Winnipeg Articles, Reviews, Photos

[michelej1]

This is an excerpt from an article in the Winnipeg Free Press about ticket sales and brokers.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opi...wAllComments=y

As I type, it is still possible to gain entrance to tonight's Fleetwood Mac concert the way God intended.
Well, if not God, at least the way Ticketmaster and the concert promoter intended.

The Ticketmaster website is still offering lots of top-tier tickets, $179 each plus $14.25 service charge.

How easily, in the wake of the Eagles, the Who and Elton John, we have adjusted to $100-plus tickets.

In fact, one might have expected a Fleetwood Mac sellout, but apparently this won't be the case. The crowd at the MTS Centre for the '70s superstar pop-music quartet will in the 10,000-12,000 range.

[michelej1]

Winnipeg Free Press

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bre...-47071767.html

Real-time review of Fleetwood Mac concert
By: John White

5/06/2009 5:26 PM


Join us Saturday night at 8 p.m. for real-time coverage of the Fleetwood Mac concert from the MTS Centre.

Then, read the fuill review from Melissa Martin in the Sunday Free Press.

[carol7lynn]

Thanks Michele. You rock!

Carol Lynn
SoCalGal

[michelej1]

This real time review is a great thing. I mean, with Zombie and Paula, Ledgies sort of did it themselves on opening night, but it's really neat to see a newspaper doing it too. Michele

[MacMan]

Just got in from the show... It was really good! Everyone and everything was pretty much spot on. Stevie was especially good I thought after having seen her in Vancouver a few weeks ago. Massive improvement which I was really happy to see. Gold Dust Woman is her shining moment in the show I think - along with the whole band presentation of the song... it's just so cool the way they drag it out, with Lindsey's inflections of those weird guitar sounds, it just makes it really eerie, and Stevie's deep voice near the ending repeating running in the shadow is really really cool sounding and a nice change. Stevie I thought was really animated and full of movement through out the show, dancing around, interacting with the audience here and there... The Stand Back spin was actually quite good, and fast - and the double layers of shawls adds something different to her appearance during it... Near the end of the story prior to singing Gypsy, where she talks about writing the song 10 years later - she kind of stopped and said she must be losing her mind, I think she was getting herself all confused - like she was talking faster then her brain could compute what she was actually saying.. It was kind of funny. No boots tonight, just the moon boots.

For Lindsey, all cylinders were firing as usual, except I thought Oh Well may have been a little bit off tonight, something seemed different with the sound of his guitar. As he was taking it off to give back to his guitar tech you could see him shaking his head... Aside from that he was his usual self up there - and killed on the solos!

Mick and John... The usual greatness from both.

Audience comparisons to the Vancouver show, I thought the audience in Vancouver was way more into the show right from the start...took the audience here awhile to warm up - but they made it there eventually. Attendance to me looked full, the odd seat here and there was empty... All in all, it was a fun time. And it makes a big difference sound wise I think to see the show looking straight at the stage, not from the side.

Oh... And I got to hear Silver Springs this tour.... Nice ending!

[MacMan]

Fleetwood Mac go their own ways
By DARRYL STERDAN
Winnipeg Sun

Imagine being in a wildly successful business. With your ex. For the rest of your life. And just to sweeten the pot, imagine that you would make your money by repeatedly rehashing the ups and downs of your long-dead romance. In public.

Faced with that prospect, there would be only three paths you could choose: 1) Refuse and stay home; 2) Do it and live in a state of constant angst and depression from having to pick at those scabs day after week after month after year; 3) Get over yourselves, find a way to get along and reap the rewards.

If anyone still harboured lingering doubts that Fleetwood Mac have wholeheartedly embraced the latter option, the band erased it with their Saturday night Greatest Hits Unleashed concert for 11,000 fans at MTS Centre. Well, four of the Mac did, anyway — singer-keyboardist Christine McVie took a powder out Door No. 1 a decade ago, leaving singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, vocalist Stevie Nicks, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie to make the best of it.

And make the best of it they have. "We decided to just go out and have fun," the 59-year-old Buckingham exclaimed early on in the proceedings, explaining why the veteran ’70s band are back on the road without a new album. Despite his claims, however — and despite a few moments of undeniable fun that occurred during their 150-minute program — the bulk of their 24-song set felt less like a party than one of those holiday gatherings where both sides of a divorced couple show up and everybody is very deliberately and very publicly on their best behaviour.

