Gig review: Fleetwood Mac - Genting Arena (4th July 2015)

Photo: www.pinnaclebankarena.com

Question: When do you ever go to a gig with your parents? Answer: Only when it's a band that's music transcends generations. Fleetwood Mac certainly fits into this category. So on Saturday night, the 15,000 strong audience at Birmingham's Genting Arena was one of the most mixed you're ever likely to see at a concert. Fans, whose ages ranged from 8 to 80, came along to see the band which has been the soundtrack to their lives.

The show started in style with a toe-thumping performance of 'The Chain', featuring *that* bass riff. Then followed a plethora of the band's greatest hits from Dreams to Say You Love Me, including a show-stopping version of 'Tusk'. 

After this, the rest of the band members left the stage to leave Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to do a few acoustic numbers, featuring a spine-tingling 'Big Love' and a very emotional 'Landslide', dedicated to Nicks' father.

When the band returned to the stage, Buckingham's position as rock's most underrated guitarist was confirmed after a sensational guitar solo in one of Fleetwood Mac's heavier efforts, 'I'm So Afraid'.

Photo:nme.com

They even came back for a 4 song encore, kicking off with 'World Turning' including an incredible drum solo, from the bonkers but brilliant Mick Fleetwood complete with Freddie Mercury-esque sing backs with the crowd.

By the time they played 'Don't Stop', everyone in the crowd, including my Dad, were up on the feet and in the palm of the band's hand. Their penultimate song was the ethereal b-side 'Silver Springs' (how it didn't make it on to the album 'Rumours', God only know) and was arguably Nicks' strongest vocal performance of the night. 

Photo: www.gettingimages.com

Fleetwood Mac may have got back together in the recent past, but this tour was special as it saw the return of Christine McVie to the band, following a 16 year absence. McVie smashed her hits including Don’t Stop, Little Lies and You Make Loving Fun. Mick Fleetwood remarked that "our songbird has returned", and so what better way to finish the 2 and a half hour show with McVie sitting at a piano, performing her beautiful ballad, 'Songbird'.

The evening finished with a message from Mick Fleetwood proclaiming that "the Mac are most definitely back". And as they move into their 70s, they've never sounded better.