Fleetwood Mac Tour 2009

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Fleetwood Mac Merchandise 2009

Review: Edmonton Journal
by Tom Murray

Concert review: Fleetwood Mac

So, was it worth the wait, you ask?

With multiple stories running in all media about fans distraught at last month's postponement of Fleetwood Mac's Edmonton date, you just knew that anticipation would be running high when they finally rescheduled - and that the band would be fully aware they had to deliver.

Well, deliver they did, with a stomping two hours plus set of hits that eschewed almost all recent material and honed in on the hits.

Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham in particular was on fire from opener Monday Morning on, playing as though his life depended on it, sizzling leads igniting The Chain and Second Hand News, vocals coming straight from the heart. His ex-girlfriend and constant foil Stevie Nicks was a step behind, a strong singer but unable to hit the notes she once did on Rhiannon and Sara, or sharing missing member Christine McVie's Say You Love Me with Buckingham.

Even with these slight reservations it was still an at times powerful experience - made so in part by one of the greatest and oft overlooked rhythm sections in rock history, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood - with songs that could've been glossed over after over thirty years of constant radio and live play. It was especially impressive considering the fact that all of the interior drama that made Rumours and Tusk such fantastic albums has now dissipated over the years as the various members have reconciled with each other. And although Buckingham made a special point of noting those tensions, you could still feel those old emotions rise up on songs like Second Hand News - or maybe it was simply the combined memories of 12,000 fans as up to date on the band's romantic entanglements as they are.

A strange, strange situation to be in - personal hurts played out for entertainment - but then that's where the band has always excelled.

And it has to be said that while they have little competition when it comes to muscular California pop, Nicks and Buckingham also slay when the acoustic numbers come out. Buckingham started it off alone with an impassive, almost vengeful Big Love that fully deserved the near unanimous standing ovation it got, with Nicks joining him for Landslide - good, but almost a letdown in comparison.

Buckingham's intense performance reminded that while he was lumped in with the California folk pop movement of the '70s he always considered himself in some ways allied with the British punks - and that Tusk, their experimental to Rumours, was meant to take the band out of formula. It never did, but a few cuts have survived into the stage show - a long version of the hit Sara, and a reserved take on Storms.

To see a group as involved in their back catalogue as Fleetwood Mac is a heartening thing - especially with so many other bands simply playing by rote. They may not be breaking new ground as they once tried, but Buckingham did acknowledge with a wink that there is something in the works - fingers crossed that playing these old classics will give us a new Rumours and not, say, Mirage.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Fleetwood Mac Merchandise 2009

Review: Calgary Sun
by Lisa Wilton

Fleetwood Mac in fine form
Band hints at new album coming soon


They told listeners not to look back in their 1977 hit, Don't Stop.

But last night, nothing stopped Fleetwood Mac from mining their extensive catalogue for the golden tracks that made them one of the biggest bands in the world.

Five years after they last graced the Saddledome stage, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood returned amidst the enthusiastic cheers of almost 12,000 adoring fans.

The show was rescheduled from last month, when the original concert was cancelled only hours before the band was set to hit the stage.

Not surprisingly, the near-sold-out audience was made up largely of the middle-aged set, but there was also a number of young hipsters who were equally excited to see Fleetwood Mac, despite being born about a decade after the band's chart-topping glory days.

Drummer Fleetwood was first to take the stage followed by bassist McVie.

And after a lengthy pause, singer Nicks and guitarist Buckingham walked hand-in-hand to the centre of the stage, warmly acknowledging the crowd before launching into the boogie-rock number, Monday Morning.

It was the first of more than 20 songs.

Buckingham's voice was raspy at first, but warmed up nicely as the evening progressed.

Nicks, on the other hand, was singing an octave or two lower than we're used to, but was propped up by two backing singers.

Buckingham and Nicks took turns introducing each tune with a story about how the song was written or gave insight into the band's history.

During the 1970s, the British-American quintet (fifth member Christine McVie left the band in 1998) was entangled in affairs, break-ups and drug abuse.

"We have a complex and convoluted emotional history," Buckingham explained.

That's putting it mildly.

But he said even though it hasn't been an easy ride, it's worked out in the long run.

He also hinted at a possible new album soon.

Buckingham probably knew the fans were there to hear the hits and reassured them that Fleetwood Mac were there to play them.

From McVie's exciting bass line breakdown in The Chain and Nicks' nasal drawl in Gold Dust Woman to the epic chorus of Rhiannon, the crowd had much to be happy about.

A lovely moment early in the show came courtesy of Nicks, who was clad in her trademark hippy goth wear, complete with sparkly scarves hanging off her microphone.

She told the crowd the tale of how she met her former lover Buckingham in San Francisco and how the song Gypsy was written as a way to remember her happiest times while the band was going through turmoil.

The performance of the song itself was a bit flat as were many of Nicks' numbers, but it didn't seem to matter to the devoted Stevie-ites singing along to every word.

However, Nicks' voice also seemed to improve as the show went on and by the time she got to the gorgeous ballad Landslide, she was sounding like the Stevie of old.

It was all about the music last night and therefore the band kept the stage setup simple. There were a few nifty lighting effects, but for the most part the stage was bare save for two blocks that changed colour every so often.

Buckingham was by far the most energetic of the group.

He rocked out like no time had passed and was constantly making eye contact with the front rows and giving out high fives.

He even pulled out his modest 1984 solo hit, Go Insane, which sounded fantastic. It's a very '80s song, but last night it sounded modern with a theatrical twist.

Fleetwood Mac may have been through hell to get where they are today. But their legion of Calgary fans are glad they made the journey.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Fleetwood Mac Merchandise 2009

Review: New Jesrsy Newsroom
by Jasmine Marcus

For Fleetwood Mac, it was a night of fun at the Garden

"Every time we come together it's different," Fleetwood Mac guitarist and lead singer Lindsey Buckingham told the audience at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. "This time, we said, 'Let's just go out there and have fun!' We're going to play songs we all love a lot."

The show was one stop on the band's "Unleashed" tour, which will hit Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday. Since the band has no new album to promote, unlike 2003-2004's "Say You Will" tour, the nearly-three-hour long concert was able to include virtually all of Fleetwood Mac's most popular songs, including "The Chain," "Say That You Love Me" and "Tusk."

The set also included some lesser-known songs, such as "Storms," which lead-singer Stevie Nicks told the audience the band had never performed at a concert before.