That much was apparent from the moment the band played their first song (fittingly, it was Monday Morning, the opening track from their self-titled 1975 album). Buckingham and his former paramour Nicks (who, it must be said, doesn't look anywhere near 61) entered from opposite corners and took up positions several yards away from each other on the massive stage. Behind them were 61-year-old drummer Fleetwood (with whom Nicks once also had an affair, just for the record) and 63-year-old bassist McVie (the only member who, lucky for him, no longer to share a stage with his ex). Flanking the rhythm section were two auxiliary musicians handling extra guitars and keyboards, plus a trio of female backup singers.

And for most of the rest of the night, that's more or less where everyone stayed — including Buckingham and Nicks. Each tended to work his or her own side of the stage. Each went and stood by a different side of Fleetwood's drum riser. And most importantly, each seemed to honour some sort of invisible buffer zone between them. It wasn't that they were ignoring each other; they kept their eyes locked on one another during several songs, and Nicks often turned her mic 90° to face Buckingham while singing. But aside from a few very noticeable moments (we'll get to those in a minute), they didn't physically interact or even come close to sharing a mic (though the side-stage video screens took care of that by almost continually broadcasting a split-screen of the duo). Given that Buckingham reportedly called Nicks some pretty nasty names back in the day — you can look them up on the Interweb for yourself — we'd say it's impressive enough that they're willing to coexist, never mind behave in such a perfectly civilized manner.

For the most part, the rest of the concert was just as civilized. And just as perfect. Perhaps a little too much so in both regards. Granted, it's impossible to complain about any of the musical aspects of the performance. McVie was a rock-solid presence both rhythmically and geographically, never straying from Fleetwood's right flank or from his downbeat. Fleetwood was a god of thunder behind his kit, laying down an endless series of pounding, tribal tom-tom rhythms while sporting a maniacally gleeful grin that gave him the look of a mad English professor. Nicks, whose voice can come of as braying at times, was in fine, powerful form (except, perhaps on Don't Stop, where she seemed to struggle with the high notes) — and she changed clothes faster and more often than a runway model to boot (we gave up counting her outfits after a while, though it quickly became apparent she's singlehandedly keeping the shawl and tassel industries alive).

But when it was all said and done, Buckingham definitely earned the MVP award for the night. Not only were his vocals strong and spot-on; his blazing needlepoint finger-picking was nothing short of stunning. Thankfully, there was plenty of it on display, culminating in an extended, soaring solo during I'm So Afraid that brought him a richly deserved standing O (one of several the players earned during the night).

Nor could you quibble about the technical aspects of the show. The stage was backed and capped by giant illuminated panels that moved and interacted with a tasteful lighting design emphasizing deep, monochromatic shades. The set list was chock full of hits and fan favourites like Rhiannon, Second Hand News, Tusk and Gold Dust Woman. It was also exceedingly well-paced, gradually building in intensity to a propulsive Go Your Own Way. There was a mini-acoustic section in the middle — with Nicks crossing the stage to embrace Buckingham before he performed Big Love solo. Fleetwood delivered a pulverizing, energized and interactive solo, after coming down from his drum riser to thump on a smaller set during a couple of quieter songs. Nicks and Buckingham told a few lengthy, endearingly rambling stories behind songs like Gypsy and Dreams. Nicks did plenty of her witchy-woman moves. Buckingham pretended to collapse on stage at one point. The two even came out holding hands for the encore.

Despite all that, however, there was still something missing. A big part of that something was Christine McVie. Without her rich pipes — and, just as importantly, the songs on which she handled lead vocals — Fleetwood Mac end up being something of a two-legged stool: The Stevie and Lindsey Show. Not that there's too much wrong with that. But the other thing that was missing was even more vital: There weren't enough true, honest sparks of excitement and immediacy to go around. Maybe it's because there appears to be little room for variation in their show — they've been playing the same songs, in the same order, and even seem to have been wearing the same outfits since they started this tour in March. So aside from few previously mentioned moments of fun — notably during a hard-driving, Nicks-free rendition of the Peter Green-era blues-rock gem Oh Well, and that ear-piercing solo from Buckingham — it all felt a little too comfortable, a little too slick, a little too safe.

Which is not to suggest that Buckingham and Nicks get drunk, fall into bed and then have it out onstage or anything. After all, we suspect once was enough for both of them. But even though we're glad we got to see Fleetwood Mac in this lifetime, we have to say once was probably enough for us too.

Fleetwood Mac dazzles — and tantalizes
By: Melissa Martin
Winnipeg Free Press

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of Fleetwood Mac. The soap opera, the splits, the Rumours and the songs... especially the songs.

Admit it, we’re all curious how the story will end.

