Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in Perth, Australia - October 30th
Mac make loving them fun, even in the rain
Thunder only happens when it rains, according to Stevie Nicks, whose legendary band Fleetwood Mac turned on a dream gig in the wet last night.
Playing to 25,000 adoring fans at Domain Stadium, the megastars promised a party in the rain. "My limousine driver told me it never rains in Perth," Nicks said. "We bring the rain."
The mighty Mac also brought the hits, plus an old friend in Christine McVie, much missed on the past two Perth visits.
The English singer, songwriter and pianist retreated from the spotlight after the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1998.
Fleetwood Mac were to visit in 2013 but cancelled after bassist John McVie was diagnosed with cancer. During the delay while McVie had treatment, drummer Mick Fleetwood convinced McVie's former wife to rejoin the band. Christine McVie's return meant Fleetwood Mac's three great songwriters — the others being American ex-lovers Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who joined the English blues band in 1974 —were back in the saddle for the band's first Aussie tour since 2009.
After hitting the stage with The Chain, the Rumours rocker credited to the whole band, the trio shared the songs.
Other Rumours favourites — McVie's You Make Loving Fun, Nicks' Dreams and Buckingham's Second Hand News — came in quick succession.
Classic pop hits —Landslide, Everywhere, Little Lies — rained down on fans as the Mac clung tight to their golden era.
The famous five, plus extra musicians and singers, delivered a marathon set at the fifth of 13 scheduled Australian dates for their On With the Show world tour. Classic songs, classic line-up and still plenty of drama.
Truly classic.
Posted by Nickslive at Friday, October 30, 2015 4 comments
Labels: Fleetwood Mac, Perth 10-30-15
Fleetwood Mac Announce "TUSK" 5CD / 1 DVD 5.1 Surround Mix / 2 Vinyl Reissue - Avail. December 4th
Tusk (Deluxe Edition 5CD/1DVD-A/2 Vinyl)
Fleetwood Mac builds on its formidable legacy as one of rock's most legendary acts as they re-visit
their most ambitious album with deluxe and expanded editions of TUSK.
Originally released in 1979, the Grammy® Award-nominated, double-album sold more than four million copies worldwide, and reached number 1 in the UK album charts, and included hits like "Sara," "Think About Me," and the title track.
The announcement comes as the band – Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham Stevie Nicks and now of course Christine McVie, – continues it's acclaimed, "On With The Show" world tour which recently including 6 sold out shows at London's 02 Arena.
To follow the historic, global success of 1977's Grammy-Award winning Rumours, Fleetwood Mac chose to take a more experimental approach on Tusk. The most famous example has to be the unexpected and beloved inclusion of the University of Southern California's marching band on the title track.
TUSK will be available on December 4
This DELUXE EDITION delves deep into the vaults with five CDs including the remastered original album, an alternate version of the complete album made up of session outtakes, most of which have never been released, as well as an additional selection of singles, demos and remixes, including an outtake of "Think About Me," an early version of "That's Enough For Me" called "Out On The Road," plus several incarnations of "I Know I'm Not Wrong."
Also included are two discs loaded with 22 unreleased performances from the band's 1979 Tusk tour with selections from concerts in London, Tucson, and St. Louis. It includes live versions of album tracks like "Sara, "Over And Over" and "Save Me A Place," as well as favorites like "Landslide," "You Make Loving Fun," "Rhiannon," "Don't Stop" and "Go Your Own Way."
Completing the Deluxe Edition is a 5.1 surround mix of Tusk on DVD-Audio and vinyl of the original album on 2-LPs.
The collection comes housed in an elegant box reminiscent of the acclaimed Rumours Deluxe Edition with a booklet that has extended liner notes that feature new interviews with all the band members.
TUSK will also be available as a single disc of the original album remastered this year by Lindsey Buckingham.
