3/10/13 Glasgow

[michelej1]

Extreme Listening Mode, October 4, 2013

http://extremelisteningmode.com/2013...glasgow-hydro/

That the story of Fleetwood Mac is a movie begging to be made is not in question. Absconding guitar players, cocaine addictions, mental breakdowns, obsessive creative geniuses, intraband/extra-marital affairs, violence, excess, recrimination, huge success and massive hanging clacker balls seem to be elements that perfectly fit the silver screen. And what’s more, that’s only some of the tale. It really has been a unique, astonishing journey. But while the legend has played a part in tempting 12,000 people to Glasgow’s newest venue, it’s what we’re actually here to witness that’s really important. Are Fleetwood Mac purely about the past or do they have anything to offer in the present?



Those au fait with the Glasgow music scene will be aware of The Hydro’s unloved and much-maligned older brother, the SECC. It appears that the new venue was designed as a sort of antidote, with the starting place being a list of the many faults of the original and the simple instruction to ‘fix this’. The new bowl-shaped building is more attractive, though perhaps a tad garishly lit in the colours of the electricity supplier who sponsor it. Facilities are excellent, with plenty of bars, toilets and food outlets (who even seem to serve edible food). The seats are comfortable and roomy. It’s almost revolutionary.

The new surroundings seem to have amplified the big-match feel that a superstar band brings to any city. And Fleetwood Mac are certainly that, one of the 70s and 80s rock Royal Family who can genuinely claim to be better known than many Prime Ministers. When they emerge to blast into the perfect pop of ‘Second Hand News’, the place goes slightly mental. That qualifier is removed when the snaking opening guitar lines of ‘The Chain’ begin to wind out, and by the chorus the crowd are in danger of losing their ****. By the bass breakdown, they have. The sound is pristine and the venue seems to have been built with acoustics as well as aesthetics in mind.

Stevie Nicks takes over for ‘Dreams’, and it occurs that her role as an icon in modern music is criminally underplayed. The amount of women in the audience – of all ages – bedecked in lacy shawls or trademark hats is a visual clue, but then there’s the reverence with which the song is received. It’s like a rock version of ‘I Will Survive’ to Glasgow’s female populace. And, as the various songs she’s written through the years appear, you’re reminded that Nicks is indeed a songwriter of rare distinction; she was always so much more than just the pretty girl who sang a bit.

That said, what a performer she actually is. Mesmeric, charismatic and with stage presence born of, well, a star, she’s endlessly entertaining. And then there’s the voice. Modern singers should learn from it. No stupid runs, no overdoing notes for the sake of it. She’s vulnerable one second and like Janis Joplin’s raspier sister the next. And she’s just so damn believeable.

She’s not alone, though. Lindsay Buckingham is simply one of the best rock guitarists of all time. His tour de force is a magnificent run-through of ‘Big Love’, solo and acoustic with his fingers a blur. Nicks then rejoins him for ‘Landslide’, and it’s then that the back story comes into play. She wrote this song ABOUT HIM. Those lines of utter heartbreak and sad-eyed devastation are ABOUT HIM. And she’s singing them, on stage, TO HIM and he’s playing back to her knowing that those words are ABOUT HIM! There are 12,000 people there in rapt silence, but there are only two locked in that moment. It’s that power, that legacy that elevates this from brilliant song to something transcendent.

The only bum note in the whole set, musically, is letting ‘Gold Dust Woman’ run on a bit too long, but highlights just keep coming – ‘Gypsy’, ‘Rhiannon’, ‘Sara’, the mentally wonderful ‘Tusk’. Mick Fleetwood does treat us to a drum solo, which one would have hoped stayed in the 70s along with winters of discontent and BBC paedophilia, but you can forgive the mad old bastard as he’s so obviously in love with what he does. And it must be said, his old codger double act with John McVie sometimes hides the fact that they still provide a rhythm section that’s as tight as two coats of paint. We get ‘Go Your Own Way’ (which sees the crowd lose any remaining ****) before they play ‘Don’t Stop’. It’s a fitting way to end because, for everyone who paid to be here tonight, it’s exactly how they feel.

So, Fleetwood Mac in 2013; they might just have some more scenes for that movie yet. Absolutely stunning.