Live Daily article (kinda spoilerish)

[Livia]

...and will no doubt definitely contain spoilers once a discussion begins...


Fleetwood Mac loads up hits for new tour

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski LiveDaily Contributor

Being in Fleetwood Mac is a blessing for singer Stevie Nicks. It enables her to bounce back and forth seamlessly between her solo and collaborative careers.

"It's like people that have relationships all over the world," Nicks said during a recent teleconference with her Fleetwood Mac bandmates: drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham. "You never get bored. And so you can do your thing until you start to get bored and then you can go to the other thing. And then you can do that until you start to get bored and then you can go back to the other thing.

"And it really makes for staying much more excited and uplifted [in] everything that you do when you’re not just doing one thing year after year after year after year after year. So, for us right now, we’ve been apart for four years, now we’re back together and we’re having a blast."

Fleetwood Mac is reuniting for the Greatest Hits Unleashed North American tour, which begins Sunday, March 1, in Pittsburgh. In conjunction with the tour, the band is releasing a greatest-hits package, "Unleashed," and re-releasing, as a special CD/DVD box set, its diamond-certified CD "Rumours." This is the first time the group is touring without support of a new album.

"So we are truly paying some attention to the fact, of course, that Christine and her songs are surviving very well in the set that we’re doing," Fleetwood said of former member Christine McVie. "And the band--and certainly with more focus for obvious reasons, Stevie and Lindsey--are finding a fresh way in certain instances to present those songs. And we think we’ve got a really good balance where we can have fun doing that whole part of it."

He said he feels confident that Fleetwood Mac is going to surprise the audience in some ways.

"I think we’re going to make the audience identify with songs for sure that they know," Fleetwood added. "And the energy of the band is all focused on that because we don’t have five or six songs off the new album that we always, you know, naturally, would love to be playing when you’ve made an album."

So, he said, he thinks people are going to have "a hell of a lot of fun" because the band members' collective energy has gone into choosing the "lovely songs."

"And we’ve had fun really resculpting certain segments of the show, which will remain secret until you see us," Fleetwood explained.

Fleetwood said his band is certainly addressing the concept of writing new material.

"There have been discussions for sure that we would love to make some more music," Fleetwood said. "And I think it’s really down to the whole sort of bio-rhythms of how everyone is feeling and what’s appropriate. We have careers and families and whole different sort of perspectives from what it would have been, you know, 20, 30 years ago, and going onward from there."

Fleetwood said the consensus is the band would enjoy the idea of being challenged with new material "in a couple of years."

"My heart says I believe that will happen," Fleetwood said. "Certainly, I know all of the songwriting department is--both Stevie and Lindsey--are continually writing, hence all the lovely stuff they do on their solo albums. So that whole [creative] bowl is very much intact, you know. So I, for one, would love to see it happen, and we have had loose discussions about doing that."

Nicks, who said she longs for the day Christine McVie returns to the fold, explained she has "many, many long two- to three-page formal poems that are ready to be made into songs." They will stay that way until she has a reason to head to the piano and make them into songs.

"Because the words are the hardest part to write," Nicks explained. "If you’ve got a bunch of great words, going and sitting yourself up in a studio with some candles and some incense and a couple of your great friends that are musicians, now that’s a pleasure.

"Actually, the writing the words and getting your poems right, that’s long hard work by yourself. So that work is all done. All I have to do now, if somebody says, 'We're doing an album,' then then I go intosix weeks' worth of solid songwriting, and then I’ve got 10 songs."

Because there is no new material to rehearse, the "mantra" for this tour is "Let's just have a good time and value the friendships and the history that really underpins this whole experience that we've had over these years," according to Buckingham. The dynamic between the band members is still, to some degree, something that is a work in progress.

"It takes a little pressure off, not having to kind of reinvent anything this particular time," Buckingham said. "And I think, because of that, we are actually able to just look at the body of work and choose from that and just have a little bit more fun with it than we would normally be able to have."

http://www.livedaily.com/news/15679.html

[bikerchic]

Originally Posted by Livia

He said he feels confident that Fleetwood Mac is going to surprise the audience in some ways.

What could this mean?

[Gailh]

Originally Posted by bikerchic

What could this mean?

Perhaps they're going to lower the ticket prices??

Gail

[Livia]

Mick will be wearing blue suede shoes instead of those red ones?

[wheart]

Originally Posted by bikerchic

What could this mean?

It means he's plugging the tour and there will be no surprises whatsoever. But seriously, let's hope maybe there will be something new

[bikerchic]

He's going to surprise them by not doing a drum solo

[kennation]

Being the optimist...I gotta say, this article has made me a little less jaded and a little bit more excited! I can't wait. Sounds as though they are keeping that setlist tight-lipped.

[goldustsongbird]

""And we’ve had fun really resculpting certain segments of the show, which will remain secret until you see us," Fleetwood explained"

I think he means rescripting.

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by bikerchic

What could this mean?

That got me all excited initially. Then I remembered Stevie's Vegas promises and got deflated. But then I remembered I never even went to a Vegas show and wondered why I cared.

Oh who am I kidding- I'll be at their damned show, dropping $150 like I have it and be thrilled with whatever they do.

[kennation]

Originally Posted by jannieC

That got me all excited initially. Then I remembered Stevie's Vegas promises and got deflated. But then I remembered I never even went to a Vegas show and wondered why I cared.

Oh who am I kidding- I'll be at their damned show, dropping $150 like I have it and be thrilled with whatever they do.

THANK YOU! LOL! That is hilarious. Totally my perspective, but we dropped over $1,600 LOL! I am like. I don't care what they do. I just want to be there and meet mick. I will just pretend that this is the first time, because it may be my last... Hell, I may do it again- who knows!!! LOL

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by jannieC

That got me all excited initially. Then I remembered Stevie's Vegas promises and got deflated. But then I remembered I never even went to a Vegas show and wondered why I cared.

Oh who am I kidding- I'll be at their damned show, dropping $150 like I have it and be thrilled with whatever they do.

So which show will you be going to?

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by jannieC

That got me all excited initially. Then I remembered Stevie's Vegas promises and got deflated. But then I remembered I never even went to a Vegas show and wondered why I cared.

Oh who am I kidding- I'll be at their damned show, dropping $150 like I have it and be thrilled with whatever they do.

This is ALWAYS how I look at it. Cause no matter what, inevitably, I'll be there, in the front, crying and cheering. (Again) 'Heros are Hard to find.

[wheart]

Originally Posted by jannieC

That got me all excited initially. Then I remembered Stevie's Vegas promises and got deflated. But then I remembered I never even went to a Vegas show and wondered why I cared.

Oh who am I kidding- I'll be at their damned show, dropping $150 like I have it and be thrilled with whatever they do.

Me too!!! I may bitch and moan about the setlist, etc. but all is forgotten the minute they walk on stage and I'm in heaven for 2 1/2 hours!!

[bikerchic]

Originally Posted by Livia

"So we are truly paying some attention to the fact, of course, that Christine and her songs are surviving very well in the set that we’re doing," Fleetwood said of former member Christine McVie. "And the band--and certainly with more focus for obvious reasons, Stevie and Lindsey--are finding a fresh way in certain instances to present those songs.

No offense to Christine fans, but that means less room for some rare Stevie gems. But I am excited to hear Stevie sing her songs.

[vermicious knid]

I like how Mick says including Christine's songs means her songs are "surviving". Thank you, Fleetwood Mac, for heroicly rescuing Christine's songs from imminent death. I only hope they don't strain themselves with too much of "addressing the concept of writing new material." That sounds more strenuous than coal mining.