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Fleetwood Mac at Staples Center 5/29/2009 (1 of 2)
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Fleetwood Mac played the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on May 28, 2009.
This article is part 1 of a 2 part series; a review of Fleetwood Mac’s performance at Staples Center, 5/28/2009.
The lights went dark at 8:19pm and the show started at 8:20. As the crowd rose, a man in the next row asked, “Are we in the senior mosh pit?” No one moshed, but very few people sat back down, and then only for a song or two.
The band opened with Monday Morning from the 1975 album, Fleetwood Mac. The stage had two white slightly convex rectangle shapes behind the stage shining bright solid colors against the band; red, then blue, then red. As sets progressed, four additional smaller bars came into play above the band, reflecting colors and shapes.
Mick Fleetwood has a big grey beard and bushy ponytail, with a pate balding slightly more than before, and his eyes looked wild and determined as he played a rousing first song.
The band moved on to The Chain; Lindsey’s voice was very potent as he belted out the lyrics, his guitar playing inspired. Stevie Nicks has hardly changed at all in the last decade or two, looking and sounding as good as ever.
The stage lights up in purple and lavender, setting off Lindsey’s bright-red shirt and black jacket, and Stevie’s black dress. Mick and John McVie both wear white shirts with black vests.
Stevie gave a shout-out to Los Angeles, “We’re thrilled you came here. I’m speechless! I think we should get this party started!” The band then played Dreams, with Stevie’s voice haunting the audience as she gentled the lyrics.
After Dreams, Lindsey related, “The show in Los Angeles is a profound thing for us. I grew up in the Bay area… I never thought of living here. But LA draws you in. Consequently, LA is home, so now I am home. This band has had a complex history, a convoluted history. When we came together, there’s this sense of forward motion. There’s no new album to promote … yet! So let’s do the songs we love and we hope you love them too. We’re here to have a great time and we’re hoping you have a great time too!”
The band then played I Know I’m Not Wrong, with red and yellow and orange lights flashing across the stage.
Stevie told the story of how she was recruited into Fleetwood Mac. She was told it was a San Francisco hard-rock group, and she said, “All right!” and jumped in. They practiced every day from 5:30 to 10:30. They got to open for Janis Joplin, have lunch with Santana, and meet Bill Graham, which she said was a major honor. She mentioned Velvet Underground, a house in San Jose, and mentioned the gypsy period of five years.
The band then played Gypsies, with aqua and blue colors that faded into swirling green. Next, Fleetwood Mac played Go Insane, with a Rorschach style inkblot design forming on the screens above them, and then played an incredible version of Rhiannon.
“If memory serves, and I admit it does not always, this next song is the first song we recorded for the Rumors album,” Lindsey said. He talked about some personal differences, and getting through some rough emotional opposites. “This is a song with a lot of emotion,” he then leads into Second Hand News.
They played Tusk next, with a haunting beginning. Lindsey gave an evil laugh, very gently strumming on his guitar and gave some great yelling. “Just tell me that you want me!” The song climaxed in a big buildup, then a heavy outro with the keyboards. The only thing missing was the USC marching band.
Next they played Sara to a purple and blue background.
See part 2 of this review of Fleetwood Mac’s performance at Staples Center, 5/28/2009.
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