Mick Talks About FM Tour
 

Croydon Guardian

http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/lei..._Mac_are_back/

The Mac are back
2:58pm Monday 27th October 2008

By Graham Moody »

They may have been in the music industry for more than four decades - but legendary rock group Fleetwood Mac are not quite ready to hang up their instruments just yet.

Next year the four-piece are hitting the road again on another world tour, the first time they will have worked together in four years - and they are even managing to keep the same line-up.

Sixteen different musicians have at some point played parts in the band’s history, but only Mick Fleetwood survives from the original members who first appeared at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival in 1967.

“It is sort of like the Rolling Stones or U2,” said Fleetwood, who will be joined on tour by John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

“They take breaks but keep on coming back and keep going. If people stop watching and enjoying us then we will know they have had enough.”

The tour will be a new experience for the band as they have no plans to release a new album at the same time but will instead concentrate on playing their classics.

“For the first time we are not going to have a new album to go along with the tour so we are just going out to have a lot of fun, it will be totally unique,” said Fleetwood.

“When we do an album we tend to want to play the new stuff and people have to put up with songs they don’t know, this time we are going into our back catalogue and giving people what they want.”.

Despite being in his sixties Fleetwood is still full of love for the music industry and is currently touring with his blues band that includes former Mac Rick Vito.

“It is the same thing as if you were talking to BB King or Tony Bennett now,” he said.

“There is a bunch of people that tend to come from my generation of musicians where we started this not to be rich and famous, we started it because we wanted to be playing the music we love.

“We enjoy playing so much that we have been doing four of five gigs a week. Rick is playing his arse off on guitar.

“we have been playing together for a while and we take on some great old Fleetwood Mac stuff I haven’t played for 40 years and then we do some classics or not classics that we just like.”

The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, November 2, 8pm, £22.50 / £25. Call 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk.

Side Note: Did you know? - Everyone in the Blues Band lives on the same Hawaiian island, including the small entourage. - Fleetwood had a short acting career, including roles in The Running Man and as an alien in Star Trek, on which he said, “I had to shave my beard off to put all that rubber on my face, I told them if I was doing that they better beam me up or beam me down somewhere and they were true to their word.” - Fleetwood blames his disastrous hosting of the 1989 Brit Awards with Sam Fox on 200 screaming boy band fans who made so much noise no one in the crew could hear each other.

World tour - Europe - Holland => those are the words I want to hear.

Having these guys try to put a nice spin on the fact that they will be touring without new material only depresses me.

In 2009 it will have been 5 years. I have missed them and I want to see them again, no matter what. So, the greatest part of me is thrilled that they are touring under any circumstances. However, every time I am reminded that they don't have a new album out and they're just touring basically to make money off the same performance they could have done (better) in 1979 I become sad.

Michele

The only way they can satisfy me with this sellout, is if they will take this tour to celebrate the 30th aniversary of Tusk, and play half of it, or more.

I'd be happy/interested if they ditched Neal and Carlos and brought back Rick and Bob (or Billy). Anybody who could open up the set a bit more.

:mad:Durn. No new album. D: I hope Stevie releases a new solo album then. I LOOOVE TISL, and I think she's only getting better. Oh, Stevie, Stevie, Stevie...
~Rhiya

It's very hip right now to do complete album shows.
This would be perfect for FM!
I'd love to see it. Although we have unanswered Chris issues.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: They're FINALLY gonna focus on the classics in their concert sets. Its about danmed time. I can't tell you how sick I am of going to Fleetwood Mac shows and not hearing enough of their hit songs.

Aw c'moooon! We were spoilt rotten on the last tour. OK so they stuck to Buckingham/Nicks compositions but what do you expect? It wouldn't sound the same doing more than one by any ex-member. We had everything you could expect from Lindsey and Stevie, even if they were milking Rumours dry and had considerably cut down on SYW songs when I saw them (first night at Earls Court).

Agree. The only way they could redeem themselves is if they do some rarities. But being that this is a tour for money I doubt they will take any chances.

I bet they have problems filling seats on this tour due to no new nmaterial and the fact that the economy is in such a bad state. I doubt it will be much better in summer 09.

What makes me angrier though is the fact that they are not releasing anything? Reissues of Mirage are way overdue due to the crappy quality that everyone agrees about that CD.