Nicks seemed to be in an especially talkative mood, sharing personal anecdotes with the audience before launching into several of the band's songs.
She admitted that she teared up earlier in the day when she brought a fifth-grade choir up on stage to sing "Landslide" before her. Nicks said she had cried similarly after hearing how beautifully Buckingham played the guitar portion of the song for the first time after she had written it.

The audience seemed similarly moved as they sang along with the lyrics, creating a kind of duet.

Nicks also recounted the story of being asked to join Buckingham's band nearly two years after the pair had met briefly in a California high school when she was a senior and he was a junior.

"They said, 'Want to be in the band?' - which of course, I didn't know existed - and I said, 'Sure ... what type of music is it?' and they told me it was rock and roll, so I said, 'I can do it!'"

The song "Gypsy" was written about her early years playing with him and later with Fleetwood Mac, which the couple joined in 1975, as the band gained popularity and opened for many big names.

Most fans know that during these years Nick and Buckingham dated, and the turmoil of their eventual break-up inspired many of the songs on their most popular album, 1977's Rumours. At the time, Rumours was the best-selling album in history, with 17 million copies sold.

Buckingham acknowledged the band's previous turbulence, saying, "We've had a fairly complex, convoluted, emotional history ... But in the long run, it's actually worked out in our favor."

Now, about 40 years later, while songs such as "Go Your Own Way" remain just as powerful, the wounds between the two seem to have healed. Throughout the show, he and Nicks repeatedly turned to face each other as they sang, at one point even embracing in front of the crowd.

Drummer Mick Fleetwood seemed similarly excited to be back on stage, smiling manically and at one point, leading the enthusiastic crowd in a round of back and forth gibberish.

Bassist John McVie, however, who was introduced by Fleetwood as the band's "backbone," seemed content to remain outside of the spotlight while playing the songs' catchy basslines.

Missing from the band's long-time line-up was keyboardist Christine McVie, John's ex-wife, who decided to quit touring with the band in the late 1990s. Although rumors swirled that she might be replaced on this tour with singer Sheryl Crow, her vocals were instead sung by Nicks and her keyboard duties were taken up by a man with an ironically similar shag haircut.

But watching Nicks' bewitching performance, one could barely sense the loss of the band's second woman. Nicks floated and fluttered onstage, beating her tambourine and moving her hands as though she were the witch in her song "Rhiannon" casting spells on the audience.

Perhaps one of the most spellbinding moments of the performance, however, took place during a different song. With the light shining down on her as she turned her back to the audience to show her long, flowing golden hair and shawl, Nicks became the physical embodiment of the "Gold Dust Woman" as she sang.

In fact the band's best performances of the night were those that included Nicks singing her own poetic lyrics, while Buckingham accompanied her superbly on his guitar and Fleetwood and McVie creating a stirring backbeat.

Fleetwood Mac seemed so enthralled by the audience that after playing a three-song encore that included Bill Clinton's one-time campaign song, "Don't Stop," the band returned for a second encore to sing a beautiful rendition of "Silver Spring."

The song seemed a fitting way to close out the show, with Nicks belting out, "You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you."

How lucky we are for that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StLMnGrc-bg

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Fleetwood Mac Merchandise 2009

Review: Examiner.com
by Gloria Dietz

Fleetwood Mac brought energy and top notch talent to a music packed night

Fleetwood Mac unleashed their hits at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore last night with the energy of musicians half their age. This was the first tour the Mac has done where they were not promoting a new album. However, several of the songs in the set were tracks that have not been done in many years, or one's that have never been done at all.

"Monday Morning" was a great opener that really set the stage for the night. Lindsey pulled the "full band" version of "Go Insane" from his solo work that was a real crowd pleaser.

Stevie Nicks performed "Storms" from the 1979 Tusk album. This was the first time she ever did this on any tour. Lindsey and Stevie did a nice duet paying tribute to Christine McVie's 1975 single "Say You Love Me". Christine left the band after the Dance Tour in 1997/1998. Lindsey brought Peter Green's "Oh Well" back to the set.

He has not performed this since the early 80's. This was a great show that included all the classics that have been staples in their shows for over thirty years. Let's hope Fleetwood Mac gets back into the studio to add to their catalogue.

Bill Yoegel, one of the biggest Fleetwood Mac fans from Harford County, hasn't missed a concert tour in 30 years. His wife, Julie, said they played for 2 1/2 hours straight with no break and were excellent.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Fleetwood Mac Merchandise 2009

Review: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
by Dave Tianen

Fleetwood Mac keeps the classics fresh
Material might be familiar, but time hasn't hurt well-loved tunes

The classic Fleetwood Mac lineup has released exactly one album of new material in the last 21 years.

Monday night in concert at the Bradley Center, they totally ignored that one album, "Say You Will."

I seriously doubt anyone cared. The Big Mac is on the road to milk the catalog, and that is surely what the fans want. Of the 23 songs in the current set, 14 are from the two classic mid-'70s albums, "Fleetwood Mac" and "Rumours." Those are two of the classic pop rock albums of the '70s, or any other decade for that matter. It's a set list loaded with hits and classics, including "Rhiannon," "Dreams," "Gold Dust Woman," "The Chain," "Landslide," "Monday Morning," "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop."

When a huge band decides to take the oldies route and work the old hits, some questions are logical. First of all, do they seem bored or just going through the motions? The answer to that would seem to be an emphatic no. If Lindsey Buckingham was bored Monday night, it was the most frenetic display of tedium I have ever seen in my life. There is also a slight freshening effect because the old Christine McVie hits have now been parceled out between Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

Second, has the passage of time and the weight of the years compromised their ability to deliver the goods? That's a logical question. Buckingham will turn 60 on Oct. 3, and he's the youngest person in the band. Again, Buckingham is a dynamo physically. He may be the only 59-year-old guitarist on the planet who bounces when he plays.

If Buckingham is the engine and musical master behind Fleetwood Mac, Nicks was always the visual and theatrical center. That still holds true in slightly muted form. Although she still dresses in shawls and loves to strike theatrical poses on stage, Nicks isn't quite the wood sprite sex kitten of yore. We got exactly one of the old spinning moves with the arms outspread. At 60, Nicks is a little less Tinker Bell, a little more the well-preserved Witch of Eastwick.

One of the smart things they're doing on this tour, since there aren't any new songs: They're giving us something new about the old songs. In introducing "Gypsy," Nicks reminisced about the first band she shared with Buckingham and their days of opening for Santana and Janis Joplin in San Francisco. Buckingham spoke at some length about how "Big Love" became the template for the solo songs he wrote later in his career. This is a band with history, and I think it's wise to share it with the audience.

