Fleetwood Mac 'Don't Stop' Delighting on the Christine McVie Comeback Tour -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

Fleetwood Mac
United Center, Chicago
October 3, 2014 (also played 10/2)
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On Thursday, the night before I saw Fleetwood Mac at the cavernous United Center, I saw Robert Plant--of Led Zeppelin, one of my five favorite rock acts of all-time--at the relatively intimate Riviera Theatre.

That rapturous show left me absolutely euphoric--see my review here--but also got me home at 12:30am following some late-night CTA delays, and a 3-block walk to my car in the rain.

So working on just 5 hours of sleep, I was crazy tired but nonetheless felt compelled to have a couple of beers at a post-work Social Hour before taking the bus to the UC.

For both me and my friend Paolo, this would be our 3rd concert in 4 nights, and 4th in seven. Opting for the cheapest possible way in, our tickets were for seats in the very last row of the top level behind the stage.

While I am a longtime Fleetwood Mac fan--after the Eagles' Hotel California, their 1977 Rumours was the first zeitgeist album of my conscious awareness (Saturday Night Fever would soon follow), and I even had a FMac poster on my bedroom wall at one point--and am happy that Christine McVie is back in the fold after 17 years away, I am more so a fan of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who we had seen on a Fleetwood Mac tour in the same venue just 18 months previously.

I have also seen Fleetwood Mac--whose two other "classic lineup" stalwarts are Mick Fleetwood and John McVie--twice more over the past 11 years, and Buckingham on his own once during that time.

Christine's return would allow for the reappearance of a few songs with her on lead vocals, but the band hasn't created a full new album in any guise since 2003's Say You Will.

So if there was ever a concert that might suffer due to comparison, personal exhaustion, repetition and lousy seats, this would seemingly be it.

But the first miracle happened even before the show started.

Likely selecting us because we had the worst seats in the house, a guy named Mike randomly came up to us and--with an explanation I still don't fully understand--offered to exchange two 100-level seats, for which he paid $189 each, with ours, wanting nothing in return. (He didn't sit in our seats, but just needed the ticket stubs; I feared some kind of scam, but it's not like we couldn't have returned to the top deck if need be.)

Although our new seats were technically further from the stage than our old ones, the vantage point was much better and the straightaway perspective was perfect.

With no opening act, the celebrated quintet came onstage at 8:15--with a pair of both additional musicians and backup singers blended into the background--and launched into their longstanding ode to brotherhood (and sisterhood), "The Chain."

Hopefully, even with Christine McVie back onstage with the band, the world will be safe from galactic catastrophe, as back in December 2012 when asked by Rolling Stone about the possibility of merely a McVie guest spot, Stevie Nicks was quoted as saying:

"There's no more a chance of that happening than an asteroid hitting the earth. She is done."

But, as Christine herself told Rolling Stone this past May, "It was an epiphany because I suddenly knew I wanted to join the band again. ... I just thought, "I got to go for it. I can’t just sit here in the country rotting away. I have to do something, and something special.""

Nicks, Buckingham and Fleetwood all spoke onstage about how happy they were to have Christine back with them, and despite being diagnosed and treated for cancer last year, her ex-husband John McVie was steady as a rock on bass all night, continuing a 47-year-run in the band named for him and Fleetwood.

So it was appropriate, touching and musically mirthful that a Christine McVie written and sung song, "You Make Loving Fun" followed "The Chain."

Several more of her songs, including "Everywhere," "Say You Love Me," "Over My Head" and "Little Lies" did well to spotlight how integral her contributions have been--and did much to distinguish this year's Mac tour from 2013's and other 21st century outings.

Yet while I very much like McVie's songs, and even more so those of Nicks (who, as I noted to Paolo, may well be the most iconic extant female rock vocalist)--including "Dreams," "Rhiannon," "Gypsy" and "Gold Dust Woman"--I was again reminded just how much I love Lindsey Buckingham as a singer, songwriter and guitarist. 

