No problem! It was my first time seeing them live, so it was pretty cool getting to do so from five rows back. Good to know you had a spot nearby; it was pretty neat and I was just so impressed by how good everything looked and sounded.

Think About Me was pretty fantastic! Brown Eyes is my favourite of Christine's Tusk songs, but I much preferred this to the videos I've seen of Over My Head. :)

The Guardian All Phones Arena, Sydney

http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...ions-in-sydney

Fleetwood Mac review – still winning over the generations in Sydney
4 / 5 stars


The band who’ve made peace with the past put on a truly group effort, satisfying old, new and future pop lovers with a nostalgia-light set
What brings someone to a Fleetwood Mac concert in 2015? Hazy memories of Rumours the first time round. The bashed up vinyl inherited from a parent. Another interview with Haim, wearing their influences as openly as their Stevie Nicks-inspired style. Or pure and simple love of pop, never mind the vintage?

Whatever the reason, Sydney’s All Phones Arena boasts a surprisingly all-ages crowd for the first of Fleetwood Mac’s anticipated Australian dates (a 2013 visit was cancelled when band member John McVie started treatment for cancer).

The band have been on hiatus for three months since the last leg of their On With The Show world tour. Lindsey Buckingham complains of blisters on his fingers. Stevie struggles to remember a well-worn anecdote of her first trip to the Velvet Underground in San Francisco.

At least, they tell us they’re blistering and struggling. From here in the side seats, they’re smashing it out of the Olympic park. And even if the three other bandmates vie for less attention than these famous ex-lovers – Mick Fleetwood happy for the most part behind his drumkit – this is a true group show.

A 23-song set takes us from the predictable opener of Chains to the inevitable closer of Go Your Own Way, plus two encores, the second a stripped-down take on Songbird showcasing Christine McVie, back to complete the Rumours line-up. Between those bookends, the biggest crowd reactions come for Tusk, with its relentless Trojan marching beat and later, Buckingham’s guitar-geek pleasing – if somewhat indulgent – solo on Big Love.

You’d expect a night of nostalgia and, sure, we get some songs that haven’t been performed for years: Tusk album track, Think About Me, for example, which “didn’t do very well at the time but we’ve always been rather fond of,” says Christine McVie.

But overall, there’s a sense that the band who say they are in their “last act” have made peace with the past. Introducing Bleed to Love Her (last done live in 1997), it’s Buckingham once again who brings up the heartbreak and breakups and breakdowns that make up the Fleetwood Mac truth and myth.

With everyone back together, “you have to assume a great deal of love,” he concludes – what were songs of “alienation” are now songs of “meditation”. Don’t start, Lindsey. We’ve already got Stevie for all that hippy dippy stuff. The tiny queen of the twirl clops around unselfconciously in her black platforms and shawls, her voice as unforced as her persona.

What brings someone to a Fleetwood Mac gig? In my case, it’s rescuing a friend, a first-time mother who’s barely slept in four-and-a-half months. The wall-to-wall hits visibly revive her, but we each have our songs we need to hear. Mine’s Everywhere. It comes early and doesn’t disappoint, Christine McVie’s vocals unshowy, the song dripping with the tingly feels it’s always had.

My companion is waiting for Landslide, which doesn’t turn up for over an hour. Nicks launches into a rambling “Don’t give up on your dreams” speech before duetting with Buckingham into the familiar chorus: “Time makes you bolder / Even children get older / And I’m getting older too.”

The next day I get a message on my phone: “I was singing to Zara all morning”. Plus a photo of a smiling baby. Looks like the Mac magic is winning over another generation

Also I was thinking the song would benefit from a guitar solo at the end (I think the 1980 live version had one). The way they're doing it now, it ends sort of abruptly.

They sort of got it backwards. Austrailia is the one country that didn't get to see SOTM since it returned to the set. And they did it in 09. Still, it had a great run.

The only switch they made that makes me incredibly jelous is think about me replacing over my head. It's cool SYW is "kind of" being represented now, but they replaced a really high energy song with a kind of dull song. They should really replace BTLH with one of Chris and Lindsey's new songs. Austrailia deserves a treat after the unfortunate cancellations from 2013, plus stevie will have to just sit there and swing her tambourine to the bands new stuff she won't partake in!

And this show's Silver Springs might be the best of this whole 2 year tour.

however much one of the new songs would be spectacular, BTLH is an amazing gorgeous song!! and it's interesting to hear the whole band version after he performed it so much completely solo. although i have no clue why he slowed it down this much all of the sudden.

yes! hope he may progress to this, as the shows go on... but maybe he won't.

either way thrilled about Think About Me!! that and Hold Me would be my 2 top Chris songs i'd love to see live.

happy that i heard SOTM (which i love) on this tour, instead of boring Sara which i have a hard time making through. and people who love Sara in AUS are now getting it so everyone's happy.

Just noticed, Silver Springs went back up to the original key for the 22nd show, then back down 1/2 step for the 24th. The original key gives Stevie's voice a pretty good edge but i guess it's pretty tough going vocally. Still, at least they did it in the original key at least once!

Sara transferred beautifully live....lush.

She later said it was decent and she just didn't promote In The Meantime. I feel a huge change in her over the last 2 1/2 years. She is really so upbeat about her music, nowadays. It's great to see.

Is it just me... or was that that best damned Sara since... 1980? Jesus. She nailed every note. Only complaint... that they did not use a REAL piano with the tacks on the hammers. Sara really needs a tack piano for the full effect.

It also seems to me that Stevie's voice is better on this leg than the beginning of the whole tour. She was trying Falsetto, using her quiet inside lush voice and hitting high notes she usually fears. Plus, at least for one show, she did Silver Springs up a key.

Christine also sounds great as usual.

It's on Dime: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-d....php?id=543814