And as Buckingham acknowledged, they also have a "complex" emotional history. Those old storms seem to have quieted with the years, and at least on stage Buckingham and Nicks seemed to have reached a state of genuine warmth and affection.

One other thing came through. I'm not sure Buckingham has ever quite gotten the credit he deserves as a guitarist. For several tunes, in the second half of the set, it was just Buckingham playing behind his own voice and Nicks, and the sound never seemed withered or small.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Fleetwood Mac Merchandise 2009

Review: Winnipeg Free Press
by Melissa Martin

Fleetwood Mac dazzles - and tantalizes

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of Fleetwood Mac. The soap opera, the splits, the Rumours and the songs... especially the songs.

Last night, Winnipeg got its peek at the next chapter in the iconic rock band's dramatic saga. They're keeping mum on what comes next... an album? Another tour? We don't know; and so fans who've spent their entire lives following the plot flooded the MTS Centre, ready for a preview of that Mac's millionth reunion means.

Everything about the two-hour, 23-song performance seemed designed to keep them guessing. While lion-maned frontwoman Stevie Nicks crooned Dreams, which was recorded during her acrimonious 1976 split from guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, video screens flanking the stage superimposed the pair next to each other.

This lasted but a moment. One star or the other would soon fade away, leaving an empty space on the screen.

Later, on Sara, the former flames would embrace in a moment that was as tender as it was scripted. (They've done the same every night this tour.) But first, they had more hints to scatter. "Fleetwood Mac is a band that has had a convoluted emotional history, to say the least," Buckingham said.

"Sometimes we take long breaks. And every time we come together there's a sense of possibility. This time we said, 'Let's just go out there and have fun.' Because there is no new album to promote... yet."

Nicks and Buckingham weren't the only ones on stage, of course. John McVie was there, lingering near Mick Fleetwood's drum riser and seemingly content to stay far out of Nicks' spotlight. Christine McVie is still absent from the band, and so were almost all of her Mac hits. A six-piece backing band of vocalists, keyboards and percussion shared the stage instead.

At times the backup was subtle, just filling out that fat '70s sound that Mac helped pioneer. But the extra help made a huge difference on the enormous, boozy title track from 1979 album Tusk. Its instrumental outro reared up into a tsunami of sound and crashed over the audience, leaving a standing ovation as it receded.

Buckingham is a virtuoso, and he channelled his genius into some of the show's most emotionally charged moments, like the astonishing syncopated melodies at the opening of 1987's Big Love. His voice, though, was the big star of that tune: Buckingham writhed and howled like a man trying to escape the grip of Hades.

Next to Buckingham, Nicks' performance was harder to parse. Whether by accident or design, her vocal was unpredictable, more vulnerable, and perhaps appropriately road-weary for her storied life.

The jury's out on how this affected the musicality of the show. Nicks' fatigued moan worked on Gold Dust Woman. But on Rhiannon, she fell offbeat. On Sara and then Landslide, she'd lose herself and find herself again, letting her siren voice soar on the choruses, but slurring and mumbling the verses.

One wonders how lacklustre this might have played if Buckingham had not balanced it out with such tightly-wound ferocity.

Then again, it probably would have been just fine. The real energy in the room last night came not from the stage, not even from Buckingham, but from the crowd, who greeted every son with deafening cheers and filled the air with the tinkling of promotional tambourines.

This energy, radiating from the walls and floor, built to feverish levels as Mac started to bring the show home. Giant light panels, which had remained largely subdued and facing downward for most of the show, began to lift and separate like a spaceship while Buckingham wailed out a marathon solo to I'm So Afraid.

At press time, we left the band only one song away from their legendary hit, Go Your Own Way, but Nicks seemed to finally find her sass on Stand Back, shimmying in a tattered black and white scarf.

After a late-set break, Nicks came back having finally found the depths of her famous sass: she belted out Stand Back while whirling around in a tattered black-and-white shawl and then led the band straight into an extended version of Go Your Own Way, which was hearty, triumphant, and followed by the most exuberant cheers we'll hear at the MTS Centre until the Jonas Brothers.

For the encore, Fleetwood, 61, took control, first banging out an adrenaline-blasting drum feature on World Turning, then shouting praise for his bandmates and even offering Nicks a friendly catcall. "It is a joy and an honour to be sharing the stage with these three people," he shouted, gleefully, before sauntering into the Bill Clinton campaign classic, Don't Stop.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Fleetwood Mac Merchandise 2009

Review: Saskatoon Star Phoenix
by Stephanie Classen

Fleetwood Mac show crowd-pleaser

It may be the most successful breakup story of all time. Not only did the damaged relationships of Fleetwood Mac yield one of the most popular albums of all time, but the band is still on stage together, mostly, and playing songs you'd have to be completely clueless not to know.

It was music from the aforementioned album, 1978's Rumours, that got the most attention Friday at Fleetwood Mac's Credit Union Centre show. And former couple Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, whose fallout inspired many of the band's pain-infused songs, stole the spotlight.

Nicks and Buckingham were joined by bassist John McVie and the lovable oddball, and band namesake, Mick Fleetwood, whose signature Rumours ponytail is still flowing, albeit much greyer.

Fleetwood Mac has had regular personnel changes since forming in 1967, but the incarnation most are familiar with was fully represented Friday night, save for Christine McVie, who is no longer touring with the band. Several of her best-known songs -- Little Lies, Over My Head and You Make Loving Fun -- were noticeably absent from the set. But the show still showcased most of the American/British band's finest.

The show opened with the song Monday Morning. Buckingham and Nicks took the stage hand in hand, one of several gestures -- which later included a prolonged hug -- to prove just how over the past they are. The first song segued into the darker The Chain, followed by Dreams, before which Nicks exclaimed, "We figure we might as well just get the party started." Great song? Yes. Party music? No.

The band made no attempt to gloss over past personal problems -- why would they, considering how profitable they were? -- with Buckingham saying, "Fleetwood Mac has had a fairly complicated, convoluted emotional history. At the end of the day, it has actually worked in our favour."

Nicks -- at 61, still dressed in her signature drapey, gypsy-like garb and singing into a scarf-covered microphone stand -- doesn't try to hit the higher notes anymore, but has retained that inexplicably sexy, smoky quality that makes her voice so special.

