Fleetwood Mac at O2 Arena
Fleetwood Mac
O2 Arena, 27 June 2015
It's such a different experience being down at the front at an arena show, it's almost like seeing an entirely different concert. A month ago I saw the Mac's return with Christine McVie back in the band at an excellent vantage point in the side seats. In a lot of ways I feel I saw more of the show that time as I could see the whole band at all times and watch the cool films that were playing behind them and really just concentrate on the music. That said, it is undeniably thrilling to be up close to your heroes and see all the action close enough to be able to reach out and touch them or hear things they are saying away from the microphones.
Of course this isn't the first time I've been front row for the Mac and I've been lucky enough to be in front of Stevie and Lindsey, even getting to strum his guitar a few times, over the years. This time I would have loved to have been nearer Christine but my seat was nearer to Lindsey, so when we got the call to get up and rush to the front (which they always encourage) I found myself directly in front of the Mac guitarist himself. As I said previously, I have full standing-in-front-of-Lindsey experience before and it was completely thrilling. You always forgive all his showboating because he's so commutative with the fans at the stage, particualrly those around him. This time though I experienced something a little different.
Now I've always been aware of Lindsey's huge, huge ego and heard stories of him requesting the prettiest girls being in his line of vision but it was still a little bit of a shock to see him outrageously flirting with a Stevie look-alike young enough to be his granddaughter. It was so blatant. He kept smiling at her, winking at her, making little comments to her and even singing to her. Lindsey looked even older, more leathery and has even less hair than I last saw him. He's 65 now, has been married 15 years and is the father of three teenagers (two of them girls), so while I'm sure stuff like this has always gone on behind the scenes, he is a self-important rock star after all, it was particularly creepy seeing it all going on in front of my face. The girl though, obviously a big fan, lapped it all up and even gave him a letter which he took before the encore. At the end he came over all smiles and told the petite blonde he would "see her later". Eww.
Obviously the show was so much more than Lindsey being sleazy to young, good-looking female fans but it was interesting how little Stevie interacted or even made eye contact with him during the concert, except of course during their little scripted "romantic" moments (seeing it played out on stage so many times now it's bizarre how many fans think it's all real). Seeing her up close I thought she looked tired and often was going through the motions: my feeling was that she was only there out of loyalty to the band and Christine, who she had wanted back in the band for years. This combined with her reluctance to record a new album with the Mac, despite the fact that the others have already recorded a number of songs together, makes me think that things aren't all rosy behind the scenes with Lindsey and this, along with his eye-rolling behaviour, kept her on her side of the stage and concentrating on her own performance.
I did wonder if there was a little bit of conflict too when Lindsey dedicated a song to Peter Green, who was in the audience that night, making a little speech about his importance to the band, stealing Stevie's thunder somewhat when she came on and made her nightly Landslide dedication. Unswayed she acknowledged Lindsey had already made a dedication to Peter Green but wanted to make her own. Hers was actually rather nice though, talking about how she had read the recent Life Magazine article on the Mac and discovered a lot she didn't know about their early years and also mentioning how handsome Green was back then (it's true!). Green has been in the audience at previous Mac shows I've been to over the years, so he must always make the effort when they are in London, which is definitely nice. I just hope he's doing well these days. I'm sure though he was touched by both his dedications tonight.
The set list was exactly the same as last time, absolutely no surprises there - the Mac have never been a band to take risks in this regard - but again it was great to see it all take place up close this time. The freshest moments for me were Christine's songs which I think even reinvigorated the band and McVie herself looked absolutely thrilled to be singing them again finally. But to be fair to Stevie and Lindsey, experiencing their songs, even those old staples of the set, right next to the stage where you felt like you were in the middle of all that incredible music being played, gave them a new magic too and it was undeniably incredible to see Stevie shimmering capes twirl so near to me and Lindsey's jaw-dropping finger-picking played right in front of me, like he was playing a little private concert. I may have seen him perform Big Love numerous times now but when he is in front of you, his amazingly talented fingers a blur, it's hard not to feel completely awed and forgive him all his ego-driven sins. Lindsey may not be a perfect human being but he's pretty much a perfect musician, that's for sure.
At the end of the day, it's wonderful to see the Rumours-era Mac back together and I will never not be thrilled to hear all those songs played live (and I hope new ones will join them and that Stevie relents, although I do understand why she's so reluctant). Christine looked so happy and glittery, her shaggy blonde hair helping her look ever-youthful. John McVie looked skinny and older after his health scare (he is in remission from cancer) but ever reliable and more content now that Chris is back by his side on stage. Lindsey still looks like a rock star in his skinny jeans and pouty face with his rehearsed speeches and feigned moments of humbleness. Stevie is still an absolute goddess, looking beautiful and sounding as good as ever. And Mick still does that long, long drum solo but he's both the king and court jester in Fleetwood Mac, towering over them all in both stature and personality, keeping things together. Having recently read his second autobiography I can't say I'm a huge fan of him as a person but I hugely admire the way he has kept the band going for so many years and his unique drum sound that adds so much to the atmosphere and feel that makes me love them so much.
My highlight of the evening was hearing Songbird played on Christine's grand piano and being able to watch her emotions while singing close-up. It really is great to have her back in the band. She seems really sweet to the fans too and never really acts like a big rock star on stage. It's such a big contrast to the others (well, apart from John of course) but there's no doubt the mixture of these differing personalities is what makes them so special and I feel so lucky to witness it all from such a privileged position once again.
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