REVIEW The Fleetwood Mac of today is not some hodge-podge operation

The Fleetwood Mac Sydney show was a testament to their timelessness
By S. B. Williams
Photo Dean Hammer
Tonedeaf

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, AUGUST 15, 2019

Last night, Fleetwood Mac descended on Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena. The band treated fans to a career-spanning setlist that proved that though 50 years into their career, the band are not one to rest on their laurels.

The show was Sydney’s first taste of Fleetwood Mac in their new form. Last year, longtime singer, guitarist and songwriter Lindsey Buckingham was “let go” from the band after they reached a boiling point over touring disagreements. Buckingham was replaced by New Zealand royalty, Neil Finn of Crowded House and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers guitarist, Mike Campbell.

Whilst it would be futile to deny that the absence of Buckingham was not felt; the new lineup revitalized the band in other ways. The addition of Finn on vocals has ushered in a new era for Fleetwood Mac, one that feels fresh and exciting. The Fleetwood Mac of today is not some hodge-podge operation tenuously thrown together in an attempt to ride the coattails of former glory. Rather, they are a band with a passion that feels tangible, that reinvented themselves out of necessity.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Sydney Aug 15, 2019

Fleetwood Mac review: Neil's in, and it's not a too-crowded house
By Michael Bailey
SMH.COM

FLEETWOOD MAC ★★★½

Qudos Bank Arena, 15 August

It was apt that Frankenstein's monster was on the big screens as Neil Finn played I Got You on this night with, blimey, Fleetwood Mac.

For this unlikely melding of Kiwi artiness and California slickness was thanks to the 'Mac going back to the lab. Sixties bluesers who owned the late 1970s after sewing on folk duo Buckingham Nicks, last year they shafted Lindsey Buckingham and grafted on one of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, Mike Campbell, plus the singer-songwriter from Split Enz and Crowded House.

The experiment ended better on this night than Dr. Frankenstein's did, although as in Mary Shelley's novel, the motivations weren't perfectly clear.

Drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, and frontwomen Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks certainly seemed pleased with their antipodean addition, and not just because Finn's presence meant they could book four nights at this arena instead of the three they could justify when they last visited in 2015.

Show #1 Fleetwood Mac Live in Sydney, AU August 15, 2019

Following the departure of Lindsey Buckingham, Neil Finn stepped in to play with Fleetwood Mac
Kathy McCabe, National music writer, News Corp Australia Network
The Weekly Times
Photos: Christian Gilles

The Chain has been a Fleetwood Mac concert opener seemingly forever, an ode to the musical bond which has bound these legendary artists together against the odds.

That bond has been stretched and tested and snapped over the decades thanks to their well-documented divisions and most recently last year when Lindsey Buckingham not-so-amicably parted company with Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, John and Christine McVie.

Perhaps now The Chain better represents the connection between the band and their millions of fans around the world as they continue their farewell victory lap of the globe.

The signature song also served to satisfy the curiosity of fans new, old and somewhere in between, about how Neil Finn and Tom Petty’s longtime sideman Mike Campbell fit into this iteration of the legendary rock band.

A natural interplay both vocally and as performers between Finn and Nicks was further underscored when they were matched in Second Hand News.

There’s definitely no doubt he is loving this gig.

Christine McVie, who returned to the band in 2013 after a 16 year hiatus, may not possess as much lead vocal strength as in decades past but her harmonic presence and keyboard virtuosity are essential to this farewell tour.

Fleetwood Mac "Man of the World" Live in Perth, Australia August 11, 2019

Watch Fleetwood Mac Play ‘Man of the World’ for First Time in 50 Years
Band also brings out 1975 deep cut “Blue Letter,” which they hadn’t played since 1990

By ANDY GREENE
Rollingstone

Fleetwood Mac brought their world tour down to Australia for a month-long run of shows late last week, and during the second concert at the RAC Arena in Perth Sunday they expanded the setlist by playing the Peter Green-era classic “Man of the World” for the first time since 1969. Check out fan-shot video of the song right here. “We’re going to debut this song now which was one of [Green’s] great songs,” Neil Finn told the crowd before they did it. “It’s an honor and a privilege for me to play it for you.”

The show also featured the Split Enz song “I Got You,” which was in the setlist when the tour began in October but vanished after just eleven shows. Neil Finn is native to New Zealand and the 1979 song hit Number One there in addition to Australia, so bringing it back into the set was a no-brainer. More surprising was the return of “Blue Letter” from the 1975 Fleetwood Mac LP, which the band hadn’t played since the Behind The Mask tour in 1990.

Before the tour began, Stevie Nicks told Rolling Stone that she wanted to play songs they hadn’t touched in a long time, including ones from the Peter Green period of the late 1960s and early 1970s. “There are 10 hits we have to do,” she said. “That leaves another 13 songs if you want to do a three-hour show. Then you crochet them all together and you make a great sequence and you have something that nobody has seen before except all the things they want to see are there. At rehearsal, we’re going to put up a board of 60 songs. Then we start with number one and we go through and we play everything. Slowly you start taking songs off and you start to see your set come together.”

Fleetwood Mac’s Australia/New Zealand leg ends September 21st with a show at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. They then return to North America in late October to make up for seven shows they postponed earlier this year when Stevie Nicks came down with the flu.

Fleetwood Mac 2019 deliver a show with something for everyone - Perth Aug 9, 2019

LIVE: FLEETWOOD MAC – Perth, 9 August, 2019
RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
Photography by Damien Crocker
100PercentRock.com

How do you know when a band is ubiquitously iconic?

When the opening notes of practically every song they play are instantly recognisable to fifteen thousand people whose ages and backgrounds range from teens to pensioners, and across all demographics.

It sure doesn’t hurt that the noticeable absence of Lindsey Buckingham (hey – vocal harmony combinations like his, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie are one in a billion) is brilliantly filled by not one but two guitarist/singers with almost as impressive careers as theirs.

Mike Campbell, sidekick to Tom Petty in The Heartbreakers even before that band formed, is a laid back presence on the stage, and Neil Finn – of Split Enz, Crowded House and solo fame – needs no introduction, especially in this neck of woods, and he enjoyed a rousing cheer at every turn.

Anyway, this is one band which is no stranger to radical personnel changes, and their early, bluesier days with founding guitarist Peter Green get a very welcome revisit tonight with a darkly gothic take on Black Magic Woman, Nicks re-purposing the lyrics from the titular woman’s perspective, and a raunchy romp through Oh Well with Campbell taking the lead vocals and him and Finn tearing it up with a fiery guitar rough n’ tumble.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live at RAC Arena Perth August 9, 2019

Sean Drill
TheMusic
Photo: Linda Dunjey
(view more photos at the link above)

Is there any band that has undergone more line-up changes, infighting, break-ups and love-ups than Fleetwood Mac? 52 years together with 19 line-up changes in that time, it was the years between December ’74 and August ’87 where the hit machine was in its most prolific and popular form.

It was this configuration (almost!) we got to see on Friday evening. Mick Fleetwood, John and Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks were all present. Who wasn’t, however, was the recently and unceremoniously dumped Lindsey Buckingham. Not surprisingly, this void could not be replaced by a single individual, instead vocal and rhythm guitar duties were taken by Neil Finn (Split Enz/Crowded House) and Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers).

With no opening act and the RAC Arena at full capacity, Mick Fleetwood took to the stage to a roar of applause. A giant screen behind projected footage of his foot laying down the opening beat to The Chain while the rest of the band and backing performers took their places.

It was a simple stage layout with minimal decorations but it worked to keep the focus on the performers.