The foursome -- backed by three singers and two extra musicians -- definitely left the enthusiastic audience satisfied. The band barrelled to 21/2 hours of hits, including Gypsy, Go Insane, Second Hand News, Sara, Say That You Love Me, Go Your Own Way and Gold Dust Woman. A highlight for Nicks was her performance of Rhiannon, a song that sounds better the older she gets. The encore included the crowd favourite Don't Stop.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Dallas Morning News
by Mario Tarradell

Concert Review: Fleetwood Mac unleashes the hits at American Airlines Center

You could call Fleetwood Mac's current tour an oldies show. It is, after all, titled "Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009," which means the 23-song set consists solely of classic radio staples and album tracks.

There is no new CD to promote. In fact, the band hasn't recorded one since 2003's Say You Will.

But that tag completely sells this concert short. Fleetwood Mac, which packed the American Airlines Center on Thursday night, remains influential. Talk to any of today's popular country acts (especially the ones with a pop-rock musical bent) and the Mac is mentioned. Talk to many female vocalists of the last 20 years - pop, rock, country and otherwise - and they'll mention the group's longtime temptress, Stevie Nicks.

It was evident with Thursday's fiery show, which was more passionate than any has-been oldies act. Even during songs that didn't gel, such as Lindsey Buckingham's manic, robotic "Tusk," there was something to admire. In that case it was Mick Fleetwood's ferocious drumming, as if he were in a marching band.

But the highlights were many, particularly Buckingham's amazing rendition of "Big Love," which was just him at the microphone while he finger-picked an acoustic guitar at breakneck speed. The wall of sound was astonishing. Nicks' "Sara," "Gypsy" and "Dreams" brought back memories. Great songs never get old.

The lovely number "Sara" featured harmonizing between Nicks and Buckingham. At one point, Nicks walked over to Buckingham's microphone to sing. That led to a tender moment when each put their head on the other's shoulder. It was sweet, especially when you consider the rocky relationship those two have had.

If there's one message to take home from witnessing the over-two-hour gig, it's that maturity, experience and confidence can yield refreshing results. Buckingham alluded to this more than once. Nicks, in her beautiful and soulful take on "Landslide," did, too.

The 2009 members of Fleetwood Mac are naturally a bit more weathered vocally and maybe even musically. It's been a tumultuous 32 years since their artistic peak, the benchmark Rumours.

But time does heal, and in this case it also preserves.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Charlotte Observer
by Michael Persinger

Fleetwood Mac feeds Charlotte fun, favorite songs

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.

The 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 (which continues tonight with a stop in Greensboro), 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.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Tampa Tribune
by Curtis Ross

Fleetwood Mac full of heart, drive in Tampa concert

Stevie Nicks' "Sara" was winding to a close midway through Fleetwood Mac's concert Wednesday night. Nicks strolled from center stage to the microphone of guitarist and ex-lover Lindsey Buckingham. She sang a final line and then embraced Buckingham - still playing the song's guitar figure - before she walked off stage.

It was a small gesture that said a lot, since Fleetwood Mac's intraband romantic tangles are almost as well-known as its songs; and those songs are ingrained in the memories of anyone who had access to a radio in the mid- to late-'70s.

Those hits made up the lion's share of the band's set list before a St. Pete Times Forum crowd of 10,008. However, there were enough surprises in the arrangements and song selection to keep the proceedings from utter predictability.

Buckingham and Nicks shared vocals on departed keyboardist Christine McVie's "Say You Love Me." Buckingham went back to the Mac's first incarnation as a '60s blues band, remaking Peter Green's "Oh Well" into a loose-limbed but fiery jam reminiscent of The Who's take on Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues."

Even a casual fan could have guessed the rest of the tunes, but the performances were full of heart and drive. Drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie have been in the pocket since 1968 and show no signs of leaving. Buckingham is simply an amazing performer, closing "Big Love" with frightening yelps and barks, and playing spectacular guitar throughout. Nicks paced herself, with her finest numbers, "Storms," "Gold Dust Woman" and the show-closing "Silver Springs," coming after midset.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Orlando Sentinel
by Jim Abbott

Fleetwood Mac turns back the clock at Amway Arena

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.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Cleveland Plain Dealer
by John Soeder

Fleetwood Mac doesn't stop thinking about yesteryear in hit-stacked concert at The Q

"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.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Montreal Gazette
by Bernard Perusse

Fleetwood Mac's golden oldies are aging just fine

Bell Centre gig. Nicks, Buckingham balance and complement each other

When Mick Fleetwood and John McVie formed Fleetwood Mac as a British blues band in 1967, they probably never envisioned that they'd be playing to adoring arena audiences, paying up to $150 per ticket, 42 years later.

And they certainly could not have foreseen, during that long-gone summer of love, that all the adulation would be directed at two Yanks they had yet to meet.

As any of the 11,000 fans at the group's Bell Centre concert last night will tell you, drummer Fleetwood is a muscular timekeeper and bassist McVie provides an unobtrusive, solid anchor of his own. But it's also clear that, at all times, virtually all the energy in the room emanates from - and comes back to - singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, the group's songwriters and its heart and soul.

If there was a defining moment in last night's hit-heavy show, it was when Buckingham completely took over Oh Well, a snarling 1969 rocker by original guitarist Peter Green that predates his and Nicks's presence in the band by more than five years. While Buckingham, undeniably the group's frontman, soloed away furiously, Fleetwood played the crazy-old-grandpa part for the benefit of the giant video screens.

Buckingham's prowess on his instrument simply isn't talked about often enough. Whether he's playing tasteful, economical phrases, as he did during ex-member Christine McVie's Say You Love Me, hammering out manic rock-flamenco note clusters in Big Love or fingerpicking the tasty folk-blues licks of Never Going Back Again, he's one of rock's most interesting players.

During his five-minute solo in I'm So Afraid, he made the instrument rumble, shriek and gasp, sending out shards of high-pitched squeals and hammering out repeated patterns. Unlike your average guitar god, Buckingham made no attempt to show how many different notes he could squeeze in per minute.

What makes a Fleetwood Mac show so satisfying, however, is the way Buckingham and Nicks complement and balance each other, in both their vocal blend and their approach to songwriting. For every Buckingham power-pop stomper like I Know I'm Not Wrong or Second Hand News came one of Nicks's earthier, more linear crowd-pleasers, like Gypsy or the sweetly nostalgic Landslide, which she sang in her long-familiar husky, lower register. (And, incidentally, how fantastic did she look?)