The 3 cd digi-pack expanded edition includes the remastered original album, an alternate version of the complete album made up of session outtakes, most of which have never been released, as well as an additional selection of singles, demos and remixes, including an outtake of "Think About Me," an early version of "That's Enough For Me" called "Out On The Road," plus several incarnations of "I Know I'm Not Wrong.
"Sara" Live in Tucson, AZ 8/28/80
US - Amazon Pre-Order
TUSK: DELUXE EDITION
TUSK: (Expanded 3CD Digi-pack)
TUSK: (1CD Jewel Case - 2015 Remaster)
THE DELUXE EDITION:
Disc One: Original Album Remastered
01. "Over & Over"
02. "The Ledge"
03. "Think About Me"
04. "Save Me A Place"
05. "Sara"
06. "What Makes You Think You're The One"
07. "Storms"
08. "That's All For Everyone"
09. "Not That Funny"
10. "Sisters Of The Moon"
11. "Angel"
12. "That's Enough For Me"
13. "Brown Eyes"
14. "Never Make Me Cry"
15. "I Know I'm Not Wrong"
16. "Honey Hi"
17. "Beautiful Child"
18. "Walk A Thin Line"
19. "Tusk"
20. "Never Forget"
Disc Two: Singles, Outtakes, Sessions
01. "Think About Me" (Single Remix)
02. "That's All for Everyone" (Remix)
03. "Sisters of the Moon" (Remix)
04. "Not That Funny" (Single Remix)
05. "Sara" (Single Edit)
06. "Walk a Thin Line" (Song #3 – 03/13/79)
07. "Honey Hi" (Alternate Version – 10/18/78)
08. "Storms" (Alternate Version – 11/30/78)
09. "Save Me a Place" (2nd Version -10/10/78) *
10. "Never Make Me Cry" (Version – 04/17/79)
11. "Out On The Road" (aka "That's Enough For Me" – Demo – 12/19/78) *
12. "I Know I'm Not Wrong" – Lindsey's Song #1 (Demo)
13. "I Know I'm Not Wrong" (10/10/78 Version) *
14. "I Know I'm Not Wrong" (11/3/78 Version) *
15. "I Know I'm Not Wrong" (4/25/79 Version) *
18. "Tusk" (Demo – 01/15/79) *
19. "Tusk" "Stage Riff" (Demo – 01/30/79) *
20. "Tusk" (Outtake Track – 02/01/79) *
21. "Tusk" (Outtake Mix – 01/23/79) *
22. "Tusk" (USC Version – 06/04/79) *
Disc Three: The Alternate Tusk
01. "Over & Over" (04/02/79) *
02. "The Ledge" (03/13/79)
03. "Think About Me" (02/18/79) *
04. "Save Me a Place" (10/18/78) *
05. "Sara" (03/10/79)
06. "What Makes You Think You're the One" (02/24/79) *
07. "Storms" (06/02/79) *
08. "That's All for Everyone" (10/20/78) *
09. "Not That Funny" (05/19/79) *
10. "Sisters of the Moon" (11/12/78)
11. "Angel" (04/02/79) *
12. "That's Enough for Me" (09/29/78) *
13. "Brown Eyes" (with Lindsey & Peter Green, 09/20/78) *
14. "Never Make Me Cry" (02/08/79) *
15. "I Know I'm Not Wrong" (11/02/78) *
16. "Honey Hi" (10/11/78) *
17. "Beautiful Child" (10/09/78) *
18. "Walk a Thin Line" (04/06/79) *
19. "Tusk" (07/19/79) *
20. "Never Forget" (06/29/78) *
Disc Four: Tusk Tour Live 1
01. Intro (Wembley, 06/26/80) *
02. "Say You Love Me" (Wembley, 06/26/80) *
03. "The Chain" (Wembley, 06/20/80) *
04. "Don't Stop" (Wembley, 06/27/80) *
05. "Dreams" (Wembley, 06/20/80) *
06. "Oh Well" (Wembley, 06/20/80) *
07. "Rhiannon" (Tuscon, 08/28/80) *
08. "Over and Over" (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
09. "That's Enough for Me" (Wembley, 06/21/80) *
10. "Sara" (Tuscon, 08/28/80) *
11. "Not That Funny" (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
12. "Tusk" (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
Disc Five: Tusk Tour Live 2
01. "Save Me a Place" (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
02. "Landslide" (Omaha, 08/21/80) *
03. "What Makes You Think You're the One" (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
04. "Angel" (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
05. "You Make Loving Fun" (Wembley, 06/20/80) *
06. "I'm So Afraid" (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
