Bac News/ Reviews
20/10/06
Hey check out this website! Looks a bit familiar..?
Too cheeky...
http://www.fleetwoodtothemax.com/home.htm
Fleetwood Bac Robin
R 'n' B Club 2 Bilston, Wolverhampton 27th May
2005
Fleetwood
Mac...Live in Boston
Fleetwood Bac...Live in Bilston
Just when you think they can't possibly get any more
accurate, Fleetwood Bac up the ante and take being a tribute band up to another
level. It's been probably a year since I've seen the band and much has
changed. Right from the first time I saw them back in October 2001 they
have been consistently fabulous. Like the real band they have had
personnel changes over time, but each time it's just pushed the bar higher,
added depth and strength and produced what we had last night, a fabulous
two-hour show, painstakingly accurate in every way. The musicianship is
faultless, the harmonies for the true fan are scarily accurate, the stage
presence is well observed, and the camaraderie is genuine. Where they
score over the real Fleetwood Mac is that they don't give you the same set week
in week out, they change it for every show. They can do that because they
are good.... damn good!
The set list last night was very much geared to there
being dedicated Fleetwood Mac fans in the audience, which gave the band the
opportunity to include songs that wouldn't make it into a more mainstream set. There
were many favourites in the list: Dreams, Go Your Own Way, Tusk,
The Chain, Gypsy, Say That You Love Me, Rhiannon,
Don't Stop, Songbird, Beautiful Child, Everywhere,
Second Hand News and Little Lies amongst them. For
the Peter Green fans there were the blistering Green Manalishi and Oh
Well (with rather good singing from the audience!). For the Lindsey
Buckingham fans there was the return of the acoustic Big Love and for
fans of Stevie Nicks there were the astounding Silver Springs
(beautiful piano from 'Christine'), Stand Back and Stop Dragging My
Heart Around. I can quite confidently say that for Stevie fans you
won't find anyone other than Stevie and Tom Petty themselves who do Stop
Dragging... better than Fleetwood Bac do. Perhaps the highlight
of last night for me though was 'World Turning'. I just thought it was
the most amazing ensemble work with special note going to the Bac's 'Mick' who I
haven't seen play before, he was just stunning - great drums, great faces...you
pass the die-hard fan test!
However, part of the enduring appeal of Fleetwood Mac
is the personalities: Mick, John, Christine, Stevie and Lindsey are five very
different people and capturing the character of the band on stage is
what separates the wheat from the chaff. Anyone can play a guitar
faultlessly, but it takes a lot more than that to portray the stage
presence that Lindsey Buckingham has. You have to be someone very special
to fill the shoes of Mac legendary bassist John McVie, but Fleetwood Bac have
him. Mick Fleetwood is a larger-than life character, it takes skill
and showmanship to do him justice, but I saw a man last night who did just that.
Many people can sing and play the piano, but it takes someone of rare talent to
combine this with the vivacity of Christine McVie. Every Stevie fan has at
some point wrapped themselves in chiffon and wanted to be her, but I gave that
up the first night I saw this lady in Fleetwood Bac portray Stevie, you can't
get better than perfect.
Fleetwood Mac is about passion, it's from the heart,
and that is exactly what you get in Fleetwood Bac.
***Rachel Lewis***
Mr Kyps, Poole: 28th Jan. 2005
I
am one of the 7 people in the UK who don't own Rumours, or indeed any Fleetwood
Mac! I came to the gig because I love live music, not because I was a Fleetwood
Mac fan. I have seen several tribute bands recently - Blondie, Robbie,
Guns'n'Roses amongst them and all have been excellent. And about 300 original
bands. So I'm not writing the rest of this through rose coloured spectacles!
Fleetwood Bac were amazing. They exceeded my expectations by such a huge margin
I am still buzzing a day later. The sound was fantastic, the dry ice, backdrop
and lighting atmospheric, the whole package spot on. Special mention to Stevie's
outfit with lace back, velvet front and the wonderful flowing lace wafting in
the breeze - all created a fantastic spectacle that would still have meant
nothing if the music wasn't great. And boy was the music great. Mick's and
John's so solid rhythm section, Christine's crystal vocals and Lindsey's
electrifying guitar work. All of which was brought to stunning climax by the
power and beauty of Stevie's voice on the highlight for me, 'Gold Dust Woman'. A
song I admit I didn't know, but which blew me away. How often does that ever
happen?
I could go on about how good this gig was, and I must name check Green Manalishi
too, but you get the picture...go and see this band NOW. Mr Kyps is a great
venue to see bands, and when you get bands that are this good you just have the
perfect combination for a wonderful night out. The band looked like they were
genuinely impressed with the fans too (we were good!) so let's make everyone
happy and get them back as soon as possible. Thanks again for a great night,
Martin
Review by: Martin Robson
"You better be good for goodness sake"
Fleetwood Bac, Bilston Thursday 16th December 2004
Santa Claus may have been getting ready to come to town, but had he
been looking to lift his spirits, the big fat man could have done worse than point his sleigh towards Bilston on a cold, rainy night before
Christmas.