We still enjoy you, keep touring!

I will second this motion!

So true.

What gives you that idea?

:D


They'll throw one or two in there to try to appease us, but I'll bet it'll basically be the SYW without the SYW tunes. :shrug:

And I agree with you on the economy - NOT a good time to decide to tour. As far as releasing CD/DVD, Mick said no NEW material - if they were smart, they'd at least do the reissues for Mirage, TITN & BTM to tour in support of. But I'm well aware that most likely won't happen.


I must say, seeing those 5 shows on the SYW tour was fun, but I won't be doing it again. 1 show near my town & that will be it for me.

It'll be totally unique.

Oh RIGHT. Because Stevie has NEVER toured without supporting new material. And Fleetwood Mac has never done that either, really. Especially not 12 years ago. This is a whooole new thing that has never been done. I'm so "excited".

Gragh. *bitter*

Guys, appreciate what we have while we have it.

We should treasure the fact that these people are 1. still with us and 2. can stand each other enough to tour for us.
If they're gonna play "greatest hits," I seriously don't mind bopping along.

I still hope someone gets the idea of a cover-to-cover set like Tusk, but either way... I'm ecstatic! I haven't seen FM in person since bloody '87 and obviously LB wasn't in the lineup at that time.

Really Mick?

No doubt there are a lot of people who will go along for a Greatest Hits set but there are a few of us who would like some new material.

Gail

Well the idea is intriguing: going into the back catalogue. BUT: How much more of their back catalogue is there to plumb?

Monday Morning
Crystal
I Don't Want To Know
Mirage (except Gypsy and Eyes of the World)
Tango In The Night (except Big Love)
Maybe some Say You Will tracks

I mean... what am I missing? They played their "greatest hits" on the last tour. . . along with new material.

So actually a tour to promote a rerelease of Tango and Mirage would actually make a lot of sense and they could revive some of those songs (which would probably go over about as well as the Say You Will tracks. . . ?) I mean: I would love it or anything, I'm just saying. I think what he's actually proposing is: a shorter set!?!?!?

Here's an idea for people who don't like the idea this tour looks like it's going to be based on.

Don't go.
If the idea of "hits" is soooooooooooooooo repulsive to you, save it for the market who will pay to see them do "hits" (uh and me, cause I will see them any time any where if they sing the phone book -- even a UK phone book!)

They don't need to "redeem" themselves. Nor do they need to justify themselves, ESPECIALLY to their diehardest fans.

I seem to be seeing it a lot differently than others. I can't go see Hendrix ... or Jeff Buckley ... or Elliott Smith ... or Billy Preston ... or etc. I am pleased and happy to see the Mac come around. I can't believe people's standards are so lofty they think they are "owed" something.

I really wish they could just do something with Chris for a 1 shot thing and release it. Honestly that would do so much better than just doing a tour and then *maybe* a new CD or whatever.

I doubt they'll ever reissue Mirage or Tango.
Plus so much of Tango is Chris' they won't dare touch it.
The only song they could do of hers is Mystified [LB on vocal].

I swear to god though, if I have to hear fcking World Turning live one more time :mad:
Stupid Drum Solo.

I bet It'll just be:
Rhiannon
Blue Letter [if were Lucky]
Landslide
All of Rumours [minus Chris' songs and IDWK]
Tusk
IKINW
Sara/BC/Angel [we only get one of course]
MAYBE Not That Funny
Gypsy
EOTW
Big Love
MAYBE Seven Wonders
Stand Back [joy :rolleyes: ]
Peacekeeper
Say You Will
1 or two other SYW songs [Say Goodbye, WTWCT; Goodbye Baby, Destiny Rules maybe]

The setlist is gonna suck, unless they actually think
'hmm...maybe people are SICK of Rumours'
they do think after that thought
'NAH'

:rolleyes: :(

Repulsive? Where did you get that from? Please do not put words in my mouth.

BTW if you don't like the thread then here is an idea DONT READ IT!

Macpai is perfectly within his rights to speak his mind. And he's right. If we don't like what they're serving up, we shan't go see it. I expect that's what many people will do.

I will, because I've never seen them live before (gaspshockhorror! I know! But I'm a youngin). But even I feel like I've heard Rhiannon/Landslide/Big Love quite enough timnes, thank you very much.