07. "World Turning" (Wembley, 06/22/80) *
08. "Go Your Own Way" (Wembley, 06/22/80) *
09. "Sisters of the Moon" (Wembley, 06/22/80) *
10. "Songbird" (Wembley, 06/27/80) *
* Previously Unreleased
Posted by Nickslive at Friday, October 30, 2015 16 comments
Labels: Fleetwood Mac, Tusk
Review | Photos: Fleetwood Mac Live in Adelaide, AU October 28, 2015
Fleetwood Mac family finally felt complete
by Nathan Davies
Photos Simon Cross - VIEW GALLERY
FEW bands have been through as much as Fleetwood Mac and lived to tell the tale.
They took the '70s ethos of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll to its limit, with the sex and the drugs threatening to end the rock 'n' roll on more than one occasion.
Perhaps that's why Wednesday night's show at Coopers Stadium had such a feel-good vibe – the Mac are like a dysfunctional family who've had some therapy, buried the hatchet and turned up for Christmas lunch with smiles on their faces. And the family finally felt complete, with songwriter/keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie back where she belongs after 16 years away from the band.
"This is quite an auspicious occasion," McVie told the full stadium. "I haven't been to Adelaide for 30 years."
The crowd welcomed her with open arms – her voice and her songs are a vital piece of the Fleetwood Mac puzzle.
McVie looked effortlessly cool behind the keys, standing at the right hand of former husband and bass player John McVie who was, together with mercurial drummer Mick Fleetwood, rocking the "Morris dancers on acid" look. Stevie Nicks was front and centre, the eternal waif, and next to her was guitarist and vocalist – and former lover – Lindsey Buckingham, looking youthful and handsome in jeans and a sports coat.
The night began with The Chain, the stomping country rock anthem from Rumours, and from there on it was just a cavalcade of hits – Dreams, Rhiannon, Everywhere, a brilliant rendition of Tusk complete with a big-screen remix of the iconic marching band film clip, Sara and Say You Love Me, a song that showed off the McVie-Nicks-Buckingham harmony machine to full effect.
After that the band went off for a well-deserved breather while Buckingham laid down a truly beautiful solo version of Big Love. His guitar playing is a breathtaking mix of folk-styled fingerpicking and rock riffing, and his voice cut through the warm night as a full moon rose over the stands.
The band came back on for Landslide, and we got the first of Mick's drum solos on Think About Me, before Nicks told the story of the inspiration behind Gypsy (it's about an expensive San Francisco dress salon, Janis Joplin, and the moment she knew she was going to be a famous singer). I'm So Afraid saw Buckingham wowing with his guitar antics once more before the main set closed with a rousing rendition of Go Your Own Way that had the crowd on its feet and singing along (and one lady in the front row filming on an iPad. Get a phone, lady!)
There was an encore – that's a given – and it started with World Turning complete with a five-minute Fleetwood drum solo/comedy routine, followed by Don't Stop and Silver Springs. The night wound up, fittingly, with Christine McVie on a grand piano singing Songbird, accompanied by Buckingham on an acoustic guitar.
The applause was heartfelt, and the band genuinely seemed to appreciate it. The final word went to Fleetwood, the giant ringmaster, who thanked the fans for their support over almost five decades and implored everyone "in this seemingly crazy world that we live in" to "take such very good care of one another". Yeah, Mick!
