REVIEW Fleetwood Mac at Wells Fargo, Philadelphia March 22, 2019

Concert Review: Fleetwood Mac at Wells Fargo Center
The three-song encore featured a cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” and as the band performed the song, a montage of Petty photographs appeared on the big screen behind the stage.

By Tom Beck
South Philly Review

It was just last year when Fleetwood Mac announced the firing of longtime guitarist and songwriter Lindsey Buckingham, leading all members of the classic rock universe to collectively roll their eyes. It was just one more chapter in the band’s history, which has been marred by inner turmoil for more than 40 years. For many longtime Fleetwood Mac fans, the idea of seeing the band perform in 2019 sans-Buckingham was a dealbreaker. It simply wouldn’t be the same. These people may be right – perhaps it wouldn’t be exactly the same. But as the band performed at the Wells Fargo Center Friday night – their first performance at the venue in five years – it became clear that the dismissive attitude toward Buckingham’s departure was shortsighted. 

The 2019 incarnation of Fleetwood still features the criminally underrated drumming of Mick Fleetwood, the soulful croon and keyboard talents of Christine McVie and her bass-playing former husband John McVie, and of course, the ultimate rock goddess herself: Stephanie Lynn “Stevie” Nicks. After all, Buckingham’s replacements, Neil Finn (formerly of Crowded House) and Mike Campbell (formerly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), are no slouches. Campbell is the better known of the two, and widely celebrated for being Tom Petty’s sidekick for many years. Neil Finn isn’t quite a household name, yet he still proved his worth to Philly Fleetwood Mac fans at various points throughout the night. Chief among those moments was Finn and Nicks’s rendition of the somber “Landslide,” which was easily the show’s climax despite a setlist otherwise filled with Fleetwood’s catchier more upbeat work. 

Among the other hits played were “The Chain,” “Go Your Own Way,” “Gold Dust Woman,” “Dreams,” “Rhiannon,” “Little Lies,” and “Don’t Stop.” The three-song encore featured a cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” and as the band performed the song, a montage of Petty photographs appeared on the big screen behind the stage. Many of the photos were of Petty with Fleetwood Mac together, revealing that the two bands were close friends for many decades.

A second focal point of the night was Fleetwood and percussionist Taku Hirano’s drum duet in the middle of “World Turning,” which featured the two drummers slugging it out together for nearly 10 minutes.

For the whole night, the band was entertaining, synergistic, on-key and gripping, proving that Fleetwood Mac hasn’t in any way lost an edge despite its aging members. This summer is slated to be a big one for big-name classic rock acts coming to South Philly, with Billy Joel, The Rolling Stones and The Who all slated to make their way into various venues in the sports complex. It’s not a competition, but Fleetwood Mac set the bar pretty high.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Baltimore March 24, 2019

Fleetwood Mac gives spectacular farewell to Baltimore
BY JON GALLO | BALTIMORE POST EXAMINER

Fleetwod Mac, the timeless band that has spanned more than five decades, tried to make a statement as soon as it took the Royal Farms Arena stage on Sunday night by opening with “Chain,” one if its smash hits from its 1977 blockbuster album “Rumours.”

The problem, however, was that one the most integral links in the band’s chain wasn’t there – and won’t be coming back anytime soon. Lindsey Buckingham (singer/guitarist/songwriter) was let go by his bandmates for having irreconcilable issues about the farewell tour. He was replaced with Crowded House frontman Neil Finn and Mike Campbell, lead guitarist from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Make no mistake: Buckingham’s presence was missed throughout the 21-song, two-hour performance that took the sellout crowd through a stroll down memory lane.

But also make no mistake: Even without Buckingham Fleetwood Mac put on a tremendously entertaining show in likely its last performance in an arena in first played in May 1973.

Finn seized the spotlight from the outset by singing “Chain,” a song that originally featured Buckingham on the microphone. Meanwhile, Campbell played the guitar riffs that Buckingham had made famous. Both were very good, but not the same as Buckingham.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Philadelphia, PA March 22, 2019

Fleetwood Mac's farewell tour at Wells Fargo Center is great goodbye, bedeviled by details
By John J. Moser
Mcall.com | Photos by Brian Hineline

First the distant view of Fleetwood Mac’s performance at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on Friday, on what the group says is its farewell tour.

The show was a two-hour-and-five-minute evening of 21 songs that included 13 of Fleetwood Mac’s Top 20 hits – virtually all of which held up as timeless music. It also played, as would be expected on a farewell tour, tunes from throughout its 52 years as a band and some interesting additions.

And it put each band member in the spotlight.

But the devil was in the details, as they say.

Up closer, singer/guitarist/songwriter Lindsey Buckingham, who was fired from the band for resisting plans for the tour (and who was since incapacitated by open-heart surgery) was badly missed multiple times, especially on some signature songs. It showed how much Buckingham meant to the band.

Despite that, there was no mention of Buckingham at all through the entire night.

Replacement guitarist Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers was a fine player, but never quite captured what Buckingham added to his songs, and was badly under-used for half the show.

Much the same could be said for vocal replacement Neil Finn of Crowded House, who in some instances clearly tried to replicate Buckingham but fell short.

The democratization of the spotlight also occasionally gave the show a stilted, trying-too-hard feel.

The show opened with “The Chain” – among seven songs from the band’s most successful album, 1977’s “Rumours,” and the only tune credited to all its members. It was as if the band was making the statement that, despite Buckingham’s absence, it was still an unbroken chain.

