FLEETWOOD MAC IN DALLAS
By idlehours
Thursday, April 30, 2009
EXTENSION OF MAC ATTACK
Fleetwood Mac Extends Concert Attack
Not only is the Mac back in 2009, but the band has added a slew of dates for June.
The additional dates are being described by band representatives as an extension of the second leg of the tour. Kind of like an annex with stops ranging from Salt Lake City at the Energy Solutions Arena on June 3 to June 20 when the group lands in the Big Easy for a show at the New Orleans Arena.
In between look for Fleetwood Mac appearing in Saskatoon at the Credit Union Arena on June 5; Winnipeg at the MTS Center on June 6; Milwaukee at the Bradley Center on June 8 and Baltimore at the 1st Mariner Arena on June 10.
Other stops include New York City (June 11); Atlantic City (June 13); Manchester, NH (June 16); Uncasville, CT (June 17) and Nashville (June 19).
When it comes to band names, Fleetwood Mac has to be one of the luckiest groups in the world. The moniker comes from when founder Peter Green combined the last names of Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, who replace the group’s original bass player when the band was only a few weeks old. 42 years and several personnel changes later, Fleetwood and McVie are still playing in the band.
Along with Fleetwood and McVie, the band’s touring lineup consists of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, both of whom helped spearhead the band's comeback in the mid '70s.
Fleetwood Mac has been on the road since their first date on March 1st at Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena. The group’s performances have earned accolades from normally difficult-to-impress critics, including a write-up in the Chicago Sun-Times, which wrote, “Fleetwood Mac offers a love affair to last.”
For more information on the Fleetwood Mac tour, please click here for tour promoter Live Nation’s Web site.
Hate Mail! "Snarky, snarky, snarky"
This is in response to Sean Daly's review of Fleetwood Mac in Tampa on April 22nd.
Original Review TampaBay.com
Dear Sean,
I was one of the 10,000 people that paid to go to the St. Pete Times Forum last Wednesday and I just had to respond to your review of Fleetwood Mac. It seems to me that your snarky little commentary was more about judging and criticizing these Rock Legends' lives than it was about their music.
It was a great show and the songs were exactly what we all went to hear -- if they played anything else, we would have been disappointed. Those performers got up on stage and worked their asses off for 2 hrs. and 20 minutes -- they sounded instrumentally and vocally very much the way they did 40 years ago when they were in their 20s. It was a thrill to see Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVuie and I hope they keep on performing as long as they can.
As I said, Sean, your downer little review was snarky, snarky, snarky and I hate to think of people reading it and believing it. Maybe your years at the St. Pete Times are what have made you such a negative, judgmental person.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
THREE NEW TOUR DATES FOR FLEETWOOD MAC
Pollstar is listing three additional dates for Fleetwood Mac's Unleashed Tour.
- Tuesday June 16/09 - Manchester, NH - Verizon Wireless Arena
- Friday June 19/09 - Nashville, TN - Sommet Center
- Saturday June 20/09 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Arena
Monday, April 27, 2009
TOUR THAT'S ALL ABOUT THE HITS
Fleetwood Mac
Time Warner Cable Arena - Charlotte, NC
April 25, 2009
April 25, 2009
by Jeff Hahne in Live Reviews
The Deal: Four-out-of-five original Fleetwood Mac members reunite for tour that’s all about the hits.
The Good: Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, though the romantic relationship ended years ago, proved that the friendship still lasts as they walked out on stage hand-in-hand. While the show started off slowly with “Monday Morning,” the crowd got up and moving for the second song, “The Chain.” Buckingham addressed the crowd about the new tour saying, “We decided to just go out and have fun. There’s no new album…yet, so we’re doing the stuff we love.” Though in a recent interview with MTV, Nicks was quoted as saying, “When he goes onstage and does his little speech where he says, ‘You know, everything is great and we’re just all grown up now and we’re having fun,’ I’m just standing on the other side of the stage and going [rolls her eyes], ‘Whatever!’ Right now, we’re trying to be a little more on the high road, but let us go in and do another album, and bang! Back down to the bad, low road go we.”
Regardless of any off-stage banter or possible in-fighting, none of it was apparent on Saturday night. Nicks’ voice was in good form, but she did change the vocal range at times to avoid hitting some of those high notes, such as on “Rhiannon.” The group reminisced about the old days as Nicks talked about joining the band and Buckingham talked about the recording of Rumours.
Throughout the night, Buckingham was clearly a focal point as Nicks would sometimes leave the stage and he was left to sing and show off his impressive finger-picking guitar work on songs like “Big Love,” “Never Going Back Again” and “I’m So Afraid.” He appeared truly appreciative of every ounce of applause that he received.
Nicks and Buckingham walked out hand-in-hand before each of the two encores as the band ended its regular set with “Go Your Own Way,” before encores of “World Turning” and “Don’t Stop” and a final encore of “Silver Springs.” At the end of “World Turning,” Mick Fleetwood went through a mad man’s ramble while hammering away on the drums.
The Bad: The only thing missing was Christine McVie.
The Verdict: A night packed full of greatest hits that left fans satisfied.
Setlist
Monday Morning
The Chain
Dreams
I Know I’m Not Wrong
Gypsy
Go Insane
Rhiannon
Second Hand News
Tusk
Sara
Big Love
Landslide
Never Going Back Again
Storms
Say You Love Me
Gold Dust Woman
Oh Well
I’m So Afraid
Stand Back
Go Your Own Way
Encore 1
World Turning
Don’t Stop
Encore 2
Silver Springs
FLEETWOOD MAC IN UNCASVILLE, CT JUNE 17TH
Ticketmaster is confirming that Fleetwoood Mac will be BACK at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT on June 17th
Onsale to General Public
Start: Sat, 05/02/09 10:00 AM EDT
Tickets are $125 and $95 and go on sale May 2 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster customers may log on to ticketmaster.com; call Ticketmaster's national toll free Charge by Phone number 1.800.745.3000; or visit any Ticketmaster outlet. Tickets may also be purchased at the Mohegan Sun Box Office starting May 3 subject to availability.
FLEETWOOD MAC IN SALT LAKE CITY JUNE 3RD
Ticketmaster and LiveNation are confirming that Fleetwood Mac will be in Salt Lake City on June 3rd at the Energy Solutions Arena.
Tickets on sale:
Public Onsale 5/2 at 10:00 a.m. MDT
Ticket Rush PresaleOn Sale
5/1/2009
10:00 AM MDT
Radio PresaleOn Sale
5/1/2009
10:00 AM MDT
Credit Card PresaleBuy Tickets
Venue PresaleOn Sale
5/1/2009
10:00 AM MDT
Venue PresaleOn Sale
5/1/2009
10:00 AM MDT
FLEETWOOD MAC IN MILWAUKEE JUNE 8TH
Ticketmaster and LiveNation confirm that Fleetwood Mac will be in Milwaukee, WI at the Bradley Center on June 8, 2009
Tickets on sale:
Onsale to General Public
Start: Sat, 05/02/09 11:00 AM CDT
Ticket Rush Presale On Sale
5/1/2009
10:00 AM CDT
Radio Presale On Sale
5/1/2009
10:00 AM CDT
Credit Card Presale On Sale
4/30/2009
10:00 AM CDT
Venue Presale On Sale
5/1/2009
10:00 AM CDT
(PHOTOS) Charlotte, NC - April 25, 2009
And yet MORE from Charlotte.... The photographers were out in full force for this show... Again, Awesome photos.
FLEETWOOD MAC TICKETS SELLING QUICKLY
June 5 show in Saskatoon at 85% capacity
Reported By Brendan Wagner
Newstalk980.com
If you're a fan of Fleetwood Mac and you want to go to their upcoming concert in Saskatoon, you'd better act quickly.
Scott Ford, the Marketing Director at Credit Union Centre, says tickets went on sale Friday morning and they're about 85 per cent sold.
Ford says if tickets to the band's show on June 5th don't sell out Friday, he expects them to be gone within a week.
"My recommendation is, if anybody's interested, buy your tickets as soon as possible," Ford says.
Tickets range in price from $50 to $170.
Comments
On April 24th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
"Tickets range in price from $50 to $170."
Until you get redirected to ticketsnow.com and can pay the low, low price of $500 for nosebleed section.
On April 24th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Tickets are way to high IMO, woke up planning to buy some until i saw the prices, my money will be better spent elsewhere
On April 24th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Huh. My fifth row floor tickets were only $169. It's definitely worth it, in my opinion.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
(PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC IN CHARLOTTE
More of Fleetwood Mac from Charlotte, NC April 25, 2009 show.
Awesome shots by: bengarland (click for more)
or
And who said Stevie doesn't look like she's having fun?
(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC CHARLOTTE, NC
Fleetwood Mac feeds Charlotte fun, favorite songs
By Michael Persinger
charlotteobserver.com
Sunday, Apr. 26, 2009
How great would it be to reach a point in life where you only had to do things that were fun?
Fleetwood Mac, which has been around as a band since the 1960s and as a pop phenomenon since 1975, is there. The band shared the result with a crowd that reached the rafters of Time Warner Cable Arena on Saturday night.
There's no album to promote -- "yet," singer and lead guitarist Lindsey Buckingham told the crowd. That leaves the band's free to pursue its stated mission for the "Unleashed Tour 2009" -- have fun, and play the songs that are fun and important to them.
The show, two hours 25 minutes of non-stop music that paused only momentarily to set up two encores, does, sort of, support an album, though. "Rumours," the 1975 album that made Fleetwood Mac a big part of the pop soundtrack for a generation, is being re-released in conjunction with the tour. Of the 23 songs they played, seven were from that album, which has sold more than 19 million copies worldwide.
crowd sang along with "Rumours" staples such as "The Chain," "Second Hand News" and "Gold Dust Woman" sprinkled throughout the show. But that was not all Fleetwood Mac had to offer.Buckingham's guitar riffs, Stevie Nicks' still-velvety voice and the bass of John McVie were all solid. British-born band founder Mick Fleetwood's percussion, showed off most impressively during the title track to 1979's "Tusk," kept the energy level high.
The passion for the work they shared was evident, notably in Fleetwood's wild-eyed looks on the big video screens and Buckingham's riff during "I'm So Afraid." But there are signs beyond Fleetwood's white beard and ponytail that they're getting older, too.
Nicks didn't quite hit the original highs in "Sara," and she and Buckingham couldn't generate the on-stage sexual tension they could when they were younger, during what Buckingham acknowledged was a "complex and convoluted emotional history."
Still, Nicks, at 60, can pull off wearing ankle boots with 6-inch heels without looking silly. And there was more than enough in the music to satisfy the big crowd and carry it to the end.
Buckingham's performance of "Big Love" celebrated a song he said explored both who he was and the power of change. It featured a brief embrace with Nicks near the end that drew a cheer. And the three-song span of "Go Your Own Way," "World Turning" (featuring a drum solo by Fleetwood, 61) and "Don't Stop" had the crowd on its feet.
If there's an album to be made at the end of this tour, it'll feature a group with plenty left to celebrate. If Saturday was an indication, it's still worth thinking about tomorrow for Fleetwood Mac fans.
Tomorrow could be fun, too.
Set list from Saturday's show in Charlotte: Monday Morning, The Chain, Dreams, I Know I'm Not Wrong, Gypsy, Go Insane, Rhiannon, Second Hand News, Tusk, Sara, Big Love, Landslide, Never Going Back Again, Storms, Say You Love Me, Gold Dust Woman, Oh Well, I'm So Afraid, Stand Back, Go Your Own Way, (first encore) World Turning, Don't Stop, (second encore) Silver Springs.
Michael Persinger is executive sports editor at The Observer. "Rumours" was one of the first two albums he owned as a kid. "Hotel California" by the Eagles was the other.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
TUSK TOUR 1980 MADISON, WISCONSIN (PHOTOS)
TUSK TOUR 1980
In honor of Fleetwood Mac's current "Unleashed" tour, Pat scanned photos taken during the "Tusk" tour at the Dane County Coliseum in Madison, Wisconsin on May 11, 1980 - from the front row. It was a general admission show. The Coliseum has since been torn down.
Thank you Pat!
Re Broadcast LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM A&E'S PRIVATE SESSIONS
A&E's Private Sessions® with “Lindsey Buckingham”
Rated: TVPG
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Sunday, May 03 @ 9am/8C (check local listings)
(original airing November 2, 2008)
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Lindsey Buckingham chats with host Lynn Hoffman about his substantial career including his new release Gift of Screws. Plus, don't miss exclusive performances of his hits "Tusk", "Big Love", the classic "Go Your Own Way", and his new songs "Great Day", "Love Runs Deeper" and "Did You Miss Me".
Friday, April 24, 2009
(REVIEW) DRAMA MEANS GREAT SHOW
Fleetwood Mac's underlying drama means great show
BY DAVID DORSEY
News-Press.com
The chemistry of former lovers who have reconciled — but realize things never can be the same — and the human drama that goes on with being close-quartered colleagues, or in this case, professional musicians, can be seen by all the world on Fleetwood Mac’s stage.
The band, founded by drummer Mick Fleetwood in the late 1960s, has evolved over the years, and its most prominent lineup, minus keyboardist/singer Christine McVie, played a 23-song set that lasted two hours and 30 minutes Thursday night at the Bank Atlantic Center in Fort Lauderdale.
Singer and “welsh witch” Stevie Nicks, guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham — the onetime couple — played off one another and at times sang to one another throughout the show.
Even those sitting in the upper reaches of the 20,000-seat — and almost full — arena could see, on the massive screens above each side of the stage, the expressions of remorse and reconciliation on the faces of Nicks and Buckingham as they played the ballad “Sara.”
Nicks’ singing and Buckingham’s melodic guitar playing were supported by the thunderous rhythm section of Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on the bass guitar.
“Every time we get together, we sit in rehearsal and try to make each return a little different,” said Buckingham, who turns 60 on Oct. 3. He did not look or play like his age. “This time, we said, ‘Let’s just go out there and have some fun.’”
And so they did.
Fleetwood, approaching his 62nd birthday on June 24, looks like Santa Claus. Except he stands a few inches taller — he’s 6-foot-6 — and wore black, not red.
