Fleetwood Mac Worth The Wait (Scranton Times Review)

[MacMan]

Fleetwood Mac worth the wait
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11934146&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=416046&rfi=6

By Josh McAuliffe 06/11/2004

Was it worth the crummy weather?

Yeah, it was.

In front of 10,500 screaming Baby Boomers Thursday night under dreary skies at Ford Pavilion at Montage Mountain, Fleetwood Mac put together over two hours of highly entertaining pop rock.

Was it perfect? No. But it was still pretty darn good. And the crowd, obviously jacked over the chance to see a band that goes years without a blip, ate up every last minute of it.


No opening act on this night. At about 8:20 p.m., Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVee and the ever-maniacal-looking Mick Fleetwood arrived on the sparsely decorated stage to wild applause.

First up for the night was a raucous version of "The Chain."

"Welcome everybody," said the black dress, black glove-clad Ms. Nicks, whose sore throat caused the postponement of the originally scheduled June 1 concert.

From there, the band launched into "I Know I'm Not Wrong" and "Peacekeeper," the title track from the band's long-awaited 2003 album.

For this tour, the band is using a group of extra musicians. Two extra drummers. An extra keyboardist. Two extra guitarists. Backup singers. At times, it seemed like a bit much.

Then there was Ms. Nicks, whose legendary pipes seemed to go off-key a few times in the beginning, like on the classic "Rhiannon."

But, like any great singer she overcame it and soared through the second half of the show, offering up first-rate versions of "Landslide" and "Gold Dust Woman."

And Mr. Fleetwood, one of rock's great drummers, was relying way too heavily on his two backup drummers at times. Finally, he showed his stuff on the hard-driving "I'm So Afraid." He also offered an indescribable demonstration with a drum kit attached to his body. You'd have to see it to believe it.

The song was also a prime showcase for the talents of Mr. Buckingham, clearly the MVP of the night. Whether he was delivering an impassioned solo "Big Love" while the rest of the band took a rest, or churning out one terrific guitar solo after another, he was simply terrific.

And if you're wondering, yes, ex-lovers Mr. Buckingham and Ms. Nicks embraced several times throughout the night.

Meanwhile, Mr. McVee, whose ex-wife, Christine McVee, retired from the band, was quietly brilliant on bass.

Other highlights of the night included a raucous "Tusk" and an amped-up "Stand Back," the only solo hit of Ms. Nicks' played during the show.

The Mac finished up in high style with an encore that included "World Turning," "Don't Stop" and "Goodbye Baby."

[Hawkeye]

John McVee

WTF

[wondergirl9847]

When all else fails, use phonetic spelling, huh?