Last night, Winnipeg got its peek at the next chapter in the iconic rock band’s dramatic saga. They’re keeping mum on what comes next... an album? Another tour? We don’t know; and so fans who’ve spent their entire lives following the plot flooded the MTS Centre, ready for a preview of that Mac’s millionth reunion means.

Everything about the two-hour, 23-song performance seemed designed to keep them guessing. While lion-maned frontwoman Stevie Nicks crooned Dreams, which was recorded during her acrimonious 1976 split from guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, video screens flanking the stage superimposed the pair next to each other.

This lasted but a moment. One star or the other would soon fade away, leaving an empty space on the screen.

Later, on Sara, the former flames would embrace in a moment that was as tender as it was scripted. (They’ve done the same every night this tour.) But first, they had more hints to scatter. "Fleetwood Mac is a band that has had a convoluted emotional history, to say the least," Buckingham said.

"Sometimes we take long breaks. And every time we come together there’s a sense of possibility. This time we said, ‘Let’s just go out there and have fun.’ Because there is no new album to promote... yet."

Nicks and Buckingham weren’t the only ones on stage, of course. John McVie was there, lingering near Mick Fleetwood’s drum riser and seemingly content to stay far out of Nicks’ spotlight. Christine McVie is still absent from the band, and so were almost all of her Mac hits. A six-piece backing band of vocalists, keyboards and percussion shared the stage instead.

At times the backup was subtle, just filling out that fat ’70s sound that Mac helped pioneer. But the extra help made a huge difference on the enormous, boozy title track from 1979 album Tusk. Its instrumental outro reared up into a tsunami of sound and crashed over the audience, leaving a standing ovation as it receded.

Buckingham is a virtuoso, and he channelled his genius into some of the show’s most emotionally charged moments, like the astonishing syncopated melodies at the opening of 1987’s Big Love. His voice, though, was the big star of that tune: Buckingham writhed and howled like a man trying to escape the grip of Hades.

Next to Buckingham, Nicks’ performance was harder to parse. Whether by accident or design, her vocal was unpredictable, more vulnerable, and perhaps appropriately road-weary for her storied life.

The jury’s out on how this affected the musicality of the show. Nicks’ fatigued moan worked on Gold Dust Woman. But on Rhiannon, she fell offbeat. On Sara and then Landslide, she’d lose herself and find herself again, letting her siren voice soar on the choruses, but slurring and mumbling the verses.

One wonders how lacklustre this might have played if Buckingham had not balanced it out with such tightly-wound ferocity.

Then again, it probably would have been just fine. The real energy in the room last night came not from the stage, not even from Buckingham, but from the crowd, who greeted every son with deafening cheers and filled the air with the tinkling of promotional tambourines.

This energy, radiating from the walls and floor, built to feverish levels as Mac started to bring the show home. Giant light panels, which had remained largely subdued and facing downward for most of the show, began to lift and separate like a spaceship while Buckingham wailed out a marathon solo to I’m So Afraid.

At press time, we left the band only one song away from their legendary hit, Go Your Own Way, but Nicks seemed to finally find her sass on Stand Back, shimmying in a tattered black and white scarf.

After a late-set break, Nicks came back having finally found the depths of her famous sass: she belted out Stand Back while whirling around in a tattered black-and-white shawl and then led the band straight into an extended version of Go Your Own Way, which was hearty, triumphant, and followed by the most exuberant cheers we’ll hear at the MTS Centre until the Jonas Brothers.

For the encore, Fleetwood, 61, took control, first banging out an adrenaline-blasting drum feature on World Turning, then shouting praise for his bandmates and even offering Nicks a friendly catcall. "It is a joy and an honour to be sharing the stage with these three people," he shouted, gleefully, before sauntering into the Bill Clinton campaign classic, Don’t Stop.

[AliP]

Originally Posted by MacMan

For Lindsey, all cylinders were firing as usual, except I thought Oh Well may have been a little bit off tonight, something seemed different with the sound of his guitar.
Oh... And I got to hear Silver Springs this tour.... Nice ending!

Thanks for the review! During the Salt Lake Show, I also thought Oh Well sounded a bit off, but nonetheless, it was awesome! Loved Silver Springs as an ending too!

[michelej1]

Thanks for the review Peter. The Gypsy intros are proving to be fun almost every night. I think the extra heft of the two Stand Back shawls also lets Stevie give them a more ferocious toss when she's moving around. As Lindsey would say: "a healthy dose of aggression." Well, Lindsey doesn't say it like that exactly. He has to pause before the word "aggression" so that I feel like screaming out the end of all of his sentences for him, but . . .

