Fleetwood Mac Tour 2018/19*

It now looks like April's cancelled shows will be rescheduled for Oct/Nov ... and I would imagine since they have to return to N. America that other dates will be added too ....
But now .... they are off until June 6 in Berlin ?

 

That'll be interesting to see.

 

perhaps a SF / bay area date will get added

despite all the hand-wringing about this tour in some circles, I wouldn't mind checking it out...

 

Sunday May 26 was Stevie's 71st birthday ......

 

Happy (belated) Birthday, Bella Donna!

 

I adore The Mac and Stevie...I got to meet her after her Hyde Park show in 2011 and can now die happy. Ordinarilly I wouldn't miss a Mac tour, but they're only playing at Wembley Stadium this time and I wasn't paying those astronicmical prices to see them play whilst sat 2 miles away on a wet plastic chair.

I'm still crying out for a Stevie solo tour of the UK and Europe. Aside from festival appearances in 2011 and 2017, she hasn't played over here since 1989.

 

They're baaaaaaaaack .....

Berlin June 6

No setlist surprises, except that they skipped Gold Dust Woman for the first time this tour.

 

and this just in from Werchter Belgium June 8 ....

 

I saw them in Berlin. It was superb show. The sound was fantastic, the weather was not fine.

 

review from last night - Fleetwood Mac op Werchter Boutique: 'Een sweet little lie' ★★★☆☆

this is the lead in, pretty much right on the money:
52 (!) Years after Mick and Peter Green founded the group, Fleetwood Mac , version 6.0, joined Werchter Boutique. For those who know their hits from radio Nostalgia, it was a great concert. Anyone who saw Fleetwood Mac in the Sportpaleis in the seventies, eighties, nineties up to and including 2015, had mixed feelings, because what you could see and hear here under that name is a sweet little lie.

with article conclusion:
Keeping the brand name profitable at all costs makes tribute bands sound more authentic than the original. This Fleetwood Mac sounded like a tribute band of its own at the least good moments.

 

Pretty slanted review from a Lindsey fan...

 

Given that there were protests Pete 4Ever, Ringo never in 1962, I guess that something similar would have happened in 1974 if the internet had been around then.

 

Pinkpop Fest - Landgraaf, Netherlands - June 10

 

Dublin, Ireland - June 13

 

way up in the nosebleeds at Wembley Stadium London June 16 ....

I see claims of 90,000 attendance ... can that really be ?
and there's a second show there on Tuesday.....
don't know if there was a opening act....

interview with Mick in The Sun :
Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood confirms 'legend' of his 7-mile line of cocaine

 

I seem to remember capacity for Roger Waters in 2013 was circa 85,000 and that was with floor standing rather than seating as looks to be for FM. The tiered seating started further back too on account of the staging for The Wall show. 90k seems on the high side but its not a ridiculous figure for Wembley Stadium.

 

Am going to Wembley tomorrow. Reviews seem by and large positive so I am looking forward to it. I guess I would have liked Lindsey to be present given as how I have never seen FM before but I am happy to take what I can get at this stage of play. The Pretenders are supporting so I am quite looking forward to them as well.

 

Review from The Times Subscribe to read | Financial Times

Fleetwood Mac at Wembley Stadium — has the chain been broken?

After 52 years the band can still sell out Wembley Stadium but the latest line-up change may be a rupture too far.

2 out of 5 stars

 

Fleetwood Mac's Wembley Stadium show was more than an exercise in nostalgia - review

 

"Without Lindsey they were flimsy"

Amyobecause❤️ on Twitter

 

I love Chris...but this is difficult to watch/hear. It's like admiring a wilted flower. It still retains some of what it once was, and you remember the beauty, but those days passed. (Speaking purely of the vocals - not her appearance. She looks great!)

 

Agreed. I could only watch a little bit of it. Had to stop.

 

Some observations from last night:

The Pretenders were an excellent support act. Chrissie Hynde sounds exactly as she did in the 80s and is in utterly fabulous voice. Superb.

Whoever is in charge of Fleetwood Mac's sound needs a kick up the ****. The Pretenders sound was loud, crisp and with plenty of bottom end thump. Just perfect really. FM, in contrast, was awful. Dull, muddy wash of sound with hardly any dynamics. Many instruments either buried in the mix or with no definition at all. Mick's drums with no crack or thump. Many people apparently walked out during the Sunday night show due to the poor sound as I was hoping it would have been tweaked for the show last night. If it was, they did not do a very good job.

Christine McVie cuts a beautiful, elegant and charismatic figure on the stage but sadly her voice has lost most of its power, Her numbers such as Little Lies and Everywhere were the weak points of the evening.

Stevie had the crowd in the palm of her hand. On the few occasions she held a high note the whole stadium erupted. Regardless of your opinion of her, hearing her sing Landslide is a wonderful experience and if it does not touch you on some level then perhaps no music ever will. Many people around me were snuffling and the stadium was lit up with phone torch lights. Special moment.

Mick is a regular loon and comedian. Drum solos normally bore the pants off of me but I have to say his effort was thoroughly entertaining, interspersed as it was with yelps and hollers for crowd involvement. For his age he sure pummels those skins with gusto and his frequent chats to the crowd were amusing and interesting.

Oh Well was the musical highlight of the night for me. Fabulous, powerful version that had me rocking out and wishing they would swop a few of the eighties number for a few more Peter Green classics. Green Manalishi would have been a dream come true.

Lindsey was sadly missed particularly on Second Hand News which just didn't sound right. I looked around and a few people were shaking their heads. Having said that, Campbell and Finn did generally acquit themselves well but they cannot do the impossible. Campbell was fabulous on the aforementioned Oh Well and again, hearing him perform some more Green numbers would have been great as he can clearly pull them off with aplomb. Finn singing Don't Dream its Over was a great singalong and the stadium was lit up again but yeah - I would have swopped it for Lindsey's presence obviously.

Overall a very enjoyable night that would have been better had the sound been tweaked. The crowd were great where I was - on their feet from the get go. Campbell remarked that it was the best crowd of all the Euro gigs but he likely says that at every show. My first and presumably last time seeing them so its another one ticked off the bucket list I guess. Most online reviews are giving it 4 out of 5 and I would concur with that.

 

I love Stevie‘s background vocals on the Pink Floyd Animals album.

 

The Guardian review of the second Wembley show, and the last date of the European tour. Also has history of the band's fallout in the last few years, as a part of the review.

Fleetwood Mac review – all the hits, with a sour aftertaste