Review: Theaureview.com
Review & Photos: 4kq.com
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE »
Labels: Adelaide 10-28-15, Fleetwood Mac 2015
Fleetwood Mac: Supergroup being pretty low-key ahead of their Adelaide concert
THE members of legendary supergroup Fleetwood Mac are being pretty low- key during their Adelaide stay.
AdelaideNow
Heading out of the band's city hotel yesterday wearing jeans and a T-shirt Lindsey Buckingham, greeted our shutterbug telling him to stay put because "there will be a raft of people for you to photograph''.
He wasn't telling Little Lies eitherbecause soon after appeared Christine McVie, who is back with Mac after 16 years, with an entourage. Like Lindsey, she was casually dressed and looking relaxed as she left to take in some city sights.
Mick Fleetwood was even more chilled out, rocking a beanie.
Fleetwood Mac is performing at Coopers Stadium on Wednesday night and there are Rumours the band will be at the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
"Fleetwood Mac has been invited and inundated with requests to attend Cup Carnival events," a source close to the band tells Confidential.
Posted by Nickslive at Tuesday, October 27, 2015 5 comments
Labels: Fleetwood Mac 2015
Fleetwood Mac Start Australian Tour In Sydney With A Few Rarities
Fleetwood Mac kicked off the first shows for their Australian tour in Sydney last night (22-10-15) with two rare songs added to the setlist.
'Bleed To Love Her' from the 1997 album 'The Dance' was performed for the first time since 1997 and for the first time ever outside North America.
Christine McVie's 'Think About Me' from the 1980 'Tusk' album was performed for the first time in 35 years. It was only the 16th time Fleetwood Mac had ever performed the song. It had previously never been performed live outside of the USA.
Fleetwood Mac will perform again in Sydney on Saturday night.
Fleetwood Mac setlist
The Chain (from Rumours, 1977)
You Make Loving Fun (from Rumours, 1977)
Dreams (from Rumours, 1977)
Second Hand News (from Rumours, 1977)
Rhiannon (from Fleetwood Mac, 1975)
Everywhere (from Tango In The Night, 1987)
Bleed To Love Her (from The Dance, 1997)
Tusk (from Tusk, 1979)
Sara (from Tusk, 1979)
Say You Love Me (from Fleetwood Mac, 1975)
Big Love (from Tango In The Night, 1987)
Landslide (from Fleetwood Mac, 1975)
Never Going Back Again (from Rumours, 1977)
Think About Me (from Tusk, 1979)
Gypsy (from Mirage, 1982)
Little Lies (from Tango In The Night, 1987)
Gold Dust Woman (from Rumours, 1977)
I'm So Afraid (from Fleetwood Mac, 1975)
Go Your Own Way (from Rumours, 1977)
World Turning (from Fleetwood Mac, 1975)
Don't Stop (from Rumours, 1977)
Silver Springs (b-side Go Your Own Way, 1977)
Songbird (from Rumours, 1977)
Reviews: Fleetwood Mac Sydney, Australia October 22nd
Fleetwood Mac fans cheer, laugh, cry and show love for the band on their Australian tour
by Kathy McCabe
IF you could harness all the energy devoted to singing Fleetwood Mac songs in loungerooms, cars and bars over the past 40 years, it would create a mighty bang.
The audience at the opening Australian concert by the legendary band at Sydney's Allphones Arena brought an energy powered by all those moments, whether a solo karaoke of their favourite song, perhaps Go Your Own Way, or the more universally sung-to-the-rafters Don't Stop.
Their myth is rooted in the reality of their drug-fuelled romantic entanglements and bust-ups as documented so honestly and historically on the greatest breakup album of all time Rumours.
