Christine: I Might Pop Up in UK if they Wanted

[michelej1]

[Now, she's just being cruel. Also, what song calls for a duet? Does she mean Don't Stop?: If they wanted me to, I might pop back on stage when they’re in London,’ she says, gracing me with a rare interview, ‘just to do a little duet or something like that.’]

Metro Co. UK
http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/04/fleetw...-tour-3581866/

Fleetwood Mac: The resurgent 1970s icons head out on a new world tour


Thursday 4 Apr 2013 6:00 am

As Fleetwood Mac embark on a world tour, we look at the renewed love for a band that defined the 1970s.

I’m as overawed to meet Mick Fleetwood, the towering drummer from legendary Anglo-American rock act Fleetwood Mac, as a hobbit greeting Gandalf – though this wizard sports a batik waistcoat and bright pink socks.

‘We had no concept of the enormity of what we were making with Rumours,’ he says, speaking of their legendary 1977 album. ‘But we did know it was something special and that helped us focus when we were all so desperately unhappy. I can’t think of any other band where all this s*** has happened.’

Earlier this year, an extended edition of Rumours, which had already sold more than 40million copies, went straight back into the British charts at No.3. An epic world tour starts tonight and will hit Britain on September 24, with 2013 shaping up to be a triumphant reunion year. But it’s not just a nostalgia trip: people far too young to remember Rumours the first time around seem obsessed with the music and the story behind it.

Indeed, it now seems unbelievable that Fleetwood Mac’s 11th album, recorded amid the crossfire of three relationship breakdowns, was ever finished at all. The marriage between bassist John McVie and singer/keyboardist Christine was crumbling, while singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham were going through their own messy split. Even Fleetwood was in the middle of divorce proceedings.

Everyone was strung out on veritable snowdrifts of paranoia-inducing cocaine, working in a room from which all the clocks had been removed, but it somehow resulted in one of the most flawless rock-pop records of all time.

‘The music was the biggest reason we became successful,’ admits Fleetwood, the only constant member of the group since it started as a blues outfit back in 1967. ‘But we’re fully aware that there’s a duality to it. You couldn’t have devised a PR campaign so clever but we were really pretty naive.’

The resurgence of Mac love has taken many forms in recent years: clubland reworks; a Rumours T-shirt in Topshop; and a covers album featuring the likes of Tame Impala and Haim (the BBC Sound Of 2013 winners, whose music has been compared to Fleetwood Mac’s melodic soft rock). The NME even dubbed Stevie Nicks ‘the ultimate rock goddess’. When talking about Rumours recently, Nicks said: ‘I think if I was 20 years old, I would definitely want to be in that band.’

Fleetwood is likewise thrilled and inspired by this continued popularity. ‘A lot of bands, including us, never know when the audience is going to finally disappear,’ he says.

‘But we have a whole influx of new fans, young people who’ve been brought up on us by their parents or picked us up on the internet. There’ll be people on this tour in their seventies and others seeing us for the first time, and that’s really cool.’

A major part of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours-era magic involved the complementary contrast between the two female vocalists – Christine McVie’s cool and smoky tone set against Nicks’s utterly distinctive voice, which could be a Californian twang or a Janis Joplin-style deep belter by turns. But Christine retired from showbiz in 1998.

‘If they wanted me to, I might pop back on stage when they’re in London,’ she says, gracing me with a rare interview, ‘just to do a little duet or something like that.’

That news is likely to set fans whirling like a batwing-sleeved Nicks during a performance of Rhiannon. And almost as exciting is the prospect of the first new music since 2003.

Buckingham, Fleetwood and John McVie went into the studio last year to record tracks that Nicks, who was mourning the death of her mother at the time, later laid down vocals on. Fleetwood hints there might be an EP in the pipeline and very possibly an album later this year.

‘I think people will let us know if they want an album,’ he says. ‘It could definitely happen, we’ve got the goods. We really want to shove some new s*** out there – it may not sell zillions but it’s an important thing to do artistically, we think.’
Whether or not they produce new music, the band who, against all odds, are still friends will always have a work of bittersweet perfection in Rumours. As Christine explains: ‘There was no bulls*** on that record – it was completely real and truthful. And that lasts.’