Christine McVie talks Glastonbury, rock 'n' roll and retirement

Christine McVie: inside the world of Fleetwood Mac, then and now

As the band prepares for its UK return in June, Christine McVie talks Glastonbury, rock 'n' roll and retirement

By Ella Alexander | Harpers Bazaar
Mar 21, 2019

June 2019 will be a big month for music fans for two reasons – an under-the-radar, little-known festival called Glastonbury and the return of Fleetwood Mac, the band’s first UK dates in six years. Sadly, this year at least, the two aren’t linked, but lead vocalist and songwriter Christine McVie says any decision to perform at Glastonbury isn’t down to the band itself.

“It isn’t up to me, it’s up to the management,” said McVie. “It’s their decision and down to logistics. I can’t say yes or no to Glastonbury, but I’d like to – so long as I don’t have to wear wellington boots on stage. Or maybe I’d just have to roll with it – wellie boots with mud.”

For now, fans will have to make do with two UK gigs at Wembley (the first time that McVie has performed in the UK with the group since officially rejoining), one of which sold out so fast that the band added a further date. Over 50 years after the band were first formed, appetite for Fleetwood Mac shows no signs of waning.

“Maybe people are just wondering when the first one of us is going to pop off because we’re not youngsters anymore,” laughs McVie. “Maybe people want to see us because they think it’s the last chance. We’re a young band at heart; you’d never think we are the age we are. We’re never static. It’s going to be fantastic.”

Fleetwood Mac's North American Tour On Track to Sell 1 Million Tickets

by Dave Brooks | Billboard

The absence of Lindsey Buckingham has not hurt the band's latest tour, which has at least 10 shows with grosses over $2 million.

Fleetwood Mac is on track to gross more than $100 million on the North American leg of their 2018/2019 tour with venues across the country reporting grosses between $1.5 to $2 million per show powered by a new generation of fans who have embraced the legendary group and its deep catalog of No. 1 hits.

Couple their success in North America with a fall international run for the band in the U.K., Germany, Australia and New Zealand, and the Mac's 75-plus date tour is shaping up to be one of the top tours on Billboard's year-end Boxscore chart. Not bad for a group that is touring without key member Lindsey Buckingham, who left the band (he told Rolling Stone he was "fired") last year over disagreements about its touring plans -- Buckingham reportedly wanted to spend most of 2019 on a solo tour, while the band wanted to get back on the road together sooner).

After a brief impasse, the group announced they were going on tour without Buckingham, but with Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Crowded House‘s Neil Finn standing in for the guitarist and singer.

"When Lindsey left the band, none of us had any expectations good or bad -- it was more about continuing Fleetwood Mac," the group's co-manager Carl Stubner tells Billboard. "We had about a month to put the tour together and get it on sale, without any assets or pictures of the new lineup. Thankfully, it started doing well from the beginning."

Positive press from the band's first show on the tour at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma followed by a monster show at the United Center in Chicago that grossed more than $2.2 million, giving the tour the momentum it needed. More than ten dates on the tour have passed the $2 million mark in ticket sales, including the band's Dallas show at American Airlines Center (Feb. 7) and their Tacoma Dome (Nov. 17) concert, which each grossed $2.34 million in sales in front of 18,828 fans in Washington and 14,357 fans in Dallas.

The band's tour stops at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Nov. 30), Capitol One Arena in Washington (March 5), Amalie Arena in Tampa (Feb 18) and Golden 1 Center in Sacramento (Nov. 23) all grossed more than $2 million in ticket sales, as did shows in Toronto, Nashville and Charlotte.

"The tour is playing to sold out arenas every night and I love walking thru the crowds, seeing generations of longtime fans dancing and singing along to their favorite songs," the band's co-manager Sheryl Louis told Billboard in a statement. "What I’ve noticed on this tour specifically is so many younger fans, who are equally as enthusiastic, seeing the band live for the first time and loving it," adding that Campbell and Finn's work in the band has "brought tremendous energy to the shows that both the band and the audience can feel. In the long history of Fleetwood Mac, these are honestly some of their best shows yet."

Most of the acrimony between the two sides has been settled, Stubner said, and the band wished Buckingham a speedy recovery following heart surgery in February.

"And it was a hard divorce and emotional because we love Lindsey, but we made the best out of a bad situation," Stubner tells Billboard. "The show has done well in the big markets and the smaller markets like Sacramento and Birmingham, Alabama. And not just selling tickets, but merchandise -- t-shirt sales have increased considerably from any other tour we've done."

Stubner said the uptick is being fueled by a younger demographic of fans, including teenagers attending the tour with their parents and older millennials enjoying a night out with friends. 

"They learned about the band from their parents, and then they dug a little deeper" Stubner says. "There's a hunger for bands with deep catalogs and I see a lot of young people coming to the shows in search of this music they've built a deep connection with. And maybe that's why we have been able to do so well without Lindsey, because it's really about the collective and the show itself. They're coming out for the band."

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Albany, NY March 20, 2019

Review: No Buckingham, no problem for Fleetwood Mac at Times Union Center
By Jim Shahen Jr. | Times Union
Photos: Lori Van Buren - Gallery

ALBANY –Typically, when a classic rock band has reformed and is in its twilight years, the members put aside their differences and egos for one or two last big money-earning tours. They certainly don't fire the person responsible for some of their most beloved and iconic fare. But that's exactly what Fleetwood Mac did last year when it fired singer and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, replacing him with Crowded House frontman Neil Finn and Mike Campbell, lead guitarist from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

For those steeped in the band's tempestuous history, it seemed like another dramatic continuation of the oft-contentious relationship of Buckingham and his ex-flame, co-lead singer and tambourine player Stevie Nicks. But it also begged the question: how would Fleetwood Mac proceed without one of its essential voices?