Full Review and photos at The Daily Telegraph
Fleetwood Mac review: too long, sometimes listless, but hey, Christine McVie
by Bernard Zuel
Allphones Arena, October 22
The executive summary would be accurate but also not ever enough: too long and inconsistent of energy; some good sections and a virtual Classic Hits radio playlist; another "seriously, what the ... ?" moment with a drum solo and Christine McVie. Yes folks, it's worth an exclamation mark, Christine McVie!
The return, after 16 years, of the longest songwriting contributor in the band was always going to be more than just another body to accommodate onstage and a few more songs to add to the setlist. McVie's songs, from You Make Loving Fun - appearing two songs in, between Lindsey Buckingham's The Chain and Stevie Nick's Dreams, in the democratic/pragmatic structure long necessary in this complex band - to the show's closer, Songbird, with her at piano and only Buckingham on guitar accompanying her, are not just standards.
They, and she, are also the temperamental, lyrical and melodic balancing point between the very yin and definitely yang of the band's dominant forces, Nicks and Buckingham. That fractious pair these days make a deliberate, almost ostentatious, point of acknowledging each other, even singing to each other. But the more comfortable and frequent interactions are between Nicks and McVie, and Buckingham and McVie.
Full Review at Sydney Morning Herald
Labels: Fleetwood Mac 2015, Sydney 10-22-15
Drummer Mick Fleetwood opens up about Fleetwood Mac's longevity
Back Stage With Fleetwood Mac
Labels: Fleetwood Mac 2015, Interview, Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood Interview: This may be John McVie's final tour
Fleetwood Mac's John McVie: This might be my final tour
By Annette Sharp
TWO years after pulling the pin on their 2013 Australian tour following bass player John McVie's cancer diagnosis, Fleetwood Mac's most famous and most successful line-up landed in Sydney this week ahead of what McVie has indicated might be his last tour with the band that bears his name.
Founding member Mick Fleetwood, 68, was respectful when he spoke of McVie's recent health crisis during a sound check at Allphones Arena yesterday.
"I raised a toast the other night with Christine (McVie). He's well as well, absolutely (in) tip top health and that's pivotal. And outside of it, it's great to be here and playing.
"It's a revisitation," Fleetwood enthused of his 69-year-old creative partner with whom he founded the band in 1963.
"John's very practical. He didn't get into it (cancer talk) one way or the other. I'm an old drama queen but John just said, 'OK, let's get it fixed' and that was that. Never heard any more about it and it was fixed, and we've been on the road ever since."
In May, McVie said his playing days would soon be at an end: "How much longer can the Mac be a working band? Not much longer, for me anyway. It's not the music. It's the peripherals, the travelling. Mick will go on until they put him up against a wall and shoot him."
The return to the line-up of McVie's ex-wife, singer and keyboardist Christine, 72, who parted ways with Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and was retired from the music business, has been described by guitarist Lindsey Buckingham as "really beautiful". Buckingham also quit the band for 16 years from 1987 to 2003.
"(Christine) just sort of woke up and said, 'I'm not done. I want to be more alive'," Fleetwood said.
Fleetwood acknowledges relations within the band, which includes three
ex- couples — Buckingham, 66, and singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks, 67, the McVies and Fleetwood and Nicks — are still fiery 40 years after the most famous Mac five first collaborated in 1975.
"I don't think Lindsey and Stevie will ever not be able to suppress various emotive buttons that exist. One lives in hope, as I think they do," he said of the former lovers, who started working together at 16.
"Having Chris back is hugely amazing. I think Stevie's loving it and Chris is, too.
Touring the world was "sort of" easier today, added Fleetwood, whose battle with cocaine addiction is the stuff of rock legend. (He once estimated that, laid end to end, the cocaine he consumed during his life would stretch seven miles).
''Those, looking back on it, were sort of a bit harder. Harder to juggle feeling good and being professional. Those days are long gone.''
Fleetwood says this time there will be only just the occasional "little jug" of wine during this tour.