Fleetwood Mac’s world tour starts tonight. Their British tour begins at London’s O2 arena on September 24. www.fleetwoodmac.com

[The Catdancer]

That would be a nice treat for the UK fans if Christine would show up.

[FierySequences]

Originally Posted by michelej1

[’[/I]]

Metro Co. UK
http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/04/fleetw...-tour-3581866/

Fleetwood Mac: The resurgent 1970s icons head out on a new world tourThursday 4 Apr 2013 6:00 am
‘If they wanted me to, I might pop back on stage when they’re in London,’
‘ Whether or not they produce new music, the band who, against all odds, are still friends will always have a work of bittersweet perfection in Rumours. As Christine explains: ‘There was no bulls*** on that record – it was completely real and truthful. And that lasts.’

. www.fleetwoodmac.com

Damn! (cue the song "If I had a million dollars") I'd fly Michelle and a hand full of Ledgies out for this show! The Sweet, soothing Chris with the Mac Again, I could die a happy man!

Seems to me that Chris (in her own way) in media is setting us all up for a BIG surprise with commentary from Mick. Love to believe!

On a side note, LB and SN have appeared tight lipped about Chris during recent interviews. Hmmm....what is brewing across the pond? Does anyone know for fact that Chris went back to the UK after her "small vacation" in Hawaii and LA? What has she been doing since?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by FierySequences

Damn! (cue the song "If I had a million dollars") I'd fly Michelle and a hand full of Ledgies out for this show!

Yes, a few weeks ago, some people were wondering whether or not to buy a ticket, but right now, I'd be afraid not to, if I was there.

Chris is sending out smoke signals.

Michele

[SteveMacD]

It's weird how she was retired, not envious about not being on stage, no desire to ever return to stage, etc, and now she's returned to the stage and is offering to make a cameo at Fleetwood Mac shows.

I think she's bored.

[TrueFaith77]

"MIGHT be an ep..." I knew we would never hear these songs.

Is Christine insinuating "bs" on records other than Rumours?

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by michelej1

[Now, she's just being cruel. Also, what song calls for a duet? Does she mean Don't Stop?: If they wanted me to, I might pop back on stage when they’re in London,’ she says, gracing me with a rare interview, ‘just to do a little duet or something like that.’]
‘If they wanted me to, I might pop back on stage when they’re in London,’ she says, gracing me with a rare interview, ‘just to do a little duet or something like that.’

World Turning

[billwebster]

I'd welcome her back into the band with open arms. And even more so, if she would sing one or three songs on the next album. But I guess that is just me dreaming and all that might happen is a performance of "Little Lies" at the London show.

[Ulpian]

I saw this and freaked out!

I have tickets for what is currently the last night of their London shows. I can't even let myself hope that she performs...

She must have had some counselling about her stage fright, and the fear of flying.

[michelej1]

The good thing about this is we don't know what happened during the Los Angeles part of her trip, but if she's willing to perform with them on stage a bit, then that means it must have gone all right and left her with a good vibe. So, I'm relieved about that.

Of course, if she'd pop on stage for a duet or two, she would do even more in the recording studio. Certain people should not lose sight of that.

Michele

[jbrownsjr]

Who's Dreamin this dream? Who's dreamin this dream with me?

[WildHearted]

Hold Me, Don't Stop, World Turning, Think About Me?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

Hold Me, Don't Stop, World Turning, Think About Me?

It's sweet of her to consider Hold Me, Don't Stop or Think About Me duets.



Michele

[michelej1]

[Thanks for linking this, Secondhandchain. Yes, Mick. Send Christine a tape from your live shows so that she will know all of the current arrangements and be ready to come up and do the songs with you in September.]

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/musi..._tour_hea.html

New Jersey Star Ledger

Last year, drummer Mick Fleetwood was ready to take the band that has borne his name for 40 years out on tour.

His bandmate had other ideas.

Stevie Nicks, the singer-songwriter who joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974, was still supporting "In Your Dreams," her most recent solo set. "Dreams," a highly personal album for Nicks, was a deliberate return to the radiant, sorcerous sound that the Mac made world famous in the mid-’70s. Both Mick Fleetwood and Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham contributed to the set.

