REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Brisbane "It’s rare for such a historical band to only sound better as the years go on"

Fleetwood Mac – Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Written by Jack Gobbe
Photo by Mitch Lowe
SaveTonight
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It’s rare for such a historical band to only sound better as the years go on. But if any band could, it would be Fleetwood Mac. Over fifty-two years, Fleetwood Mac has undergone various transformations, as members come and go. Recent years have found the most iconic lineup of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, Christina McVie and Lindsey Buckingham tour for the masses, although heightened disagreements between Nicks and Buckingham saw the latter depart the band last year.

And thus formed what almost seems like a rock super-group at this point, as the addition of Crowded House frontman Neil Finn and former guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Mike Campbell allows for a breath of fresh air into the iconic lineup. Regardless of who’s playing what, Fleetwood Mac have undeniably stood the test of time, punters young and old uniting at Brisbane Entertainment Centre to catch one of the most important bands

The night was dominated by ‘Rumours’, the album that broke the band in more ways than one. As fractured relationships within the band reached their breaking point, the band’s eleventh album was a turning point in their career. As such, it was only fitting for the record to have a significant presence throughout the night, particularly as the relationship between Nicks and Buckingham has recently reached another point of conflict.

‘The Chain’ opened the night, the grand scale of the track showcasing how tight this new iteration of Fleetwood Mac is. As the track built up to its sweeping climax, you couldn’t help but sit back and prepare for a night of rock mastery. Just two songs later, ‘Dreams’sent the audience into a frenzy. The hypnotic guitar licks echoed through the venue, forcing hips to sway and hands to rise. Nicks’ everlasting vocal capacity carried the chorus to a triumphant peak, allowing the audience to revel in what is arguably one of the biggest songs to come out of the 1970s.

Despite kicking things off with many of their greatest hits, Fleetwood Mac surged through their two hour set with a repertoire of songs that never failed to amaze the crowd – a testament to their powerful discography. Deeper cuts such as ‘Black Magic Woman’ and ‘Oh Well’allowed the band to exhibit the wildly different sounds that come from a band with such longevity. While ‘Black Magic Woman’found Nicks crooning along with the bluesy cut, ‘Oh Well’saw Campbell deliver frolicking guitar-led song that wouldn’t sound out of place as the theme song for a Western.

And then there were the covers, a surprisingly vital part of the night. It’s not every night that a band’s biggest singalong is a cover, although that is exactly what happened when Finn performed his beloved Crowded House track ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’. Similarly, Tom Petty was honoured in the encore as the band covered ‘Free Fallin’, a moving tribute that sees Nicks and Finn trading perfect harmonies while Campbell honours his late frontman with dazzling guitar work.

‘Don’t Stop’seems only fitting as a closer, the title reflecting many fans’ feelings towards the night. Fleetwood Mac hasn’t stopped for fifty-two years, and by the looks of it, they won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Who would have thought that we'd still be seeing Fleetwood Mac in 2019?

Seeing Fleetwood Mac in 2019 is a strange experience — but they’ve always been a strange band

By Dan Condon
ABC.net.au
Photos Robbie Smith

 If their songs weren't so strong, endurance may be Fleetwood Mac's greatest legacy

Thirty minutes into Fleetwood Mac's set at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre this week, Stevie Nicks admitted that she didn’t realise 'Black Magic Woman' was a Fleetwood Mac song until well after she’d joined the band.

It's an astounding admission. Sure, the song had been popularised by Santana's 1970 cover, but to not know the extent of your new band's catalogue – especially the hits – before joining is almost unthinkable.

But this says more about the strange and complex entity that is Fleetwood Mac than it does Nicks' own knowledge gaps. This is a band whose history is confusing, whose music is wildly diverse, and who continue to keep us guessing.

Who would have thought that we'd still be seeing Fleetwood Mac in 2019? Moreover, who'd have thought that Neil Finn and Tom Petty collaborator Mike Campbell would join the band?

You don't get a timeline like this without a strange history.

That's why the prospect of seeing this wildly new incarnation of one of the history's most celebrated rock bands doesn't seem completely unfaithful. Consistency is not Fleetwood Mac's strong-point. When their line-up has remained staid, their very existence has been precarious, reportedly fraught with infighting and ill-feelings.

If nothing else, you have to respect the band's endurance. That they are still touring in any form feels almost miraculous.

But are they any good?

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Brisbane August 20, 2019

STILL GOING THEIR OWN WAY
Andrew McMillen
The Australian

Since it began as a British rock band in 1967, Fleetwood Mac has undergone 19 iterations while steadily adding Americans and, most recently, a New Zealander to its line-up. Its only remaining founding member is drummer Mick Fleetwood, who recently described each version of the group as “incredibly different musical episodes in this Shakespearean play we blundered into”.

