Sydney Morning Herald by Bernard Zuel, October 23, 2015
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/...23-gkggkb.html
Fleetwood Mac Allphones Arena, October 22
★★★
The executive summary would be accurate but also not ever enough: too long and inconsistent of energy; some good sections and a virtual Classic Hits radio playlist; another "seriously, what the ... ?" moment with a drum solo and Christine McVie. Yes folks, it's worth an exclamation mark, Christine McVie!
The return, after 16 years, of the longest songwriting contributor in the band was always going to be more than just another body to accommodate onstage and a few more songs to add to the setlist. McVie's songs, from You Make Loving Fun - appearing two songs in, between Lindsey Buckingham's The Chain and Stevie Nick's Dreams, in the democratic/pragmatic structure long necessary in this complex band - to the show's closer, Songbird, with her at piano and only Buckingham on guitar accompanying her, are not just standards.
They, and she, are also the temperamental, lyrical and melodic balancing point between the very yin and definitely yang of the band's dominant forces, Nicks and Buckingham. That fractious pair these days make a deliberate, almost ostentatious, point of acknowledging each other, even singing to each other. But the more comfortable and frequent interactions are between Nicks and McVie, and Buckingham and McVie.
As with Nicks and to a lesser extent Buckingham, McVie's voice is not what it used to be and songs never really fly the way they used to. But accommodations are made, both by an audience just happy to have them there and ready to applaud anything, and a band with up to five extra voices filling out those harmonies. (Curiously, while the three backing singers and two extra guitarists/keyboard player/vocalists were acknowledged by Mick Fleetwood in the band introductions, no mention was made of the back-up drummer/percussionist hidden behind the guitar amps.)
Warmth and general happiness – not to mention an odd but entertaining Cajun spin on Tusk and the now standard, and winning, duo version of Landslide - weren't always enough to compensate for many flat periods where tempos dragged and things felt listless. Notably, Sara, Say You Love Me, Think About Me and Gypsy were sat through rather than lived through.
But from Little Lies, a lesser McVie number which nonetheless sparked up the evening as we approached the two-hour mark, the show regained its footing and energy, if not necessarily its quality settings. The less said about Fleetwood's obligatory solo the better, though it might be worth asking if they come back again, could we instead have Nicks, solo at piano, singing Planets Of The Universe. Please?
Fleetwood Mac play Allphones Arena Saturday and Sunday and Hope Estate Winery, November 14-15. Coopers Stadium, Adelaide, October 28; Domain Stadium, Perth, October 30; Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne November 2, 4 and 6; Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong, November 7; Brisbane Entertainment Centre, November 10 and 12
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