"To her credit, she really stood by it," says Fleetwood, 65. "We delayed taking Fleetwood Mac back on the road because she was so involved with the album. I know everybody was getting huffy and puffy and wondering if we were ever going to do this. In retrospect, the delay wasn’t so bad, because it allowed us to do things that we wouldn’t have otherwise.

"And it’s such a lovely album. We’re going to do one of the songs from it on our tour."

That tour stops at Madison Square Garden on Monday and at Prudential Center in Newark on April 24. It’s the first national circuit for a legendary group that found common ground between blues, rock, experimental pop, and folk, and laid much of the foundation for contemporary country. In the mid-’70s, Fleetwood Mac was a subtly radical act: Here was a pop-rock group in which men and women raised their voices together, in harmony, and with equal authority. The members of the group told stories of joy, magic, and romantic dissolution in dialogue with each other, and each one had a distinctive instrumental signature, too. There’d never been anything like it before — and arguably, there’s never been anything quite like it since.

Buckingham took advantage of last year’s delay by launching a solo tour of his own. Fleetwood fulfilled a lifelong dream by opening a restaurant. Fleetwood’s on Front Street overlooks the Lahaina Roads, the Hawaiian strait that separates Maui from Lana’i.

"Having the restaurant has gotten rid of what’s left of my hair," says the drummer, "but I get to play there whenever I want."

This February, Fleetwood was joined in Hawaii by another old bandmate: Christine McVie, the talented electric pianist whose sensuous and madly romantic songs provided a necessary counterweight to Buckingham’s wild experimentation and Nicks’ crystal visions. McVie retired from Fleetwood Mac after the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and has been reclusive ever since. Yet Fleetwood coaxed her up onstage to perform "Don’t Stop," one of her most enduring compositions. The impromptu performance made musical headlines, and encouraged fans to dream of a full reunion of the band’s classic lineup. Fleetwood would love to see that happen, but he doubts it will.

"We’re going to see her in London. I told her, ‘This time, you must get up and play the songs with us,’ " says Fleetwood. "But she’s definitely not in the mode of coming back."

Last year, Fleetwood Mac celebrated the 35th anniversary of the release of "Rumours," the 1977 album that remains one of the best selling — and best loved — pop-rock sets in history. In January, "Rumours" was reissued in a three-CD package that contained outtakes, demos and live performances. Next year, the band will celebrate the anniversary of another landmark. Dismissed upon release as a bizarre indulgence by a group of detached rock stars, "Tusk," the Mac’s 1979 double-disc, is now recognized as an album ahead of its time — an echo-drenched, ravished, wildly percussive response to punk rock and new wave that is bold and brilliant.

"It was almost suicidal to decide, as we did, not to make another album like ‘Rumours,’ " says Fleetwood. "But if you ask me now what my favorite of our albums is, I’ll say ‘Tusk.’ "

It was the guitarist who drove Fleetwood Mac toward the experimentation on "Tusk." But once he was satisfied that Buckingham wasn’t trying to make a solo album while still in Fleetwood Mac, the drummer went along willingly.

"I just became really, really open-minded," remembers Fleetwood, whose drums on the set are thunderous, and pushed to the front of the mix. "We did all sorts of crazy stuff. It reminded me of some of the work I did with (early Fleetwood Mac guitarist) Peter Green.

"If it wasn’t a drum kit, I was hitting a Kleenex box, or slapping the side of a piece of leather. We set up an old Sony ghetto blaster that was limiting the hell out of the drums, and that’s the microphone we used. We had a huge door to an echo chamber, and we’d open and close it to varying degrees while I was playing. And we got these quite fantastic textures that added up to this eclectic piece of art."

After a long layoff, the members of Fleetwood Mac have returned to the recording studio. According to Fleetwood, they’ve written several new songs, and they’ll be premiering them during their spring circuit.

"We’re going to do a couple," says the drummer. "But there are songs we know we always have to do, and we’ll be sure to do those, too.

"We know we’d literally be taken out and shot if we didn’t."

Fleetwood Mac
Where and when: Monday at Madison Square Garden, 32nd Street at Seventh Avenue, New York; April 24 at Prudential Center, 165 Mulberry St., Newark; both shows at 8 p.m.
How much: $49.50 to $179 for both shows; call (800) 745-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com.