His considerable gifts in all three regards were in ample display.

Along with his "Second Hand News," "Never Going Back Again" and "Go Your Own Way" from Rumours--9 of that disc's 11 songs were performed--I especially enjoyed hearing the rollicking "I Know I'm Not Wrong" from Tusk, which I only really know because Buckingham spotlighted it during the solo show of his I saw in 2006.

Though the night featured a clear rotation of Lindsey songs, Stevie songs and Christine songs, unlike tours past I didn't note any obvious tension among the band members--particularly Buckingham and Nicks, perhaps rock's most storied former lovers. 

Stevie & Lindsey's tandem "Landslide" (video below) felt especially touching, while more collective group numbers like "Tusk," "World Turning" and "Don't Stop" sounded ebullient.

Even back when the bandmates were notoriously feuding and/or merely tolerating each other for a sizable payday, Fleetwood Mac has never been less than  enjoyable in concert, due to their prideful professionalism and plethora of great songs.

But whether talk of continuing collaboration (past this tour) and rejuvenated kinship proves true or not, at least for this night I believed in the harmony.

That said, near-the-end extended takes on Nicks' "Gold Dust Woman" and Buckingham's "I'm So Afraid" were clear highlights while showcasing how collaboration and competition have long gone hand-in-hand within Fleetwood Mac.

This was further illustrated as Lindsey's written-about-Stevie "Go Your Own Way" ended the main set, while Stevie's written-for-Rumours-but-left-off rebuttal "Silver Springs" (which was resurrected during The Dance reunion tour) finished off the first trio of encores rather than the more obvious "Don't Stop."

Though it was far from the most buoyant way to end a concert, there was an appreciative grace to Christine McVie returning to the stage, alone, for a rendition of "Songbird"; she was eventually accompanied by Buckingham on guitar, and the rest of the band came out for bows.

All in all, it was a superb concert that featured 24 really good to truly wonderful songs by a band that seems newly reinvigorated in their late 60s. While it didn't leave me quite as ecstatic as the Robert Plant show the night before, I couldn't imagine it being much better than it was.

And it really didn't suffer by point of comparison; I just like Led Zeppelin better than Fleetwood Mac, but the latter more than almost any current band (save perhaps Arcade Fire, live).

So although the full houses of fans largely much younger and hipper than me that loved the Black Keys at the UC last weekend may never believe it, the five old farts in Fleetwood Mac not only played an hour longer than the Keys, but IMHO--and Paolo's--they were infinitely better in every regard.

And I liked the Black Keys show.

As Mick Fleetwood exclaimed in somewhat an unnecessary monologue after the music ended (Nicks had one too):

"The Mac is back!"

Fully.

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Below is video I shot of "Landslide"; sorry for the parts where Paolo and I sing along.

Rumours of True Harmony Elevate Fleetwood Mac (or at least my enjoyment) -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

Fleetwood Mac
United Center, Chicago
April 13, 2013
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It could be easy, I suppose, to be cynical about yet another Fleetwood Mac tour, especially as they are again not supporting a new album (though they promised an EP soon).

I don't think one could be blamed for suspecting that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham simply appreciate the much greater income and ego boost sold-out arenas give them over their less appreciated solo outings. Or that every few years Mick Fleetwood and John McVie need to rake in more cash to pay for their butlers and gardeners.

Whether or not any or all of the above is true, I am not enough of a purist--I will continue to pay to hear great bands play great songs regardless of their reasons, so long as I don't feel they are cheating me--not to have attended Fleetwood Mac shows in 2003, 2009 and again on Saturday night at the United Center. (I didn't see the initial, 1997 reunion tour of the classic lineup but I did watch The Dance televised performance and purchased the live album of the same name).

I love enough of the band's best material--especially from 1975's Fleetwood Mac, 1979's Tusk and especially 1977's Rumours--and feel that Buckingham and Nicks, in particular, showcase enough professional pride and integrity every time they step on stage that I largely enjoyed the previous Fleetwood Mac shows I've seen.