Also unlike St. Nick, Fleetwood sports a silver pony tail and has eyes that bug out of his head.
And he sure can play the drums.
Pounding on the drums the entire night, Fleetwood finally had his chance for a solo.
After ending the 20-song set with “Stand Back,” and “Go Your Own Way,” most of the crowd did not go anywhere. They stuck around for the encore.
Toward the end of “World Turning,” the rest of the band, which included five supporting musicians, left the stage, leaving it to Fleetwood.
Following a five-minute drum solo, his bandmates returned for “Don’t Stop.”
And the band didn’t. They did one more song during a second encore, concluding the show with “Silver Springs.”
Fleetwood Mac opened with “Monday Morning” and “The Chain.”
Other highlights included “Gypsy,” “Rhiannon,” “Gold Dust Woman” — during which Nicks’ donned a gold-colored scarf — and this reviewer’s personal favorite, the bluesy “I’m So Afraid.”
(REVIEW) BETTER THAN A BIG MAC
Fleetwood Mac
April 23, 2009
Better Than: A Big Mac
Having seen Fleetwood Mac at least a dozen times, and Stevie Nicks on her own probably twice as many, suffice to say I have a bit of history to compare Thursday night's stop in SoFla for the Fleetwood Mac "Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009."
For all the Mac fans out there (I am one of you, remember, before you continue reading further), there's no doubt of the talent and greatness of each of these demigods, including Ms. Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie. But Thursday night's concert left a hollow spot in my gypsy soul. The multi-Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees haven't released any new material since 2003's "Say You Will." So this latest tour is to dust off the old chestnuts that continue to make this band a draw whether there's something new to pitch or not.
Fleetwood said in a recent interview, "For the very first time, we're going out on the road without an album. All of the energy is really about just getting out there and putting on a show that really resonates emotionally."
Mick, that sounds all well and good, so what happened?
On Thursday night, every one was on autopilot. It was like my old bar band days when we'd be like, "Let's collect the money and get the hell outta here" after singing an evening full of cover tunes. Then, the crowd loved it, so we had done our job. Same thing with Fleetwood Mac, who has now become a cover band of their own tunes. The crowd loved it, so they had done their job.
At least Stevie remembered what Florida city she was playing in. A few years ago, while I was reviewing a show in Philadelphia, Nicks blurted out, "Hello, Pittsburggggh!" This time it was, "Fort Lauderdaaaaaaaaale. It's great to be here!"
I so wholeheartedly wanted to embrace this iconic woman of rock, but I couldn't get beyond the Ghost of Nicks Past. On May 26, the rock chanteuse will be 61. Just for comparison's sake, a few months ago I caught Chrissie Hynde's show. The mascara-laden frontwoman of the Pretenders is 57, but she sure kicks it. And as long as I'm on the subject, freakin' Patti Smith is 62. And the high energy she exhibited at the last show I saw of hers in New York wasn't from a bunch of Red Bull's, but rather from a real passion.
But on Thursday night, it was Nicks, mostly, who had put herself on cruise control, propped up in front of a microphone, chortling out her greatest hits like "Dreams," "Rhiannon," "Sara," and "Gypsy."
Maybe what distracted me the most was my vantage point!
MY LIFE IN PICTURES.... STEVIE NCKS
Stevie Nicks is featured in the May 4, 2009
issue of People Magazine.
MY LIFE IN PICTURES:
(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC - SUNRISE FLORIDA
Fleetwood Mac's chemistry still on display in concert
Fleetwood Mac's always done dysfunction well.
Rumours, the group's greatest hit, was a testament to making art out of madness, and Thursday, before about 10,000 fans at Sunrise's BankAtlantic Center, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, along with ex-lover Stevie Nicks and the terrific core rhythm section namesakes of the band, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, paid homage to what Buckingham called ``a complex and convoluted emotional history.''
But for this Unleashed Tour, devoted to the band's greatest hits, Fleetwood Mac, for only the second major road trip sans their old ray of light Christine McVie, ''just wanted to go out and have fun,'' Buckingham said.
''Fun'' in Fleetwood Mac lingo, of course, was primarily the domain of Christine McVie's sunny pop tunes (she's the one, after all, who wrote You Make Lovin' Fun). For Buckingham and Nicks, ''fun'' is in the airing of their romantic disappointments in songs that champion all the ways in which lovin' isn't much fun at all.
''If you don't love me now, you will never love me again,'' spit the duo on the set's second song, The Chain, and it was hard not to observe Buckingham's glare at Nicks, who harmonized on the other side of the stage.
''You'll never get away from the sound of the woman who loved you,'' retorted Nicks in the show closer, Silver Springs, more than two hours later.
For 140 minutes and 23 songs, Buckingham and Nicks traded hits -- musical ones, natch -- to entice fans who are still hooked on the strikingly scored soap opera aspect of this band.
For Sara, a 1979 hit rarely performed live, Nicks sauntered over to Buckingham's mike from her side of the stage and the two entangled, heads resting against each other's shoulders. ''There's a heartbeat, and it never really died,'' Nicks whispered in Sara's delicate coda. Needless to say, the crowd delighted. Storms, a 1979 beauty never performed live until Unleashed, was even better as Nicks, 60 and radiant, introduced the album track as a song about ''stormy'' situations and people. Few do justice to the big time world heartbreak of drugs, sex and rock 'n' roll so well.
All of this would be trite melodrama if the band had chosen to coast on its enviable catalog. Buckingham, 59, in particular, had always bristled at taking the easy way out by repeating the success of Rumours, for instance. But for this tour, heavy on favorites from mid- to late-70s classics Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk -- nothing newer than 1987's Big Love featured and the foursome dug back into its '60s Peter Green blues period for a blistering Oh Well -- Buckingham and his musical partners proved amenable to celebrating the band's legacy. The most pleasant surprise, and a concert highlight, was Buckingham returning his solo single, Go Insane, to its original '80s synth-pop arrangement.
But any concerns that potentially shop-worn songs like Don't Stop, a Rumours hit burnished further into pop culture by a former United States president's fondness for classic rock, or Go Your Own Way or Gypsy might feel perfunctory evaporated as the band's stellar musicianship revitalized the material.
Nicks, introduced by drummer Fleetwood as ''the First Lady of Fleetwood Mac,'' was in strong voice, hitting the intense vamping ending of Gold Dust Woman and her sassy Stand Back with surprising ease and resonance. Buckingham's inventive electric guitar work is peerless as anyone who witnessed previous tours, The Dance (1997) and Say You Will (2003), can attest. But his voice, which hadn't kept pace, was in the best, most pliable shape it has been in since he first left the band in 1987.
Fleetwood Mac still matters because the links that kept this particular chain together -- the interpersonal chemistry, the passionate songwriting that has endured for 42 years, the desire for growth and the joy in the playing -- remains intact.
STEVIE NICKS CELEBRATES NEW SOLO
Night of the one and only Stevie
Stevie Nicks celebrates new solo album, Fleetwood Mac tour, and the gay fans who spawned the ‘Night of a Thousand Stevies’
SOVO.com
Friday, Apr 24, 2009 | By: GREGG SHAPIRO
More than three decades into her musical career, Stevie Nicks has charted dozens of hits, sold millions of albums, been dubbed “the queen of rock and roll” and even spawned her own drag queen tribute show.
But the singer-songwriter who helped make the band Fleetwood Mac famous with such hits as “Landslide” and “Rhiannon” isn’t resting on her laurels. Last month, Nicks released a solo DVD, “Live in Chicago,” with a companion CD, “The Soundstage Sessions” (Reprise/Warner Brothers) just as Fleetwood Mac launched its “Unleashed” greatest hits tour, which brings the iconic band to Atlanta’s Philips Arena on Tuesday.
SoVo spoke with Nicks in late March, on the day before “The Soundstage Sessions” was set for release. The 17-song DVD and the 10-track CD are bound to elate Nicks’ legion of fans, who will delight in her performances of beloved originals including “Landslide,” “Stand Back,” “If Anyone Falls in Love” and “Sara,” as well as renditions of songs by Dave Matthews, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty and Led Zeppelin.
SoVo: For your first filmed and recorded live show in nearly 25 years, what was it about your performance on the Chicago PBS series “Soundstage” that led you to want to release it as the “Live in Chicago” DVD?
Stevie Nicks: Well, what happened was in 2005, we got an offer to do four shows at Celine Dion’s major big theater, the Colosseum at Caesar’s [Palace]. I was in Maui and I thought I was going to have another month off and I got a call from my manager and he said, “I need you to come in and see Celine on this stage because she leaves after the show tonight and Elton [John] comes in tomorrow. So you could actually see Celine and Elton in two days and decide whether or not you’d like to do this because they’ve offered you four shows. And getting your foot in the door to play Vegas once in a while is not a bad thing.”
Not a bad thing, at all.
So I’m like sorry, I’m on my Rhiannon-quest here in Maui, so I don’t think I’ll be able to do that. And he goes, “I’ll see you Tuesday.” So, off I went. Waddy (Wachtel), my guitar player and I walked in. We’re sitting there and we watched Celine and then we watched Elton, and we’re like, “Oh, my God, we can’t do this!” You have to build a world here. This is a massive IMAX theater and the screens are a hundred feet tall. You can’t just take your little rock band in there.
We’re like, “Can we do this?” Elton filmed everything he ever did and Celine has Cirque du Soleil. What do we have? ...
We got this artist, Sulamith Wülfing, a German artist, my favorite, she died in 1989, but we got permission to use some of her drawings. So we mixed Sulamith’s drawings, my drawings, all the film footage, pictures, photographs, everything we could find, gave them to our lighting and stage guy and said, “OK, here it is. Go for it, work it out, fix it, put it together. Build a world.” He said, “OK!” That’s what we did.
It sounds amazing.
We went in there with a world. We did those four shows and they were great. Everybody really loved it and I loved it. Then it was like, “OK, we’re started now.” Between then and August of 2007, we toured with that show, obviously pared down a little bit...
At the end of the tour in August 2007, I’m sitting in my living room and I’m thinking to myself, “Once again, this show’s not going to be filmed.” So I called my manager and said, “You’ve got to make some calls. Or you’re soon going to be my ex-friend. Because this show is perfect. It’sabout as perfect as I can get. I’ve worked so hard on this thing since the four shows in Vegas two years ago, that I can’t move on until we film this show. It’s really not fair to me to not film this.”
Did he make the calls?
He did. And he called back and said that Joe Thomas from PBS was very interested in doing it. … This was August, and we went on the first of October to Chicago, rehearsed for three weeks, and filmed it on Oct. 27. We came back to Chicago on Feb. 6 and stayed all of February and all of March and worked six days a week, eight hours a day and just hovered...
They let us be as involved as we wanted to be, which was great because we wanted to be involved.
That’s good to hear.
We left at the end of March [2008] and then they started putting it together, and that takes a couple of months. It was supposed to be out at the end of summer, but something happened and I don’t even remember what it was. They moved the date to late October. Then everybody realized — “Do we really want to put Stevie up against Barack Obama and John McCain?” That was a big no. They [also] didn’t really want to put it out when we were in rehearsal for Fleetwood Mac.
So because Lindsey (Buckingham) is taking a break right now... we gave him that two weeks and Warner Brothers and PBS said, “Let’s put it out then. Because then Stevie can do some press, she’ll be out on the road. She didn’t want the ski vacation anyway.” I’m just as happy to work. That’s how it got to here. Now you know!
The songs on the companion CD “The Soundstage Sessions” are cleaned up, in that the audience response to the songs was edited out. Why did you choose to go that route?
I said, “Let’s try to make this into a little album. Let’s pull the 10 most unfamiliar songs. Let’s take the Fleetwood Mac songs out and let’s put in “If Anyone Falls,” “Sorcerer,” the Dave Matthews song, the Bonnie Raitt song. Let’s put the unfamiliar things from the show [on the disc] and let’s take the applause off and let’s go to Nashville and redo some vocals and add some strings and make this a distinctly different piece of work that can go out, along with this DVD. …
You’re going to have the version of “Landslide” on the CD that didn’t go into the show, which is a really spectacularly special “Landslide” because it was really a moment for me where I decided at that point I was going to have to say goodbye to my dad. It’s a very emotional “Landslide” which is not on anything else. From that moment onward, I had made my peace with my father going.
“Landslide,” which is included on both the CD and DVD, is a song of yours that has been covered by Dixie Chicks, Smashing Pumpkins, and most recently by Ann Hampton Callaway, who performs it on her new CD. How do you feel when you hear other people’s interpretations of that song?
I love it when people actually take it upon themselves to interpret something. It’s no different, really, then me trying to interpret “Crash Into Me” by Dave Matthews. Who would have ever thought that I would have done that? So who would ever think that people would try to do “Landslide.” Because mostly people would be like, “Oh, that’s a Stevie Nicks song, I can’t do that.” And the fact that somebody is brave enough to do that, I think is great!
Every time somebody does “Landslide,” it brings it to that generation of listeners. It just takes my music and spreads it out over the world now. I’m always thrilled.
Your songs “Edge of Seventeen” and “Gypsy” inspired the gay coming of age movies “Edge of Seventeen” and “Gypsy 83.” Is a gay following something that you have always been aware of?
Well, I’ve not always been aware of it. But I became aware of it with Night of a Thousand Stevies. And I am so thrilled. I’m thrilled! Because I want my music to mean something to everybody. I think that every song that I write can be dealt with for whoever you are. When you hear one of my songs, it is about you.
Only lately have I started to explain the real stories behind the songs, because I don’t want people to, when they think of “Landslide,” always think of Stevie sitting in Colorado. I want you to think of what it means to you. I want you to think of why it touched you.
I am first and foremost a writer. I am thrilled and honored that the gay community backs my music. I always kid everybody that one day, all you Night of a Thousand Stevies people, one day I’ll be there, in complete dress, and you won’t know it. I’ll be hulking around somewhere, standing behind you, so be careful what you say, because I could be standing next to you at any moment.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
FLEEWOOD MAC - TOP 10 CONCERT TOUR
Top 20 Concert Tours
4/22/2009
The Associated Press
(AP) — The Top 20 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week's ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
TOP 20 CONCERT TOURS
1. (1) Britney Spears; $2,287,230; $100.69.
