Vancouver: Roll Call, Interviews, Reviews, Photos

[michelej1]

Rumours redux
Elaine Corden, Special to the Vancouver Sun

http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/...tml?id=1589258
Published: Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Fleetwood Mac

Friday, 8 p.m.

GM Place

In an age when the neighbourhood record store has given way to the digital download site, where listeners can cherry-pick their songs and never bother with a B-side, the incentive for musicians to make albums as events is fading fast.

Arguably, the democratization of music distribution has been a good thing for both artists and fans, removing the gatekeepers that traditionally stood between them. But what is lost, perhaps, amidst this revolution is the idea of a capital-A Album, a body of work to be consumed as a whole.

Anyone attending this Friday's sold-out Fleetwood Mac concert will likely see this as a tragedy. From their blues-y beginnings, to their forays into prog rock, to their most famous incarnation - the chart-topping band that released Rumours and Tusk - Fleetwood Mac have always had more to say than just singles. With some 17 members coming and going since the group started in 1967, this is a band that is more than the sum of its parts.

The iteration of the 'Mac performing at GM Place is almost certainly the most well-known, save the absence of one member. Of the five musical powerhouses that gave the world the triple-assault of Fleetwood Mac (1975), Rumours (1977) and Tusk (1979), four are back to rekindle the magic. Founding member Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks are all in for the group's first tour since 2004. Only Christine McVie, seemingly still gun-shy of the group's infamously difficult interpersonal relations, has opted out - a disappointment, to be sure, but not an insurmountable challenge.

Speaking on a conference call in late February, the foursome about to head out as Fleetwood Mac sounded excited to hit the road throughout the United States and Canada on their Greatest Hits Unleashed Tour. With no new album to promote, save a remastered edition of Rumours, the quartet of legendary musicians bubbled with enthusiasm at the idea of playing what they pleased.

"This is truly a new experience for Fleetwood Mac," said Fleetwood, clearly in the mood to wax poetic. "To go out and truly go and play songs that we believe and hope that people are really going to be familiar with and love to do. We haven't done this. Some bands, which is fine, go around doing this year after year, year in, year out."

This translates, practically, into something of a greatest hits tour, though the group is hesitant to look at it that way. While reviews so far have proved that audiences are going to hear their favourites, there's also clearly a mission among the group to really dig in to the "experience" of Fleetwood Mac.

"It takes a little pressure off not having to kind of reinvent anything this particular time," said Buckingham, in his reedy California accent. "And I think because of that we are actually able to just look at the body of work and choose from that [so we can] have a little bit more fun with it than we would normally be able to have."

Chatting to each other between questions from a phalanx of North American journalists, the band members sound like they are getting along famously. But part of the Fleetwood Mac legend is the romantic tensions between members of the group, with Nicks and Buckingham (and the now-divorced McVies) notorious for having group-melting fallouts.

"Lindsey has been in incredibly good humour since we started rehearsal on the fifth of January," said Nicks, with remarkable candour. "And when Lindsey is in a good humour, everybody is in a good humour. When he's happy, everybody is happy."

Both Buckingham and Fleetwood concur (McVie barely says a word during the whole interview), and indeed it's fairly amazing that the group is able to discuss personal issues so openly, without stepping on any toes. Indeed, the only time anyone in the group prickles is when the subject of Tusk comes up, with one brazen journalist suggesting that the record, at the time the most expensive album ever made, constituted an indulgence on the part of the five musicians who created it.

"We never looked at it as some sort of opulent indulgence," insists Fleetwood, sounding galled by the idea.

"I might absolutely add it was paid for by the individuals that you're talking to, in order, in our world, to present something that was going to be more meaningful and more special . To me it doesn't personally feel like any form of indulgence at all . It's really about the integrity of what we do. And we've always taken the responsibility to make the very best effort to do that . .

"It was a privilege, and in truth everyone you're speaking to paid for that privilege . You can actually be in the studio for, you know, nine months, but you have to pay for it. And the fact that we didn't go in there and say, 'Well, it's been three weeks, get the hell out of here and just shove something out,' I think actually speaks well of where this band puts its mettle."