The Melissa Martin who posted one of the press reviews you posted was on the live chat with us last night. So, it's interesting to see what she had to say officially. The 2 reporters didn't have good seats and no one was standing around them, until the end.

Michele

[michelej1]

Blog Critics.Org by Triniman

http://blogcritics.org/music/article...ac-mts-centre/

Concert Review: Fleetwood Mac, MTS Centre, Winnipeg, MB, 6/6/09

Around 11,000 fans showed up for Fleetwood Mac, the legendary Anglo-American band almost as famous for their internal romantic strife as for their 40-million-selling 1977 album, Rumours, as well as other multi-platinum records in their extensive career. The promoter expected a sellout, but at nearly $200 a ticket, prices may have been a deterrent, especially in a year in which the concert market in Winnipeg has been over-saturated with shows. Seats in the first two rows on the floor were still available just days beforehand, for example.

The focal points of the group are still Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who completely revitalized the Mac's career in the '70s. They walked out hand in hand, reminding everyone of the tumultuous love affair that almost broke up the band but which also yielded some fantastic music along the way. Joining them on stage were drummer Mick Fleetwood (who bashed out a drum solo near the end and was mostly unintelligible whenever he spoke), docile bassist John McVie (who never cracked a smile), a keyboardist, a second guitarist and three back-up vocalists. The performance — which included no opening act — lasted around two and a half hours.

Despite being billed as a greatest hits tour, the show was aimed at long-time fans as it featured — almost exclusively — '70's material. I was hoping to hear tracks from their smash "comeback" album, 1987's Tango In The Night, but all that was played was a fiery, acoustic version of "Big Love." They performed nothing from their four '90s albums.

Buckingham proved every bit the showman, blasting out his signature guitar style with tremendous speed. At times, he would lean over the edge of the stage on bended knee while soloing and allowed fans to touch their fingers on the fret board. Once in while, after intensely performing a song, he would stomp on the stage and yell out "Yeah!" as if to prove to himself that he still had it in him. He clearly carried the band on his back with his performance, both visually and musically.

Stevie Nicks had earlier on began teasing us with her outstretched arms, grasping her shawl as if she was about to twirl around and around; she finally did so towards the latter part of the show. Whenever she and Buckingham walked on the stage, they did so hand in hand with gentle kisses of goodbye to each other before making their way to their respective microphone stands.

Her distinctively warm and husky vocals were clearly worn down. She didn't sound as clear on some lines and not as intense as Buckingham. While Buckingham was busy discharging massive amounts of adrenalin through his finger and feet, Nicks seemed to conserve her energy. Still, fans were going all out with digital cameras and cell phones to capture the photogenic duo.

For some songs, Nicks and Buckingham told the stories of their origin, which also related to how they met each other in high school and subsequently became band mates. Nicks mentioned performing gigs with rock legends like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, which drew great applause, making me think about how young she was when she started out and how well she now still appears more than four decades later.

The band opened the performance with "Monday Morning," from the 1975 album, Fleetwood Mac. Two solo tracks found their way into the set, Nicks' "Stand Back" as well as Buckingham's "Go Insane." I had hoped to hear his other well-known solo hit, 1981's "Trouble," but that wasn't to be. For some songs, Nicks and Buckingham appeared together with a single acoustic guitar while the other bandmates took a break. In such moments, their selections included "Landslide" and "Never Going Back Again."

Near the end of the show, Mick Fleetwood introduced each band member, beginning with the backing singers and ending with John McVie, who was praised as being the foundation of the group. He then credited Buckingham as being their mentor in the studio and their maestro on stage. And at the end, Nicks bent down and shook one lucky fan's hand while Buckingham carefully gave out guitar picks and handshakes to fans up front.

Despite the best efforts of the back-up singers, the unique vocals of singer/keyboardist Christine McVie — who retired in 1998 — were missed.

Unlike most shows at the MTS Centre, there was no barricade between the front row and the stage, which inspired some clever fans to flee their seats further back on the floor to stand in the aisles for a better view. This proved a frustating situation, sometimes resulting with those who were already standing by their seats having to ask the newcomers to move aside so as not to block their views.

[MacMan]

[MacMan]

[michelej1]

When the Winnipeg reporters were on line during the show people kept telling them to post more pictures and they said they were only allowed to photograph for the first 3 songs. It was funny, because fans were snapping away all during the concert, but the "official" people couldn't -- well, not with their gigantic professional cameras anyway. No reason a journalist couldn't sneak "personal" shots.

Michele