Review: Lindsey Buckingham was the undisputed star of the evening

Fleetwood Mac deliver 'Second Hand News' in Vancouver
By Robert Collins
CTVNews.com

Attending fans’ opinion of last night’s Fleetwood Mac concert at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena

depended entirely on whether or not they were present at the same venue four and a half months ago, the last time the band graced the city.

VIEW GALLERY

For those for who last night was their first taste of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘On With The Show’ tour, their senses are still tingling from the experience today. The Kings and Queens of Soft Rock still reigned, cranking out two and a quarter hours of gems with energy and style.

The long absent Christine McVie, now firmly re-entrenched in the line up, gave the band the vocal ammunition to roll out classics like “You Make Loving Fun,” “Little Lies” and “Say You Love Me.” After a touch of trouble on certain high notes early on, she soon slotted into her musical groove, finishing the night strong with a honky tonk piano solo adding an extra sheen of fun to “Don’t Stop.”

In terms of vocals, Stevie Nicks was in richer form than on her previous visit to Vancouver, wisely navigating her way around the high notes during “Rhiannon,” “Landslide” and her opus, the lyrically merciless “Gold Dust Woman.”

Stealing the show throughout, Lindsey Buckingham was the undisputed star of the evening, his guitars taking centre stage through opener “The Chain,” the perfect power pop of “Second Hand News” and “I Know I’m Not Wrong,” and hosting finger picking acoustic wizardry on “Big Love” and “Never Going Back.”

Those who were lucky enough to be at Rogers Arena back in November probably have a different view of last night.

Review - Fleetwood Mac Live in Vancouver - April 4, 2015

Fleetwood Mac brings crazy-ass fingerpicking and monster drums to Vancouver
by Steve Newton
The Georgia Straight

Fleetwood Mac must really love Vancouver. The Anglo-American pop greats played Rogers Arena less than five months ago, on November 18, before returning for last night's gig at the same venue.

Apparently the feeling is mutual, because hordes of Vancouverites were willing to drop $199 (plus service charges and fees) for the best seats at the quintet's latest appearance. Who knew that Christine McVie had that much drawing power?

Last year saw the return of keyboardist-vocalist McVie to the concert stage, reuniting her with singer Stevie Nicks, guitarist-vocalist Lindsey Buckingham, drummer Mick Fleetwood, and bassist/ex-hubby John McVie. That's the same lineup that ruled the charts and airwaves in the seventies during its Rumours-era heyday.

Tomorrow is here: Mac are back

Here comes another, yes, another Fleetwood Mac reunion gig.

DON’T STOP thinking about tomorrow. Don’t stop – it’ll soon be here. That’s right:

Sunday Star Times - New Zealand Apr 5, 2015

The future is hurtling towards us at high speed, and for those with the inclination and the cash, that future may well include a Fleetwood Mac concert.

All five members from the band’s golden period have regrouped and are about to descend upon our shining shores, with singer/keyboardist Christine McVie back in the fold after a 16-year absence. Their world tour hits Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium on November 18 and Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium on November 21.

Dreams. The Chain. Go Your Own Way. Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album Rumours got a thrashing when I was in my teens. Recorded during a time of wholesale disharmony and clandestine rooting within the band’s ranks, its mix of burnished Californian melodies and emotionally overwrought lyrics somehow made perfect sense to me as I rode the rapids of puberty.

Back then, Stevie Nicks, a vision in chiffon and lace, was a regular visitor to the very rudest of my dreams, swirling around so vigorously that her crooked gypsy hemline encountered unprecedented wind resistance, causing her dress to disintegrate before my thankful eyes. But when I got her on the phone in 2009, I was the very soul of professionalism, and so was she. ‘‘ Rumours came out of a very dark period,’’ she told me from her home in Santa Monica.

Reviews, Videos, Photos: Fleetwood Mac Live in Denver - April 1, 2015

Fleetwood Mac at the Pepsi Center in Denver
by John Wenzel
Reverb

If you’re like me, and it’s not impossible that you are, you grew up vaguely aware of Fleetwood Mac. You thought of the band’s music as something primarily designed for parents, like chardonnay or station wagons. It wasn’t until you listened to it at a party in college, surrounded by people who were a bit older and cooler than you, that you realized it was also something for you. Something that deserved the critical praise and karaoke treatment it always got. Something really good.

Those thoughts wouldn’t leave me last night as I watched the band play its second, capacity Pepsi Center show in the span of four months. The “Rumours”-era lineup, which includes recent and utterly indispensable returning member Christine McVie, plowed through a 22-song set like gleaming pros. Most of the audience was middle-aged and seated, and happily so. But despite the frequent, between-song nostalgia from Stevie Nicks (resplendent and witchy), Lindsey Buckingham and a circumspect McVie, the band proved its music doesn’t belong to one generation. We all own “Rhiannon,” is what I’m saying. And it owns us.

