Review: At Lincoln show, Fleetwood Mac goes its own way, plays more than the hits
LINCOLN — Fleetwood Mac played the hits. And they also reached deep into the band’s big bag of songs.
Even many fans are unaware of the band’s material before its hit-filled 1975 breakout. But band namesakes Mick Fleetwood and John McVie have been playing music together since they were teenagers. Fleetwood Mac has more albums from before “Rhiannon” and “Go Your Own Way” than they have from after.
And so alongside “Landslide” was “Hypnotized.” Following “Rhiannon” was “Tell Me All the Things You Do.”
Some fans might have wanted a few more hits. Still, it was cool to see the band acknowledge its blues-riddled past.
And so Friday for about 10,000 people packed into Pinnacle Bank Arena, they reached way back and pulled out some classic Fleetwood Mac tunes and a couple of covers to complement the smash hits that eventually landed them in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Photos: Fleetwood Mac at Pinnacle Bank Arena
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The band’s core six — Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, Neil Finn, Mike Campbell, John McVie and Fleetwood — were joined by five additional musicians to flesh out the epic 24-song set that lasted late into the night.
Though the band largely played well — singers in their 70s can’t hit the high notes quite the same as they used to — the absence of Lindsey Buckingham was palpable.
It wasn’t quite right hearing the band without the singer, songwriter and guitarist responsible for some of its greatest songs.
When he departed — or was he asked to depart? — they turned to two musicians to take his place: Crowded House and Split Enz singer/guitarist Finn and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ guitarist Campbell.
With respect to the talented Finn, his voice doesn’t fit Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits quite like Buckingham’s. When he took lead on “Second Hand News” and “Go Your Own Way,” the songs were just a bit off.
That’s not on Finn. He’s fantastic in his own right. It’s simply that Buckingham wrote those songs. He sang them. Those are his.
(Finn definitely nabbed the spotlight on his Split Enz song “I Got You,” his Crowded House hit “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and an update of the 1970 Fleetwood Mac jam “Tell Me All the Things You Do,” among others.)
Campbell was phenomenal. He’s one of the best guitarists ever and, without his other band, Fleetwood Mac is a good fit. (Nicks has often said that the Heartbreakers are her favorite band of all time, and she often asked Petty to join.)
Campbell was particularly well-suited to play those old blues jams, and he owned his guitar parts. Campbell made songs like “Black Magic Woman” (popularized by Santana but originally a Fleetwood Mac song from 1968) his very own. Paired with Nicks on vocals — it seems like that song was written just for her — it made for a great take on an old familiar song.
Campbell even sang lead vocals on the old Fleetwood Mac blues jam “Oh Well.”
But it was the band’s biggest songs — Nicks singing “Landslide” while holding a tambourine emblazoned with bright scarves and the entire band hammering out “Don’t Stop” — that were the best received. (Oh, and an absolutely killer cover of “Free Fallin’” dedicated to Petty.)
“We traveled a long way to be here tonight, and it’s so good to see you all out there,” Campbell said.
“Thank you, Lincoln,” Christine McVie said. “You guys are fantastic.”