Mac Attack

Is this a familiar image from your past, too? The family and I were fortunate enough to attend Fleetwood Mac's "Unleashed Tour 2009" last week. What an amazing show! It was wonderful to hear them play what was basically the soundtrack of our youth, and to share it with our kids. We've been playing their albums since the kids were born. In fact, I remember when my son was about four years old, a plumber was in our house doing some work, and he overheard my son singing. He got a strange look on his face and asked me, "Is he singing Fleetwood Mac?" Kind of shocking to the guy!

The crowd was.....interesting. I will post about them separately. The highlights of the evening? So many! This was the second time I've seen Fleetwood Mac live. Husband and I went to their reunion tour about 10 years ago. I love Stevie Nicks' voice; she's such an original and she doesn't need backup vocals (though there was a trio on some of the songs) because her voice is just so deep and rich. Hearing her sing 'Dreams,' 'Gypsy,' 'Rhiannon,' and 'Landslide' live and in person is worth the ticket price alone. I wasn't a huge fan of her solo efforts in the 80's, but when she sang 'Stand Back,' it definitely took me back there (I still claim some guy broke up with me in college because I wouldn't go to a Stevie Nicks concert with him and his sister at an outdoor venue). Stevie was still working her shawl magic near the end of the show when she sang 'Gold Dust Woman' with her back to the audience and a light shining on her while she did a shadow dance. Very cool.

Lindsey Buckingham rocked the guitar during 'Go Insane' and 'Big Love' and Mick Fleetwood was his usual insane self on the drums. Husband and I both said afterwards that it was the first concert we've attended where we worried about the performers having a heart attack on stage. I think everyone in the band is over 60 years old. You've got to love Mick when he strolls out to take a bow in his replica of the gypsy outfit on the cover of the 'Rumours' album.

Oddly enough, my favorite of the evening (and Middle Child's too) was 'Tusk.' I've always loved hearing that, no matter if Fleetwood Mac plays it or a marching band. I love how it can go on and on and on.........

After almost 2 1/2 hours of playing, the band thanked the audience and left the stage. My kids were like "awww.....is it over?? why didn't they play 'Don't Stop'?" I told them, "keep clapping and they'll come back." Sure enough, the band returned to sing 'Don't Stop' and another song (can't remember) for their first encore. Then they left again. College Daughter said, "Oh man...they didn't play my favorite song - 'Silver Springs'!" And again, I said, "you've got to keep clapping so that they return." Like magic, they came back out and sang 'Silver Springs!' How did I know ;)

Clean lyrics and not a single curse word on stage the entire evening. What a pleasure it was to share this with our kids.