I think what bugs me most is that Mick is trying to package it as this wonderful thing that they're playing the hits. When really, that's all they've ever done. I'd rather he say "we're going to play these songs because we want to, and if you don't like it piss off, it's our show not yours". Or somesuch.

Well, as long as they aren't dead yet and can, maybe, work together for a few weeks at a time without attempting to make each other dead, then they might as well record some new material.

If one or four of them drop dead tomorrow, I will not only regret the fact that I can't see them perform anymore. I'll also be sad that they didn't put out a new album while they still could.

Michele

Hopefully they'll come to Ireland, that would be brilliant. I have never seen them live, I'm only 18, so as far as I'm concerned I hope that we do get an all hits tour. I agree with macpai, too many people are complaining about the same old songs being played. I want to hear GYOW, NGBA, SHN and other such gems from Rumours. I want to hear Gypsy, I want to hear Monday Morning and ISA etc, songs they've done numerous times before. Yes a few more rarely played songs would be nice, WMYTYTO would be really cool, as would almost any other song from Tusk or Tango etc. But at the end of the day, I'd be far more pissed off if they didn't play the songs that 1st got me into them in the 1st place. They don't owe ye anything. We owe them for all the great music they've given us through the years. Stop giving out.

I don't feel owed, but I hope they don't, either. If I go, it'll be mainly to see John McVie. There's so much footage of them doing the same songs, that I doubt I feel I'd be missing much if I did something else that night.

And, FWIW, MY standards have changed over the last five years, and probably ARE that lofty. Why wouldn't they be? I'm now much more into indie rock in general, and Robert Pollard specifically. While he's small scale compared to Fleetwood Mac, he was ranked #45 in the 50 greatest frontmen in the history of rock by SPIN in 2004, so it IS a legit comparison. Here's a guy who has recorded like 65 albums, has at least three in the can, and is widely recognized for his collage art. He's constantly working. On his last tour, he charged $15 a ticket, played his two most recent albums (released in June and September) in their entirety, a few songs from newer abums, a few songs from upcoming albums, a handful of some of his most obscure songs, and only four or five "classic" songs (which he totally left out opening night). He's doing exactly what I wish Fleetwood Mac would. But, they won't, which is why Bob/GbV is now my favorite. Fleetwood Mac just does not compare, especially for what they'll be charging for tickets.

Exactly. If you don't like the fact that they're not putting out a new album or performing lesser-heard songs, then either: shut up or don't go to the shows. Be thankful that the band is still together, even without Chris! There are some of us out there that WOULD like to see them in concert next year.

I'm allowed to express my opinion just as well as you.
And I wasn't specifically pointing to one person. There were quite a few people with the "it's not fair to do a hits tour" sentiment. OK, maybe you're not all "repulsed," but certainly "discouraged." Wanting to see new material is one thing, but berating them for doing what they want is another.
My point is that I don't see it that way.
We're lucky these people are alive and that they want to entertain us. And I'm not a "hits" fan. I just believe that the artist has the right to do what they want, and we're not owed a thing except a strong performance.
And since economics was brought up -- FM probably couldn't make better money than on a tour with Lindsey, Stevie, Mick and John then one billed as the fans' tour.

Bingo.

It's an unusual dialectic they periodically engage in, to be sure.

I kinda fall on both sides of the fence here. One the one hand, I would certainly like ot hear new material, but on the other I am thankful they are still around to play songs I love. I guess I just havent gotten to the point where I'm tired of all that yet. I probably wont ever either.:laugh:

Bing-ooooooooo.

I like seeing them. There's no 2 ways about that. I like looking at them, no matter what they're singing, no matter if they're even singing. So, there's no way I would not try to see multiple shows on the upcoming tour.

However, I am disappointed by both the fact that they (or a percentage of them) don't want to put out new material and aren't fighting to do so and also by the rhetoric trying to justify the nostalgia setlist. Whenever they start talking about what the fans want to hear, I feel patronized.