The band plays Allphones Arena on October 22, 24 and 25.
Labels: Fleetwood Mac 2015, John McVie
WIN THE ULTIMATE FLEETWOOD MAC EXPERIENCE
Fleetwood Mac is due to hit New Zealand this November and THE BREEZE wants to send you to their sold-out Auckland show on Saturday, November 21!
Simply tell them the names of the five members of Fleetwood Mac and you could be into win:
Concert tickets for you and a friend to see Fleetwood Mac LIVE in concert on Saturday.
November 21 at Mt Smart Stadium.
Return flights to Auckland for two (from a major NZ domestic airport).
Luxury accommodation.
A rock 'n' roll dinner at SkyCity prior to the concert.
Fleetwood Mac - On With The Show Tour - Australia & New Zealand 2015. All five classic band members back together!
Tour dates & locations:
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin - Wednesday November 18 (ticketdirect.co.nz)
Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland - Saturday November 21 (sold out show)
Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland - Sunday November 22 (ticketmaster.co.nz)
LIMITED TICKETS TO THEIR ONLY DUNEDIN CONCERT AND SECOND AUCKLAND CONCERT AVAILABLE NOW
The legendary FLEETWOOD MAC are bringing their On With The Show World Tour to New Zealand next month!
Touring as a five-piece for the first time since 1998, one of music's most enduring groups of all time, Fleetwood Mac, will play three stadium shows in November.
All five classic band members are back together, with Christine McVie rejoining band mates Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks after a 16-year absence.
The On With The Show Tour will see Fleetwood Mac on stage for close to two and a half hours, showcasing hits and classic songs from their career that spans more than four decades and global album sales in excess of 100 million, including songs such as: "The Chain", "Dreams", "Second Hand News", "Rhiannon", "Sara", "Gold Dust Woman", "Tusk", "Looking Out for Love", "Don't Stop", "Go Your Own Way"…and the list goes on and on.
This is a tour not be missed and tickets are selling fast so put it in the diary and get your tickets quick!
The first Auckland show Saturday, November 21 is already sold out but you can still get your tickets for the second Auckland show which is on Sunday, November 22.
ENTER CONTEST (Open to New Zealand Residence Only)
Labels: CONTEST, Fleetwood Mac 2015
Fleetwood Mac Reunited But Going Their Own Way
Reunited for a mammoth tour, Fleetwood Mac are now planning an album. But for all their attempts to put on a show, they are still driven by backstage tensions, writes Dan Cairns
I'M DRAWN TO THESE FOUR PEOPLE. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE MICK? HE'S BOLD, ECCENTRIC ... WARM AND SWEET. LINDSEY IS ANOTHER TYPE OF CHARACTER ALTOGETHER
CANVAS - Couriermail.com.au - October 10, 2015
Forty years after the line-up that conquered the world with Rumours first came together, Fleetwood Mac are still having problems agreeing on anything much. The return to the fold 20 months ago of Christine McVie after an absence of 16 years is one development they all speak positively about, with none of the usual caveats and festering agendas.
"There's Stevie on one side of the spectrum," says Lindsey Buckingham, the band's coiled, restless, 65-year-old musical director and – what seems like a lifetime ago – Stevie Nicks's boyfriend. "And me, kind of, on the other, in terms of sensibilities. Christine sort of bridges that gap."
Where Buckingham talks in the clinical manner of a scientist, Nicks dives right in.
"Christine's coming back was like the return of my best friend after years away,'' she says. "It's much more fun now. We were always a force to be reckoned with, and that's happened again."
For McVie, 71, having emerged from what she describes as years of isolation in a remote Kent farmhouse – years of "mud and grey days, where your life is dark, your heart is dark, your brain is dark" – rejoining the band "feels like a resurrection''.
"I feel confident again, self-assured, I know I can put my fingers on a piano and play. I can write again. I can sing," McVie says.
