Show Review: Fleetwood Mac
The Band:
Fleetwood Mac was founded in London in 1967 by Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, Jeremy Spencer and John McVie. In 1970, John married session musician, Christine Perfect, making her Christine McVie and the newest member of the band. During this time, the Fleetwood Mac was playing primarily blues music and scored a number one hit in the UK with the song, “Albatross.”
Mick met Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, a folk-rock duo, in LA in 1974. He invited Lindsay to join the band as a guitarist, which he accepted, providing Nicks was able to join the band as well. In 1975, they released a self-titled album, which reached number 1 on US Charts. The band followed this with the album, Rumours, in 1977.
Neil Finn (Crowded House) and Mike Campbell (The Heartbreakers) filled in on guitars for this particular tour, replacing Buckingham.
The Venue: Talking Stick Arena
Talking Stick Arena is a 18,422 person capacity venue located in downtown Phoenix. It opened in June of 1992 and serves as the main venue for the Phoenix Suns.
The Show:
Entering the stage to roaring applause, the band went right into their first song of the night, “The Chain” off their album Rumours. They followed with their hits “Little Lies,” a Christine McVie led song, and “Dreams,” another hit from Rumours. Stevie and Christine both sounded just as they did on the albums each song appeared on, their voices never revealing the fact that the songs being performed were recorded 30-40 years ago.
The band then shifted gears and played an older song written by founding member, Peter Green, “Black Magic Woman.” Many people think this is a Carlos Santana original, but they’d be wrong.
Stevie Nicks departed the stage for a break, the first of several, which is understandable considering the woman is 70 years old (but still looks and sounds great). John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and Mike Campbell remained on stage to perform a rendition of another Peter Green song, “Oh Well,” with Mike Campbell taking over lead vocals.
Neil Finn then returned to the stage to provide the others with a break and performed the Crowded House hit “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” which prompted the crowd to bring their cell phone flashlights out in support. Stevie Nicks joined him halfway through the song, turning it into a duet.
The rest of the band then rejoined the stage and started into the song “Landslide.”
Other classic songs performed included “Gypsy,” “Rhiannon,” “You Make Loving Fun,” among others. The band closed with an encore of the 80’s song “All Over Again,” a Fleetwood Mac song from the 90’s.
Overall, the show was great, and the band rocked it out. Personally, I didn’t miss Lindsey Buckingham much, as I think Mike Campbell is a better guitarist, and brings a bit of necessary attitude to this group of characters. For comparison’s sake, I saw them live years ago at the age of 17. They sounded just as good, if not better this time around, because Christine McVie (who provides some real power to the group) was playing with them this time.