Obviously, they have casual fans and new fans who do want to hear Dreams and GYOW again. But they also have focused fans, who know every obscure B-side, collect import Japanese singles, and could remind Mick when Biddy's birthday is, should he forget. If these people stopped going to concerts (repeatedly) FM tours would not be the financial success that the band obviously craves. So, it would be nice if they would sometimes acknowledge the focused fans, who want something new to devour rather than the people who bought Rumours and The Dance but really don't know anything else about Fleetwood Mac other than what the Classic radio Disc Jockey might mention in passing, between song introductions.

When they talk about fans, they really aren't talking about us. They are talking about people who are a lot less passionate. Those folks are greater in number and I can see why the Mac courts their casual dollars, but I also feel that the more dedicated fans are often scorned in the process.

I do think about the passage of time and know they won't be around forever. That is all the more reason why, as long as they're still here and still healthy, I wish that they were still creating.

Michele

It def. seems like they're saving the creative outlets for solo purposes and then touring as the machine because it's there and the music is so timeless.

That's the point, David. I'm not a Fleetwood Mac Fan because of Little Lies, Seven Wonders, Oh Diane, Big Love, Peacekeeper, Say You Will, Don't Stop.

The songs I love are the songs which basicly are the meat of their work: WMYTITO, The Ledge, Book Of Love, Storms, Over & Over, I Don't Want To Know, Walk A Thin Line, That's Enough For Me, Think About Me, Brown Eyes, Angel, Miranda, Murrow, Illume, Come, The Chain, Monday Morning, Not That Funny, Can't Go Back, Over My Head, ISA, World Turning, Red Rover, Destiny Rules, Bleed To Love Her, Sisters Of The Moon, Beautiful Child, Smile At You, Over My Head , IKINW, Save Me A Place, That's All For Everyone,and Yes, Tusk, GYOW, Sara, Gypsy, YMLF, Hold me, Rhiannon and Dreams.

I their book only a few from that list will end up in the "fan's dream".

i can't wait for the tour i think they should release a cd of all new songs.

That's a really good idea!:thumbsup:

I'm a massive Animal Collective fan and they don't even play songs from the album they are supporting most of the time. By the time they release an album they're playing brand new songs that aren't even recorded yet. But that's not what I expect from Fleetwood Mac. Would it be cool? Yes! Will they ever do it? No, because then they'd not be playing arenas but they'd be places the same size as Lindsey's solo stuff.

The fact is that all these indie bands can get away with playing different setlists because of their fanbase and playing different and less obvious setlists is expected by the fans. At the same time, the vast majority of FM concert goers are going to hear a load of songs that they remember from 25 or 30 years ago. That leaves us getting unchanging setlists and diehards feeling short-changed but it's what they'll do until the day they stop touring.

And, I'd have no problem whatsoever with that. But since that's not the case, I really wish they’d quit trying to sex up their "artistic merit" in the process. It’s bogus, especially after I've seen first hand actual people who live by the artistic values Lindsey has claimed over the years.

You know, Lindsey gave the "Time" band **** for being an oldies act. In fact, he also said that Christine and Stevie appeared to be more like lounge acts with the solo shows. So, does this officially make him a hypocrite? I think so. It seems that he's written a lot of checks his balls can't cash. Welcome to oldies/irrelevant status Lindsey. Steve Perry will take your jacket...

You just named almost every song by them that I could not live without. I wish that they would do these songs and call it a night.

I get the impression that they've decided they don't want to do new material together anymore - it only leads to Lindsey/Stevie frictions and if SYW proved anything it proved that both are equally capable of filling albums of their own.

So it looks like from now on, they will do new material on their solo albums and FM will just be a touring outfit.

That wasn't really the impression I got from Lindsey's interview on Sessions. He kind of made it seem like they wanted to spend some time together on the road and that would make it easier to work on material.
Which I think it's a good idea, it would make it more like Mac material and less like the disjointed nature of Say You Will.

Well, I think you're partially right. I do think that the group generally recognized that friction would arise if they tried to go into the studio together. So, much friction that it might derail a tour.

The thing is, I don't think Stevie's going to do solo material on her own either. Certainly, she's not going to fill up an album. She may do 2-3 new songs to go along with some other product, but I don't think she's going to do a whole new solo album. Michele

I have a feeling that Stevie won't ever be involved in expanded or remastered releases of her solo albums, like "Bella Donna" or "The Wild Heart." I think last year's "Crystal Visions" took care of any such impulse.