Buckingham spoke on stage of the emotional challenges that have defined the group's internal relationships over the years. But during Sara, Nicks crossed over to his side of the stage and he put his head on her shoulder.

Staged? Probably - but really, who cares? That affectionate gesture spoke of a hard-won victory that pretty much ensures that - to paraphrase the group - the chain will never be broken.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: The Star-Ledger
by Jay Lustig

Fleetwood Mac explores its past

At Fleetwood Mac's Saturday night Izod Center concert, singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham talked about getting together in January, after several years apart, to rehearse for the current tour. Band members told each other "Let's just have fun," he said.

At the Meadowlands, Buckingham, seemed to be doing just that, belting out songs, taking long, flamboyant guitar solos and stomping around the stage. Drummer Mick Fleetwood also seemed to be enjoying himself immensely -- every time the video camera caught his face in a closeup, he was smiling like a mischievous schoolboy who just got away with an outrageous prank. Bassist John McVie didn't seem to be having fun, or experiencing much emotion of any kind. Then again, he's been a stoic figure throughout his 40-plus years with the band, so it would have been foolish to expect anything else of him.

The biggest problem with the show was that singer Stevie Nicks, who co-fronts the band with Buckingham, didn't seem to get the fun memo. Granted, most of the songs she sang, such as "Dreams," "Sara," "Gypsy" and "Rhiannon," are low-key affairs, powered by subtle hooks and an air of mystery. But she sang them so half-heartedly they didn't exert their usual charm. It wasn't until the second half of the show, on songs like "Stand Back" and "Gold Dust Woman," that she seemed fully engaged.

Nicks' diffidence didn't kill the show: the repertoire the band has assembled over the years is too indestructible for that. But it kept a solid show from becoming transcendent.

The band's history goes back to the British blues-rock explosion of the '60s, But it wasn't until the mid-'70s, when the lineup settled on Fleetwood, McVie, Buckingham, Nicks and McVie's then-wife Christine McVie, that Fleetwood Mac became a hit-making machine. This is the band's second tour without Christine McVie, who retired from touring in 1998.

It's also a rare example of a Fleetwood Mac tour that doesn't follow the release of a new studio album. The band isn't necessarily done with recording, though. "We do not have a new album to promote -- yet," said Buckingham, as part of his "Let's just have fun" speech.

The four band members, who range in age from 59 (Buckingham) to 63 (John McVie), were joined by three other musicians and three backing vocalists at the Meadowlands. A sped-up beat added some urgency to "Monday Morning," while "Never Going Back Again" was slowed down to a melodramatic crawl. Singing together, Buckingham and Nicks turned Christine McVie's "Say You Love Me" into a lovers' duet, and Nicks sang McVie's parts on "Don't Stop." The band reached back to one of its earlier incarnations for the explosive blues-rock song "Oh Well" (written by the band's original frontman, Peter Green).

Buckingham shined on "Oh Well," as well as several other songs that gave him the opportunity to stretch out on guitar ("Second Hand News," "I'm So Afraid," "Go Your Own Way"). Mick Fleetwood also took a long solo during the first encore, "World Turning," though he is really at his best offering propulsive support to the rest of the band, not pounding away on his own.

Since the band doesn't have a new album to take up slots in the setlist, it was able to explore some past non-hits. Buckingham resurrected "I Know I'm Not Wrong," a song from the band's 1979 "Tusk" album that brims with manic energy. Nicks also went back to "Tusk" for "Storms," a song that was as calm and pensive as most of her other material, despite lyrics like "Never have I been a blue calm sea/I have always been a storm."

The band closed with "Silver Springs," a Nicks-written song inspired by her failed '70s romance with Buckingham. At times in the past, Nicks and Buckingham have seemed to relive their own stormy history as they performed this song together -- Nicks snarling out the angry lyrics, Buckingham answering with screaming guitar riffs. But on this night, they barely even looked at each other.

They're still in the same band. But in many ways, they seem to live in different worlds now.

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photo: Loud/Getty

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: New York Daily News
by Jim Farber

Fleetwood Mac's golden oldies are aging just fine

Family dynamics never cease to fascinate us - especially ones with histories as incestuous as Fleetwood Mac's.

It should surprise no one, then, that the band's show at Madison Square Garden last night proved as musically vital, and as alive with subtext, as ever. This, despite the fact that the band had no new music to play, instead drawing most of the material from wells filled more than 30 years ago.

Opening with 1975's jubilant "Monday Morning," the band's remaining four main members wove through a two hour and 20 minute set that functioned as a nearly unbroken greatest hits medley.

The current "Unleashed" tour represents the band's second since singer/songwriter Christine McVie bailed. So, naturally, the defection has thrown a harder light on the complex interplay between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

Their songs threaded in and out of each other at last night's show just as the lives of these former lovers have. "Gypsy," Nicks' tale of emotional independence, played off Buckingham's admission of neurotic excess, "Go Insane" - together serving as an on-going public confession of their mutual needs and deficiencies.

In "The Chain," the two harmonized about family bonds in a way that communicated less loyalty than threat. "You'll never break the chain," they brayed at each other. Consider these guys the original "reality show."

The loss of McVie has robbed the group - which also features John McVie and Mick Fleetwood - of its most diplomatic voice. And she was missed on the few numbers that originally featured her, like "Say You Love Me."

But as a happy consequence, the band rocked harder and found more room for Buckingham's fiendish guitar work. His obsessive arpeggios gave a richly tactile feel to "Big Love," while in "I'm So Afraid," he mined deep blues hues.

The group kept things frisky by tweaking the arrangements and the harmonies in many songs.

Buckingham delivered some with newly emphatic inflections.

But the night's emotional highlight struck a tender note. When Nicks sang her song of age and humility, "Landslide," she read the line "I'm getting older, too," with an acceptance that showed not an ounce of regret.

Some families, it seems, only grow more sure with age.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Toronto Star
by Ashante Infantry

Fleetwood Mac fuelled by 'stormy' conflicts

Band draws crowd into the band's `convoluted' history

For a group that's conquered its demons, again and again, Fleetwood Mac sure does love to wallow in the memories.

No less than three times, during last night's Air Canada Centre show, either singer Stevie Nicks or guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who do all the talking for the foursome rounded out by founding members, sneaker-shod bassist John McVie and ponytailed drummer Mick Fleetwood, alluded to the well-noted upheavals of the four decades-strong pop-rock group. These traumas included changing lineups - both Buckingham and Nicks departed for a time - and failed intraband marriages or romances.

