Fleetwood Mac - March 27, 2015

I had not planned on writing a review, so I took no notes. But Rick Brown asked for a 'full Dutemple', so here goes:

Like virtually everyone between the ages of 15 and 25 in the late '70s with even a remote interest in pop music, I had Fleetwood Mac and Rumours (later burning two of my required Columbia House picks on Tusk), not picking up on Green or Welch-era Mac until I moved to St. Louis and started listening to KSHE. To me, and most people, the McVie/McVie/Fleetwood/Buckingham/Nicks lineup IS Fleetwood Mac. So I was delighted when Christine rejoined the group for (at least) one more fling.

I'm glad I went and would not have gone without Christine in the line-up, but with the exception of 'You Make Lovin' Fun', I thought she just was not the Christine of old. Put it this way: If you closed your eyes and listened to one of Stevie's songs, you'd think "That's Stevie Nicks." Do the same for one of Lindsey Buckingham's songs and it's "That's Fleetwood Mac, but Buckingham's showing his age." For McVie however, I thought, "There's someone doing Fleetwood Mac on karaoke quite well." For me, she just did not have that distinctive voice on a consistent basis.

The rest of the band repeatedly expressed their appreciation at having her back - at one point, this being show 70 on the tour - running through show banter from earlier gigs. After about the eight time though, I was beginning to think "the band doth protest too much" and wondering just how happy they were.

Musically, the band was and always has been tight and energetic: McVie and Fleetwood lay as solid a foundation as you find in rock after nearly 50 years of playing together, Buckingham has always been lauded as a guitarist and Christine's vocals have probably overshadowed her skills on keys over the years. Backed up by three instrumentalists and three backup singers (including sister-in-law Lori Nicks), a full sound hit an excellent front of house mix.

The repertoire stayed firmly between Fleetwood Mac and Tango in the Night not even venturing into Buckingham or Nicks's solo catalog despite a Buckingham/Nicks mini-set in the middle of show. No 'Rattlesnake Shake' or 'Oh Well' nod here. Also MIA were 'Sara' and 'Monday Morning'.

They kicked off with 'The Chain' and were a good half hour into the show before they moved away from FM and Rumours. You forget just how much cocaine was floating around in the late '70s until Lindsey Buckinghan starts hopping around the stage to 'Tusk' - Lindsey Buckingham clearly enjoys being Lindsey Buckingham. A trippy six-minute 'Gold Dust Woman' jam that gave the singers a rest highlighted the show for me followed on by a powerful 'I'm So Afraid'.

Mick's meds finally wore off during the encore and a he drug the crowd into his five-minute drum solo (it's my band, it's got my name on it, I'm playing a drum solo, got it?!) in the midst of 'World Turning'. And then 'Don't Stop' and go home. Right?

Wrong.

In the oddest end to a concert I've been to (with the exception of my band being chased off the Arch grounds during a tornado evacuation), Stevie sang the very quiet 'Silver Springs' then told a story for a few minutes about how our (the fans) cosmic energy brought Christine back to the band. THEN Mick came on and rambled to thanked the audience for about three minutes. And then the lights came up. Go home. Later I see that second encores have been 'Songbird' on this tour. I guess Christine was not up for it last night.

In the end, they were what they have been since at least Bare Trees - a solid rhythm section fronted by incredibly talented pop singer/songwriters. Though they avoided the irony of stopping with 'Don't Stop', you can't help but smile/wince at the thought of a Fleetwood Mac concert forty years on as the refrain 'Don't you look back' catches your ear.