2. (2) Elton John / Billy Joel; $2,185,634; $115.84.
3. (3) Celine Dion; $2,029,095;$108.17.
4. (4) Eagles; $1,691,056; $130.12.
5. (5) AC/DC; $1,409,211; $85.12.
6. (6) Fleetwood Mac; $1,169,580; $99.27.
7. (7) Nickelback; $787,420; $58.38.
8. (8) Rascal Flatts; $656,209; $61.08.
9. (9) Lil' Wayne; $582,663; $66.26.
10. (10) Brad Paisley; $454,374; $48.30.
11. (11) Motley Crue; $382,436; $54.11.
12. (12) Jeff Dunham; $272,548; $44.17.
13. (13) The Killers; $265,429; $42.01.
14. (14) Slipknot; $249,015; $37.83.
15. (15) New Kids On The Block; $231,931; $54.03.
16. (16) Avenged Sevenfold / Buckcherry; $186,182; $36.94.
17. (17) John Legend; $173,355; $55.28.
18. (18) Larry The Cable Guy; $172,301; $32.82.
19. (20) Rain ? A Tribute To The Beatles; $168,160; $47.40.
20. (21) Bill Gaither & Friends Homecoming; $143,407; $34.84.
FLEETWOOD MAC - POTENTIALLY LUCRATIVE VICTORY LAP
Fleetwood Mac finds there is great fun in revisiting classic tunes
By PRESTON JONES
DFW.COM
The cycle for rock legends is numbingly familiar: Achieve stratospheric success, release a so-so album, fall off the top of the world, disappear for a bit and gradually — if luck holds — inch back into the spotlight for a potentially lucrative victory lap.
It has become a cliché that superstars like Fleetwood Mac know all too well. Fortunately, the star-crossed pair of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have carved out respectable solo careers, which not only allows the band to take much-needed breathers but also makes endeavors like the "Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009" an opportunity for, surprisingly, creative rejuvenation.
"[Having] solo work and Fleetwood Mac is a really great thing to be able to go back and forth," Nicks said in a recent conference call with the four remaining band members. "It really is kind of a blessing in many ways. . . . It’s like it’s you never get bored. . . . It really makes for staying in a much more excited and uplifted humor for everything that you do when you’re not just doing one thing year after year after year after year after year."
Fleetwood Mac, sans keyboardist Christine McVie, who bid the band adieu in 1998 (although she did contribute a bit to 2003’s reunion record, Say You Will), will play Dallas’ American Airlines Center on Thursday.
Back to basics
The multiplatinum rockers haven’t released any new material since Say You Will, nor have they toured extensively (this stop marks the band’s first Dallas performance in five years), and they are hitting the road without anything in stores or even on the horizon, aside from a possible re-release of the 1977 masterpiece Rumours. Freed from promotional obligations, the band is able to get back to basics, Mick Fleetwood said.
"This is the first time that we’ve gone on the road without an album," said Fleetwood. "It is, truly, believe it or not, a refreshing thing to do in terms of selecting a whole lot of really emotively connected songs to the audience that we’ve enjoyed having through the years."
Buckingham echoed Fleetwood’s sentiments, saying that the absence of commercial expectations makes the band’s famously volatile relationships less susceptible to explosion.
"What it does is it kind of frees you up to kind of enjoy each other a little bit more as people — the mantra is really more, '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," he said.
"It takes a little pressure off not having to kind of reinvent anything this particular time. Because of that we are actually able to just look at the body of work and choose. And then just have a little bit more fun with it than we would normally be able to have," Buckingham said.
Still, pounding out the same hits every night — The Chain, Go Your Own Way, Don’t Stop or any of the band’s considerable string of smash singles — can be a precarious proposition. Become too comfortable and it looks as though you’re going through the motions. Change it up too much and you’re messing with what people plunked down hefty chunks of change to see.
"It stays fresh because we never stop playing," Nicks said. "Basically, what we are is entertainers. Even if this band had never made it big, we’d be playing all the clubs, we’d be still doing that. So when we go onstage, we’re performers. It isn’t a question of keeping it fresh because it’s what we love — we don’t have anything else, basically, to do."
A new album?
Inevitably, the question was raised about whether Fleetwood Mac would head into the studio and cut a new album once this tour wraps?
And, just as expected, the band tried to artfully evade answering.
"There have been discussions, for sure, that we would love to make some more music," Fleetwood said. "I think it’s really down to the whole sort of biorhythms 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 onwards from there."
Buckingham, while waxing rhapsodic about the opportunities he’s had as a solo artist, took a bit more expansive view of the future.
"We’ve been down this road — a long, long road together," he said. "In some ways we know each other better than we know anybody else. I think that we all want to dignify the road we’ve been down . . . and I just think we all want to get to a place where we all feel that unity is waiting in the wings.
"It’s not that we’re not unified, but it is still a work in progress. I think that’s one of the main meanings of what we’re doing right now. So I actually feel quite excited to be able to go out and just relax into playing a body of work you know."
Fleetwood Mac
8 p.m. Thursday
American Airlines Center, Dallas
$49.50-$149.50
800-745-3000; www.ticketmaster.com
Preston Jones is the Star-Telegram pop music critic, 817-390-7713
FLEETWOOD MAC HEADED BACK TO ATLANTIC CITY
Mac Attack in AyCee
Philly.com
Don't know why this should matter to anybody, but Fleetwood Mac is headed back to Atlantic City.
Tickets go on sale next Saturday (May 2) at 10 a.m. for the Caesars Atlantic City-sponsored, June 13 Boardwalk Hall gig by the pop-rock outfit that dominated the musical world in the latter part of the 1970s.
The Boardwalk Hall stop is part of the group’s “Unleashed” tour on which they’re serving up a program of “greatest hits.” In case your wondering, Stevie Nicks (vocals), Lindsey Buckingham (guitar) Mick Fleetwood (drums) and John McVie (bass) remain in the band, but singer-keyboardist Christine McVie is no longer performing.
Show time is 8 p.m. Admission is $149.50, $79.50 and $49.50. For tickets, call (800) 736-1420, www.ticketmaster.com.
WIN YOUR MOM TICKETS TO FLEETWOOD MAC
Live Nation and Metromix wants to give your mom two tickets to Fleetwood Mac
This is the perfect opportunity to show your mom just how much you appreciate what she's done for you. And we're pretty sure, if your mom is exactly like ours, she is a huge Fleetwood Mac fan.
Fleetwood Mac is coming to the Pepsi Center IN DENVER on Mother's Day. She's sure to dub you "Mr. Wonderful." Featuring a line-up of John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckinham and Stevie Nicks, the current "Unleashed Tour" promises to be a show not to miss. The tour is in conjunction with the re-release of the band's classic 1977 album "Rumors."
All you have to do to win your mom tickets is answer the question below.
Why is your mom the best mom in the world?
ENTER HERE
FLEETWOOD MAC IN BALTIMORE, MD - JUNE 10th
New date added to the June list of dates added a few days ago. Ticketmaster is confirming:
Baltimore, MD
June 10, 2009
First Mariner Arena
Tickets onsale:
Pre-sale
American Express
Start: Fri, 04/24/09 10:00 AM EDT
End: Fri, 05/01/09 10:00 PM EDT
Onsale to General Public
Start: Mon, 05/04/09 10:00 AM EDT
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CHRIS ISAAK HOUR with STEVIE NICKS (Re-Broadcast)
RE-BROADCAST
The Chris Isaak Hour
with Stevie Nicks
- Thursday, April 23 10:00pm
- Friday, April 24 2:00am
- Saturday, May 2 8:00am
- Sunday, May 3 7:00am
- Friday, April 24 2:00am
- Saturday, May 2 8:00am
- Sunday, May 3 7:00am
FLEETWOOD MAC 1977 ARIZONA STADIUM
Back in the day with Fleetwood Mac
AZStarnet.com
The last concert held at Arizona Stadium was headlined by Fleetwood Mac, which was touring behind the release of a little-known gem called "Rumours."
Described as the hottest band in the country at the time, Fleetwood Mac shared the stage with superstar artists Kenny Loggins and the Marshall Tucker Band, along with local band Arizona.
An estimated 67,000 people jammed the football field and nearly filled the stands that hot Saturday night on Aug. 27, 1977, to make for the largest crowd of rock fans Arizona had ever seen.
Tickets were $8 to $10, and the show grossed some $430,000. The Arizona division of the American Heart Association was the major beneficiary.
Still, authorities estimated hundreds of people got in free in the crush that ensued once the gates opened. The surging crowd knocked a deputy down a flight of stairs, and a 16-year-old girl was trampled and suffered an injured elbow.
Fans had started camping outside the stadium at 6 p.m. the night before, 23 hours before the music was scheduled to begin.
The concert ended about 11:30 p.m. after more than six hours of music. Fleetwood Mac played for more than two hours, and an Arizona Daily Star reviewer said Stevie Nicks' vocals and the guitar of Lindsey Buckingham stole the show.
Large clouds of marijuana smoke hovered above the crowd, along with sporadic flares and firecrackers.
Overall, authorities called the concert a peaceful event and nowhere near the mayhem they had prepared for.
Afterward, Chuck Raetzman, UA's superintendent of grounds, labor, maintenance and transportation at the time, was quoted as saying the field suffered no severe damage.
He added that if any part of the field was still faded by the time the Wildcats' televised home-opener rolled around, it would be painted green for television. The center of the field reportedly suffered the most damage from "compaction."
Concern over Arizona Stadium's field was one of the main reasons ASUA moved the stage to the sidelines, off the playing field, for Wednesday's performance.
FLEETWOOD MAC HIGH PRIESTESS STEVIE NICKS
April 23rd, 2009
Stevie Nicks - (Reprise/Warner)
The Soundstage Sessions
by: Bugs Burnett
Fleetwood Mac high priestess Stevie Nicks always brought a folk and country sensibility to her rock'n'roll, and this 10-track selection of some of her best and biggest, recorded live in Chicago for her 2007 PBS Soundstage performance, includes Sara, Landslide, Rhiannon and a speedy hard-rocking version of Stand Back. Her vocals are quite good - Stevie still hits all the high notes - especially on the sweeping ballad Beauty and the Beast, complete with string section.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC - TAMPA, FLORIDA
TAMPA –- When Christine McVie ditched Fleetwood Mac in 1998, the piano-playing songbird took with her any semblance of levity that existed in the bed-hopping, turmoil-tossing band. She made loving fun; the rest of ’em made loving sound like a knife fight.
The remaining quartet, which played the St. Pete Times Forum on Wednesday, is now built solely on headstrong, prickly pieces: the steady apathy of bassist John McVie, the googly-eyed madness of warlockian drummer Mick Fleetwood, the beautifully broken mysticism of singer Stevie Nicks (left), the winning petulance of guitar virtuoso Lindsey.
"As many of you know, Fleetwood Mac has had a complex and convoluted emotional history," Buckingham told the tidy, intense crowd of 10,008 fans. But for this tour, he added, they "just wanted to go out and have fun."
Fun is a relative term when most of your shattered-sunset songs are about how much you once despised the person next to you. For a good part of five decades, the Mac has been dysfunctionally functional. Even though all but one member is now in their 60s, those crazy kids are still working out their junk onstage. That said, they're also really good at their jobs. FULL REVIEW
Video of: Monday Morning, The Chain & Dreams
NO BAND DOES DYSFUNCTION LIKE FLEETWOOD MAC
By Lisa O'Donnell | Journal Columnist and Reporter
No band does dysfunction like Fleetwood Mac.
Tales of cults and cocaine, breakups and bankruptcies, affairs and addictions are as much a part of the band's story as the California brand of rock that made it one of the superstar acts of the '70s.
Some 40 years after forming in the heyday of the British blues revival, Fleetwood Mac appears finally to have put behind it the bad chemicals and chemistry that nearly turned it into an oldies act. (Remember the Fleetwood Mac/Reo Speedwagon/Pat Benatar tour of 1996? We are trying to forget it as well.)
During a recent teleconference, the four remaining members of this famously fractured band -- co-founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, along with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks -- sounded as if they have to come terms with each other and are ready to move into an era of good feeling.
"We are a group of great contradictions," Buckingham said. "The members don't necessarily have any business being in a band together because the range of sensibilities is so disparate."
On Saturday, this shiny, happy version of the band will play Charlotte (the Greensboro concert was canceled because of "scheduling conflicts") as part of the "Unleashed Tour." It marks the first time that the band is touring without a new album. Instead of pushing new songs, the set list will be heavy with hits from the Fleetwood Mac and Rumours albums with a few seldom-played deep cuts sprinkled in for good measure.
MAUI MICK
Mick Fleetwood Hawaii Band Video
by: John Heckathorn
Hawaii Magazine.com
(click for video)
"Maui is the place where I hope to live my long and healthy latter years," says 61-year-old Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, who moved his entire family to Maui's Napili shorefront—wife, two twin daughters and his mother.
But make no mistake. Fleetwood has not retired. He's currently on tour with a (mostly) reunited Fleetwood Mac, currently in Texas, then points West, tour dates now scheduled through May.
However, as we reveal in the Mele section of HAWAII Magazine's May/June issue, Fleetwood can't stop playing, and now has two bands based on Maui.
First, the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band harkens back to the early days of Fleetwood Mac, when it was a four-man blues ensemble. Fleetwood took advantage of a hiatus in the Fleetwood Mac tour to fly back and rip up a Waikiki venue, Level 4, with the blues band, all of whose members live on Maui. The band's double live album, Blue Again, went to No. 18 on iTunes even before the CD release.
His second band is more Island-style. In addition to Vito, Mick Fleetwood's Island Rumours Band includes an array of remarkable Hawaiian musicians, including Willie K., Eric Gilliom, Lopaka Colon, and one of the strongest talents to emerge from contemporary Hawai‘i, Moloka‘i’s Raiatea Helm. What's it like? See and hear for yourself.