But to hear the players tell it, these conflicts fuelled the songs and artistry that define them.

"Fleetwood Mac, as most of you know, has a complex and convoluted emotional history and it's actually turned out to be kind of cool," Buckingham said last night. Without a new album to push - "yet," he explained, the quartet was indulging themselves and fans with a 23-song, two-hour-and-20 minute hits concert, which drew heavily from 1977's Rumours - "Dreams," "Go Your Own Way," "The Chain," "Never Going Back" - and 1975's Fleetwood Mac - "Rhiannon," "Say You Love Me," "World Turning," "Landslide."

They also turned in a not previously toured tune, the moody, aptly titled "Storms" from 1979's Tusk, which allowed Nicks to again reference the group's peripatetic past - "it's a stormy song for stormy people and a stormy bunch of relationships and stormy problems."

She's actually the group's weakest component on this tour, which kicked off in Pittsburgh March 1 and returns to the ACC on the 26th.

If it weren't for that inimitable tremor in her voice, any female singer could've been substituted.

What Nicks lacked in energy and charisma, Buckingham delivered tenfold. He proved a crack showman whose fierce playing and vocal drama - replete with karate screams and maniacal laughter - was smoothly supported by Fleetwood's glee and tomahawk pounding and McVie's cool, steady groove.

And with a catalogue this deep - they didn't even get to "Everywhere" and "You Make Loving Fun" - it's great to have these sexagenarians back on the road after a five-year break.

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photo: SHAWN DOWD Democratandchronicle.com

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Democrat and Chronicle
by Jeff Spevak

Fleetwood Mac sticks to basics at Rochester show

When and where? Monday night, Blue Cross Arena.

Attendance: About 8,000. Just a few hundred seats empty at the back of the building.

What was the band wearing? Drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie sported white shirts, black vests and motorcar caps, like a couple of chaps out for a spin in the English countryside. Fleetwood was also wearing knickers. Guitarist/singer Lindsay Buckingham chose a black leather jacket. Singer Stevie Nicks opted for several outfits, opening with a basic-black Wiccan gown with bat wings, later a wine-colored, sequined Victorian wing-backed chair cover.

What was Christine McVie wearing? Probably flannel pajamas and fuzzy slippers, the standard uniform for a night in front of the telly. She hasn't toured with the band for almost two decades. Three back-up singers filled her backing-vocal parts (and ably supported the husky-voice pixie, Nicks).

Did they play their hit songs? Opened with "Monday Morning." "The Chain," "Rhiannon," "Second-Hand News," "Stand Back," "Say You Love Me," "Go Your Own Way," "Don't Stop." You could have gotten many of them on the CD for $18.99. My ticket cost $149.50 (plus service charge of $11.35).

Any insights into interior design of the rock stars? Nicks says her bed is still on the floor, just like the line says in "Gypsy."

Did they play any Dixie Chicks songs? Sure, "Landslide."

That's actually a Mac song from 1975. Any new numbers? "Go Insane." That was a Buckingham solo hit in 1984, wasn't it?

C'mon, it wasn't that stale, was it? Not at all. Midway through the show, Buckingham seemed to lift it to a new level. He's clearly the one most interested in steering away from nostalgia, although he did sneak a few chunks of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" in there. The night became a showcase for him as a guitar player. The guy can really, really play. He turned "Big Love" into a raging animal, yelping with glee. Nicks was the comfort food; the crowd loves her and Fleetwood, who's about eight feet tall.

Any marching bands? No. "Tusk" was an early highlight, reworked amazingly, with Buckingham spookily reciting the opening lines to minor-key accompaniment, laughing with evil intentions, then the whole thing taking off into some kind of a Highland stomp.

Did the audience wish it was 1975 again? Oh yeah. Everyone cheered when Nicks came out on Buckingham's arm, and when he nuzzled her shoulder like a puppy at the end of "Sara." But their romance ended decades ago, they've moved on, they have lives now beyond the circus that was Fleetwood Mac. Early in the show, Buckingham told the crowd that Fleetwood Mac had once enjoyed a "complex, convoluted emotional history." Everyone seems to have survived.

Did you like the show? Yeah. Buckingham stole it.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Hartford Courant
by Thomas Kintner

Fleetwood Mac Focuses On Familiar In Uncasville

There is no false pretense to the current Fleetwood Mac reunion tour. With no new album to push, it is a pure nostalgia play, a look back and the band's considerable height of popularity in the 1970s and '80s. At Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville Saturday night, the group focused on precisely that, a parade of hits that retained their accessible appeals even when the people forging them showed signs of wear.

With four of the five members from its commercial heyday on hand, the act leaned heavily on the familiar from the outset, opening with the contoured pop rock of "Monday Morning" as a showcase for guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who recalled the greatest part of his past appeals when barking lyrics. He was the sharpest part of the vocal harmony as he joined with vocalist Stevie Nicks for "The Chain," which John McVie's plump bass line pushed toward its familiar driving finish.

Always a somewhat unconventional vocalist, Nicks retained some of the ragged sweetness that was her hallmark, but made her offerings with limited intonation that stiffened the otherwise fluid pulse of "Dreams." The musical backdrops over which she hovered were sturdy and smooth, strong enough to cover for her flattening the lyrics of "Gypsy" and a brittle reading of the otherwise supple "Rhiannon."

Drummer (and lone original from the band's initial 1967 incarnation) Mick Fleetwood manufactured robust pacing for the likes of the rattling "Second Hand News" and the bounding "Tusk," the latter of which saw its marching band passages replicated by keyboard player Brett Tuggle, one of two support musicians who, along with three vocalists, filled out the show's arrangements.

Alongside such familiar fare as a Nicks/Buckingham acoustic duet on "Landslide" and a jaunt across "Say You Love Me," the show also ranged a bit off the beaten path, forgoing bigger hits (including some sung by the now-retired Christine McVie) for the likes of the flowing ballad "Storms" and the rumbling, propulsive 1969 number "Oh Well." Buckingham and Nicks also dipped into one solo catalog tune apiece; he strummed hard on an acoustic guitar for "Go Insane," while Nicks yelped at the synthesizer backbone of "Stand Back."

