REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in New Orleans February 16, 2019

A reborn Fleetwood Mac showed all its strengths during sold-out New Orleans concert
BY KEITH SPERA
The Advocate | Photos: Jeff Strout

Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks had just concluded “Gypsy” on Saturday at the Smoothie King Center when guitarist Mike Campbell stepped to the microphone.

“She is our gypsy!” Campbell enthused.

He didn’t say, “She is Fleetwood Mac’s gypsy.” Instead, he used the first-person plural possessive, “our.”

That Campbell felt comfortable enough and empowered enough to count himself in that "our" spoke volumes about his status in Fleetwood Mac. The Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers alumnus, as well as Crowded House singer/guitarist Neil Finn, joined the band last year to replace the fired Lindsey Buckingham.

But as Campbell’s comment illustrated, and as the whole of the two-plus hour performance demonstrated, he and Finn are not simply stand-ins. They are fully ingrained members of a new incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, the latest of many roster re-configurations.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in NOLA February 16, 2019

Fleetwood Mac’s New Orleans gig proves yesterday’s not gone at all
By Doug MacCash | Nola.com
Photo Dinah L. Rogers

Fleetwood Mac summoned the magic of the 1970s at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday (Feb. 16) with a string of hits that are wound into the musical DNA of multiple generations.

I was late to Saturday’s concert, but it didn’t take long for Stevie Nicks to put the squeeze on my heart yet again with her fragile, girlish voice, as she sang “Landslide." Nicks' melancholy contemplation of the passage of time probably seemed more profound than ever to her audience, many of whom had silver hair that shone like snow-covered hills. 

Before the song, Nicks had congratulated guitarist Neil Finn (a newcomer to the band) on the imminent arrival of a grandchild. 

But, as anyone in attendance will tell you, the years have not dimmed the band’s passion or musicianship. Mick Fleetwood attacked his array of drums and cymbals as athletically as in days of old, Christine McVie’s understated vocals still poured from beneath her shaggy bangs as unwaveringly as ever and Mike Campbell (an alumnus of the late Tom Petty’s band who is replacing Lindsey Buckingham on the current tour) provided the soaring symphonic leads the band’s classics demanded.

The group closed the concert with “Go Your Own Way,” Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” and “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow,” a trio of anthems that seemed to capture the sweep of the band’s tumultuous half-century career (the group’s personal and professional ups and downs are legendary).  

Fleetwood Mac (whose original members have all entered their eighth decades) ended their New Orleans show with a wistful duet by Nicks and McVie called “All Over Again,” that left no doubt that they wouldn't trade their long experience together. “Let's stop before it's too late,” the venerable rockers sang, “and leave it all up to the fates, ‘cause in spite of the heartaches and troubles in love, I'd do it all over, I’d do it all over again.”

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Birmingham, AL February 13, 2019

What happens when Fleetwood Mac says bye-bye Buckingham?
By Mary Colurso
AL.com

Photos: By Joe Songer

Fact: It takes two people to replace Lindsey Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac.

Opinion: Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers did a fine job of it on Wednesday night at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena in Birmingham.

Confession: It’s difficult to evaluate the current incarnation of Fleetwood Mac without taking note of Buckingham’s absence. He made an indelible mark on the classic rock band during its heyday in the 1970s and ’80s, defining much of the music as a guitarist, songwriter and singer. That’s not to diminish the contributions of the other band members -- Fleetwood Mac made its fame as a complex and multi-faceted piece of machinery -- but to say that Buckingham mattered. He definitely mattered.

Now that Buckingham is absent from the roster -- he was fired by the other band members, filed a lawsuit, settled it and recently underwent emergency heart surgery -- Fleetwood Mac is a less thorny outfit. That can be regarded as a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. Creative tension fueled the band at its peak, and Buckingham was a key instigator of it.

At Wednesday’s performance, the four remaining principals -- singer Stevie Nicks, singer and keyboard player Christine McVie, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood -- collaborated on stage in a polished, congenial, ultra-professional way. Nostalgia ran high during their 8:15 p.m. set, which featured 22 songs and lasted for more than two hours.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Austin, TX February 9, 2019

Fleetwood Mac Goes a New Way at Frank Erwin Center
Slow start aside, don’t dream it’s over

The Austin Chronicle
By Doug Freeman | Photos David Brendan Hall

When Fleetwood Mac rolled through Austin in 2015, Lindsey Buckingham provided the spark for the now half-century-old institution. With the longtime guitarist now unceremoniously fired, the double-axe add of Crowded House’s Neil Finn and Tom Petty mainstay Mike Campbell has received mixed reviews.