Here's great footage of the band and a video interview with Mick.
FLEETWOOD MAC - ATLANTA
Classic rockers make trip to Atlanta worthwhile
Fleetwood Mac does not have a new disc to promote, so the hits will be featured this time around. Most of their shows on the “Unleashed” tour have featured “Sara,” “Tusk,” “Monday Morning” and even solo tunes such as Stevie’s “Stand Back” and Lindsey’s “Go Insane.” The “wow!” factor is in full swing too, as most gigs have spotlighted a raucous take on the old Peter Green-era Mac classic “Oh Well.” They perform Tuesday, April 28, at Philips.
FLEETWOOD MAC - ORLANDO, FLORIDA (photos)
Awesome shots of Fleetwood Mac in Orlando, Florida April 20th
Photos by: tusk1cj
SLIDE SHOW
FLEETWOOD MAC LIGHTING DESIGNER
Martin LC Series for Fleetwood Mac “Unleashed” Tour
LightSoundJournal
Seminal rock band and fan favorite Fleetwood Mac is touring North America with high flying Martin Professional LC Series™ LED panels incorporated as dynamically dominate set pieces.
Seminal rock band and fan favorite Fleetwood Mac is touring North America with high flying Martin Professional LC Series™ LED panels incorporated as dynamically dominate set pieces.
Production Designer is Paul Guthrie of Toss Film & Design Inc. of Minneapolis who handled lighting, set, video and content for the tour. “I decided early on that I wanted a clean, simple look that complemented the band,” he says, “and I wanted to use technology in a way that enabled us to create modern versions of retro themes. We wound up using a lot of high tech equipment to try and make it look low tech.”
He commented on the decision to use the Martin LC panels in the design: “I spoke very early on to Brad Haynes at Martin US about incorporating EvenLED (LED panels) into six large scale curved light boxes that are the centerpiece to the design but ran into some logistical obstacles on our end that made us move in a different direction. “On advice from our crew chief Ronald Beal at rehearsals, we realized the LC panels would fit into our set pieces and accomplish what we wanted to from the beginning, and from the second they powered up they looked fantastic.”
Guthrie has 42 of the 1 x 2 m LC Series LED panels installed to internally light the light boxes as well as run graphical content for effects. Visual content was created by Guthrie himself who also programmed the show. Martin’s bright, modular, lightweight LED panels (40 mm pixel pitch) are often praised for their ease of set up. They use standard Prolyte CCS6 conical truss connectors, so linking the panels together is simple, and with no external power supplies or drivers, each unit comes with everything it needs built in.
Fleetwood Mac’s “Unleashed” tour launched in early March and is playing large arenas in the U.S. and Canada through the summer. The tour is being run by lighting director Axis DeBruyn and reports have the LC panels operating just fine.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
WIN LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM GUITAR AND GIFT OF SCREWS
Enter to win Gift of Screws and a guitar—both signed by Lindsey Buckingham!
With his critically acclaimed 2008 record, Gift of Screws, Lindsey Buckingham proves that his songwriting resonates as much today as it did during the very height of his years with Fleetwood Mac. The album originated with sessions recorded in the ‘90s, with some of the tracks finding a home on Fleetwood Mac’s Say You Will, while other tracks were newly written for the release. The result is a fresh and triumphant new sound which sees Buckingham take his characteristic layered vocals and hook-laden choruses into new and exciting sonic territory.
Now is your chance to win a copy of Gift of Screws, signed by Lindsey Buckingham. One lucky grand prize winner will also get to perfect their own songwriting skills with a Rick Turner guitar, also signed by Lindsey! Don’t pass up this once-in-a-lifetime prize pack—enter now.
Enter here for a chance to win the following prizes:
One Grand Prize:
- Autographed Rick Turner guitar Model 1C-LB
- Autographed copy of Gift Of Screws CD
Five Runner-up Prizes:
- Autographed copy of Gift Of Screws CD
You must be 18 or over to enter and win, and a legal resident of, and currently living in the United States.
FLEETWOOD MAC TICKET GIVE AWAY - ST. LOUIS
Fleetwood Mac ticket giveaway
and discount for
ST. LOUIS show
Purchase Directions:
1. Click here to buy tickets
2. Click on "Find Tickets"
3. Enter Metromix in the "Promotions and Special Offers" section
4. Proceed with order
FLEETWOOD MAC IN ATLANTIC CITY JUNE 13th
LIVE NATION is confirming that Fleetwood Mac will be at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on June 13th.
Public On-Sale Date: 5/2/09
FLEETWOOD MAC IN SASKATOON JUNE 5th
LIVENATION is confirming that Fleetwood Mac will be in Saskatoon at the Credit Union Centre on June 5th.
On Sale Friday: 4/24/09
Radio Presales: 4/22/09
FLEETWOOD MAC IN NYC - MSG JUNE 11TH
Ticketmaster nis confirming that Fleetwood Mac will be back in New York City at MSG on June 11th.
Presale begins: Mon, 04/27/09 10am for AMEX, ends Thursday 4/30/09
Onsale to General Public Start: Fri, 05/01/09 10:00 AM EDT
FLEETWOOD MAC IN WINNIIPEG, CANADA JUNE 6th
LIVE NATION is confirming that Fleetwood Mac will be in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on June 6th at the MTS Centre.
Tickets onsale this Friday: 4/24/09
Radio Presales: 4/23/09
WIN ST. LOUIS FLEETWOOD MAC TICKETS
STLTODAY.COM
Win Fleetwood Mac tickets now
We’re giving away tickets to the Fleetwood Mac concert on May 5. We have dozens that we’ll hand out during all hours of the day, all week long. Stop by the House-O-Fun often to see the latest question.
Please answer the question in the comments section below, and remember to include your e-mail. One response per person, please. The first person to give the correct answer gets two free tickets.
FIRST QUESTION:
What was the name of Mick Fleetwood’s first band?
ENTER HERE
REVIEW: FLEETWOOD MAC - ORLANDO, FLORIDA
Fleetwood Mac turns back the clock at Amway Arena
by JimAbbott
When it comes to nostalgia, Fleetwood Mac’s "Unleashed" tour occupies the same neighborhood as the Eagles latest reunion trek. Like the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac reliably delivered a boatload of vintage hits in a generous 2 hours and 20 minutes on Monday at Amway Arena.
Unleashed, however, implies a sense of abandon and risk that Fleetwood Mac doesn’t reach that often. Instead, band members Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and John McVie offer a combination of precision and pacing. 
It’s a decent trade. With keyboardist Christine McVie now retired from the band, it was pretty much the Buckingham-Nicks show. Although the duo harmonizes as well as ever on the signature songs, it was hard for longtime fans not to miss the sweetness of McVie’s voice in the mix. A trio of backing vocalists and two additional musicians added texture to the hits.
And there wasn’t any shortage of them: "The Chain," "Dreams" "Gypsy," "Rhiannon," "Second Hand News," "Say You Love Me," "Go Your Own Way." Hearing them again, for those of a certain age, is as much a reminder of a bygone radio era as the band’s formidable catalog.
At age 60 (!), Nicks is still a mystical presence, even if she mostly stands in silhouette with her beaded capes instead of doing those spins.
Buckingham, at the same age, remains an under-appreciated guitarist capable of intricate acoustic picking and fiery rock-star heroics.His creative abuse of an electric guitar in "I’m So Afraid" and other solos offered the best justification for that "unleashed" title.
Nicks and Buckingham were pretty chatty, too. She introduced "Gypsy" by explaining that "there are many meanings to a song, not just one." He aptly described "Second Hand News" as a song that dealt with the band’s fractious personal relationships "with a lot of humor, a lot of optimism and certainly a lot of aggression."
In a rare departure from the familiar arrangements, the band offered slight twist on "Never Going Back Again," slowing it down into a moodier ballad.
The Nicks-Buckingham chemistry ignited sparks in that song, a lovely version of "Landslide" and in "Sara," when she gently rested her head on his shoulder.
At such moments, when it was evident how much of the band’s history was tied up in the music, nostalgia just wasn’t enough to cover it.
In a rare departure from the familiar arrangements, the band offered slight twist on "Never Going Back Again," slowing it down into a moodier ballad.The Nicks-Buckingham chemistry ignited sparks in that song, a lovely version of "Landslide" and in "Sara," when she gently rested her head on his shoulder.
At such moments, when it was evident how much of the band’s history was tied up in the music, nostalgia just wasn’t enough to cover it.
A few back-of-the-notebook observations out of Monday's Fleetwood Mac concert at Amway Arena.
Jim Abbott
Orlando Sentinel
1.) The band did an admirable job of filling the place. Except for a few pockets of empty seats in the back of the lower bowl, it was pretty much packed. Don't want to shatter anyone's illusions, but this was an older crowd. Some people on the floor looked to be in the Engelbert demographic. Was that '70s really that long ago?
2.) This crowd still knows how to party. Reason? Occasional scent of marijuana floating in the air in my lower-bowl section. You don't catch a whiff of that too often at arena concerts anymore.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Fleetwood Mac: A Huge Surprise!
by John R. Kasich
BigHollywood
My friends know that I get juiced up to see a really good concert. Last night in Columbus, however, I walked into Nationwide Arena for the Fleetwood Mac show not really sure if I wanted to be there. I went in with low expectations. I knew that Stevie Nicks is an icon and that Mick Fleetwood is a great drummer, but I still did not have high hopes going in. I’ve seen too many bands who are past their prime simply go through the motions, while charging big bucks just to get into the building.
All that I can say is that I was wrong. It was a humble performance — the band refused to rest on their laurels. They played with full emotion, letting it all out and the crowd responded accordingly. The band had three encores and I still wish they had come out just one more time. This wasn’t another nostalgic performance — it was a perfect rock show.
Most impressive was Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar performance. Throughout the concert, he showed with each note why he is such a great musician. By the end of the show, he was sweating so much that I have no idea how he has the energy to preform several times a week. In my eyes, Buckingham was the star of an incredible show.
I have spent all day wondering how I could have been so wrong going in. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and am grateful I didn’t follow my instincts on this one.
IS THIS WHAT ROCK HAS COME TO?
Clevescene.com
By Aaron Mendelsohn
Throughout Fleetwood Mac’s Friday-night greatest-hits concert, one thing kept running through my head: Is this what rock has come to? With no album to promote, Fleetwood Mac is on the road for the first time in five years, with everyone in tow from the classic lineup except Christine McVie, and charging close to $200 per ticket while much of the country struggles. It partly felt like a slap in the face — even though tour was probably planned long before the economy tumbled — but the size of the crowd (the arena was about 40 percent empty) spoke volumes about the situation.
Had Fleetwood Mac and the promoters lowered the ticket price when sales were sluggish, the response and energy in the arena could have been momentous. Instead, the two-and-a-half-hour performance seemed like an aging band going through the motions during one more money grab.
That's not to say the music wasn’t provoking at times. Lindsey Buckingham is still a tremendous presence onstage, ripping through guitar solos with the vibrant energy needed to carry Stevie Nicks’s contrived effort. His primal, raw emotion during “Big Love,” alone onstage with just his acoustic guitar, was brilliant. As was his finger picking on “Oh Well,” the lone song played from the band’s Peter Green era.
Nicks, on the other hand, sounded sluggish on many songs, more concerned with her wardrobe changes (I think there were four) than charging the audience with her voice. When she wanted to, she could still deliver, hitting all the right notes on “The Chain” and beautifully singing an acoustic “Landslide” with Buckingham on guitar. But she seemed disengaged most of the time, which affected the entire performance.
Unfortunately, Mick Fleetwood’s big moment came late in the concert with a raucous drum solo in the middle of “World Turning.” Always the entertainer and looking a lot like St. Nick, Fleetwood’s solo managed to spark the show before the rest of the band returned for a lackluster “Don’t Stop.” —Aaron Mendelsohn
Sunday, April 19, 2009
NEW FLEETWOOD MAC JUNE DATE
ATLANTIC CITY
JUNE 13, 2009
Fmlegacy.com is reporting that Fleetwood Mac will be in Atlantic City, NJ
June 13, 2009 at Boardwalk Hall.
No citation or source is mentioned.
IT WAS A GREAT CONCERT | YESTERDAY'S GONE...
A COUPLE OF BLOGGER REVIEWS:
Fleetwood Mac in Columbus - It was a great concert!
I would not say that I am a die hard F.M. fan but I really enjoyed the show last night. Those folks can still shake the rafters and sound good while doing it! We were in section 102, row Y at the Nationwide Arena among a full house of fans. We must have been in front of a bank of speakers because the decibels were really cranking.
FULL REVIEW
Yesterday's Gone, Yesterday's Gone...
Not much longer after the sounds of crickets, the lights darkened, and the band took the stage. I was expecting that familiar drum beat and guitar of “The Chain” but to my shock, there was an abrupt irruption of music and simultaneous singing of the lyrics “Monday morning you sure look fine, Friday I’ve got traveling on my mind…” I’ve seen many live DVD’s of Fleetwood Mac throughout the years, as well as seeing them myself back in 2004, and they always start with “The Chain” and since the 70’s I don’t think they’ve preformed “Monday Morning” I knew from that moment this show was going to be different!
FULL REVIEW
MICK FLEETWOOD - MYMICKTV.COM LATEST INSTALLMENT
Mick Fleetwood "Unleashed" in New Jersey Fleetwood Mac
OR MYMICKTV ON YOUTUBE
LINDSEY'S "TUSK LIKE" WARDROBE CHANGE
FLEETWOOD MAC - COLUMBUS, OHIO - APRIL 18, 2009
LINDSEY SPORTS NEW DUDS AT THE COLUMBUS SHOW... Very TUSK like!
WIN VIP PACKAGE FOR FLEETWOOD MAC IN VEGAS
Win a Pair of VIP Packs to See Fleetwood Mac in Las Vegas
The legendary supergroup returns with their first concert tour in five years! Fleetwood Mac’s Unleashed tour takes the multi-Grammy Award winners coast to coast for a number of spring and summer show dates. Concerts will be packed with fan-favorite hits from the group’s acclaimed career, making this a true must-see tour of 2009.
