Fleetwood Mac - RAC Arena Perth - 9 August, 2019

Fleetwood Mac has always been a band in the middle of a saga and their current tour formation is just another complicated chapter in their story. With more relationship drama than ABBA, a Fleetwood Mac lineup has never been a steady affair. Not in the 1970s, and not now. Whilst we could mourn the loss of Lindsey Buckingham this tour (and it is a loss), two guitar giants have stepped in - with four feet now filling the shoes of two.

And so show #63 of a massive global tour, and show #1 of the Australian leg, begins with a warm welcome from Mick Fleetwood and the thumping drum intro of The Chain. And we're off into a two and half hour marathon showcase of Fleetwood Mac's 'best of' with a couple of surprise inclusions from the newcomers - Crowded House's frontman Neil Finn and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell.

It is confirmed from the very opening lyric "listen to the wind blow" that both will play a very key part in this show - Finn both vocally and on guitar. Vocally he is a better than expected fit to this heritage band and receives a hero's welcome from the home crowd, for he is, after all, a national treasure (sorry NZ he's ours now). I am sure none of us (let alone him) saw his career heading in the current direction. Although his own band incarnations have also never been without drama, it was a most unexpected announcement when the news broke about his new venture a year or so ago. But all doubts aside about a Mac tour sans Lindsey Buckingham, Finn proves a superb inclusion - precise but respectful of his new place in the current line up.

There are iconic riffs in The Chain. Fleetwood's thumping bass drum intro, John McVie's bass guitar outro, and the guitar breaks which are shared between Finn and Campbell - an equal mix of the old and the new in this stellar start lays down the blueprint for the rest of the show.

Tango in the Night's Little Lies gives us Christine McVie's first solo. She is the original queen of this band, enthroned at stage-left, behind her Hammond, high upon a riser. Her voice is perhaps a little tour-weary, but the crowd is forgiving. The song was (and still is) a staple of FM radio in this country. It's the newer queen though, and recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (the only woman to be inducted twice), who is the most recognisable face and voice of this band. Stevie Nicks, the black lace clad, ribbon swirling, tambourine-shaking romantic, gives us the real heart and soul tonight. There are few female voices in rock which are as immediately recognisable as hers. She is iconic - both as a member of Fleetwood Mac, and as a successful soloist. Her 24K Gold: Songs from the Vault solo show at Perth Arena at the end of 2017 was pure magic, and criminally not sold out. Adoring Stevie-clones are all through the audience tonight and the loudest screams are for her as she takes the lead on Dreams and again on the Peter Green written, but Santana-owned track Black Magic Woman, which extends into a mighty blues jam.

Now comes a directional change - we get a track not included on the set lists thus far - and it's an unexpected one, the Split Enz 1980 breakthrough hit I Got You. It is received with as-expected enthusiasm.

Next we are back to Nicks, leading vocals on the dreamy Rhiannon. World Turning sees the shared vocals of Nicks and Finn give way to Fleetwood's career defining drum work and Taku Hirano's exceptional percussion. This set piece is all about the call and response - between Fleetwood and Hirano at first, and then between Fleetwood and us, as he steps away from the drum kit to centre stage, bringing with him his talking drum and a whole collection of chants for us to repeat. We're in! I half expected the heady drum beats to transition into Tusk, but sadly this isn't to be.

As we round the bend into the second half, we see Mike Campbell at full force - he's not someone I have ever had the good fortune to see live before (sadly the late great Tom Petty will always be on my 'wish I saw him' list). Somewhat like a country-er Slash, he is a mysterious figure on this stage, face hidden under a beat-up hat and John Lennon style round reflective glasses. Mostly our gaze is fixed on Nicks, McVie and Finn in this show - but when he steps forward to shred there is no other place to look and suddenly we are at the Mike Campbell show as he slays his solo in Oh Well.

Don't Dream it's Over, the debut single of Crowded House punctuates the velocity of the previous riffs. Finn begins it, Nicks finishes it, adding a drama and intensity that it's never had before. The Arena lights up with swaying torches as Ricky Peterson, on keys, plays the interlude. Largely hidden by Christine McVie's throne for most of the show, we finally hear him in isolation. Peterson is not greatly acknowledged in this show - but this is a legend of the so-called "Minneapolis sound" a collective noun for the likes of Prince and the Revolution, The Time, Andre Cymone, The Family (the band of Ricky's brother Paul) and more. Peterson had a deep association with Prince, and is the producer and arranger of his Diamonds and Pearls mega hit "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World."

Landslide keeps us with Nicks and Finn. This is an enduring duet, which since its inclusion on Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self titled album, belonged to her and Buckingham. Quiet, reflective, and with a sense of foreboding, it spoke directly to the relationship between them, and the inevitability of a crushing blow. It's bittersweet - this would have been a pivotal moment in the show if Buckingham was there, but he isn't. 44 years later, Nicks is in a new stage relationship, singing this song to Finn's tender guitar and the ghost of band members gone.

On the home stretch we return to McVie and the upbeat 1977 hit You Make Loving Fun. It's the nose thumbing song about finding a better relationship after a tough one - the McVie's relationship drama being just one of many that Fleetwood Mac has weathered. It's followed by Nick's Gold Dust Woman - her trademark black now shrouded in a shawl of gold and a sparkling screen silhouettes her - before Go Your Own Way closes the main act.

The two song encore brings us Tom Petty's Free Fallin'. Nicks and Petty were collaborators on Stop Draggin' my Heart Around, and given her long relationship with The Heartbreakers band from that time onwards, Mike Campbell's addition to this tour's lineup is far less surprising than Finn's. It's a poignant part of the evening. The screen scrolls through an archive of Petty photos (including many with Nicks) and at the close of the song Nicks and Campbell face the screen and take a moment. We all take a moment. It's another ghost whose absence we feel acutely. Unlike the Revolution and the NPG, the Heartbreakers haven't powered on in the absence of their band leader, but they imagine they will - 'some day'. I hope it's sooner rather than later. Songs like Free Fallin' deserve more live play.

Don't Stop triumphantly closes the show and as the band takes a final bow and departs, ring master Fleetwood, top hat in hand, steps forward to thank us for coming and to implore we be kind to ourselves and one another, before we shuffle out to a recording of Albatross.

What have we learned tonight? Don't be afraid of changin'. Fleetwood Mac (the lineup and the songs) will always be about love and loss, and all the better for it. We'd have none of these magnificent songs without their difficult times. People will come, people will go but the chain will keep us together.

★★★★½

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