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FLEETWOOD MAC - DUBLIN - 10.25.09
Drum Solo/World Turning Finale AND last portion of Go Your Own Way
interesting perspective from the side.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
FIRST WEEK SALES DATA FOR FLEETWOOD MAC VERY BEST OF - UK
Fleetwood Mac's 2009 2CD
'The Very Best Of'
charts at number six on The Official UK Top 75 Albums
one position higher then the debut of the 2002/03 single disc release.
[updated with sales data]
The Top Ten - with sales data:
132,065 Alexandra Burke (1)
78,005 Michael Buble (2)
51,632 Whitney Houston (3)
21,770 Seasick Steve (4)
19,574 Paolo Nutini (5)
18,763 Fleetwood Mac (6)
17,065 Spandau Ballet (7)
15,840 Chipmunk (8)
14,097 Paloma Faith (9)
13,825 Vera Lynn (10)
FLEETWOOD MAC WAS 10th HOTTEST TOUR OF THE SUMMER
USA TODAY
The touring business weathered a bad economy for the second straight summer, as concert grosses held steady and attendance rose slightly.
Concerts grossed $1 billion from May 1 to Sept. 1, roughly equal to the same period in 2008. Attendance rose for the season's 4,200-plus live music shows to 19.2 million, up 3% from 18.7 million a year ago.
Plenty of people willing to pay premium prices for enhanced concert experiences. "You had Mick Fleetwood doing meet-and-greets all across the country this summer, and that's something you may not have seen in years past."
The data are from Boxscore reports published by Billboard and analyzed by USA TODAY.
Plenty of people willing to pay premium prices for enhanced concert experiences. "You had Mick Fleetwood doing meet-and-greets all across the country this summer, and that's something you may not have seen in years past."
The data are from Boxscore reports published by Billboard and analyzed by USA TODAY.
TOP 10: See which acts were big at the box office
The Hottest Tours of Summer
10. Fleetwood Mac
What they did
The legendary band kicked off its Unleashed tour in March and kept it going strong well into the summer. It was the first tour in five years for Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
Why it worked
"These songs are part of music fans' DNA, and they still want to come out and hear them performed live."
Total gross (in millions): $21.1
Shows reporting: 22
Attendance: 232,000
Seats filled: 82%
Source: USA TODAY analysis of Billboard Boxscore data for May 1-Sept. 1 concerts
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac at the Dublin O2
Review of Dublin Gig - Saturday Oct 25th.
Review by: RoyMcC
My first exposure to Fleetwood Mac was in the 6th Form Centre at St Philip's GS. A schoolmate was gamely plucking away at Albatross, the bluesy, dreamy instrumental that charted for the band in 1969.
Last night (Saturday) at the O2 in Dublin two of the original members of that band, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie were still laying down the rhythm for the band forty years later. It's gobsmacking isn't it?
Not so for some of those in the audience, each of whom had paid upwards of €80 to see these legends, arguably the greatest band still on the road. Quite probably never to tour again. A steady stream of punters only intent on travelling to and from the bars for a steady supply of fizzy shite lager. Like it was being discontinued tomorrow. And resulting in further disruption as this resulted in the drinkers having to regularly leave their seats for a piss. Turning their backs on some of the most sublime music ever made. Truly it is very sad, the need to have an alchoholic drink before it is considered that one has a night out. Now, I'm no stranger to alchohol but last night made me ashamed.
But that spoilt my evening only slightly. The gig will remain memorable for howevermuch time I have left. The O2 Arena is a magnificent venue and the atmosphere was electric - the audience comprising younger ones who were only stars in the sky in 1969 as well as us greybeards.
They could have performed anything and we would have been pleased. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham said that, with no album to promote, they had decided just to have fun on this tour and play what the audience wanted. Early on they sung The Chain, long adopted by the BBC for their Formula 1 coverage and happily reinstated now that they have bought back the rights from ITV.
The first of many from the mega-selling Rumours album. Was it just me or did Buckingham appear to falter and compose himself briefly as he spoke about the personal turmoil that the band members were going through at the time and which resulted in such a creative body of work? Go Insane was the first opportunity for Buckingham to really get into the gig and he took it.