And Mick Fleetwood, aged 67, gentle giant, drummer, court jester, and the band's unofficial manager and cajoler-in-chief, is characteristically gung-ho.
"It's been an enormous benefit,'' he says. "I turn around every night during the shows, when Stevie's doing her Gypsy intro, which sometimes goes on a little long, and there's John and Christine chatting away, sitting on an amp.
"And I sit there and think, 'How cool is that?' I've asked them, 'What are you talking about?' and they say, 'Oh, you know, we're just catching up on stuff'. It's the sweetest thing."
The band began a European tour in May. This followed an 81-date run around North America.
In October they head Down Under with the On With The Show Tour, marking Fleetwood Mac's first series of concert dates in Australia and New Zealand since 2009's sold-out Unleashed Tour. The band were scheduled to tour in November 2013, but cancelled the tour after bass player John McVie was diagnosed with colon cancer. It will be Fleetwood Mac's first Australian tour as a five-piece for the first since 1998.
Before the US tour was over, however, there were already signs of wear and tear.
Holding court at various locations in Santa Monica in the US, the Mac – save for Christine McVie's ex-husband, the bass player John McVie, 69, who is in remission from cancer and rarely grants an interview at the best of times – accentuate the positives but can't quite eliminate the negatives.
This is the latest stage in a journey, or saga, for a band that has always been as riveting for its offstage shenanigans as it has been for the music that has soundtracked the lives of successive generations.
Nicks, sitting in her vast apartment, its wraparound, floor-to-ceiling windows making you feel as though you're suspended above the ocean, seems the most conflicted and ambivalent. Buckingham, by telephone, exudes a serenity you sense is hard won and, by all accounts, paper-thin. McVie talks like a lovable, slightly dotty aunt, words tumbling over themselves, candour suddenly rearing up and slapping you in the face.
Then there's Fleetwood – resplendent in various shades of aquamarine, charms, chains and bangles rattling from wrist and neck – who goes back down memory lane to early 1960s Notting Hill in London, hanging out as a teen in coffee bars and flirting with the girl who would become his first wife. He later fights tears while talking about the recent death of his mother, and of his plans to walk Hadrian's Wall in her memory.
"I was telling Lindsey about that the other day," Fleetwood says. "And he went, 'Oh, you and your rose-tinted spectacles'. I said, 'Well, look where they've got all of us. You should try wearing them yourself some time'."
If the two McVies are now friends again, and Fleetwood is still adept at playing the role of peacemaker, the relationship between Buckingham and Nicks seems as dysfunctional as ever. Most bands with a tour raking it in and a new album in the planning stages would, you'd think, have a fairly clear idea of how the near future was going to pan out.
Yet that mooted album – their first in the classic line-up since Tango in the Night in 1987; Buckingham and Christine McVie have collaborated on seven songs – already sounds fraught with some of the same old problems.
"Chris's return has been a huge help for some of the things that Stevie and Lindsey continue to go through," says Fleetwood, with a hint of exasperation. "In terms of ... well, it's a form of button-pushing, about which Christine would say, 'This should long since have been over'."
Buckingham sounds wary when the album comes up.
"We had planned on reconvening at the start of next year but, again, there's the politics. Stevie has not involved herself in it and has not committed to involving herself in it either, so that's something we're working on." Nicks, 67, doesn't even try to hide her fatigue. "Tomorrow will be show 79, and then we start the European tour, and then we go to Australia,'' she says. "Three solid years of Fleetwood Mac. When that's done, I'm done. I'm done. I'm taking a long vacation.
"I've bought a little house on the other side of Malibu, I've owned it since March last year and I have three chairs in the living room, and that's it. I've spent five days there in a year. People keep saying, 'How's the new house?' I don't know, I haven't been there. I need a break. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this in an interview, but I don't really care.
"I have done my best every single night to go out there and be my best and not be upset about the fact that we are doing 80 shows instead of 60, and then going straight to Europe and doing 27 shows instead of 17."