Want to see the show in style? I Love All Access makes it easy. Fleetwood Mac has teamed up with I Love All Access to provide VIP ticket packages for the tour, including great seats, meet and greets, parties and more.
Enter now for a chance to win a pair of I Love All Access 5 Star VIP Packages to see Fleetwood Mac perform at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Hotel on May 30, 2009! You and a friend will each receive a ticket in the first 10 rows, a meet & greet with Mick Fleetwood, an exclusive gift bag, parking, and more. Don’t miss your chance for you and a guest to see one of music’s most loved and influential groups as a VIP.
Enter here for a chance to win the following prizes:
One Grand Prize:
Two 5 Star VIP Packages. Each Package includes:
Each Package includes:
* Mick Fleetwood meet & greet
* A ticket in the first 10 rows
* A 5 Star souvenir laminate
* Pre-show party, including dinner and drinks
* Exclusive Fleetwood Mac gift bag
* Hassle-free entrance to venue
* Crowd-free merchandise shopping Parking
* Discount coupon to Fleetwood Mac online store
* A ticket in the first 10 rows
* A 5 Star souvenir laminate
* Pre-show party, including dinner and drinks
* Exclusive Fleetwood Mac gift bag
* Hassle-free entrance to venue
* Crowd-free merchandise shopping Parking
* Discount coupon to Fleetwood Mac online store
LOUDEST SINGALONG HEARD IN COLUMBUS IN SOME TIME
Band's history creates winning night of hits
BY CURTIS SCHIEBER
COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Fleetwood Mac led a packed Nationwide Arena Saturday night in perhaps the biggest, loudest singalong heard in Columbus in some time. Touring with no album newer than 2003's Say You Will and the vast majority of its material more than 20 years old, the group was clearly out to play the hits-and maybe make a buck.
With singer-songwriter Christine McVie no longer on board, the weight was more than ever on Lindsey Buckingham to play ringmaster over the famously disparate elements of the band. He said the four members agreed to "just go out there and have fun."
Augmented by five other instrumentalists and singers, they delivered on the promise. Buckingham was clearly the MVP, never leaving the stage for the more-than two-hour show and working up a sweat while singing and banging on his guitar.
He made songs such as Monday Morning, Go Your Own Way and his own Go Insane hard-driving and precise pop. He led the band in a dynamically delivered version of the strange Tusk.
It was plain from the beginning, though, that the killer rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass-the namesake and only constant thread in the 40-plus year band saga-are still the foundation of its sound.
Distinctive as the two were when the band played blues in the 1960s, they lent their stamp last night to The Chain and many more hits.
Buckingham mentioned the group's famed romantic entanglements. Last night that was evident as he and Stevie Nicks stood at opposite ends of the stage while the video screen artificially brought them within inches for dramatic effect.
More than once Buckingham carried the ball for Nicks, who looked half-awake. During Second Hand News she seemed to barely follow the tune's clip. During frequent trips to the dressing room she looked like she might fall off her high heels.
Introducing Gypsy with a nonsensical rap, Nicks suggested that San Francisco's "Summer of Love" and the Velvet Underground together inspired the song. (In reality, the two musical cultures were as far apart as the thousands of miles that separated their scenes.)
Still, Nicks' distance-and the three dresses, a half-dozen scarves, top hat and tambourine-didn't detract from a winning night of non-stop hits.
Soundstage | Live in Chicago | Crystal Visions | Greatest Hits Sales Data
Sales Data Update: For the Week Ending 04/12/09
Fleetwood Mac "Greatest Hits"
Catalog Album Sales Top 200
Position: #26 (Previous Week #22)
Sales: 3,972 (Previous Week 3,821 Increase of 4%)
Accumulated: 4,200,040
Fleetwood Mac "Greatest Hits"
Comprehensive Albums Top 200
Position: #19 (Previous Week #178)
Sales: 3,972
Stevie Nicks "Crystal Visions"
Catalog Album Sales Top 200
Position: #143 (Previous Week #117 Decrease of 7%)
Sales: 1,712 (Previous Week 1,837)
Accumulated: 273,383
Stevie Nicks "The Soundstage Sessions"
Billboard Top 200 Albums
Position #146 (Previous Week #47 Decrease of 62%)
Sales: 4,908 (Previous Week 13,052)
Accumulated: 18,038
Stevie Nicks "The Soundstage Sessions"
Comprehensive Albums Top 200
Position: #162 (Previous Week #48 Decrease of 62%)
Sales: 4,908 (Previous Week 13,052)
Stevie Nicks "The Soundstage Sessions"
Top Current Rock Albums
Position: #47 (Previous Week #15 Decrease of 62%)
Stevie Nicks "The Soundstage Sessions"
Top Album Retailer
Position: #95 (Previous Week #29 Decrease of 64%)
Sales: 2,218 (Previous Week 6,100)
Stevie Nicks "The Soundstage Sessions"
Top Internet Albums
Position: #35 (Previous Week #5 Decrease of 76%)
Sales: 770 (Previous Week 3,267)
Stevie Nicks "Live In Chicago" DVD
Top DVD Sales
Position: #2 (Previous Week #1 Decrease of 57%)
Sales: 3,372 (Previous Week 7,851)
Accumulated Sales: 11,261
Saturday, April 18, 2009
PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 15, 2009
Fleetwood Mac
The Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Photos By: Jim Rinald
REVIEW: FLEETWOOD MAC IN CLEVELAND
Fleetwood Mac doesn't stop thinking about yesteryear in hit-stacked concert at The Q
April 18, 2009
"Ooooo, don't you look back," Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks sang at the end of "Don't Stop."
And if the irony of singing "Ooooo, don't you look back" after spending more than two hours doing nothing but looking back wasn't lost on them, they didn't show it.
Without a new album to promote, Fleetwood Mac stared deep into the rearview mirror Friday night at The Q, yielding a concert stacked with classic-rock hits.
A sprightly "Monday Morning" got the proceedings off to a galloping start, followed in short order by "The Chain" and "Dreams." The arena was approximately two-thirds full, with most of the top tier curtained off.
Half-apologizing for not having any fresh material to play, Buckingham explained the rationale behind the band's latest road trip: "Let's just go out there and have fun."
Mission accomplished, to the tune of guaranteed crowd-pleasers such as "Gypsy," "Tusk" and "Go Your Own Way."
Besides Buckingham and Nicks, the core lineup included founding members Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass. They're all in their 60s.
In the middle of several particularly intense musical passages, various band members clutched their chests, feigning cardiac arrest. At least it looked as if they were only faking it.
Two sidemen and three backing vocalists fleshed out the sound nicely, especially on the intricate, harmony-laden "Sara."
A twangy stab at "Say You Love Me" (originally popularized by Christine McVie, who went her own way more than a decade ago) was among the evening's few surprises. Ditto a suitably overcast "Storms," a ballad off 1979's "Tusk" album that Fleetwood Mac hadn't played live prior to this tour.
Buckingham and Nicks also touched on their solo careers, by way of "Go Insane" and "Stand Back," respectively.
Early on, Buckingham joked about the group's "fairly complex and convoluted emotional history." As usual, that history was milked for all it's worth.
The poignant "Landslide" was a highlight, with ex-lovers Buckingham and Nicks alone onstage for a stripped-down duet. They also looked into each other's eyes as they traded barbs via "Second Hand News."
The latter tune was prefaced with a long-winded introduction courtesy of Buckingham, who babbled on about "emotional opposites" and the song's elements of sadness, aggression and humor.
He fared better when he let the music do the talking, most notably when he punctuated a jaw-dropping "I'm So Afraid" with a cathartic guitar solo.
At times, you got the impression that Buckingham might snap up there -- and thank goodness. His emotionally raw vocals and unhinged guitar heroics stole the show.
Sure, this was essentially one big nostalgia trip. Yet thanks largely to Buckingham's efforts, at least it was a trip worth taking.
For her part, Nicks was in fine voice as she led various well-received excursions into the mystic, via "Rhiannon" and other spellbinding oldies. And if there was any lingering doubt about it, "Gold Dust Woman" reaffirmed that nobody -- but nobody -- works a shawl like Fleetwood Mac's leading lady.
SET LIST:
"Monday Morning," "The Chain," "Dreams," "I Know I'm Not Wrong," "Gypsy," "Go Insane," "Rhiannon," "Second Hand News," "Tusk," "Sara," "Big Love," "Landslide," "Never Going Back Again," "Storms," "Say You Love Me," "Gold Dust Woman," "Oh Well," "I'm So Afraid," "Stand Back," "Go Your Own Way"
FIRST ENCORE:
"World Turning," "Don't Stop"
SECOND ENCORE:
"Silver Springs"
ALL THE SHAWLS, FEATHERS AND TOP HATS YOU COULD WANT
Stevie Nicks, Live in Chicago: Also available as a CD titled The Soundstage Sessions, Nicks' latest live DVD finds Fleetwood Mac's witchy woman in good spirits and fine form, braying her hits, Mac classics and cool covers for PBS cameras in the Windy City. The two-hour set also features plenty of between-song banter, guest spots from Vanessa Carlton, and all the shawls, feathers and top hats you could want.
Friday, April 17, 2009
FLEETWOOD MAC RULE
Headliners: Fleetwood Mac
By Chris DeVille
ColumbusAlive.comI think I speak for most of my generation when I say I'm familiar enough with Fleetwood Mac to know they rule, but not so much that I can adequately explain why. Throughout my 25 years, I've gleaned that Bill Clinton is a big fan, the members slept around with each other a lot and "Go Your Own Way" is a monster jam.
In the same way that Hall & Oates' soft-core soul has gained currency with America's youth, Fleetwood Mac has earned that vaguely kitschy, mostly genuine seal of approval. But I must admit I'm behind the curve.
With the band playing Nationwide Arena Saturday, now seems like a good time to learn more about the rock legends and pass along my discoveries to my fellow noobs. (This will also allow elitist Fleetwood Mac fans out there, if such people exist, a chance to look down their noses at me.)
FLEETWOOD: "I'M THE BOSS" NICKS: "YOU'RE ALL FIRED!"
Fleetwood Mac 'Unleashed' on tour
BY JORDAN LEVIN
Miami Herald
Fleetwood Mac, famed for its supremely catchy pop-rock songs (particularly in 1977's Rumours, one of the bestselling albums of all time) and tangled relationships, is hitting the road for the first time since 2003. The Fleetwood Mac Unleashed tour, which comes to the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise on Thursday, will feature the group's greatest hits. Earlier this spring, singer and songwriter Stevie Nicks, drummer and founder Mick Fleetwood, songwriter and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and (a mostly silent) founder and bassist John McVie talked about touring and getting together again.
Q:You've all been working on successful solo projects for the last couple of years, why come together to do the Unleashed tour now?
Nicks: Solo work and Fleetwood Mac is a really great thing to be able to go back and forth to. . . . We've been apart for four years, now we're back together and we're having a blast. It's terrific. Had we been working every single year for the last four years and we were going to do yet another tour this year, we would all be going ``Uh, OK.''
Q: You're coming out with the Rumours expanded re-release, and you're doing a Greatest Hits tour. Are you all thinking about a new Fleetwood Mac album?
Fleetwood: This is the first time that we've gone on the road without an album. We would enjoy doing another album, there have been discussions for sure that we would love to make some more music. I think it's really down to the whole bio-rhythms of how everyone is feeling and what's appropriate.
Q:After almost 30 years of music-making, how do you guys stay fresh?
Nicks: It stays fresh because we never stop playing. Basically what we are is entertainers. Even if this band had never made it big, we would still be playing all the clubs. . . . We're performers, that's what we do. So it isn't a question of keeping it fresh because it's what we love.
Q:It's been years since you guys went out together. How does that affect things?
Buckingham: It frees you up to enjoy each other more as people. The mantra is really more ''Let's just have a good time'' and value the friendships and the history that underpins this experience. The dynamic between band members, you wouldn't think after all this time, but it is still to some degree a work in progress.
Q:Are you influenced by current and recent music?
Buckingham: The older you get the more you find your own style and become more self-referential. I think that is the difference between being in your 20s and having a circle of people who are all out there listening to every new thing that comes out and are also networking in terms of sharing it. That tends to fall away over time. . . . as you grow into a style that you can call your own it becomes less and less important to try to emulate new things that come out.
It's always enlightening and reassuring to me to hear an artist who is doing something on their own terms because I think that's the only way you survive over the long term. When someone like Radiohead can get up at an otherwise fairly musically void awards show [the 2009 Grammys], a group like that means a lot to me.
Q:The title Unleashed sounds like professional wrestling or a heavy metal band. Who is leashing you and why are you unleashed now?
Nicks:Unleashed to me meant unleashing the furies, unleashing us back into the universe. Unleashed to me was an edgy term of throwing this amazing musical entity back into the world that we had been away from for four years.
Q:You and Lindsey have occasionally had difficulties to work out. Has that been part of the preparation for this tour, or has it been easier for you?
Nicks: Lindsey has been in incredibly good humor since we started rehearsal on the fifth of January. And when he's happy, everybody is happy.
Buckingham: We are a group of great contradictions, a group that in some strange way you could probably say doesn't really have any business being in a band together. . . . But that's what makes Fleetwood Mac what it is. It's the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. It's the energy created from that contrast in personalities.
Q:What do you get out of working as part of a group as opposed to being a solo artist?
Nicks: In the beginning, I really had no interest in being a solo artist. Because what I love is being in a band. But after you've been in your solo work and done what have I done, 11 solo albums, where I am absolutely the boss, you get used to being the boss. So it's good for everybody to be knocked down a little bit. It makes you think more.
Fleetwood: I'm the boss now.
Nicks: You're all fired.
FLEETWOOD MAC - GREENSBORO SHOW CANCELLED
CANCELLED:
According to Ticketmaster - Fleetwood Mac have canceled the
Greensboro Coliseum Complex show in Greensboro, NC on April 26, 2009
Fleetwood Mac won't be giving a planned performance at the Greensboro Coliseum this month, coliseum officials announced today.
