Glasgow Review

[vivfox]

Don’t stop ... Fleetwood Mac wow fans at SECC

Catriona Stewart

Published on 23 Oct 2009

To bow out gracefully or to keep trading on long-since earned laurels.

That must surely be a dilemma for the spate of ageing rockers re-emerging to tour their 30-year-old reputations.

But Fleetwood Mac have put such thoughts to one side and are now in the middle of a world tour, the dates for which would make a younger band exhausted to contemplate.

Having played America and mainland Europe, the group kicked off the UK leg of their tour last night at Glasgow’s SECC, their only Scottish date.

The band are different in that they are not reforming. Fleetwood Mac never broke up but instead worked their way through a remarkably fluid line-up that saw them lose two guitarists to mental institutions and one to a cult.

Their current incarnation includes four from the 1977 Rumours tour; Bassist John McVie, Mick Fleetwood on drums, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks minus singer Christine McVie, who has chosen retirement rather than

touring with her ex-husband.

They are rowdy, they are enthusiastic and they convincingly vow to get the party started. However, they still look, and there is no way of phrasing this delicately, old.

Fleetwood’s grey beard and Nicks’ witchy dark frock aside, the group performed a slew of hits with energy belying their years and played with powerful conviction.

Nicks’ ethereal tones have dimmed slightly with age but the years have not withered Fleetwood’s drums.

Fans no doubt turn out, not only for the music, but also to see whether the legendary tensions in the group still exist. From the on-stage rapport and affection between Buckingham and Nicks, it would seem not. However, the emotion of the songs is what gives them their edge and stops the re-emergence of Fleetwood Mac from being jaded.

The crowd, who mainly matched the band in years, were beyond delighted with a fast-paced The Chain, an ethereal Rhiannon and a spine-tingling Big Love.

And surely that’s reason enough to keep rolling out those greatest hits.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-e...-secc-1.927956

[CADreaming]

Well, that was relatively...nice.

[michelej1]

Chris has chosen retirement rather than touring with her ex-husband. Gee, after touring with him for 20 years following their divorce, she just couldn't take it anymore!

Michele

[Fleetwoodmark]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Chris has chosen retirement rather than touring with her ex-husband. Gee, after touring with him for 20 years following their divorce, she just couldn't take it anymore!

Michele

Haha So funny

[vivfox]

Fleetwood Mac, review
Can Fleetwood Mac still thrill without the chemical and emotional charges of old? Rating: * *

By Matthew Magee
Published: 4:43PM BST 23 Oct 2009


Glasgow

Fleetwood Mac are almost as famous for the bed-hopping, powder-sniffing emotional trauma they have inflicted on each other over the years as they are for their era-defining monster hits. But with their heydays now 20 and 30 years behind them, can the music still thrill without the chemical and emotional charges of old?

In their most famous incarnation, featuring Lyndsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac were million-selling megastars of soft rock in the 1970s and masters of airy synth anthems in the 1980s.

Nicks, Buckingham and rhythm section stalwarts Mick Fleetwood and John McVie are back on the road touting a greatest hits tour with no distracting new album to promote. “Yet,” said Buckingham, teasing. The expected roar of anticipation petered out almost before it had begun.

The crowd in Glasgow was a muted mirror of the band themselves, reflecting back what they were given. In the many long, baggy, drawn-out echoes of songs that peppered a flabby set they were silent in their thousands, still and mooning at the stage, clapping politely between numbers. But on the few occasions when the band came to life the crowd went off like firecrackers.

Buckingham’s maudlin posturing and hammy vocal theatrics had many on their feet and cheering, while the sudden liveliness of Tusk or the let-rip relief of the bluesy Oh Well brought roars of delight. The likes of Don’t Stop, The Chain and Go Your Own Way were full of real energy.

But for every one of those tracks there was a Sara or a Landslide, in which a listless and heavy-lidded Nicks struggled to push much range or power from her voice. Or an I’m So Afraid, with a bland and seemingly never-ending guitar solo.

The musical star of the night was Fleetwood, whose drumming lent every song dynamics, energy and, in Tusk and the last section of World Turning, some unexpected groove. He looked as if he was having a riot throughout.

It’s a shame his enthusiasm wasn’t more infectious – this canny dinosaur of a band had the good sense and good grace to snap into focus for arresting performances of the landmark songs, but its brio was too often short-lived.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...ac-review.html

[jedw]

Originally Posted by vivfox

heavy-lidded Nicks

I dont even know what heavy lidded means ...