Until Lindsey and Stevie begin to sound like Bob Dylan and Tom Waits I could happily hear them sing songs like "Dreams," "Rhiannon," "The Chain," "Landslide," "Tusk," "Don't Stop" and "Go Your Own Way" until the end of time.

But while I can't recall exact particulars of past shows, my perception was that the acrimony that helped fuel the brilliance of Rumours--an album famously made in the aftermath of Lindsey and Stevie's romantic split, the divorce of John & Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood's own divorce proceedings--wasn't entirely a thing in the past. (Although Christine participated in the 1997 reunion, she has not been on any of the tours of the new millennium, as the other four members have .)

There were enough times when Lindsey and Stevie seemed to seethe at each other--whether on stage or in the press--that although their inherent love was apparent, so too was plenty of unfinished business.

Given that this is how Fleetwood Mac existed, and even flourished, on Rumours and over the subsequent 10 years of the "classic lineup," I can't really say that the past shows I saw artistically suffered for it. In fact, the soap opera revolving around rock's greatest doomed romance has always been part of what has made Fleetwood Mac so riveting.

And the resulting "Can you top this?" creative rivalry between the former lovers has not only generated many classic songs, but helped the latter-day live shows bristle with a storied sense of tension.

Well, who knows what really happens in the dressing room and on the road between shows, but at the UC it looked to me like Lindsey and Stevie have buried the hatchet to a greater extent than I recall previously perceiving.

Sure, they still faced off during "Go Your Own Way" (video below) and on Stevie's originally-scrapped-from-Rumours rebuttal, "Silver Springs," but with tender takes on "Landslide," a rediscovered lost Buckingham Nicks song, "Without You"--which Stevie called the nicest song she'd ever written about Lindsey--and the show closing "Say Goodbye", which Lindsay said he wrote as a song of closure, it was nice to sense that detente, this time, wasn't merely a mercenary measure.

Yet, even if true, did this really make Fleetwood Mac's performance better?

That's debatable. I missed the great "Monday Morning," which the band used as an opener on the 2009 tour and my friend Paolo missed the harmonies Christine McVie had brought to the recordings. He also was a bit more troubled than I by the tenor of Stevie's singing voice on the edge of 65.

But while noting that our seats in the front row of the 3rd deck meant a glass barrier muffled the sound a bit, I was every bit as pleased with what Fleetwood Mac delivered as I was with Bob Seger the previous Saturday (who I likewise awarded @@@@1/2).

I thought the band both chose their material and paced their set well. Given that the Mac is celebrating the 35th Anniversary of Rumours--albeit a year late--seven songs were included from it, one of the best-selling albums of all-time. (See the full Fleetwood Mac United Center setlist on Setlist.fm.)

But the group played a new song--"Sad Angel"--that sounded strong, and I believe "Eyes of the World" was another new one (Note: Commenters have corrected me; the latter is from Mirage). They showcased the under appreciated Tusk album with a quartet of songs--"Not That Funny," "Tusk," "Sisters of the Moon" and "Sara"--while Buckingham's typically terrific guitar playing was most demonstrably sublime on "Big Love" and "I'm So Afraid."

The animated Mick Fleetwood remains a powerhouse drummer, and though the steady as a statue John McVie doesn't look like he deserves a quarter of the box office take, he has been holding down the band's rhythm section since 1967. (Two extra musicians and two backup singers also were on-stage.)

A shout out to recently passed early band members--particularly Bob Welch--seemed in order, but was never forthcoming, despite a number of monologues from Lindsey and Stevie.

Nonetheless, this was a show that reminded me that Fleetwood Mac has been a really good band for a really long time, with the twosome who took them to another level--Buckingham and Nicks--literally front and center.

And seemingly quite happy to be there. Together.

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Here's a clip of "Go Your Own Way," which I and everyone else lustily sang along with. Posted to YouTube by trboogaard.