The Sunday, April 26, concert in Greensboro has been canceled because of scheduling conflicts, according to the news release.
Tickets purchased online and via phone will be refunded automatically starting Monday, April 20. Tickets purchased at outlets or the box office can be refunded at point of purchase, beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 21.
Fleetwood Mac’s concert on Saturday, April 25, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte will continue as scheduled.
Tickets are still available for the Charlotte concert at livenation.com, the Arena box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, or charge by phone 800-745-3000.
REVIEW - FLEETWOOD MAC IN PHILADELPHIA
Fleetwood Mac at Wachovia Center
By Sam Adams
For The Inquirer
Early in Fleetwood Mac's show at the Wachovia Center Wednesday night, Lindsey Buckingham dropped a reference to the "convoluted emotional history" that spawned many of the band's best songs.
Rumours (1977), one of the best-selling albums of all time (and, given the state of the music industry, likely to remain so in perpetuity), was famously inspired by the simultaneous dissolution of the relationship between Buckingham and his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks and the marriage of John and Christine McVie. Songs like "Go Your Own Way" and "Second Hand News" are more exultant than morose, but their slick surfaces are studded with spikes.
Wednesday's show, though, was all surface.
Supplemented by three backing singers and two guitarists who stood to the side and in the shadow, the core quartet of Buckingham, Nicks, John McVie, and drummer Mick Fleetwood rolled comfortably through a selection of their greatest hits. (Christine McVie left the band a decade ago.)
With 14 years elapsed since their last studio album, there was nothing to add to their repertoire, and only a handful of surprises in the set list: "I Know I'm Not Wrong," from the overreaching Tusk, and "Oh Well," reworked from the band's first incarnation as a British blues act.
Buckingham put on the semblance of a show, grunting and grimacing his way through a solo version of "Big Love," and frequently sounding out of breath, as if he'd just bounded on stage after running a few laps.
But his posture seemed dictated more by pose than passion. Buckingham is a true pop visionary, but he's also plainly enamored of his mad-scientist image, and prone to displaying his formidable guitar technique at excruciating length. Part of what makes "The Chain" and "Never Going Back Again" thrilling in their original versions is the way Buckingham's flourishes poke through the songs' watertight structures. Nowadays, his bandmates seem uninterested in reining him in.
Nicks seemed content to go through the motions, which didn't much faze the crowd; it's hard to think of another performer who could draw cheers just by spinning in a lazy circle.
Fleetwood and McVie stuck to the background, anchoring the songs without much in the way of flash. Fleetwood demonstrated both power and (with the exception of an ill-advised drum solo) grace, providing the kind of excitement his colleagues at the front of the stage couldn't quite seem to manage.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
DISCOUNT TIX FOR FLEETWOOD MAC IN PHOENIX MAY 24 - $25 TIX
$25 UPPER LEVEL SEATING (Reg. $49.50)
PHOENIX, AZ - Sunday, May 24th
Jobing.com Arena
Use the code LANDSLIDE to get the tickets
Additional Fees of $9.65/ticket apply
MAC SHOTS - PHILADELPHIA
FLEETWOOD MAC - PHILADELPHIA REVIEW
Fleetwood Mac hot and cold in Philly stop of greatest hits tour
By Katherine Reinhard
The Morning Call
Perhaps it was because they had been on break for a few weeks. But there seemed to be two distinct Fleetwood Mac bands on stage at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia last night.
The first took up more than half of the two-hour plus show featuring greatest hits from the band's mid-1970s incarnation.
Sure, there was the trimmed down Stevie Nicks in a flowing gypsy black dress, killer boots and a mike stand draped in black scarves. Yes, the first three songs - "Monday Morning," "Chain" and "Dreams" - are among their best and could easily have filled out the end of the show.
But the performance was flat. You could barely hear Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham seemed to be trying too hard. Group founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie were little more than wallpaper. And the back-up band and singers may as well been on another stage.
Ten songs in I was so bored that I seriously contemplated going to the bar area to watch the Flyers get hammered by Pittsburgh.
But then the second Fleetwood Mac band showed up when Fleetwood, McVie and the backup band and singers left the stage. It was just Buckingham and Nicks up there, like their pre-Mac days with Buckingham on acoustic guitar. Now dressed in a claret dress, Nicks' voice finally kicked in. It was a bit deeper than her early years, but it was still there. The duo performed "Landslide." The lyrics were not lost on the mostly older audience. "Children get older," Nicks sang.. "... I'm getting older, too." The crowd ate it up.
From then on it was a really good show. Fleetwood, McVie and the others returned to the stage. Fleetwood moved up to a small drum kit at the front of stage. When Nicks sang "Gold Dust Woman" it was as though she had moved into a different astral plane. Buckingham took on Peter Green's part in "Oh Well," the only song from the pre-Buckingham-Nicks day, and proved he still can play guitar like a '60s rock star.
By the time the band closed the show, playing "World Turning" and "Don't Stop," I wanted to stand up and demand a redo of the first half. I guess I'll have to wait for the next tour.
(Photo by Brian Hineline, Special to The Morning Call)
SUPERGROUP FLEETWOOD MAC IS TOURING TO PROMOTE RUMOURS REISSUE
Catch reunited Fleetwood Mac on Thursday in Sunrise
SUN-SENTINEL.COM
By Sean Piccoli | Pop Music Writer
If yesterday's gone, as Fleetwood Mac once sang, what's up with yesterday's bands? They don't appear to be going anywhere.
Some tour ad infinitum, letting a generation lapse between albums ( the Eagles). Others emerge from situational exile (Guns N' Roses) or return as aging comeback kids ( New Kids on the Block). Call it 20th Century Village — a community of acts that hit their pop-culture peaks in previous decades but survive on varying combinations of musical relevance and audience nostalgia.
Where along that spectrum does one put Fleetwood Mac? The "Unleashed" tour that comes to BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise on Thursday is timed not to new music but a deluxe reissue of 1977's Rumours. But this quintessentially '70s band — known for its tuneful pop-rock songcraft and congenial, co-ed sound — hasn't ruled out making new music. Just not now.
"This is the first time that we've gone on the road without an album," drummer and band co-founder Mick Fleetwood, told entertainment writers on a conference call in February. Fleetwood seemed relieved to be touring on that basis, calling it "truly a new experience for Fleetwood Mac to go out and ... play songs that we believe and hope that people are really going to be familiar with."
As for another album, which would be the first since 2003's Say You Will, Fleetwood sounded hopeful but hardly definitive.
"There have been discussions, for sure," he said. "And I think it's really down to the whole sort of biorhythms 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 ... I think the feeling is, and the consensus is, that we would love to be challenged to go out and do, in a couple of years, something with some new songs."
The point or value of another Fleetwood Mac album is something he and the remaining band members — Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and John McVie — will have to decide for themselves.
What's not in doubt is the appeal of the existing songs. Many have become standards, covered by stars and bar bands alike, and played at proms and other life-affirming rituals.
At some point, a band becomes much smaller than its music. Enjoyment of the songs supersedes interest in the personalities behind the microphone. But Fleetwood Mac's history still holds some intrigue. Their best-known work arose in part from romantic entanglements among band mates. John and Christine McVie divorced in 1976. At the same time, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were coming undone as a couple but still collaborating as songwriters. Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all time, is rife with those tensions.
"We are a group of great contradictions," guitarist and singer Buckingham said. "The members don't necessarily have any business being in a band together because the range of sensibilities is disparate. But that's in fact what makes Fleetwood Mac what it is. It's the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. It's the kind of energy that is created from that kind of contrast in personalities."
To hear Buckingham tell it, those contrasts got the better of the band last time out. "When we rehearsed for [the] Say You Will [tour], we had come off almost a year in the studio and we were tired," he said. "And there was a certain amount of tension from that experience, and there was a certain amount of anxiety in terms of working things out that were new, and how it was all going to fit together. And I think there was even a kind of novelty of going out without Christine McVie for the first time."
Nicks said the collective mood this time around is much improved thanks to Buckingham's good spirits. "When he's happy, everybody is happy," she said.
Buckingham said that time away, during which he released two solo albums, eased his return to the fold. "We've been down this road — a long, long road together," he said. "And in some ways we know each other better than we know anybody else. We share things with each other that we've never shared with other people. And I think that we all want to dignify the road we've been down. If you talk about Stevie in particular, I've known Stevie since I was in high school. And I just think we all want to get to a place where we all feel ... that unity is sort of waiting in the wings. And it's not that we're not unified. But it is still a work in progress."
WEEK 2 BILLBOARD TOP 200
Week 2 for "The Soundstage Sessions" on Billboards Top 200 Album chart suffered a 62% drop in sales landing at #146 with 4,908 in sales for the week. Accumulated total = 18,038.
"Live in Chicago" the DVD drops one place to #2. (Sales information to follow).
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
$47 - PREMIUM FLEETWOOD MAC TIX - St. Louis, Reg. $148*
65% OFF DEAL!
FLEETWOOD MAC IN ST. LOUIS, MO
AT THE SCOTTRADE CENTER - Tuesday, May 5 at 8PM
The following seating level is available for the May 5 show only:
$47 (reg. $147.50) ... Price Level 1 Seats
You must book by April 30, but these seats will likely sell out at this price sooner.
When ready to purchase, select "Find Tickets." Enter the code [B]TRAVEL [/B]in the box marked "Travelzoo Ticket Offer" and use the drop-down menu to select the number of seats you would like. Click "Find Tickets" to see your seats. Note: Ticket fees are an additional $11.50 per ticket.
SWEEPSTAKES WITH FLEETWOOD MAC
There’s nothing quite like Southern California in the spring time and we want to send you there in style to see the legendary Fleetwood Mac!
Prize package includes:
- Two tickets in the first 10 rows at Staples Center
- Roundtrip airfare
- Two nights / three days hotel at Hilton Universal
- Exclusive Meet & Greet with Mick Fleetwood
- Pre-show party, including drinks and dinner
- Exclusive Fleetwood Mac gift bag
- $300 for ground transportation
But wait, there's more! We're also going to send you Logitech® audio gear and a Rhapsody subscription, so you can get into your music on the road or at home:
Logitech® Squeezebox™ Boom
The all-in-one Wi-Fi music player. Play your favorite
The all-in-one Wi-Fi music player. Play your favorite
Internet radio music and more...
Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 Noise-Isolating Earphones
The sonic equivalent of sitting in the world's best recording studio.
Logitech® Z-5500 Digital Speakers
TXH-certified, 505-watt 5.1 digital surround sound speakers.
Logitech® Pure-Fi Anywhere™
Portable speakers for your iPod®or iPhone™.
One year subscription to Rhapsody
The digital music service that lets you listen all you want to your favorite songs, anytime, anywhere.
The sonic equivalent of sitting in the world's best recording studio.
Logitech® Z-5500 Digital Speakers
TXH-certified, 505-watt 5.1 digital surround sound speakers.
Logitech® Pure-Fi Anywhere™
Portable speakers for your iPod®or iPhone™.
One year subscription to Rhapsody
The digital music service that lets you listen all you want to your favorite songs, anytime, anywhere.
Three runner-up winners will each receive a Logitech® SqueezeboxTM Boom player and a three month Rhapsody subscription.
Not too shabby… eh? So what are you waiting for?
Enter today and good luck!
(Open to US citizens only)
MICK FLEETWOOD ON HIS TWO LOVES
Rollingstone - Rock n Roll Daily
Mick Fleetwood on His Two Loves: Music and Wine
In an interview with the Associated Press last week, Stevie Nicks proudly declared herself a technophobe, admitting she doesn’t own a cell phone or a computer and rarely uses her iPod. Turns out, when it comes to Fleetwood Mac, she’s not alone. “Almost everyone else in the band can hardly turn on a computer,” drummer Mick Fleetwood confessed to Rock Daily. With one exception: “John McVie; He’s the only person who’s technologically literate. The rest of us, we’ve never made the transition.” (For more on Nicks, check back tomorrow when we’ll have highlights from Rolling Stone’s recent lunch with the singer.)
Which may explain why Fleetwood has taken to a decidedly old world side-project: wine producer. On Monday night, Fleetwood hosted a private dinner for 60 at Fleming’s Steakhouse in Woodland Hills, California, in part to promote his now eight-year-old label, Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar. Curiously, in a down economy, sales of fine wine often go up. “It’s understandable,” he said after polishing off a three-course meal and several glasses of Merlot. “Whether it’s a glass of wine or a night out, people need a break.”
Of course, not everybody can turn their passions into profit quite like Fleetwood, who, after this California pit-stop, rejoins his Mac bandmates in Philadelphia for their 2009 Hits: Unleashed tour. It’s a modern-day reality that’s not lost on the 61-year-old. “The music business has obviously been great for me, but I wouldn’t want to be starting a band right now,” he said. “No one knows what the rules are. And while wine is certainly as competitive as music, the boundaries are clearer, and it’s probably a healthier business, ultimately.” Not that he’s planning to put down the sticks anytime soon. “The older I get, the more I enjoy and pay tribute to playing,” he said. “And to be on the road now with Fleetwood Mac, it’s a huge compliment that people are coming out to see us.”
FLEETWOOD MAC - OTTAWA
Some nice Fleetwood Mac live shots from Ottawa, Canada on March 23rd - Scotiabank Place.
Photos by: Silver Springs (click for more)
LUNCH WITH STEVIE NICKS
If we had a single regret about going to Australia with the Kings of Leon (for RS's current cover story), it would be that we missed Fleetwood Mac performing at Madison Square Garden. But, when we returned, we had the pleasure of lunching with Ms. Stevie Nicks, who was in New York to promote her new live CD-DVD, The Soundstage Sessions: Live in Chicago, a collection featuring some of her biggest hits and baddest rarities. We chatted about the first time she met Lindsey Buckingham (at a Mormon Party), and that time she unceremoniously dumped Don Henley.
But it was truly awesome to rap about "Silver Springs," an amazing track that was left off Rumours. The song is about her breakup with Buckingham -- "I'll follow you down till the sound of my voice will haunt you," she sings. "It was me realizing that Lindsey was going to haunt me for the rest of my life," she says. "And he has."