[michelej1]

The Province, May 14, 2009

http://www.theprovince.com/entertain...511/story.html

In concert
Fleetwood Mac
Where: GM Place
When: Tomorrow night at 8
Tickets: $49.50, $85.50 and $199.50 plus service charges at Ticketmaster

No rumour, Fleetwood Mac's back
Old is new again as '60s stars unleash a show they're happy to do

By Tom Harrison, The Province

This time, Fleetwood Mac isn't touring because it has to; it wants to.

There is no new album to promote and fret about, no new songs to fit into a set list, no pressure.

This time, Fleetwood Mac simply can enjoy a long legacy. Although that legacy goes back to 1967 and has endured several permutations, the one people know best is that of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and Christine Perfect. This was the band that relaunched itself in the mid-'70s with hits such as "Rhiannon," "Don't Stop" and "Go Your Own Way," the band whose Rumours LP became symbolic of many different things and is about to be reissued with extra tracks and DVD footage.

Perfect dropped out of the band in 1998, but the other four have stayed together and recently joined in a teleconference call to discuss their Greatest Hits Unleashed tour, their first tour in five years.

- - -

Stevie Nicks: "We've been apart for four years. Now we're back together and we're having a blast. It's like terrific. Had we been working every single year for the last four years and we were going out to do yet another tour this year, we would all be going like, 'Uh, OK.' So this makes it very, very different and we're all excited and we're all happy to be doing it and we all feel really, you know, blessed to be in each other's company and we're getting along great and it's fun."

Mick Fleetwood: "This is the first time that we've gone on the road without an album. So, it's a refreshing thing to do in terms of selecting a whole lot of really emotively connected songs. So this is truly a new experience for Fleetwood Mac to go out and truly go and play songs that we believe and hope that people are really going to be familiar with."

Nicks: "It stays fresh because we never stop playing. Basically, what we are is entertainers. If, even if this band had never made it, you know, big, we would still be, we'd be playing all the clubs, we'd be playing the clubs in Europe, we'd be still doing that. Because what we really are is entertainers. So when we go on stage we're performers."

Lindsey Buckingham: ". . . We are going out this time without a new album. And it, what it does is, it kind of frees you up to kind of enjoy each other a little bit more as people. And, you know, the dynamic between band members is still, to some degree, something which is a work in progress and is being crafted. And so you know it takes a little pressure off not having to kind of reinvent anything this particular time. And I think because of that we are actually able to just look at the body of work and choose from that. And then you know just have a little bit more fun with it than we would normally be able to have."

Nicks: "Unleashed, to me, meant unleashing the furies, unleashing us back into the universe. Unleashed, to me, was an edgy term of throwing this amazing musical entity back into the world that we had been away from for four years. I never looked at it as [us] being leashed. I looked at it as unleashing a fury which is what Fleetwood Mac is a lot of the time. It is one of the world's greatest furies in my opinion. And that was my idea. Fleetwood Mac Unleashed just meant Fleetwood Mac thrown back down to the universe."

Buckingham: "When things happen within the ranks of Fleetwood Mac that are less than ideal on an interpersonal dynamic kind of level, it's never anyone's intention for that to happen. We are a group of great contradictions. The members don't necessarily have any business being in a band together because the range of sensibilities is disparate.

"But that's, in fact, what makes Fleetwood Mac what it is, you know. It's the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. It's the kind of energy that is created from that kind of contrast in personalities."

Fleetwood: "I get a sense of, within the players that are on the phone right now, about getting out and playing the songs that we truly hope are special songs, that may be aren't considered the massive, massive hits but are truly emotionally connected to Fleetwood Mac.

"And so all of the energy is really about just getting out there and putting on a show that really resonates emotionally. And that's really important for us.

"For my experience, when we walk into a room and we haven't played actively for, you know, two or three years or sometimes a little more than that, the bottom line is immediately everything is stripped away and I always see, as Lindsey mentioned earlier, these very odd couples or couplings of people. In truth, the chemistry and the joining of those people is immediate and you turn around and go, 'That's what this is about.' But, for me, my observation and my feeling is that it is stripped away usually within 30 or 40 seconds of playing the first song. And you go, 'That's it.'