Most of the big spotlight moments came from Buckingham, who extended "I'm so Afraid" with an indulgent electric guitar solo, and turned the set closer "Go Your Own Way" into a finale that amounted to little more than everyone else in the band watching him work out. After an initial encore that included a full-bore trip through "Don't Stop," the group returned a second time, stretching its show to two hours and twenty minutes with "Silver Springs," an outtake from its 1977 album "Rumours." The show featured seven other tunes from that popular album, and not a one from the most recent Fleetwood Mac disc in 2003, a tally certainly in keeping with the show's greatest hits theme.

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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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Long Island Travel Examiner

by Debora Toth

Fleetwood Mac Lights Up Nassau Coliseum on Long Island

Four of the five original members of Fleetwood Mac lit up Long Island's Nassau Coliseum on March 13, 2009 during their one-night show in Hempstead. Embarking on their first concert tour in five years, the group chose to call the tour "Unleashed", which was a perfect description for the crisp, focused vocals and solid musicianship displayed on the stage. Without having to support a new album, the group was able to play all of the crowd's favorite hits and show off each member's unique personality.

Stepping to the front of the stage where they produced highlight vocals and sincere duets were former-couple Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. Long parted, the two produced many fine memborable moments during the evening. Toward the end of the sweetly-sung "Sara", Nicks walked toward Buckingham on stage and let him lay his head on her shoulder as he smiled at the audience. During many of their songs, they earnestly looked toward at each other, giving the audience an up-close view into the dynamics of this duo. Before she sang "Landslide", Nicks told the crowd that she was switching from dedicating the song to her father to dedicating to Alicia Keys, "one of the most talented artists out there." On "Tusk", Buckingham started slow and quietly by singing, "Why don't you tell me who was on the phone; Why don't you tell me what's going on," then put all of his emotions into the song's refrain with wrenching animal cries that fit into Fleetwood's drum beat.

Throughout the show, Mick Fleetwood kept the band cooking with fine drumming while the audience was kept amused with his bug-eyed expressions or teasing facial tics. During one of the final songs, World Turning, Fleetwood was given a drum solo to display why he is still considered one of the leading drummers in the world. Fittingly, as the founding member of the group, it was Fleetwood who introduced everyone on stage, even "Stephanie" Nicks, better known to all of us as Stevie. He called John McVie his partner in crime and joked about how they've been playing together for 40 years.

John McVie was the more reticent member of the group. Even with a spotlight showing on him all night long, he remained toward the back of the stage, playing bass, but never making eye contact with the crowd or any of his band mates.

Missing from the group was Christine McVie, who has retired from the stage. Her vocals were replaced in the song she wrote "Say You Love Me" by a solid duet between Nicks and Buckingham. These two, plus Mick Fleetwood, carried the night with strong voices, incredible guitar and drum work, and an unabashed love for the audience, which was sent right back to the legendary group. The evening ended on a high note with the upbeat "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" anthem giving everyone a positive lift to a very positive show.

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Fleetwood Mac Tickets 2009


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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Billboard
by Gary Graff

Fleetwood Mac/ March 8, 2009/ Auburn Hills, Mich. (The Palace)


Early in the fourth show of Fleetwood Mac's Unleashed tour, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham referenced the group's "fairly complex and convoluted emotional history," drawing a laugh from the crowd and even some knowing smiles from his bandmates.

But can there be a Fleetwood Mac without the drama?

The Unleashed outing makes a case that there certainly can. For the group's first tour in five years there's no new album and therefore none of the attendant tension that comes when introducing fresh material. Everyone is purportedly getting along well these days. And the group has had even more time to adjust to life without Christine McVie, now 11 years (but only one tour) removed from Fleetwood Mac.

What that leaves the Mac and its audience with is hits -- an abundance from one of the most successful catalogs in rock history, more than enough to keep the two-hour and 20-minute show airborne from start to finish. The Fleetwood Mac that's trotting around North America now is comfortable in its position and is cheerfully celebrating its legacy, and the warm familiarity of its 23-song greatest hits set is likely just what its fans -- particularly those paying $80 or $150 for their tickets -- want.

The parade began with "Monday Morning" before sliding into "The Chain" and "Dreams," each in their usual No. 2 and 3 positions on the set list. "Gypsy," "Rhiannon," "Sara," "Landslide," "Gold Dust Woman," "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop" had everyone singing along. And the group still managed to deliver a few surprises including "Tusk," album deep cuts such as "I Know I'm Not Wrong" and "Storms," the return of "Second Hand News," and a rendition of McVie's "Say You Love Me" with Buckingham and Stevie Nicks trading verses.

But more than ever, the Unleashed show underscored the fact that in McVie's absence, Fleetwood Mac has become the Buckingham and Nicks show -- which does not minimize the continuing strength of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie as a rhythm section or the six additional musicians' role in bringing a studio-quality sheen to the songs. It gave the night two distinct flavors -- Nicks' ethereal cool and Buckingham's manic edge.

It's an equation that gives a dominant edge to Buckingham, with his fluid, finger-picked guitar styles and aggressively inventive melodies such as "Go Insane" and a solo acoustic rendering of "Big Love." He delivered a spirited take of the original Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well (Part 1)," then tore the roof off with a searing solo at the end of the slow-burning "I'm So Afraid" that made it as much a highlight as any of the set's bigger hits. Nicks did rise to the occasion with her 1983 solo hit "Stand Back," and had the night's last word with "Silver Springs," but even she seemed respectful of, and perhaps resigned to the sheer force of her former boyfriend's musical personality.

Buckingham noted during the concert that "every time we get together again it's always different, always a sense of forward motion, and we always have more fun." The Unleashed show is more like a holding pattern, but few in the audience would deny there's fun in hearing all those hits.

Fleetwood Mac Tour 2009 Setlist and Review Allstate Arena Chicago, IL Mar 5, 2009

Fleetwood Mac Tickets 2009


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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Chicago Tribune
by Greg Kot

Fleetwood Mac at Allstate Arena: Lindsey Buckingham burns through nostalgia

The Fleetwood Mac set list Thursday at the packed Allstate Arena was straight out of the '70s, but Lindsey Buckingham was very much in the present tense on the quartet's latest reunion tour.

The leather-jacketed guitarist played like his graying hair was on fire most of the night, throwing himself into the songs with a gusto that frequently erupted into manic howls and fleet-fingered, shrapnel-tossing solos. Buckingham pulled the 23 creaky songs out of the long-lost "Rumours" era and into the now, with enthusiastic assistance from drummer Mick Fleetwood.

