And then there were five. Again.

FLEETWOOD MAC – THE FORUM, LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY, 10 APRIL 2015

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It might be that for Fleetwood Mac there’s no other option: they have to start their show with a brace of their biggest hits because hits are all they have, and because hits are alI their generation-spanning fanbase will accept. And that expectation and appreciation are, in part at least, what are keeping these multi-millionaire 60- and 70-somethings trucking along on a year-long world arena tour (another one), even as decades-old “issues” refuse to go quietly into the night.

The name of this new jaunt defiently tells it like it is: this is Fleetwood Mac’s On With The Show tour. They hit the stage running in Los Angeles. They open with The Chain, its signature bass solo ground out with cool aplomb by John McVie. Flat-capped and rocksteady as ever, the 69-year-old is clearly very much back In the saddle after his 2013 cancer diagnosis.

Also back-in-Mac: his former wife, Christine McVie. After 17 years out of the fold – fear of flying and, well boredom of rocking caused her to exit, stage right, for retirement in the Kent countryside – the singer/keyboard player rejoined the band 18 months ago. Song two tonight is one of the 71-year-old’s signature classics from the era-defining Rumours album. You Make Loving Fun is defiantly funky, sprightly and blushingly giddy four decades on from its composition. Vocally. Christine sounds fantastic — aII the more remarkable considering that this is the 77th show of the tour.

Whether the subject matter still narks John is a moot point: Christine wrote it for her new fella after she and the bassist had split —her new fella being Fleetwood Mac’s lighting director Curry Grant. Badtimes for John, goodtimes tor Rumours, the 40 million-selling 1977 album whose grooves contained a whole soap opera of hits, splits and lovers’ tiffs.

Continue reading Hit Parade, Fleetwood Mac Review at The Forum, Los Angeles | Q Magazine, July 2015 →