As cards were exchanged and talk turned to who'd been naughty, who'd been nice and who'd done their best to be both, Fleetwood Bac took to the stage to be greeted by an enthusiastic (and already quite well oiled) group of Fireflies in their traditional position at the front.
It was to be a night of surprises, of old favourites making a welcome reappearance and of some of the worst dancing seen since the last
Fireflies gathering. You Make Loving Fun kicked off the show, with Fleetwood Bac's Christine (Maria) doing a fabulous job of the work of
the most English woman in rock, including great versions of Little Lies, Everywhere and Say You Love Me- although Isn't It Midnight still
hasn't made it into the set-list. But it was to be that little known
album Rumours that dominated the night. Fleetwood Bac played it in its entirety, the expanded remastered version including Silver Springs. Two
of the highlights were I Don't Want to Know and Never Going Back Again, with FB's John (Paul) on the acoustic bass, and a marvellous version of
Silver Springs, sparking some cheesy banter between Stevie (Lisa) and Lindsey (Matt), mostly centred on Stevie's solo career and the Eagles.
But for the Stevie fans, the stand out moment was a song from Tusk-
Sisters of the Moon. Not just for Lisa's outstanding vocals (and new outfit) and Matt's usual excellent guitar playing, but for the fact
that it was dedicated by satellite (or rather mobile phone) to someone who wasn't even there- Pip. It was like watching the Mirage video,
except that version wasn't dedicated to Pip, as far as we know.
Other highlights included the Green Manalishi- with Lisa providing suitably scary Stevie backing vocals- and Oh Well, which the crowd
managed to sing along correctly to for once. There was Gypsy, Dreams, beautiful versions of Oh Daddy and Songbird and Don't Stop, during
which the crowd sang along to 'ooo don't you look back', while the band sang 'don't stop, thinking about tomorrow'. As far as audience
participation goes, it was chaos, but somehow it worked. Rhiannon was her usual storming self, with Lisa hitting notes that Stevie hasn't
seen for years and of course that particular Fireflies favourite- Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, the cue for some traditionally unique dancing
by certain Fireflies.
The band returned for an encore of a tribal rendition of Tusk, the signal for some spectacularly bad dancing and a drum solo from FB's
Mick that was so long, some of us were thinking that the real Mick had decided to sit in with a better class of tribute band. We were suprised
that the drum vest didn't make an appearance. The Chain then followed to close the show- or so we thought. There was a surprise final encore-
a brilliantly raucous Monday Morning, which by virtue of Matt's lyric changes (which some of us noticed even though several sheets to the
wind) almost ended up as Tuesday Afternoon. But it mattered little, it had been a great show and the Fireflies made their way through the
winter's night with some good memories to help sustain them through Christmas with their respective families.
Fleetwood Bac,
Rugby, October 30th 2004
So Afraid: Halloween with the Fireflies
The set-list is a bit of a blur (in no way due to a visit to the bar) but almost certainly included were outstanding versions of You Make
Loving Fun, Say You Love Me and a re-appearance for Seven Wonders. At some point
early in the set, after looking around at the rest of the crowd, the Fireflies
abandoned all sense of decorum and hit the dance floor. This display was only
marred by a certain man in black who appeared to be bouncing in time to the
previous song, but it was enough to prompt some of the braver members of the
rest of the audience (or those who also didn't mind making fools of themselves)
joining the Fireflies on the dancefloor. There was even one couple who produced
a collective "aww", by slow dancing to Fleetwood Bac's Christine's
beautiful version of Songbird.
Fleetwood Bac were on fine form as always. FB's Stevie (Lisa) made up
for the absence of Stand Back with a haunting Gold Dust Woman, an
apocalyptic version of Rhiannon, hitting notes that Stevie hasn't
reached since the 70s and appropriately Halloween style backing vocals for a
brilliantly scary version of Green Manalishi- straight out of Largo in 1975. One
member of the audience got so carried away with FB Lindsey's guitar playing on
this one that they accompanied him on air guitar. Luckily it wasn't one of the
Fireflies, since we all know air woodblock is the only acceptable form of
audience air instrumentation.
FB's Christine reminded us all that Fleetwood Mac should still be a
five piece with wonderful renditions of Everywhere and Little Lies,
missing out only Isn't It Midnight from a perfect selection of the
McViester's work. One highlight was Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, not only for
FB's rocking version, but for some rather 'inventive' moves by certain
Fireflies. Let's just hope all photographic evidence has been destroyed.