Lindsey Buckingham is the focal point of the band. The solid rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie has been the cornerstone of the band for over forty years. But Buckingham is the elemental force and the band would be nowhere without him. His vocals are raw, his guitar work falls short of virtuoso, but by God does he give it his every ounce of energy. And tonight he carried the audience with him and it was fantastic.
Next up was Rhiannon, one from way back and the unutterably lovely Stevie Nicks started to come into her own. Along with Elkie Brooks and Carol Decker, Nicks has long given me the shivers with her voice. Quite incredibly she is now 61 and she still takes the breath away. She has never had a powerful voice (unlike Brooks and Decker) and her contralto now lacks the edge of old. But she is wonderful and no one was going to nitpick on a night such as this.
Nicks performed Sara beautifully, before Buckingham launched into Big Love. Mercifully there was no attempt to replicate the male/female grunting and gasping fadeaway of the original recording - it was all one-sided!
Never Going Back Again, Storms and Say You Love Me followed. Then Nicks picked up Gold Dust Woman from the Rumours album and gave it the full treatment, with a lovely, drawn out ending led by Mick with Nicks bathed in a golden glow from the lights. And immediately followed on by Oh Well - back to the Green/Kirwan days and a faithful rendition by Buckingham.
Now, the Mac are not a band that necessarily have the audience on their feet. They produce well-crafted work and don't go in for rabble-rousing. But as they closed their set everyone was up singing, dancing and rocking along to Go Your Own Way.
And then a surprise. For an encore, rather than belt out another favourite as the audience expected, Mick Fleetwood suddenly took the limelight. The drum solo is a lost art but during World Turning Mick involved us, the rabble, and had us on our feet again. Then a sign-off with another singalong Don't Stop.
At which point the O2 audience, totally wrecked, headed for the exits. But amazingly there was a second encore as the set approached three hours in length and Silver Springs was played to a half-empty auditorium.
Truly the formers lovers and clearly still soulmates Buckingham and Nicks, and the rocks that are Fleetwood and McVie, comprise one of the best blues/rock bands of all time. Their Dublin gig will never be forgotten and the Mac put in a huge effort as if they suspected that they are on borrowed time. We, the audience, had much more than our money's worth. Just a nagging regret that Christine McVie wasn't around with her old mates.
Last night (Saturday) at the O2 in Dublin two of the original members of that band, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie were still laying down the rhythm for the band forty years later. It's gobsmacking isn't it?Not so for some of those in the audience, each of whom had paid upwards of €80 to see these legends, arguably the greatest band still on the road. Quite probably never to tour again. A steady stream of punters only intent on travelling to and from the bars for a steady supply of fizzy shite lager. Like it was being discontinued tomorrow. And resulting in further disruption as this resulted in the drinkers having to regularly leave their seats for a piss. Turning their backs on some of the most sublime music ever made. Truly it is very sad, the need to have an alchoholic drink before it is considered that one has a night out. Now, I'm no stranger to alchohol but last night made me ashamed.
But that spoilt my evening only slightly. The gig will remain memorable for howevermuch time I have left. The O2 Arena is a magnificent venue and the atmosphere was electric - the audience comprising younger ones who were only stars in the sky in 1969 as well as us greybeards.
They could have performed anything and we would have been pleased. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham said that, with no album to promote, they had decided just to have fun on this tour and play what the audience wanted. Early on they sung The Chain, long adopted by the BBC for their Formula 1 coverage and happily reinstated now that they have bought back the rights from ITV.
The first of many from the mega-selling Rumours album. Was it just me or did Buckingham appear to falter and compose himself briefly as he spoke about the personal turmoil that the band members were going through at the time and which resulted in such a creative body of work? Go Insane was the first opportunity for Buckingham to really get into the gig and he took it.
Lindsey Buckingham is the focal point of the band. The solid rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie has been the cornerstone of the band for over forty years. But Buckingham is the elemental force and the band would be nowhere without him. His vocals are raw, his guitar work falls short of virtuoso, but by God does he give it his every ounce of energy. And tonight he carried the audience with him and it was fantastic.
Next up was Rhiannon, one from way back and the unutterably lovely Stevie Nicks started to come into her own. Along with Elkie Brooks and Carol Decker, Nicks has long given me the shivers with her voice. Quite incredibly she is now 61 and she still takes the breath away. She has never had a powerful voice (unlike Brooks and Decker) and her contralto now lacks the edge of old. But she is wonderful and no one was going to nitpick on a night such as this.
