January 31 2015 – Take 9 parts Rumours, mix up with 6 parts Fleetwood Mac, 4 parts Tango In The Night. Top up with 3 parts Tusk and a sprinkle of Mirage. Bring back 1 part not deemed good enough for Rumours and your 70’s nostalgia recipe served by chefs Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood and John Mcvie is as close to aural perfection as anything available these days.
Fleetwood Mac is a group of 5 people whose personal lives are documented for the world – more than any of us should have a right to know about. However we all know about their rise to fame and conquering the charts with Rumours, we know about their over-indulgence of drugs and alcohol, but mostly we know the tales about their relationships and their disastrous breakups. Their story is so fascinating that it can only be real life – you can’t make up stuff like this.
Buffalo, New York was the site for the January 31st 2015 show of the On With The Show tour that featured a Fleetwood Mac that finally had its missing songbird back in the fold. While introducing Dreams, Stevie Nicks erroneously claimed this was the 46th show in the tour (it was actually the 49th show) but the main point is that Christine McVie is back. The show featured the exact same production order as all the other shows on the tour so far including the Toronto show back in October 18 2014. You can read our review of that show here.
We offer our review from the Toronto show below (reprinted with permission from ourselves), and since the show was identical the observations still hold true. Note we will be seeing the band a 3rd time this tour on Tuesday February 3rd in Toronto and oddly enough it is not even sold out at the time of this writing.
Much like a three-ring circus the spotlight was spread amongst the three-ring leaders McVie, Nicks and Buckingham. With the steady beat provided by Fleetwood and (the other) McVie this was easily the most polished we have ever seen the band. The huge ultra HD video screen behind the musicians added an insane experience to the whole effect. The videos were incredibly appropriate and enhanced the show greatly. There were also three smaller screens above the stage used to great effect.
Even though I stated there were three ringleaders riding high on talent and charisma this truly was Buckingham’s show. It is beyond comprehension that this man is officially a senior citizen but is in better shape than dudes 30 years younger than him. His epic turn at the spotlight with Go Your Own Way, Big Love, Never Going Back Again and in particular the 9 minute I’m So Afraid reminded us once again that this man is up there on the pantheon of classic rock gods with Jimmy Page and David Gilmour. I am not a professional concert reviewer so no matter how hard I try I can’t come up with any words to do the spectacle any justice so just watch this video below.
The 3 ring circus was fueled by the ladies as well. On one end of the scale we had Buckingham and his high-octane energy (even in the acoustic songs), and on the other side we had the mellow love musings of Stevie Nicks. The only person in the world that can get 20,000 people screaming just by doing a twirl she captivated us with her usual staples such as Landslide, Rhiannon, Silver Springs, Gypsy and Dreams. Landslide is usually dedicated to someone on this tour, and tonight was no exception. Nicks dedicated Landslide to the city of Buffalo which we find out is where she bought her infamous top hat at an antique show while shopping with Mick and Christine.
The balance between the Nicks Buckingham dynamic was of course the homecoming queen of the night Christine McVie. Her turn at the spotlight finally brought us back songs after her 16 year absence such as You Make Loving Fun, Little Lies, Over My Head, Everywhere and the most emotional moment of the night – the show closer Songbird. McVie delivered that powerful ballad on her grand piano sounding just like she did in 1977 – Buckingham strolled on stage and joined her halfway through the song to make the occasion one for remember for all in attendance.
Although as mentioned the 3 front liners had the spotlight most of the night there were moments where Fleetwood took center stage (quite literally for Gypsy) such as his drum solo for World Turning or his end of concert speech. John McVie even took the spotlight for his 10 second bass solo in The Chain but disappeared in the shadows the rest of the night.
This concert differed from the band’s previous tour with the removal of Sad Angel, Not That Funny, Sara, Without You, Eyes of the World, Stand Back and Say Goodbye and the addition of the mostly McVie related songs – You Make Loving Fun, Everywhere, I Know I’m Not Wrong, Say You Love Me, Over My Head, Little Lies, and Songbird.
Verdict: 5 out of 5. This show is in my top 3 of all time along with Roger Waters The Wall (which I saw 10 different times) and the early 90’s shows of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (which is as close to Led Zeppelin as I will ever get). As a classic rock aficionado I am hard to pressed to think of any other band huge band from the 70’s that is touring with its complete lineup and sounding so incredibly tight with a powerful and emotional stage show to back up the music. Fleetwood Mac’s On With The Show Tour is an early contender the best concert of 2015.
We leave you with a bunch of pictures to capture the memory of the night.
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The chain is complete!!