As irreplaceable as Buckingham, 69, may be, Fleetwood Mac’s new lineup ultimately proved a worthy evolution over the two-and-a-quarter-hour, 22-song showing this past Saturday night – even after a far from stellar beginning.

Working through a heavy dose of Rumours to start, hits “The Chain,” “Dreams,” and “Second Hand News” all spun out lethargically. Granted, nearly every song from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers struck familiar to the rafters-packed Erwin Center. Nevertheless, the kickoff run churned rote and uninspired.

The switch flipped six songs deep, as the core sextet – Mick Fleetwood, 71; John McVie, 73; Stevie Nicks, 70; Christine McVie, 75; Finn, 60; and Campbell, 69 – reclaimed founding F-Mac guitarist Peter Green’s “Black Magic Woman.” Nicks enchanted on lead with one hand gloved in lace and the other leather, but Campbell lit the fire as he worked the stage and guitar throughout the jam, ultimately pulling up next to Christine McVie’s keys, hat reverentially in hand.

REVIEW FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN AUSTIN FEBRUARY 9, 2019

Fleetwood Mac makes way without Buckingham at Erwin Center
By Peter Blackstock | Photos Photos: Ana Ramirez
Austin360

Last year’s trademark Fleetwood Mac drama that led up to the group’s current tour had already been plenty: the dismissal a year ago of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who then took legal action that was settled out of court. But the day before the tour pulled into Austin for Saturday’s Erwin Center show, word circulated that Buckingham had undergone emergency open heart surgery a week ago.

Buckingham’s reportedly recovering, though there’s concern about possibly permanent vocal cord damage. At 69, he’s the youngest of the five musicians who recorded the mid-1970s classic “Rumours” and “Fleetwood Mac,” which together sold more than 25 million copies and eventually put the band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Recasting Fleetwood Mac without him was a challenge, though he’d been absent from the group for an extended stretch before, and Fleetwood Mac’s 52-year history is interwoven with significant lineup changes. Drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, keyboardist Christine McVie and singer Stevie Nicks welcomed Crowded House leader Neil Finn and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell into the fold for this tour, which began last fall and continues through September of this year.

How’d it work? Well, mixed results. There are moments when they clearly miss Buckingham. Finn’s a fine singer and did his best on indelible Buckingham imprints such as “Second Hand News” and “Monday Morning,” though it was hard not to think of them as a Buckingham cover band in those moments. Finn couldn’t hit Lindsey’s high notes on “World Turning” (a Buckingham/Christine McVie co-write), though he seemed fully up to speed on “The Chain” and “Go Your Own Way,” definitive Fleetwood Mac numbers that bookended the main set.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Dallas, TX February 7, 2019

Fleetwood Mac played a landslide of greatest hits at Dallas concert, sans mention of Lindsey Buckingham
Guidelive.com
By Tiney Ricciardi

Fleetwood Mac's split with Lindsey Buckingham marked one of the biggest breakups of 2018. But if the iconic rock band's longtime guitarist and vocalist was missed Thursday night at American Airlines Center in Dallas, it wasn't obvious. 

Fans packed the venue, floor to rafters, for a two-hour journey through a collection of Fleetwood Mac's greatest hits. Throughout the show, the group proved to be an indomitable and engaging force, despite missing one of its core members.

Guitarist Mike Campbell (Tom Petty's Heartbreakers) and vocalist Neil Finn (Crowded House) joined singer Stevie Nicks, keyboardist Christine McVie, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitar player John McVie, expertly filling in the musical spaces left behind by Buckingham, who is said to have left over creative differences. Only once did any of the members seem to acknowledge their former bandmate, though they stopped short of mentioning of him by name. 

"What a crazy, magical ride it is, this band Fleetwood Mac," said namesake drummer Fleetwood about halfway through Thursday's set, addressing the crowd before turning to Campbell and Finn. "We're absolutely overjoyed to welcome you to the band."