Whether at work, at play, at each others’ throats or at risk of dying young from excessive drug consumption, this group of artists has produced some of the finest songs in popular music, which is why tickets to these tours continue to sell at premium prices, and why audiences continue to show up by the tens of thousands.

Few albums in rock ’n’ roll history have sold more copies — or prompted more commentary about the unique interpersonal dynamics that surrounded its creation — than 1977’s Rumours. Towards the end of the year of its release, the group — Fleetwood, singer Stevie Nicks, singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, singerkeyboardist Christine McVie and bassist John McVie — visited Australia for a tour named Rockarena, on a bill that also featured Santana and Little River Band.

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Brisbane August 20, 2019

A crowded house for Fleetwood Mac’s Brisbane return
Lydia Lynch
BrisbaneTimes.com

The first few songs of Fleetwood Mac’s Brisbane return roused cringe-worthy flashbacks to one of those work Christmas parties where you end up at a dingy karaoke bar in the early hours of the morning.

The sound was off, the vocals felt groggy and the sparkle that fuelled decades of success for the 50-year-old band was just not there.

That was until the group launched into the first bars of Black Magic Woman, penned by former band member Peter Green, and the hypnotic Fleetwood Mac spirit arrived.

“When we first went into rehearsal for this tour we went through our history of Fleetwood Mac and we picked out a couple of songs we thought you might enjoy,” Stevie Nicks told the crowd on Tuesday night.

REVIEW An extraordinary group of people comprise Fleetwood Mac these days

Fleetwood Mac @ Qudos Bank Arena - Syndey
15 August 2019 | Beck
TheMusic.com
Photos Josh Groom

"The hits just kept on coming."

An extraordinary group of people comprise Fleetwood Mac these days - much technical brilliance, decades worth of experience, probably centuries really if you added it all together, and flat-out, no question, critically and commercially tested, outright talent.

Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks may have lost Lindsey Buckingham in the last band shake-up but have added Mike Campbell (ex Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) and Neil Finn to fill the gap and it’s evident from the opening song, The Chain, that they couldn’t have done better.

The hits just kept on coming, and not little ones either. These are the BIG ones. The songs that have been feeding commercial FM radio since its inception. Over two hours worth of songs that are so deeply ingrained in our collective consciousness that we don’t even remember how we know them.

“It’s huge, and it’s magical,” he said of the latest incarnation of the Fleetwood Mac.

NEIL’S MAC PACK
The Courier-mail
By Kathy McCabe

MICK Fleetwood believes the seed for Neil Finn to join the legendary Fleetwood Mac was planted more than 20 years ago.

Ahead of the first of four concerts in Sydney on their world farewell tour, the band’s co-founder said Finn was one of the first people he thought of when Lindsey Buckingham left the band last year.

After the bandmates decided to continue touring, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie and John McVie enlisted former Tom Petty band member Mike Campbell to join them to play guitar.

And then Fleetwood suggested his “secret weapon” Finn, who he has become “incredibly close”, with their respective families sharing holidays in Auckland.

The drummer also played on their “family album”.

They first met when they were sitting next to each other at a Paul McCartney benefit at the Royal Albert Hall two decades ago and have continued to catch up at random events before forming their firm friendship.

“It’s huge, and it’s magical,” he said of the latest incarnation of the Mac.

“And this funny relationship that I had with Neil, neither of us knowing why it was that we have passed in the dark, so many times. And now we know.”

At the Live Nation Green Room event before the show, the famous drummer said he wouldn’t go into the details behind the separation between the band and Buckingham.

“Note that I’ve said it before, we were not happy, and that was really the crux of, of all the details that don’t need to be known,” he told the invited guests.

Fleetwood also reminded his fans about his other Australian friendships developed when he had a home in Mittagong, close to Jimmy Barnes’s old property.

“We called it Barnesville back in the day,” he said of the Southern Highlands town. Fleetwood credits the generational appeal of the band – and in particular their seminal Rumours record, which remains one of the best-selling vinyl records each year – to their musical integrity.

“And we put our heart into what we do. And we took a lot of trouble whenever we made our albums, and they translated into something that has become somewhat, if not extremely, timeless, which is about the biggest blessing an artist can have especially when you get into your 70s,” he said.

Fleetwood Mac began a four-night stand in Sydney last night and play at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on August 20, 22 and 24.

‘It’s a love story really’: Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks on wooing Neil Finn
Fleetwood Mac brought ‘secret weapon’ Finn into the fold after an ‘incredibly sad, incredibly challenging’ time

By Steph Harmon
The Guardian

Mick Fleetwood described Crowded House frontman Neil Finn as a “secret weapon” he held onto for two decades, before asking him to fly to Hawaii to audition for Fleetwood Mac.

In April 2018, it was announced that longstanding member Lindsey Buckingham would be leaving the band, to be replaced by Finn and Mike Campbell, the guitarist from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.