With the stalwart bassist John McVie at his side, Fleetwood looked like he had just popped out of a Dickens novel, a towering, pony-tailed Fagin in knickers. For all the mugging and preening, he pounded the drums with maniacal glee, blending bluesy firepower with orchestral flair. The inventively propulsive drum parts on songs such as "Rhiannon," "Go Your Own Way" and "World Turning" colored the arrangements with authority, and matched Buckingham's passion.

Stevie Nicks was the only member of this revived version of the band's classic '70s lineup (minus singer-songwriter Christine McVie, who retired from the business years ago) who wasn't quite up to speed as the show began. Her voice has not only deepened, it has lost much of its flexibility, and her performances of "Gypsy" and "Rhiannon" fell flat. She re-accessorized continually with boots, dresses, shawls, scarves, tambourines and even a top hat as the show progressed over two-plus hours. Halfway through the set, she finally shook off the doldrums and audibly rose to the occasion on "Landslide," accompanied only by Buckingham's guitar.

"I'm getting older, too," Nicks sang with soaring, if melancholy conviction. By the time she trotted out her solo hit "Stand Back," she felt frisky enough to revive one of her trademark twirls.

But it all would've been little more than a quaint rehash of a bunch of golden oldies were it not for Buckingham. He started strong, pushing his voice hard on "Monday Morning," and by the end of the set was finger-picking shrieking, gale-force solos from his instrument, reanimating Peter Green's early Mac classic "Oh Well" and investing "I'm So Afraid" with scarifying intensity. Wired and still wiry, Buckingham looked like he could've raved all night with this rhythm section at his back.

Stevie Nicks, in concert with Fleetwood Mac at the Xcel Energy Center Tuesday night, can still shake a mean tambourine and bewitch with her husky, emotional voice. Lindsey Buckingham had the energy of a punk rocker half his age.
(photo: David Brewster, Star Tribune)

Fleetwood Mac Tickets 2009


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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Minneapolis Star Tribune
by Jon Bream

Review: Fleetwood Mac outdoes itself

Soap operas are addictive, aren't they? Eventually we come back for a peek even if the cast of a long-running soap has changed, because the story lines remain the same.

That's true of rock's longest-running soap opera, FleetĀ­wood Mac. The romantic tension between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, lead singers for about 34 years, never goes away, even though these high school sweethearts broke up in the 1970s. They walked onstage Tuesday at the Xcel Energy Center hand in hand - in the darkness.

Then for the next 2Ā¼ hours, they put on one of those rare shows in which it was about the individuals of the band rather than the sum of the parts. Even though the 42-year-old band has had more different lead guitarists than Spinal Tap had drummers, FleetĀ­wood Mac has always been about being greater than the sum of its parts. That was certainly true when Buckingham Nicks, a former duo, joined in the mid-'70s, sharing vocals and writing duties with keyboardist Christine McVie (who retired in 1998).

While the rhythm section of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie was rock solid all night, the rest of Tuesday's concert felt like the Stevie Nicks Show or the Lindsey Buckingham Show. Not that it was a competition.

Buckingham was terrific all night, reminding the 12,000 concert-goers just what a monster talent he is. As for Nicks, her husky, nasal voice was not in top form, though she probably could have won a Stevie Nicks sound-alike contest. At 60, she can still shake a mean tambourine, strut in platform boots and rock layers and layers of gauzy fabrics and shawls. But she didn't do any of her famous witchy/dervish dancing in circles. More important, her vocalizing was not particularly passionate, save for the end of "Rhiannon," "Sara" and "Storms," a seldom-performed tune that she said was too emotionally dark live. However, she was focused, emotive and mesmerizing on this gem.

Eighteen of the 23 songs came from the band's 1970s blockbusters "Fleetwood Mac," "Rumours" and "Tusk." Buckingham and Nicks did a couple solo hits and the band dusted off 1969's "Oh Well," a wonderful workout for Buckingham's tortured guitar. All night long, the 59-year-old played aggressively and expressively. Same could be said of his singing; he seemed as amped as a punk-rocker half his age. The Lindsey Buckingham Show indeed.

From time to time, he exchanged glances with Nicks, especially when they harmonized on hits. Not that they seemed cold, indifferent or even angry. For the encore, they came out smiling, hand in hand. Buckingham kissed her hand and walked away to wail again on his guitar.

photo: Joe Appel/Tribune-Review

Fleetwood Mac Tour 2009 Setlist and Review Mellon Arena Pittsburgh, PA Mar 1, 2009

Fleetwood Mac Tickets 2009


Setlist:

Monday Morning
The Chain
Dreams
I Know I'm Not Wrong
Gypsy
Go InsaneFull Band
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:

World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs

Review: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
by Rege Behe

Fleetwood Mac rocks Pittsburgh

Because they are a staple of classic rock radio, it's easy to take Fleetwood Mac for granted. Songs that have been heard for more than 30 years tend to lose a bit of their luster after repeated plays.

On the opening night of the band's Unleashed Tour Sunday at the Mellon Arena, those oft-heard tunes were dusted off and given new life. From the opening chords of "Monday Morning" it was immediately apparent that this was not going to be a typical recitation of the band's greatest hits.

Most of that is due to the wondrous talents of Lindsey Buckingham. While his voice was initially a bit raspy, notably on "The Chain," his vocals got better as the night wore on.

But chances are no one who attended the concert noticed much about the quality of Buckingham's singing. Not after the way he "unleashed" some of the more evocative guitar solos heard in these parts in recent memory. Especially noteworthy was his solo, acoustic version of "Big Love" and the amazing Guitar Hero- worthy performance on "I'm So Afraid" that electrified the audience. He also did a more than credible job on the ancient Fleetwood Mac chestnut, "Oh, Well."

Next, Steve Nicks. Her smoky voice shows little wear, and if she's somewhat less energetic that Buckingham - for most of the evening they performed about 15 feet apart from each other - she nonetheless has a charismatic aspect that made songs such as "Dreams" and "Rhiannon" memorable. Most notably, Nicks did well by "Storms," a gem from the album "Tusk" that the band resurrected for the first time in years.

But the shape of Fleetwood Mac's is due to the band's rhythm section, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood. It was McVie's melodic bass lines and Fleetwood's superb way of shaping a song via percussion that gave "Tusk," "Gold Dust Woman," "Go Your Own Way" and just about any other song the band performed definition and backbone.

If there was a flaw in the evening - a big if - it was the continued absence of Christine McVie on songs such as "Don't Stop," "Say You Love Me" and "World Turning." Buckingham and Nicks did a credible job filling in, but McVie's voice is nonetheless missed.