sheffield 2/11/09

[Rhonda*]

Finally getting round to putting my pictures up - this is my favourite



If you'd like to see the rest they're here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4435586...7622617141611/

there are 76 in total

Enjoy
x Rhonda

[luckydimecaper]

Great pictures, thanks I love the last one of Mick, haha.

[michelej1]

Dig Yorkshire, 3 Stars
http://www.digyorkshire.com/Highligh...ookieSupport=1

Fleetwood MacRob Peacock

Thursday 5 November 2009


Sheffield Arena
2nd Nov

Watching Fleetwood Mac shouldn’t be such a strange proposition. After 40 years, you know the songs, you know the people, you know the whole back-story about the break-ups and divorces. A Fleetwood Mac gig should be a good –rockin’ trip down memory lane.

And yet, here am I watchin old familiar faces crank out old familiar songs and not knowing what to make of it all.

The reason for this, I think, makes itself clear about two-thirds of the way through the main set when they break into Oh Well, a classic from their original 60s incarnation - they’re still (at least) two separate bands. Fleetwood and McVie are British blues boys to their core, never happier than when they’re allowed to let rip on a proper R ‘n’ B (in the 60s sense) groove. Buckingham and Nicks, on the other hand, are just a pair of hippy, trippy Californian interlopers, even now, 35 years after joining.

To further complicate matters, there’s the tension still apparent between Buckingham and Nicks, long after their romantic break-up. How much of this is put on for the crowds it’s hard to tell. They walk on stage holding hands, glance provocatively at each other during songs and, at one point, hug each other with huge dramatic effect. It may be staged, but the psychobabble with which they introduce their songs suggests, shall we say, that both may have a few issues still to work through.

It’s a band split along multiple lines and pulling in different directions. So who wins out? Well, the rhythm section only get to properly show off their skills on the aforementioned Oh Well, which is unfortunate, because Fleetwood looks at mad for it as ever. And yet, even Nicks is sidelined somewhat tonight. She floats on and off stage to huge applause and swirls her gypsy dress through numbers like Rhiannon and Landslide, but never quite captures the moment.

Instead, for the most part, it’s the Lindsey Buckingham show. He wasn’t in the pantheon of all-time guitar greats last time I checked, but no-one seems to have told the man himself this. Every time he gets the opportunity he’s down to the front of the stage, milking solos for all they’re worth. At one point towards the end of I’m So Afraid you think he’s never going to stop. He’s up at the top of the fretboard squeezing every last whine out of his instrument, pained expression on his face, sweat leaking through his t-shirt. If it weren’t for the strange way he hobbles around the stage, you’d swear this was a sixteen year old throwing his best rock star poses in front of the bedroom mirror.

It’s a shame Christine McVie didn’t make it along for the reunion to add yet another dimension to the performance. In fact, she might have balanced out Buckingham’s massive ego. Nonetheless, the four-piece Mac leave the diehards happy and if nothing else, you’re watching a classic rock band in which, unlike some others (step forward, Rolling Stones), creative tensions are very much still alive.

[michelej1]

Review from Classic Rock Revisited

http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/...eetwoodmac.htm

Fleetwood Mac
November 2, 2009
Hallam Arena
Sheffield, England

By Ian Routledge

Set List
Monday Morning | The Chain | Dreams | I Know I'm Not Wrong | Gypsy | Go Insane | Rhiannon | Second Hand News | Tusk | Sara | Big Love | Landslide | Never Going Back Again | Storms | Say You Love Me | Gold Dust Woman | Oh Well | I'm So Afraid | Stand Back | Go Your Own Way

Encore
World Turning | Don't Stop

I’m of an age where I remember when the original Fleetwood Mac actually burst onto the scene. I hadn’t hit my teenage years yet when the likes of Albatross, Black Magic Woman, Oh Well and Green Manalishi hit the airwaves, and like thousands upon thousands of others I was hooked. Unfortunately due to various circumstances, this era of the band was short lived, too short, and everyone thought that this would be the end. But no the band carried on in several guises between 1970- 1975, but without the same success. It wasn’t until 1975 when Lindsay Buckingham, and his then musical partner and girlfriend Stevie Nicks were invited to join the band, that Fleetwood Mac took off again.

So, it’s 8:20 in Sheffield, England and the house lights go down. First on stage Messrs Fleetwood and McVie, followed by the hand holding Nicks and Buckingham, and we’re into ‘Monday Morning’ from their first album ‘Fleetwood Mac’. As they had no current album – ‘YET’ – Buckingham pointed out, the set tonight would be filled with songs they’d wanted to play, and hopefully what we wanted to hear. And so it was, greatest hits from their 5 biggest albums - ‘Fleetwood Mac’, ‘Rumours’, ‘Tusk’, ‘Mirage’ and ‘Tango in the Night’. We were also treated to the added ‘bonus tracks’ of ‘Oh Well’ from the Peter Green era of the band, ‘Go Insane’ a Buckingham solo recording and ‘Stand Back’ a Nicks solo single.

Highlights of the night for me were the acoustic versions of ‘Landslide’ and ‘Never Going Back Again’, ‘Oh Well’ (of course), and ‘Sara’. What you have to say is that even at ages where most people would be taking it easy, on the night Fleetwood Mac produced a high energy, highly polished performance.

Stevie Nicks’ voice is a little deeper than when she first came on the scene, but still has it’s haunting quality, and of course age has not lessened her beauty. Lindsay Buckingham’s guitar playing superb, his fingers a blur during guitar solos, and his energy on stage outstanding. John McVie, understated as he always has been on bass, standing in the shadows, never hogging the limelight or wanting to. Finally the eccentric Mick Fleetwood, founder of Fleetwood Mac, and the driving force of the rhythm section on the drums.

All in all probably the best 2hours and 15 minutes I have spent in a very long time, and as you promised Mr Fleetwood, please come back soon