The musical soap opera known as Fleetwood Mac rolled into Toronto yet again for another tour but this time without its most important member Lindsey Buckingham whom they fired earlier this year.
Let us begin by saying we are huge Fleetwood Mac fans. We flew out to New Jersey to see the show from front row center and do a VIP meet and greet with Mick Fleetwood. We flew to London’s O2 arena to see them front row again, we saw them at an invite only party at CES in Las Vegas, and the list goes on. Please click on one of the links above to understand the type of coverage we provide.
Also please note that we paid for the ticket for tonight’s show (and every single other Fleetwood Mac show we ever wrote about, except for the invite only show mentioned above) – no free reviewer tickets here to sway our observations. In fact I think all music reviews should state if the ticket was bought or given for free from the promoter or the band.
News broke that Lindsey Buckingham is no longer part of Fleetwood Mac earlier this year, and this tour was announced right after that. While logic would dictate that this tour would not sell many tickets or that perhaps they would be discounted to something reasonable like $100, neither assumption proved to be true. It seems that many people had no idea that Buckingham would not be there and thus jumped in eagerly and it also seems that the band name is much bigger than the individual artists.
There is a trend in that most classic era rock bands tour these days without the golden era vocalists ( some quick example of bands we have seen recently – Yes without Anderson, Journey without Perry, Styx without DeYoung, Foreigner without Gramm, and even AC/DC without Johnson). For whatever reason (9 times out of 10 it is because of $$$), the lead singer (and usually main songwriter), is not there. However Fleewood Mac without Buckingham is a much larger shock than anything above because he is also the main guitarist and the creative genius of everything the band made when they ruled the airwaves.
The really good news is that Buckingham is doing his own local show on Friday November 16th in a much more intimate setting in Kitchener’s Centre In The Square. As at the time of this writing a 20th row ticket in the small theater setting will cost about $80 to see the solo Buckingham show. On the other hand, tickets were still available for Fleetwood Mac at the Scotiabank Arena on the night of the show, and a lovely seat in the back of the 300 sections (i.e. where you so high up and so far back that feel you are watching people watching a concert) was selling for $211.25. Clearly the Kitchener show is a much better choice and yet it is not even sold out yet – the power of the band name proven once again.
Enough preamble… I am sure you know where we are going with this article.
The show kicks off as usual with The Chain and there are two dudes to Nicks’ left instead of the iconic Buckingham. Once the initial notes began I would usually be cheering the band appearance but instead I felt someone had punched me in the gut. This is not Fleetwood Mac playing for their fans or even their love of music. Money makes the world go round and that was the only thought in my head at this point. The video screen above the band had six boxes instead of five showing the various musicians. What was also very obvious is that there are 11 musicians on stage including a backup drummer to Fleetwood and a back up keyboardist to Christine McVie. A very large number of musicians indeed.
While the setlist consisted of the 70’s heyday staples from the Rumours album (Don’t Stop, Dreams, Go Your Own Way, Gold Dust Woman, Second Hand News, The Chain, You Make Loving Fun), and from the Fleetwood Mac album (Landslide, Monday Morning, Rhiannon, Say You Love Me, World Turning) there was nothing from the Buckingham driven Tusk.
The good about the setlist was that we did get to revisit some really old classic Mac blues songs – Oh Well, Tell Me All The Things You Do and Black Magic Woman. Those 3 songs were really the only time I didn’t feel Buckingham’s absence as he was not responsible for their creation or recording. See, there always is a silver lining! One thing that was lacking was Christine McVie’s Songbird to end the night, but we did get a song never played live before this tour to end the night – a duet between McVie and Nicks on All Over Again.
What was really missing tonight was Buckingham staples Big Love and the show stealing I’m So Afraid. Instead the band presents Dont Dream It’s Over by Crowded House and Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty. I do not understand why I am hearing other bands covers at a Fleetwood Mac show? This is just plain wrong and seems like an attempt to cover up Buckingham’s absence. On the positive side thank god that Christine is back in the fold as she carried on with grace, elegance and with a seriously understated charm. Her Little Lies and Everywhere delivered to perfection and her smile never ending.
Nicks of course continued to deliver her standard fare and nobody can get an arena to roar in appreciation with a twirl like she can. She commanded the audience with ease and with no competition for the spotlight she was clearly the main attraction of the show tonight.