When she performs "Silver Springs" these days -- it's the final number on Fleetwood Mac's current tour -- Nicks resists the opportunity to get up in Lindsey's face: "I don't want fans to walk away in the middle of our argument."
"LIVE IN CHICAGO" IS A FLAWLESS PRESENTATION OF TREASURED CLASSICS
Stevie Nicks - Live In Chicago
by Winnie McCroy
EDGE Contributor
Both as a solo artist and as a member of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks has earned her reputation as a legendary rock and roll diva. Now, the gold dust woman secures that legacy with Stevie Nicks: Live in Chicago.
"This is the first time since 1985 that I have had one of my live shows filmed and recorded," said Nicks, noting that she spent three years perfecting the show since it opened in Las Vegas in October 2007.
Nick’s first solo project was the 1981 multi-platinum hit, "Bella Donna." In the nearly 30 years since, she has churned out hit after hit, the best of which she performs on this DVD.
She opens strong with, "Stand Back," and moves on to a beautiful rendition of "Enchanted." Nicks has a natural rapport with the audience as she shares the stories behind her songs, from the off-the-cuff remark about love that inspired "If Anyone Falls in Love," to the dark time that evoked "Sorcerer."
The mood is haunting as Nicks, clad in a top hat and black shawl, launches into "Rhiannon." Should one question whether Nicks is truly the queen of rock, her passionate performance of "Gold Dust Woman," from the Fleetwood Mac breakout album Rumours, puts all doubts to rest. Her voice soars on "Sara" and "Landslide," sung in memory of her father. Calling it, "the meanest song I’ve ever written," she tears into "Fall From Grace." Nicks even dons the rouched lace to rock "Edge of Seventeen."
She also tackles several covers, including the Dave Matthews hit, "Crash Into Me," Tom Petty’s, "I Need to Know," and a no-holds-barred finale of Led Zeppelin’s, "Rock and Roll." Nicks brings Vanessa Carlton onstage for her song, "The One," and later, Bonnie Raitt’s "The Circle Dance."
Nicks’ battle with drug addiction may be in the past, but her high drama still has the ability to transport one back to the hedonistic days of rock and roll. "Stevie Nicks: Live in Chicago" is a flawless presentation of treasured classics.
FANS SHOULD EXPECT TO HEAR FAVE SONGS
Fleetwood Mac unleashes tour
Fans should expect to hear favorite songs when group hits road without new material
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer
Beacon Journal music writer
Baby boomers are a fantastic market for nostalgia. With their salad days behind them, many boomers are willing to spend large amounts of discretionary income to temporarily relive the days when their hair was long, their responsibilities few and the future spread out before them like a road waiting to be traveled.
A few decades later, their proverbial road has grown considerably shorter and well trod. But given the chance, boomers (and just about anyone else who has survived their 20s and 30s) will gladly take a trip back in time, and music is one of the quickest ways to relive past glories.
Enter Fleetwood Mac. For the bulk of its four-decade career, the band has worked quite hard at not becoming simply a nostalgia act. Since its reunion with guitarist/songwriter Lindsey Buckingham in 1997, the legendary pop group has only toured when it has a new album of material to promote.
But for its current tour, dubbed Fleetwood Mac Unleashed and timed to coincide with a deluxe CD/DVD combo of its classic 1977 album Rumors, the band is hitting the road with no new songs to plug, taking some pressure off the musicians and their audience. Consequently, concertgoers should take their bathroom breaks and concession trips early because the band's set will be filled with hits and deep album cuts, allowing few opportunities for fans not to miss one of their favorite songs.
$29 - ATLANTA UPPER LEVEL TICKETS FOR FLEETWOOD MAC
You can add Fleetwood Mac's show in Atlanta on April 28th to the list of shows offering discount seating in the upper levels of the venues. It's kind of like 2 for 1. And for those that are cash strapped, this is a tremendous deal.
$29.00 - Atlanta, GA - April 28th, Philips Arena
Password: LANDSLIDE
MYMICK TV UPDATE
New video footage of Mick Fleetwood Backstage at the Fleetwood Mac show at the Meadowlands in New Jersey on his MyMickTV website
STEVIE NICKS THE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS REVIEW...
Nicks offers Landslide of emotion
by Tim Cole
WKTimes.co.uk
Stevie Nicks latest release is remarkable for one particular track.
How many times have Fleetwood Mac put out an album including the beautifully crafted song Landslide? How many ways can it be recorded?
It was originally penned by Nicks for the bands eponymous album, the first on which she and then partner Lindsay Buckingham appeared, back in 1975.
After the personal ructions of Rumours and the studio trials of Tusk, when the band recorded their next album, Fleetwood Mac Live, on their 1980 world tour, there was a version which carried little of the weight and charm of the original.
The haunting feel of the studio version had not been translated to the stage.
As the band moved on through its many incarnations from the mid-80s to the mid-90s, without the presence of Buckingham, the track was a live staple.
But it was with the reunion of the Fleetwood/McVie/McVie/ Buckingham/Nicks line-up in 1997 for the intimate live album The Dance that the song found new life.
With an emotional performance of the song followed by the words 'Thank you Lindsay,' and 'Thank you Stevie' all the rifts in the act's most successful line-up seemed to have been publicly healed.
For their 2004 tour the feeling was even stronger and the presence of the track on the Live in Boston DVD and CD is a true highlight.
Now the band are touring stateside and performing the track again.
But just when you thought it couldn't get any better... out comes Nicks' new album, The Soundstage Sessions, with a remarkable studio recording.
The difference in the vocal are clear and the tone of the guitar is miles away from Buckingham's original or his recent live performances.
But the genius lies in Nicks' decision to bring an orchestra in half way through the song - and have the guitar break played by a violin. Very brave and very clever.
There is much more to enjoy on the album including excellent new versions of Stand Back and Sara, the Bonnie Raitt track Circle Dance and Dave Matthews' Crash Into Me.
The accompanying DVD also contains a reworking of Rhiannon, the other best-loved track from the Fleetwood Mac album, and her other signature tunes, Dreams and Gold Dust Woman.
But this is a disc that is genuinely worth buying for one song - a track that tells the story of Nicks' life and times in Fleetwood Mac.
The Soundstage Sessions album and Live In Chicago DVD are out now on Reprise Records.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
FLEETWOOD MAC WILL PROBABLY TOUR EUROPE AND AUSTALIA
FLEETWOOD MAC WILL BE IN EUROPE AND AUSTRALIA
Stevie Nicks was interviewed today on Philadelphia Classic Rock station WMGK. When asked about the band going back in to do another album she said they have A LOT of shows to get through first saying the band was touring until June 20th - then taking a break and will probably be touring Europe and Australia after that - then probably back to the US to do more shows - so after all that is done, she hopes they can go in to do another album.
Interview (Approx. 8 minutes)
$25 / $27 TICKETS TO FLEETWOOD MAC - CHARLOTTE & GREENSBORO
Charlotte or Greensboro, North Carolina
April 25 and 26 at 8PM
Upper Level seats (reg. $49.50) are available for the following shows:
performance at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte
Click here for $25 tickets to Sunday, April 26 at 8PM
performance at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro
Enter the code LANDSLIDE in the box marked "Travelzoo Ticket Offer" and use the drop-down menu to select the number of seats you would like. Click "Find Tickets" to see your seats.
Note: Ticket and facility fees are an additional $7.45-$9 per ticket.
MUST BE BOOKED BY: April 24.
COLUMBUS OHIO FLEETWOOD MAC TICKET GIVEAWAY
Fleetwood Mac @ Nationwide Arena
COLUMBUS, OHIO
You must be 18 years old or older to enter.
You can enter once per day now through Wed, 4/15/2009.
$25 FLEETWOOD MAC CONCERT TIX OAKLAND, CA
Tickets to see Fleetwood Mac at Oakland's ORACLE Arena on Wednesday, May 20 have been cut to just $25.
This 45% OFF deal is for Upper Level seats that regularly sell for $47.50.
This is the only discount ticket offer available for this stop on Fleetwood Mac's popular "Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009."
To buy tickets, click below. Use code LANDSLIDE to get this offer. An additional charge of $9.65 per ticket will be added by Ticketmaster.
TICKETMASTER
This is the only discount ticket offer available for this stop on Fleetwood Mac's popular "Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009."
To buy tickets, click below. Use code LANDSLIDE to get this offer. An additional charge of $9.65 per ticket will be added by Ticketmaster.
TICKETMASTER
SALES SPIKE FOR STEVIE'S "STAND BACK"
Presumably because of the release of Stevie's DVD and CD Live in Chicago - Stand Back is the beneficiary of a sales spike on the Top 100 Physical Commercial Sales Chart. The single "Stand Back" over the last two weeks has been on the chart re-entering the Top 100 near the bottom with 24 copies sold - then leaping up to #53 on the chart (billboard issue date 4/18/09) with 146% sales increase for a total of 59 copies sold for the week. This is for the physical commercially available single only – not digital downloads. Who knew there was still such a chart!
TOP COMMERCIAL SINGLE SALES:
#53 NICKS*STEVIE - STAND BACK 59 24 +146% (total sales 8,602)
WHAT IS THE PERFECT FLEETWOOD MAC INTERVIEW QUESTION?
Click here to win Fleetwood Mac tickets
Just what is the perfect Fleetwood Mac interview question?
There has got to be a ton of them for a band as long-running as Fleetwood Mac, a classic that has been as interesting off stage as on stage.
Come up with what you think would be the best, most original, or funniest interview question for Fleetwood Mac, and a pair of tickets to the group’s May 5 concert at Scottrade Center in st. Louis is yours.
Submit questions until 5 p.m. today in the comments section of this posting in the Blender.
The winning question will be posted on the Blender, and the winner will be notified through their email.
The Blender is celebrating its first anniversary and 1,000th posting with giveaways through Friday.
TWO LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM RADIO INTERVIEWS
Two Interviews with Lindsey Buckingham on Fleetwood Mac's Unleashed Tour.
The first interview was with Lindsey in late February a week or so before leaving for Pittsburgh and the beginning of the tour. Interviewed on Atlanta station WSRV 97.1 The River.
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
ATLANTA WSRV 97.1fm The River
This second interview on March 4th is just prior to the Auburn Hills, Michigan show:
WJR 760am DETROIT
SIX WEEKS INTO FLEETWOOD MAC'S "UNLEASHED" TOUR
The MAC is BACK
In their first tour in five years, Fleetwood Mac unleashes a greatest hits parade
By Len Righi | Of The Morning Call
Six weeks into Fleetwood Mac's "Unleashed" tour, its first in five years, singer Stevie Nicks, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie appear to have reined in their combustible personalities and have confined the fireworks to the concert stage.
At least until the last week, when Stevie Nicks questioned Britney Spears' rock-star credentials during an interview on the tabloid TV show "Extra."
The 60-year-old vocalist also created a stir when she told People magazine she whittled almost 60 pounds off her her 5-foot-1 frame using an exercise device called the Power Plate.
But those flare-ups aside, all seems to be harmonious among the members of one of rock's longest-lived bands as Fleetwood Mac prepares to visit the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
"Lindsey's been in incredibly good humor since we started rehearsing on the fifth of January," Nicks, the band's only female since keyboardist Christine McVie retired from the road in 1997, reported during a teleconference. "When Lindsey's in a good humor, everybody's happy."
Added Buckingham: "Knowing that we did not succeed as well as we could have last time we did an album and tour together ... we have something to shoot for that is a little higher. ...
"We are a group of contradictions ... [with] the whole being greater than the sum of its parts."
For this tour, Mac has no new record to promote, so its concerts are two-hour-and-20-minute hit parades, relying heavily on material from the '70s and '80s heyday of the band, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
Nicks, Buckingham, Fleetwood and McVie, supplemented by two musicians and three female backing singers, have been opening with 1975's "Monday Morning" and ending with "Silver Springs," an outtake from 1977's "Rumours" LP.
In between, they've beenplaying trademark tunes such as "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop," as well as Nicks' "Gypsy," Buckingham's "Go Insane," "The Chain," "Tusk," "I Know I'm Not Wrong" "Sara" and "Landslide." The Peter Green-era is represented by the blues track "Oh Well."
Said Buckingham of playing the classic Fleetwood Mac material.
"It frees you up to enjoy each other as people," said Buckingham. "Let's have a good time and value the friendships and history ... It takes the pressure off ... and allows more fun than we would normally be able to have."
Continue to Full Article for:
GOBSMACKING TWO-AND-A-HALF-HOUR SET
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FLEETWOOD MAC, Madison Square Garden, New York
"WE wanted to make music again," announces Lindsey Buckingham. "We have no album to promote so we're just going to have fun."
It isn't an idle boast. In a gobsmacking two-and- a-half-hour set, the guitarist leads the Mac - and a team of five backing musicians - through dazzling versions of classics like The Chain, Rhiannon, Big Love and a breathtaking Go Your Own Way.
While Stevie Nicks smiles, sways, twirls and sings like an angel, the rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood drive everything along at cracking pace.
Buckingham himself, meanwhile, is on stunning form, letting fly with a silvered solo here, a chunky chord sequence there
One of the highpoints is a rare performance of the Peter Green classic Oh Well but, to be honest, it's hard to pick a standout in a show absolutely packed with them.
They finish with dazzling romps through Don't Stop and Silver Springs. Afterwards, Mick tells A-Listed he hopes to bring this greatest hits tour to Britain later in the year. Make sure you beg, steal or borrow to be there.
BOB CURTIS
Monday, April 13, 2009
TEXT ATTACK FLEETWOOD MAC
FLEETWOOD MAC TEXT ATTACK
PHILADELPHIA Classic Rock station 102.9 MGK is sittin' on a BIG stack of tickets to this Wednesday night's Fleetwood Mac show,on 4/15 at Wachovia Center and are going to give'em all away this Tuesday, EVERY SINGLE HOUR between 9am + Midnight.