"And there is no way of really truly analyzing what that is. It's a glorious accident that hopefully and seemingly was meant to happen because it's gone on for so long that those people make the music that we make. And it is like second nature, it takes but a few minutes to re-plug that biorhythm, chemistry, whatever you want to call it, with those individuals doing what they do.

"And it's remarkable. I find it's totally fascinating. We'll probably never have some analytical explanation to it ever. And in truth, I always prefer that it will never because that's the magic of people being together and doing something, especially under the heading of doing something creatively, where you find your place, you know your place and you add to each other as it's happening in real-time."

- - -

If it's true, as Buckingham contends, that Fleetwood Mac is more than the sum of its parts, then Fleetwood Mac has become a separate entity, a kind of concept, different from each member's solo endeavours.

It's also intuitive. It's something that is not easy to explain but there is this separate entity known instinctively by its members: 'This is Fleetwood Mac.'

Fleetwood: "Well, that's a good phrase, 'This is Fleetwood Mac.' And it is because certainly myself and Lindsey joke about it. It's the worst-run franchise in the business."

[Moz]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and Christine Perfect.....

Perfect dropped out of the band in 1998

How odd. I wonder why they used her maiden name.

[wheart]

Anyone know if this show is still on?

[OldTimer]

Originally Posted by wheart

Anyone know if this show is still on?

I was just going to ask the same question -- and about Tacoma Saturday nite as well. There's been surprisingly little heard from the band since the 'illness' report on Tuesday. Assuming they're not all sick and voiceless, I would have expected at least Mick to do a couple of interviews during this unplanned hiatus.

It's oddly quiet on the western front...

[Almost Simon]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Anyone attending this Friday's sold-out Fleetwood Mac concert will likely see this as a tragedy. From their blues-y beginnings, to their forays into prog rock, to their most famous incarnation

Prog rock????

Whaaaaaattt??? Somebody obviously has never listened to Future Games, Bare Tree's, Mystery To Me, etc. Bizarre comment to make.

[MacMan]

Originally Posted by wheart

Anyone know if this show is still on?

I'm here in Vancouver... and the show is apparently on for tonight.

[shane]

Hey use to post here all the time back in the old days!
Wonder who is heading to the show tonight?

Official word from Live Nation I understand is that the show is on....
lets hope

[wheart]

Originally Posted by MacMan

I'm here in Vancouver... and the show is apparently on for tonight.

cool. are you going?

[michelej1]

http://www.news1130.com/news/local/m...14_182957_6760

LiveNation: Fleetwood Mac show in Vancouver is a 'go'

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - LiveNation says despite cancellations in Calgary and Edmonton, Fleetwood Mac will be taking the stage at GM Place tomorrow night for their sold-out show.

The band cancelled shows this week in Alberta after an un-named band member became sick. But LiveNation says everything is scheduled to go as planned. The sold-out concert starts at 8 p.m..

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by michelej1

http://www.news1130.com/news/local/m...14_182957_6760

LiveNation: Fleetwood Mac show in Vancouver is a 'go'

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - LiveNation says despite cancellations in Calgary and Edmonton, Fleetwood Mac will be taking the stage at GM Place tomorrow night for their sold-out show.

The band cancelled shows this week in Alberta after an un-named band member became sick. But LiveNation says everything is scheduled to go as planned. The sold-out concert starts at 8 p.m..

I just hope they dont make the same mistake they did in 2004, where they cancelled Bristow VA and then Did Mansfield and Holmdel, which made Stevie's illness even worse. Hopefully it's all cleared up.

[Hawkeye]

And it'll be intresting to see if the set stays in tact post illness. If it was in fact Stevie then I think Silver Springs is a very likely candidate to be dropped.

[MacMan]

Not sure who was sick, but apparently it was more then one member of the band including the backup band - so likely the flu or a bad cold was being passed around or something like that....

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by michelej1

The Province, May 14, 2009

the band whose Rumours LP became symbolic of many different things and is about to be reissued with extra tracks and DVD footage.



."

AGAIN with that danmed reissue bull****. I refuse to believe that even exists until we get some further developments. I'm really pumped for that too. Whats the danmed hold up.

[wewerefrail]

I'm going! And hopefully the band is too. It's my first FM show, I'm going alone. I have a floor seat, and I'm really short. Will I be able to see anything at all?