Continue to the full review at Reverb

Fleetwood Mac Remains a Strange and Potent Musical Family
by Alex Warzel
Westword.com

The Pepsi Center was moving and shaking on Wednesday evening to the smoky sounds of the infamous Fleetwood Mac. The night was filled with velvet-draped microphone stands, beards, vests and the crackle of big personalities.

Although the group seemed to be in high spirits, there was a suggestive tinge of emotion drifting between the bandmates throughout the show. Christine McVie, once married to bassist John McVie, has not been a part of the band for over sixteen years, but she began touring with it again in September. The event mainly focused on Christine McVie and her return — something Stevie Nicks seems to have had enough of. 

Continue to the full review at Westword.com

Below photos by Daniel Petty - View Gallery

THE CHAIN

SAY YOU LOVE ME

28,000 Fleetwood Mac tickets gone in a flash

Fleetwood Mac tickets gone in a flash
Otago Daily Times

Tickets to the Fleetwood Mac concert at Forsyth Barr Stadium sold out in minutes yesterday but a second Dunedin concert is unlikely, the promoter says.

Live Nation Australasia chief executive Michael Coppel said it was ''hugely gratifying'' to have Fleetwood Mac's Dunedin concert on November 18 sell out in less than an hour after tickets went on sale at 10am yesterday.

More than 28,000 tickets were sold but a second Dunedin show was unlikely, Mr Coppel said.

However, the entertainment company was working to make more tickets available for the South Island show and hoped to have ''good news'' to announce in a couple of weeks.

''The unbelievable response to the reunited line-up has made this the biggest concert event of 2015,'' Mr Coppel said.

Concerts at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium on November 21 and 22 will complete the New Zealand leg of the band's On With The Show world tour.

Review - Fleetwood Mac Live in Wichita, KS - March 31, 2015

Full Mac attack brings the hits to Wichita crowd
By Denise Neil
Kansas.com

The whole Fleetwood Mac lineup was at Intrust Bank Arena on Tuesday night to perform its library of hits for 12,000 appreciative fans.

But the member that original musicians Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood seemed to appreciate most was songbird Christine McVie, who has just rejoined the group after a 16-year absence.

Lead singer Nicks, noting early in the show that Wichita was the band’s 72nd stop on its tour that started last year, said that at the beginning of the tour, she used to welcome Christine McVie back at the top of each show.

“But now that we’re on show number 72, I think we can safely say she’s back,” Nicks said as the crowd cheered wildly.

The concert, a 22-song tour through the band’s almost 50-year career, showcased many of the songs the members wrote about their drama, fights and love triangles.

Now all in their 60s and 70s, the members seemed in sync and warm toward each other, a musical reminder that time heals.

“I think it’s safe to say that we are a band and a group of individuals who have seen its share of ups and downs, all, I’m afraid, very well-documented,” Buckingham said from the stage, adding that the group has also been able to “prevail through the good and the bad.”

The band opened with its 1977 hit “The Chain” from its album “Rumours.” The house lights went down, and after several anticipation-building minutes, the shadow of a woman in flowing clothes appeared.

When the lights went up, it was Nicks, dressed in her signature fringe, holding a scarf-laden tambourine with Buckingham to her left on guitar, Christine McVie to her right on keyboards and vocals, John McVie behind her on bass and Mick Fleetwood behind her with his drum set – bearded, ponytailed and energetic as ever.

The crowd members, most in their 30s through 60s, included some who stubbornly remained in their seats and others who stubbornly stood and danced, oblivious to who was behind them.

Highlights of the show included Nicks leading the group through two of its biggest hits, “Dreams” and “Rhiannon.” Her recognizable growl was still firmly intact, though she didn’t even attempt the high notes from days gone by on either song.

Christine McVie spoke a few times also, her velvet British accent adding some class to the proceedings as she introduced some of her songs, including the 1980s hits “Everywhere” and “Little Lies.”(Noticeably absent from the set list: “Songbird,” her big song from “Rumours.”)

When it was time for “Landslide,” the Nicks-penned hit from 1975, only one-time couple Nicks and Buckingham were on stage. Nicks dedicated the song to “girl power” and to two women in the Wichita crowd she said she had learned just before the show were distant relatives. In the pause before the final refrain, she and Buckingham briefly held hands, and she said something in his ear. He nodded in agreement.

Buckingham then launched into a solo, drawn-out version of “Never Going Back Again.” At the end, Nicks reappeared to back him up.

The group also performed hits “Gypsy,” “Go Your Own Way” and “Gold Dust.”

The encore was “World Turning,” “Don’t Stop” and “Silver Springs.”

RHIANNON