The show stormed on with Don't Stop and Tusk and FB's Mick continued his
apparent quest for an ever increasing drum solo and talking drum vest. Go Your
Own Way (with the FF conga) and The Chain closed the show in traditional
fashion, the moment in the spotlight for FB's John (Paul) who's so authentically
John McVie that you could have sworn that he'd just finished a Q&A on The
Penguin. A group of very tired, mostly the worst for wear, but happy Fireflies
stumbled off into the cold night air and the rest of the Rugby audience wondered
what had hit them.
A Review by Rachel of the Fireflies of our recent gig at the Robin, Bilston: 31/10/03
'Gypsy
2003'
The
show was being filmed as a promotional tool for Fleetwood Bac, and with us lot
there it seemed to be an outtake from the Indie film 'Gypsy 83' which
follows a young girl obsessed with Stevie Nicks. Ok, so we're not all
young, but we're all obsessed with Stevie Nicks! There was lots of Stevie-inspired
clothing and boots - people had definitely made the effort.
9
o'clock approaches and people press towards the stage - apart from us because
we've already bagged the 'Golden Circle', making a line of handbags and coats in
front of the stage area. We are equal to German Holidaymakers when it
comes to bagging our places. No one gets between and Firefly and the stage
and if they did, they'd get a platform boot in the face!
And
then on the band come...
Fleetwood
Bac have loads of new changes - spooky new entrance music and a fabulous new
background, which, if you've seen the video's that they play on VH1 you will
recognise - it's the tree silhouetted against a full moon - it's gorgeous!
Not only is the background stunning to look at, it's handmade by Paul the band's
bass player - and that's not all. He's made the chimes, the 'World
Turning' drum, his bass guitar (!) and identical copies of the same jewellery that
John McVie was wearing around the time of Rumours. And he has an identical
Penguin tattoo like the man. Now that's what you call attention to
detail!
More
changes, and the most important one is a new Christine. We were all of the
agreement that she is absolutely excellent and brings a presence and a sense of
fun to the role that has been missing. If you watch Christine McVie on any
Fleetwood Mac video she's dancing about whilst playing the keyboards and FB's
'Chris' can match her every inch of the way. We loved
having 'Songbird' back in the set and were really, really impressed with 'Oh
Daddy' and 'Hold Me' - the new additions to the set list - and very welcome
too. I'm one of the people who's always skipped over 'Oh Daddy' on Rumours, but
never again - 'Chris' does a fabulous, fabulous rendition of it and breathes new
life into it.
Making a
welcome return was 70's Lindsey. It's nice to have him back as it
means the band are more authentic to the legendary 'Rumours' era. We did
get very concerned at one point when 'Lindsey' attempted a triple salco onto the
drum podium and landed very unsteadily on 'Stevie's' tambourines - eeek!
But thankfully, he managed to regain his balance. We also noticed that
'Lindsey' seemed to have managed to acquire a guitar technician to manage
his expanding collection of guitars (four on stage this time) - which is a bit
showbiz!
Apart
from the new 'Chris', the other major talking point of the night was 'Stevie'.
Showcasing a beautiful new 'Rhiannon' dress that has been custom made for her,
she was also sporting a new coiffure..., which is the softer, gently curling
hair of Stevie Nicks in the mid 70's. The look is amazingly accurate
and every Firefly who was there agrees that it's a great change - accurate
to the Rumours period and also much more in line with the real Stevie herself
now. 'Stevie' racked the authenticity up a notch as well - did you notice
the way she was holding her hands on the microphone during Rhiannon? Absolutely
spot on to how the real Stevie does it!
The
next time we see a band playing Fleetwood Mac songs it will undoubtedly be the
REAL Fleetwood Mac, but we haven't had a UK tour from FM since summer 1990.
Thirteen years is a long time, and if it wasn't for Fleetwood Bac giving us a
regular fix of live Mac songs, we would be a bunch of desperate Dan's and
Danielle's by now. So pat yourselves on the back and take a well-deserved
bow Fleetwood Bac, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you've
got us through this long hiatus.
Like
us, FB will be in those crowds at Earl's Court seeing Fleetwood Mac. We
all know that FB's Stevie is as much a Stevie Nicks fan as we are, so I'm sure
like us when the Great High Priestess herself appears in her Platform Reeboks
it's going to be an emotional moment. Stevie Nicks is a legend and it's
only a true fan who could bring so much love and respect to portraying her as
well as Lisa does on stage. We also feel an emotional moment coming on
when Paul is revealed as John McVie's long lost son (check out the
similarities!). So while we're annoying the rest of the audience by not
sitting down, FB will have notebooks at the ready to capture first hand how they
can move their show on and keep us rocking on through 2004 and beyond.
To
Fleetwood Bac - Adam, Maria, Paul, Matt and Lisa - just never break the chain,
just don't...
*
~ * Fireflies UK * ~ *
Our new Christine playing with us at the Ryde Theatre, Isle of Wight 4/10/03
© 2005, Fleetwood Bac.