Isn't she keen, though, to have her own material represented on the new album?
"I don't know how I feel about that,'' Nicks says. "I'm not in a good place right now to make decisions. We are on the road, and in my opinion, we should not be thinking past that. We're a strange band of bandits and gypsies, travelling as part of this huge machine. This tour would never have happened if Chris hadn't come back."
Christine McVie admits to some bemusement about the continuing discord between the band's Californian contingent. She describes the appeal of returning to the band as one of "chemistry, simple chemistry''.
"I'm drawn to these four people,'' McVie says. "How can you not love Mick? He's bold, eccentric, arrogant, pompous, vulnerable, warm and sweet. Lindsey is another type of character altogether. He has the darkest, most caustic sense of humour ever. He really makes me laugh, but he can also be so twitchy and edgy; you know, 'Keep away'. He's always crossing his arms, his legs. And you just think, 'Relax'. He and Stevie don't get on. On stage, they act. Privately, no.
"John and I genuinely have a friendship. I love Mick and I love both of them. But it's like putting a wet hand in a plug socket. It's an electric shock every time. Who knows how long it will last? The idea is to try to finish the album, and then tour it. But Stevie says, 'You've just had 16 years off. Now it's my turn'.''
For McVie, her return was worth it, no matter the bickering that continues to coexist with some sublime live performances (for all that, the one I watched in Los Angeles was a bit flat). Anything is better than that Kent vastness, she says.
"I was living in this sprawling wasteland in the middle of 50 acres of farmland. It's a lovely place, but it's too isolated, and I think that's what drove me into this slow decline; the dogs and the wellington boots and the Land Rover, the idea that you're going to bake cookies in the Aga. "And you don't. You just get depressed. I tried writing songs again, and nothing came, nothing. I was there in the middle of acres of greenery and sheep and totally alone."
Nicks, clearly ready for that (long) vacation, says she still finds herself having to talk about the band's 1970s heyday, the busted relationships, the drink and the drugs, the wounds that, in some cases, never quite seemed to heal.
"And I don't enjoy going back to that time because it's not who I wish I had been. I wish that I'd been less f---ed-up and less drugged-out. Done a little bit less coke, drunk a little less, smoked a little less pot. I don't feel romantic about it at all. People like hearing about it, but it wasn't their journey, it was mine. I was young and beautiful and just so super-unattractive."
Of the Buckingham-Nicks relationship, Fleetwood speculates: "On some level, they must be addicted to it, to something – to love, probably. It's strange when you're a friend to both parties, and I do sometimes get drawn in, but you don't want to be like the messenger in El Cid, bringing in the head. I want them to be sitting on an amp, like John and Chris. I don't think it will ever happen, but I don't know that for sure." He pauses to relocate a more positive thread. "Look, this is one hell of a thing. Not all of it is ever going to be 100 per cent happy, but it's one hell of a weird, wonderful thing. And if it were a book, you'd want it to end like this." Fleetwood Mac play Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall, November 10 and 12, 8pm, $101.85-$402.70, ticketek.com.au
Posted by Nickslive at Saturday, October 10, 2015 13 comments
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM !! Born on this day in 1949
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Born on this day... October 3, 1949
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday Lindsey... You're the man!!
Posted by Nickslive at Saturday, October 03, 2015 8 comments
Labels: Happy Birthday, Lindsey Buckingham
Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in Perth, Australia - O...
Fleetwood Mac Announce "TUSK" 5CD / 1 DVD 5.1 Surr...
Review | Photos: Fleetwood Mac Live in Adelaide, A...
Fleetwood Mac: Supergroup being pretty low-key ahe...
Fleetwood Mac Start Australian Tour In Sydney With...
Drummer Mick Fleetwood opens up about Fleetwood Ma...
Mick Fleetwood Interview: This may be John McVie's...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM !! Born on this...