Fleetwood Mac as we’ve not seen them for a long, long time
Fleetwood Mac return to the SSE Hydro Glasgow on the first of three nights of the current On With The Show world tour
It’s been a fraught week or so for Fleetwood Mac and their fans. Their Birmingham gig cancelled last week due to illness. Who was ill? We do not know but that all seemed rather irrelevant as they took to the stage of the Glasgow SSE Hydro last night.
Our first glimpse of the new, old, Fleetwood Mac line-up with the recently re-emerged Christine McVie was to the infallible sound track of The Chain. From this first song the audience were given the immediate impression that this performance would be different to those in recent years. Lindsey Buckingham unleashed a roar to the crowd at the end of the first track that almost seemed laced with pain.
The spotlight shifted to Christine McVie during You Make Loving Fun and, for the first time in a long time, it’s abundantly clear Stevie Nicks isn’t the most important woman on the stage. But this is a good thing, Fleetwood Mac sound fuller, richer, more comfortable with the music and their line-up, less led by Nicks.
Nicks is adorned with her trade mark fingerless gloves and hippie-chic black regalia. She delivers Dreams with a slightly altered arrangement that means there aren’t as many high notes to hit. The individuality and texture of her vocal makes this transition seamless nonetheless.
Buckingham entertains with his determination to rock out, dance, enjoy the ecstatic crowd who have managed to line up below the band, and generally consume the stage. When Christine McVie steps out from behind her keyboard, maracas in hand, she and the tambourine-bearing Stevie dance or jostle; I’m not sure which, to the much-celebrated Everywhere.
As has been the case in past Fleetwood Mac performances there is a certain amount of time allocated to on-stage nostalgia. Having Christine McVie present provides the perfect opportunity for this and in Buckingham’s welcoming of her he also heralds a “…profound, beautiful and prolific chapter for this band Fleetwood Mac..” and when they both join John McVie for what could be a private jamming session to the right of the stage, it looks like they’ve never been apart and this could be the start of something new.
Buckingham’s ever-solo performance of Big Love is a show-stealer; he appears to play this even more nimble-fingered then their last visit to Glasgow. He says the song was written about his “…increasing contemplation of alienation…” but now he sees it as a “…mediation on change…”.
At the end of Landslide, Nicks’ longing looks at Buckingham linger a couple of seconds longer than necessary for that dramatic effect which they have so comfortably honed. But Nick’s role in this gig has been less prowling temptress and more member of the band. Buckingham’s performance of Never Going Back Again feels just like that, his performance and she’s intruding on it.
The rest of the show is cluttered with hits along with sometimes pleasant, sometimes overly-distracting visuals, projected onto a large backdrop. During Gold Dust Woman though, Nicks retrieves her stage and her position. She prowls and writhes across the stage seductively and lifts her arms aloft, the outline of her gold shawl, accentuated by the lighting creating the wings for this angel of the stage.
Mick Fleetwood’s trade mark drum solo comes amidst World Turning, a wild, animalistic outbreak which sees the crowd whipped up to a frenzy which, it’s easy to see, is joy-inducing for the drummer. Calling back to the crowd prepares us for the inevitable approach of the end of the show but not before praise and admiration is heaped on his band members by the only original member on stage. Fleetwood points out Buckingham has not left the stage but for 30 seconds, he calls him the “musical mentor” of the band. Nicks is the “eternal romantic” and Christine McVie is their “songbird” who makes the band “oh so complete”. But the largest complement is saved for John McVie, he is “the backbone of the band”.
Mac leaves us with his trademark sign off and reminder “The Mac is back”; thankfully this is truer than ever when it comes to their live performance. Now we need to see whether the album, which is supposedly in the pipelines, materialises and showcases a new recording strength in this rock ‘n’ roll behemoth.
Set list
Kelly Crichton 