Fleetwood Mac at O2 Arena

Fleetwood Mac

O2 Arena, 28 May 2015

Well, this was a long time coming: I finally saw the classic Rumours line-up of the Mac in concert. Aside from Christine McVie’s brief appearance with the band a couple of years back at the O2 (which I wrote about here), in all my years of being a fan it was the one thing that sadly eluded me. Although Buckingham Nicks have always been my favourites, it was Christine who drew me to the band in the first place when I first saw the video for Everywhere many years ago, so the promise of seeing her and hearing her play some of her many hits with the Mac this time was my main reason for paying a ridiculous amount (seriously, I don’t think I would do it for anyone but them) to see the band again for the eighth time.

Obviously Christine re-joining hasn’t just excited me because, whereas during their last three trips to these shores they’ve always played three nights in London, this time not only are they playing double that, six in all, but every one of those shows has sold out despite the exorbitant ticket prices. This night was actually the second of all those shows and apparently the likes of Adele, Florence Welch and Harry Styles were backstage schmoozing with the band (well Stevie Nicks) at the first night but I’m just happy to be witnessing this special event no matter what show it is.

It's true that bringing Christine back into the fold has made the current tour much more a greatest hits show than ever before, if that’s possible.  The time they gained from missing out Christine’s songs when she left in the late 1990s, gave the band the opportunity to play deeper tracks or unexpected rarities (like the Buckingham Nicks songs from the last tour and the little Tusk segment), but Christine’s tracks are what makes this tour just so exciting: they are the ones I’ve never heard live before.

Opening with the obligatory The Chain - which admittedly does sound rather magical with Christine’s vocals back in the mix - they don’t make us wait too long for a McVie number, offering up the funky Hammond organ loveliness of You Make Loving Fun, which sounds so fresh and sweet it almost feels like we have been transported back to 1977. It’s so thrilling to see her looking exactly as you’d expect Christine to look with her shaggy blonde hair (thankfully minus the side ponytail this time) and black sparkly suit and sounding as good and as regal as ever. I love that she has never lost her aloof Englishness, even during all those years living in California, it's without a doubt part of her charm. The rest of the band also look equally thrilled to have her there too, constantly looking and gesturing towards here, with even Lindsey spending a good portion of the entire show stalking over to her keyboards rather than doing the fake romance bit with Stevie (of course every time they walk on the stage they still come on holding hands – some people still believe it all but I’ve seen enough shows to know just how staged it all is).

The next few songs were fairly routine for the Mac, with Dreams, Second Hand News and Rhiannon (it’s actually weird to think how, let’s say, unspectacular Rhiannon has become these days – it was such a showstopper in the past). Stevie has, gasp, a new shawl for Rhiannon though, a black feathery affair that makes her look like Jon Snow’s mother (hey, Stevie is a Game Of Thrones fan after all) and there’s also cool video backdrops playing during every song which definitely add to the atmosphere and make the show even more visually interesting to watch.

Then the shimmering opening bars of Everywhere begin and the crowd go wild. Obviously this isn’t just a special song for me and hearing it now with Christine’s, Stevie’s and Lindsey’s beautifully blended voices, making absolutely perfect ethereal harmonies, actually makes me tear up a little. It really is pure magic. This is exactly what I paid to hear tonight and here they are delivering it and more. Christine seems genuinely pleased by the reaction and the warmth and love from the audience is a wonderful thing to see and feel. This is followed by some of my favourite moments of the night, with two songs from Tusk – a punky and hugely energetic Not That Funny complete with silly video of Lindsey’s disembodied head like something out of a Hitchcock movie and a hauntingly sinister Sisters Of The Moon with lots of great Stevie vocals and New Age-y, witchy visuals – and a lovely Say You Love Me, performed a la The Dance, with Mick’s small drumkit brought to the front of the stage, with the band almost recapturing their smaller stage days.  The song Tusk is also more fun with Chris back with her accordion and Lindsey again spends more time stomping over to her like the old days (I think they have been getting on a storm lately, even writing and recording together recently – funny when you consider that Lindsey was apparently the most reluctant about Chris’s return).  The backdrop this time is lots of colourful images of the USC marching band from the original recording but it’s much more fun watching the chemistry between Lindsey and Chris.

Then it’s back to the usual acoustic segment, with Lindsey’s showy Big Love (the guy next to me stood up to clap this which it deserves but I’ve just seen it so many times now),  Rumours favourite Never Going Back Again (with just Stevie providing backing vocals) and then the always wonderful Landslide. Stevie always gives a rambling dedication to this song and tonight was no different, this time going out to the band’s old road manager John Courage who was in the audience. I may sound a little cynical about these songs but it’s always great to hear them but when Christine returns and they break out Over My Head and Little Lies it is undeniably more thrilling and even the band seem rejuvenated playing them.  Even Gypsy, which I often feel doesn’t work as well as it could live, sounds on a different level now. Stevie introduces it with another long story about her early days as a struggling rock singer in San Francisco (who knew the Velvet Underground she mentions in the song was a store?) and somehow it lifts the song in a way that gives me a little chill down my spine.

The main show ends with of course Go Your Own Way (with Stevie looking rocking in trousers!) and Don’t Stop with Christine back on lead vocals where she belongs. Even when she guested with the band last time at the O2 she still let Stevie sing some of her lines but thankfully Christine is the star this time, as it is by far her most famous song and, I think, all of us here want to hear her sing it. The encore is kind of bizarre though I must say. First there’s World Turning, which again, is nice to hear Christine singing again but this song has always been an excuse for Mick’s long boring drum solo. Thankfully it wasn’t as painfully long as in the past but still so unnecessary.  I always wonder what song could have been played in its place but I can’t imagine the ego-driven Mick would ever give up this moment in the spotlight. Then they end the first encore with Silver Springs. Now I love this song and it has become something of a rediscovered classic since The Dance but it’s such a slow burner that it is not the rousing or gentle finale needed to end the show and many people used it as an excuse to leave early and beat the crowds, which was rather sad to see. 

Those who left were the losers though, not just for missing Silver Springs, but also because there was a second encore with just Christine alone on stage with her grand piano singing Songbird which was the absolute perfect, most magical way to end the show and almost worth the entire price of the ticket. Almost. All in all, I’m so glad Christine is back. What a show.