture into a beautiful work of pop art.