Listen live and TEXT the word MAC to MGKMGK (645645) when they tell you to.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Stand Back (DJ Eli Remix)
Lab club jocks Roctakon and DJ Eli split sides on the people's champ Money Lotion, now on its seventh release. Roc reveals two of his highly sweated Material Girl remixes (1,2) on the A-side, while Eli gently places a Stevie Nicks rework(3) on the b-side altar, complete with drumapella for mix tricks(4). Super-limited pressing of 500 with silkscreened covers. Recommended.
FULL "STAND BACK REMIX" AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT: OUTSIDE BROADCAST
Friday, April 10, 2009
LIVE IN CHICAGO FIRST WEEK SALES
FIRST WEEK SALES FOR STEVIE NICKS DVD "Live in Chicago"
Stevie debuted at NUMBER ONE on Billboards Top Music Video Charts (issue 4/18/09).
Sales for the first week: 7,851
ADDITIONAL CHART PLACINGS AND SALES FOR "THE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS"
BILLBOARD Top 200 Albums
#47 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 13,052
BILLBOARD Top Current Rock Albums:
#15 *NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 13,052
ADDITIONAL CHART PLACINGS AND SALES FOR "THE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS"BILLBOARD Top 200 Albums
#47 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 13,052
BILLBOARD Top Current Rock Albums:
#15 *NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 13,052
BILLBOARD Top 200 Comprehesive Albums:
#48 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 13,052
BILLBOARD Digital Albums:
#55 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 1,878
BILLBOARD Top Album Retailers:
#62 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 6,951
BILLBOARD Top Mass Merchant Albums:
#62 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 6,951
BILLBOARD Top Indie Small Chain Stores:
#59 *NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 448
BILLBOARD Top Internet Albums:
#5 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 3,267
BILLBOARD Top DVD Music Videos:
#1 NICKS*STEVIE LIVE IN CHICAGO 7,851
#48 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 13,052
BILLBOARD Digital Albums:
#55 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 1,878
BILLBOARD Top Album Retailers:
#62 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 6,951
BILLBOARD Top Mass Merchant Albums:
#62 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 6,951
BILLBOARD Top Indie Small Chain Stores:
#59 *NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 448
BILLBOARD Top Internet Albums:
#5 NICKS*STEVIE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS 3,267
BILLBOARD Top DVD Music Videos:
#1 NICKS*STEVIE LIVE IN CHICAGO 7,851
Crystal Visions / Greatest Hits Sales Update
Sales updates for Fleetwood Mac's "Greatest Hits" and Stevie Nicks "Crystal Visions". Both appear in Billboard Magazines Top 200 Catalog Albums Chart:
#22 Fleetwood Mac's "Greatest Hits"Sales This Week: 3,821
Total Sales (US) 4,196,068
(Sales for the previous week 2,750)
Also, up 5% on the Top 200 Digital Sales chart to #180 with an accumulated total of: 75,926
#117 Stevie Nicks "Crystal Visions"
Sales This Week: 1,837
Total Sales (US) 271,671
(Sales for the previous week Week 1,108)
This set has moved 30,402 since 11/02/08
Thank you to CC for the update
BUCKINGHAM NICKS - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks Dishes On Her Relationship With Lindsey Buckingam'Who Lindsey and I are to each other will never change,' Nicks says.
By Kim Stolz
MTV.com
It's one of rock's most enduring love stories, one that's played out in the media, "Behind the Music" and the imaginations of millions of fans for decades: Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
It's one of rock's most enduring love stories, one that's played out in the media, "Behind the Music" and the imaginations of millions of fans for decades: Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
Nicks and Buckingham first met in high school, when Buckingham was singing at a party and Nicks walked up and joined him.
"We were at some get-together and he was there, sitting, playing his guitar — [the Mamas and the Papas' hit] 'California Dreamin' ' — and I walked up and brazenly burst into harmony with him. It was cool, and I said 'I'm Stevie Nicks' and he said 'I'm Lindsey Buckingham.' I never saw him again for two years, until he was in a band and he remembered that night and he called and asked me to join their band."
That second meeting resulted in the formation of their romantic relationship as well as their musical career. They released an album entitled Buckingham Nicks in 1973 (the cover of which is a photograph of the two of them topless). Two years later, they joined — and revitalized — Fleetwood Mac, which was formed as a blues band by drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie in 1967, but became one of the biggest pop acts of all time after Buckingham and Nicks joined. Their eponymous 1975 album and 1977's Rumours were among the biggest sellers of the era.
Yet with success came discord: Nicks and Buckingham's always-tumultuous romance unraveled in 1976; McVie and keyboardist Christine McVie filed for divorce, and drummer Mick Fleetwood divorced his wife as well. The result of such romantic turmoil was famously reflected in the songs on Rumours.
The group split in the 1980's and, with the exception of their 1993 performance of "Don't Stop" at President Bill Clinton's inaugural ball, did not reunite until 1996 for The Dance. The album includes "Silver Springs," a song that that did not make the final cut of Rumours, much to Nicks' dismay, but it remains a striking representation of the Nicks and Buckingham's relationship ("Time casts a spell on you, but you wont forget me/ I know I could have loved you, but you would not let me").
On Fleetwood Mac's recent tour, which Buckingham has described as "fun" and "drama-free," and Nicks' agreed that the two are in a better spot than in the past.
"I don't feel like screaming at Lindsey right now. ... I'm not in a violent state of mind," Nicks, 60, said. "I want people to leave feeling the emotion of 'Silver Springs,' but without seeing Lindsey and I clawing at each other."
However, she concedes that "fun" might not be the most suitable word for their relationship on or off the stage "When he goes onstage and does his little speech where he says, 'You know, everything is great and we're just all grown up now and we're having fun,' I'm just standing on the other side of the stage and going [rolls her eyes], 'Whatever!' Right now, we're trying to be a little more on the high road, but let us go in and do another album, and bang! Back down to the bad, low road go we."
Still, fans find it hard to let go of the vision of Stevie and Lindsey together. "That electric crazy attraction between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks never dies, never will die, never will go away," she said. "He's married, he's happy, he has three beautiful children that I love. You know, he's found a good, happy, calm, safe place — but who Lindsey and I are to each other will never change."
Still, she said, "It's over. It doesn't mean the great feeling isn't there, it must mean that ... you know, we're beauty and the beast. It means that the love is always there but we'll never be together, so that's even more romantic."
Asked when she knew the romance was really over, Nicks said, "The day his first child was born. I knew that was it ... that was the definitive thing."
Whether or not that was really it, the romance of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham clearly lives on for fans, and perhaps in their own hearts as well.
FLEETWOOD MAC IN THE TOP 10 (Tours)
4/8/2009 - The Associated Press
The Top 10 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week's ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
TOP 10 CONCERT TOURS
1. (New) Britney Spears; $2,384,567; $102.51.
2. (New) Elton John / Billy Joel; $2,185,634; $115.84.
3. (1) Celine Dion; $2,011,606; $107.97.
4. (New) Eagles; $1,691,056; $130.12.
5. (2) AC/DC; $1,409,211; $85.12.
6. (3) Fleetwood Mac; $1,169,580; $99.27.
7. (4) Nickelback; $787,420; $58.38.
8. (6) Rascal Flatts; $656,209; $61.08.
9. (7) Lil' Wayne; $599,313; $66.39.
10. (8) Brad Paisley; $454,374; $48.30.
LUSH BEAUTIFULLY ORCHESTRATED PROJECT
Stevie Nicks - "The Soundstage Sessions" Review
More than any other female vocalist, when I was in my teenage and university years, Stevie Nicks impacted my life, so imagine the tremendous adrenaline rush which I experienced when Nicks’ new CD The Soundstage Sessions arrived in the mail. Stevie Nicks’ familiar vibrato is still omni present, on this lush, beautifully orchestrated project, on which she penned all, but two of the ten tunes, the exceptions being the second track, Dave Matthews’, “Crash Into Me,” and the seventh track, Bonnie Raitt’s, “Circle Dance.” Some of the songs are older and more familiar, others less so.
The album opens with the hard hitting rock tune, “Stand Back,” before moving into a mellow, acoustic cover of, “Crash Into Me,” featuring the splendid guitar work of Waddy Wachtel, who also acted as the Musical Director for The Soundstage Sessions.
The album opens with the hard hitting rock tune, “Stand Back,” before moving into a mellow, acoustic cover of, “Crash Into Me,” featuring the splendid guitar work of Waddy Wachtel, who also acted as the Musical Director for The Soundstage Sessions.
WIN FLEETWOOD MAC TIX - ATLANTA - TODAY
Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA - Tue, April 28, 2009
Win "Fleetwood Mac" Tickets between 4 and 5pm today on the
Spiff & Fred Show ... True Oldies 106.7!
IS THE OVERSEAS TOUR IN QUESTION?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - If you want to sit in the really good seats for a Keith Urban concert this summer, a pair of tickets will put you about back about $170. But in a nod to the tough economic times, the country superstar has also priced some tickets as low as $20 per seat, so fans won't stay home because they can't afford to go.
With the economic news getting worse by the day, artists and concert promoters are trying to make sure fans come out to the stadiums, arenas and concert halls this year by offering ticket deals and other incentives.
No Doubt is giving away a digital download of their entire catalog in exchange for the purchase of a premium ticket ($42.50 before taxes and fees). Coldplay plans to give concertgoers a free live album, while U2 is pricing at least 10,000 tickets to every show in the $30 range.
Summer is a busy time for the concert business. Live Nation, the world's largest promoter, estimates that more than 50 percent of its annual profit comes in the summer months.
But with this year's economic uncertainty, promoters could have a tougher time filling seats.
"In a crowded marketplace in difficult economic times, you want your show or event to stand out as something people recognize as a deal," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of the concert industry publication Pollstar.
Rocker Stevie Nicks, who's currently on a reunion tour with Fleetwood Mac, said times are so bad, the band doesn't know if it can afford to go overseas: "It's so expensive to do that that you put people out of business to go play for them. It's affecting everybody."
Fans can get tickets to Fleetwood Mac's April 22 show at the St. Pete Times Forum for as little as $32.25 (plus service charges).
TBOEXTRA.COM
Thursday, April 9, 2009
"GREATEST HITS" HITS BILLBOARD CHARTS
Fleetwood Mac's "Greatest Hits" reaches the Billboard Comprehensive Album chart at #178 (issue 4/18/09) for the first time, a week after cracking the Billboard Catalog Album chart for the first time since May 24, 2003. This album was a Catalog staple in the 1990's, and ranks #16 in Catalog longevity, with 434 weeks.
$25 FLEETWOOD MAC TIX - FLORIDA, CLEVELAND, COLUMBUS, LAS VEGAS
Almost 50 percent off tickets to Fleetwood Mac’s “Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009″
ALL UPPER LEVEL SEATING
$25 - Cleveland, OH - April 17, 2009 (Reg. $49.00)
You must book by April 16th at TICKETMASTER
You must book by April 16th at TICKETMASTER
$26 - Columbus, OH - April 18, 2009 (Reg. $49.50)
You must book by April 16th at TICKETMASTER
$25 - Sunrise, FL - April 23, 2009 (Reg. $46.75)
You must book by April 19th at TICKETMASTER
$25 - Las Vegas, NV - May 30, 2009 (Reg. $55)
You must book by April 30th at TICKETMASTER
When ready to purchase, select "Find Tickets." Enter the code LANDSLIDE in the box marked "Travelzoo Ticket Offer" and use the drop-down menu to select the number of seats you would like. Click "Find Tickets" to see your seats. Note: Ticket fees are an additional $6.60 per ticket.
When ready to purchase, select "Find Tickets." Enter the code LANDSLIDE in the box marked "Travelzoo Ticket Offer" and use the drop-down menu to select the number of seats you would like. Click "Find Tickets" to see your seats. Note: Ticket fees are an additional $6.60 per ticket.
With Fleetwood Mac's "Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009" selling out nationwide, this one is sure to sell quickly with this exclusive 50% OFF deal for Travelzoo subscribers.
See legendary personalities Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham play all their greatest hits live at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Saturday, April 18 at 8PM. With over 3 decades of hits, Fleetwood Mac has a reputation as one of the greatest rock bands of the era.
FLEETWOOD MAC 1977 - 2009 ST. PAUL COLLAGE
When Fleetwood Mac played in St. Paul, MN last month on March 3rd - the band was presented with a framed collage of their concert ads for shows in St. Paul stretching back to 1977. Mick Fleetwood was on hand to accept.
Perez Sighting
Stevie Nicks Disses Lindsay Lohan. It's amazing how many media outlets have picked up on this - a quote taken to the extreme:
STEVIE - NOT A FAN OF COMPUTERS
'Fleetwood Mac' lead singer Stevie Nicks talks about her first solo concert recording since 1985, why cell phones and computers make her mad and her hopes for Britney Spears. (April 9)
Q&A WITH STEVIE NICKS (Canadian Press)
THE CANADIAN PRESS
The HuffingtonPost.com
Q&A: Rock legend Stevie Nicks explains why she's a technophobe
NEW YORK — Friends who want to get in touch with Stevie Nicks know not to send an email, call on a cellphone, or reach out by text message, because she won't respond.
It's not that she's being rude: Nicks doesn't own a computer or a cellphone. The 60-year-old rock legend, who is currently on tour with Fleetwood Mac, is a proud technophobe.
"I believe that computers have taken over the world. I believe that they have in many ways ruined our children. I believe that kids used to love to go out and play," Nicks says in her famously smoky voice.
"I believe that social graces are gone because manners are gone because all people do is sit around and text. I think it's obnoxious."
Nicks does own an iPod, but she prefers to listen to music - which includes her new CD, "The Soundstage Sessions" - on a boombox. (The CD also comes packaged with a DVD.)
Better yet, give her a cassette version and she'll be in musical heaven. "It sounds better and you'd be convinced," she says.
AP: This is your first live project in 22 years. What took so long?
Nicks: I don't really know exactly how that happened. Before I knew it, it was 2007 ... (my) tour was over, and I'm sitting in my house going, "I can't believe I'm sitting here again, and I didn't film this show." So I got on my phone and I called my managers, and I said, "Make some calls, because I need to film this show." I'm very, very proud of it. I'm almost glad that I waited this long to do it, because maybe that's what God wanted me to do.