Nicks performed Sara beautifully, before Buckingham launched into Big Love. Mercifully there was no attempt to replicate the male/female grunting and gasping fadeaway of the original recording - it was all one-sided!
Never Going Back Again, Storms and Say You Love Me followed. Then Nicks picked up Gold Dust Woman from the Rumours album and gave it the full treatment, with a lovely, drawn out ending led by Mick with Nicks bathed in a golden glow from the lights. And immediately followed on by Oh Well - back to the Green/Kirwan days and a faithful rendition by Buckingham.
Now, the Mac are not a band that necessarily have the audience on their feet. They produce well-crafted work and don't go in for rabble-rousing. But as they closed their set everyone was up singing, dancing and rocking along to Go Your Own Way.
And then a surprise. For an encore, rather than belt out another favourite as the audience expected, Mick Fleetwood suddenly took the limelight. The drum solo is a lost art but during World Turning Mick involved us, the rabble, and had us on our feet again. Then a sign-off with another singalong Don't Stop.
At which point the O2 audience, totally wrecked, headed for the exits. But amazingly there was a second encore as the set approached three hours in length and Silver Springs was played to a half-empty auditorium.
Truly the formers lovers and clearly still soulmates Buckingham and Nicks, and the rocks that are Fleetwood and McVie, comprise one of the best blues/rock bands of all time. Their Dublin gig will never be forgotten and the Mac put in a huge effort as if they suspected that they are on borrowed time. We, the audience, had much more than our money's worth. Just a nagging regret that Christine McVie wasn't around with her old mates.
(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC GLASGOW "They Keep Going Their Own Way"
(Rated 4/5)
Independent.co.uk
(Page 17 Indendent Life)
Reviewed by David Pollock
To those familiar with their patchwork history, the fact that this current incarnation of Fleetwood Mac has remained stable for a little over a decade is something approaching a miracle.
Guitarist, sometime singer and key songwriter, Lindsey Buckingham, alludes to previous traumas with mention of recording their classic album, Rumours, during which period he and Stevie Nicks were breaking up their relationship: "there were a lot of emotional opposites between us". Yes, there was "aggression" to be worked out during "Second Hand News", but rarely has such spite sounded as joyful as it did here.
Whatever bridges may have been burned during this era and Buckingham's departure from the band following 1987's Tango in the Night have obviously been long since rebuilt. At the end of "Sara", Nicks – a hippyish figure in a changing array of sequinned shawls and dresses, her eyes dreamy and her hair a fresh bottle-blonde – takes Buckingham in a tender embrace of friendship. To applause and camera flashes from the audience, words are whispered between the pair, and it's another moment for the photo album when they emerge holding hands for the encore an hour later.
These two have clearly settled into a lifelong friendship, but many might have noticed the opposite attraction of their musical relationship. While the pair's voices manage a beautifully rootsy combination on duets like "Don't Stop" and particularly a stripped-back acoustic pairing for "Never Going Back Again", their individual contributions are markedly different.
Nicks, spinning gently on the spot, is a folky bohemian, a rustic chanteuse during familiar tracks like "Gypsy", "Rhiannon" and an acoustic "Landslide". While the musical styles of the Janis Joplin-esque "Gold Dust Woman" and "Stand Back"'s alarmingly contemporary electronic keyboard riff are markedly different, Nicks's persona doesn't shift.
Buckingham, on the other hand, is a study in almost manic intensity, particularly when Nicks has walked off to effect another costume change and he's left alone to indulge himself with the stalwart rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Perhaps over-fond of the extended instrumental, he plays with a serious stare and punctuates each song with whoops and stamps of the feet. It's a little overwrought, but Buckingham conjures a young man's vitality during "Tusk", "Go Your Own Way", "Oh Well" and a truly spine-tingling acoustic take on "Big Love".
For a band who deal in definitively enduring pop classics, there was the odd clunking moment – a dull "Go Insane", Fleetwood's literally barking drum solo during "World Turning". Yet the magic far outweighed these brief lulls, and the drummer's assertion at the end that "we'll see you next time" was a promise we'd like to hold him to.
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