.
5 years ago I wrote this on a Fleetwood Mac show review : “Was tonight a throwback to the excess of the 70’s and a full celebration of the band’s long hair, cigarette stained fingers, bell bottoms and beards? Absolutely, but it was done in a way that romanticized a bygone era both in the failed relationships of the band members as well as the timelessness of their music.” If you understand that comment from half a decade ago, then you understand what was wrong with the 2018 version of Fleetwood Mac. The legacy that Buckingham and Nicks created was not there and for me Fleetwood Mac of 2018 has lost a lot of the rage and passion that made them what they are.
What really seemed odd to me was that the crowd in front of the stage was sitting most of the night. I have never seen that at a concert before and certainly not at a Fleetwood Mac show. It really felt like a snoozefest at times and I was one of the very few people that stood up the whole show (I was in the 5th row). The image below shows how most of the night was.
My words may sound like whining and I have already been called a “sourpuss” on Twitter over my comments during the show, but I feel it is important that a reality for many Fleetwood Mac fans be given a voice. Newspapers and mass media will continue their four out of five star generic reviews and in the end my words wont make any difference at all. Toronto was totally sold out for the show tonight and due to “popular demand” the band will be back in April of 2019 for yet another sure to be sold out show. However I truly feel this is one of the most important reviews I have ever written because of the importance of Buckingham and his contribution t this band.
Once upon a time I told myself I wont waste time writing negative reviews. After all this website is created for a passion of what we call #RealRock and there is good in every show that we attend. It is with absolute respect for Neil Finn and Mike Campbell as musicians we publish this article, but sometimes it is important for people to know what they are getting. To be honest I did not want to go to this show at all but curiosity got the best of me and after reading all the mass media articles about how great this tour was I had to witness it for myself. It seems there is some paid content being generated (for example look at this non factual garbage in an Ottawa newspaper). While it was a fun night out, I am really waiting for next Friday for the Buckingham show to really get my positive vibe back on.
All of this of course is my personal opinion and I am sure there were many that enjoyed the show much more than I did, but I am hoping that those people can acknowledge that an irreplaceable part of the chain was missing.
Verdict: 2 out of 5 – No Buckingham = Not Fleetwood Mac. Period.
We leave you with some photos from the night:
This review is the poorest you’ve written. You can preamble all you want regarding your fair reviews and love of FM, but this review is completely biased because it’s written by an exclusive fan of Lindsey Buckingham. He’s clearly your main attraction to the Mac, and that’s ok. But it completely jaded your review of the show, it’s quality, and the players still in the game. There was no (or hardly any) positive or constructive praise about the set list or the other band members. And the only negative was related to Buckinghams absence. Your quip about back up musicians is null because they’ve been present on all FM shows since 1980, and is just another attempt to cast a shadow over the major talent in the band. I love Lindsey, but he has left the ever revolving lineup of FM for a second time (exactly how still up in the air) and maybe someday he’ll be back. But FM as a whole is so much more than him, and unfortunately, you’ve failed to realize it.
Thanks for taking the time John. I strongly disagree with your statement that I have failed to realize that FM is much more than just him or any individual. Perhaps my writing was not clear on the point. My point is that FM (the golden era version of the band) consists of the 5 members. Take away one of the 5 and it is no longer the same band. I appreciate you and many others don’t care if he is missing, and trust me most at the concert didn’t even seem to notice or care.
Also please do note I wrote this in the review “All of this of course is my personal opinion and I am sure there were many that enjoyed the show much more than I did, but I am hoping that those people can acknowledge that an irreplaceable part of the chain was missing.” Please don’t get so upset up over my opinion. It is simply one man’s opinion after all.
Peace and Love man….
Amen to that, T-Mak! IMO, LB singing, ‘The Chain with Little Big Town is authentic whereas the current FM line-up’s attempt to cover it, is not. The Chain is a FM group anthem that they quit on when they fired LB. It really doesn’t work without him. And FM covering, ‘Go Your Own Way’ without the son’s author is just a really bad idea. If they wanted so badly to be a new band that they fired him, they should have done it without relying on his work.
It is a shame that FM are without LB and that peeps are trying to use the argument that SN & LB have not always been the band when most think otherwise. Thank you for the review.