Fleetwood Mac

I have been a Fleetwood Mac fan as long as I can remember appreciating music. I'll admit to a small Abba phase when I got my first tape recorder - I remember recording a concert off the TV - well trying to - we didn't realise you had to press the Play and the Record buttons at the same time. Following that I remember liking Adam and the Ants whenever they were on Top of the Pops. My first crush was John Taylor from Duran Duran and I was rather partial to a bit of Wham and A-ha.

When I was 16 I had my first boyfriend. He had this amazing record player that would play both sides of a record - one after the other - the needle arm went under the record for the second half and one of the albums we would listen to over and over again was Tango in the Night. Every time I hear any of those songs I am taken back to those times sat on the floor in his bedroom listening to those records and (look away now mother) making out. I won't bore you with details of that here though. *blush*

But they were early poppy days. I don't think I ever really appreciated music properly until I was given a couple of compilation tapes by my brother and one of my school friends both trying to change my taste in music and it worked. I was now in Sixth Form so about 17/18 years old. On those tapes I distinctly remember listening to and loving Albatross, Black Magic Woman and Man of the World. All early Fleetwood Mac songs - I was hooked.

I spent the next few years expanding my music taste and buying/listening to a wide range of stuff. Throughout that time Fleetwood Mac has always been there. I have a number of their albums on vinyl and then on cassette. Of course my favourite is Rumours - no-one can miss the emotion in that album. Tusk also became a firm favourite.

I lost interest a bit when the band had a member shuffle and Billy Burnette and Rick Veto joined the band - they seemed to lose some their Rock/Blues feel.

So - fast forward to this year. DH has always known my love for Fleetwood Mac and suddenly sends me an email saying do I want to go and see them at the SECC. Well of course I do. So that was last night. My ears are still buzzing.

The Herald have posted a review of it - but now here is mine.

To set the scene I won't bore you with the history of Fleetwood Mac - I simply don't have time and Wikipedia does a fine job. The line up was Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Now before I went to see the concert I will admit to having pre-conceived ideas of them. Stevie Nicks, to me, always seemed to be a bit weird, a bit out of it and a hippy stuck in '80s clothes. John McVie I always had down as a bloody good bass guitarist. Lindsey Buckingham I will openly admit to knowing very little about and Mick Fleetwood is basically a God. Mick is the one I really wanted to see. In fact I would have paid good money to see him play 2 hours on the drums - but that might have been a little over the top.

Anyway - on with the show. I had a seat up in the Gods - well that's what it felt like. But it was almost central to the stage so the overall view was superb. There were two huge screens for close ups too - so I didn't miss much.

This was not a publicity tour for a new album - they openly admitted to it being a Fun Tour to showcase some of their old songs.

I was intrigued by Stevie Nicks' costume changes - she started off with a black floaty/lacey dress which she changed for another black floaty/lacey dress which she changed for a red floaty/lacey dress which she changed for a black floaty/lacey dress. She accessorised with boots/heels/floaty shawls (I was trying to see if they were hand-knitted) and her trademark Top Hat. She totally looks like she fell into the late 1970s/early 1980s gothic era and never got out again. She had a black tambourine and black microphone/stand all dripping with ribbons. She played with the ribbons on her stand throughout the concert. Despite that her voice is still the same - so unique. Her on-stage dynamic with Lindsey was hard to miss. The pair of them openly flirted the whole way through singing a load of songs with/to each other. At one point I felt like I was intruding on some kind of foreplay. Very odd seeing as they are not a couple anymore and Lindsey is married with 2 children. Reading their biographies on Wikipedia certainly makes their relationship sound very stormy.

The whole show seemed to be a Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks showcase. It seemed to all be about them. They did all the talking, mostly about how good it was to be back together and wasn't the past turbulent. The songs they played from Rumours were full of meaning and emotion.

The songs were fantastic - second up was The Chain - probably their best known track and when John gets to do that great guitar riff ..... the camera/screen showed him for about 3 seconds before flipping back to the skirts and the ribbons on Stevie. Very disappointing. Likewise whenever Mick got a good bit on the drums you got a brief glimpse - the audience would roar - and then it would be back to Lindsey/Stevie. I was getting a little annoyed.

At one point Lindsey did a solo guitar/song while everyone else went backstage. I have to admit he was fantastic and he really is a great guitarist..... but I wanted more John and Mick.

It wasn't until the encore that Mick finally got to talk to the audience and played a fantastic drum solo in World Turning. Glorious - but too long in coming. I wanted to see more of Mick. He introduced everyone to the audience (about time too) and reiterated what I could openly see that John McVie was definitely the quiet one in the four. Choosing to stand just in front of Mick throughout the concert and not moving from his spot except to leave the stage/come back on. He didn't say a word.

So - to sum up - as I seem to be all over the place. Fantastic, glorious concert that I am thrilled to have seen. But... too much Stevie/Lindsey and not enough John/Mick.