and so no, that (or this) title is not a classical or traditional spelling faux pas off of me, look you see. i am indeed writing of Fleetwood Bac, being as they are a tribute to the rather similarly named Fleetwood Mac. yes, if you have just done a quick google and want a fast answer, for all is a rush these days, they are very good indeed. note that this will feature some poor quality images and videos. whereas words fail to capture exactly just how surprisingly sh!t the Samsung Galaxy A14 is for recording moments of a gig i am sure the below will showcase precisely that.
how i came to go and see a Fleetwood Mac tribute band (or act) is kind of tricky to describe. essentially it was an on the fly, spur of the moment whim off of the back of another on the fly, spur of the moment whim. i happened to catch an ad for a Rolling Stones tribute band playing (very) near me, thought they sounded quite class and went why not. on purchasing a ticket for that one i saw the ad for this, thought about it for a bit, had speaks with Dad (who said go) and also i went sure, why not.
very glad i did, too, as they were excellent. superb, if you like, or any variation on any such positive word, be it verb, adjective or anything like that. extremely well attended and mostly, to my surprise, by a rather young audience. i was rather watching the band than checking out who else was there, but if i had to estimate then some 20% - 25% of the others in attendance would have been half my age or south of that number. nice one, but more on that in a bit.
what does one get for their ticket to see Fleetwood Bac, which was a coin cost of around £25(ish)? as good as two (2) hours of classic Fleetwood Mac songs, plus a (welcome) surprise solo divergence, split nicely into two roughly equal sets. more or less, as in just about, all solid gold bona fide finest songs by them, which does indeed mean very nearly all of Rumours. i think just three (maybe) songs off of playing that celebrated record in full.
on that note, and to get some of the bad video out of the way, they began (or if you like commenced) in a most audacious way, hitting us with The Chain.
presumably the "key" (as "trick" sounds cheap) to a good (great) tribute band is that they sound and to some extent look like the original act. they hit these targets very nicely, although the drummer (the Mick Fleetwood) was mostly hidden away for the show but was almost perfect. credit to the bass player (John McVie) for not only nailing the bass to The Chain perfectly, but also wearing the classic flat cap. let himself down a bit by declining to have that permanently stoned look Mr McVie is so famous for, but hey.
for the lady doing (so to speak) Stevie Nicks, well, wow. what an astonishing voice, carrying all the iconic power of the original. she also could very clearly do all the moves of Ms Nicks perfectly, but declined to do them in full, for it is well known that doing so opens a portal to dark forces. i looked upon the absolute dude doing (very much that) Lindsey Buckingham with awe, admiration, jealousy and regret. this chap is living his very best life, wearing a class suit, having the massive hair, playing guitar like a man possessed and singing with an all encompassing passion. whereas i have precisely zero musical talent or ability, nonetheless i should have given myself over to a life of rock and roll. instead i am a sell out, and can only worship those so brave to do it.
really reluctant to show off the next video, as it simply does not do justice to the restrained, quietly getting on with it absolute star of the show. please do not judge the performance on how bad it sounds on this video.
thank you, thank you, thank you whatever cosmic events aligned or collided to lead me to making the decision to be in a venue where i could hear this incredible lady deliver a truly, wonderfully amazing homage to the great Christine McVie. it is likely there's not enough variations of excellence in the thesaurus to accurately describe how good she was. being able to be so close to someone performing classics like Songbird and You Make Loving Fun was one of those moments you are glad to be alive.
younger audience members, then, of a (mostly) female persuasion (or identification, because of how it works in this century) but with the occasional male of similar age. often looking confused and clearly there to please the female companion. i was both delighted to see so many of this demographic and curious as to why. the answer was pretty much Stevie Nicks, and two (2) songs in particular. considering the infamous history of the song (it was dropped from Rumours but reinstated on "special editions") it was Sliver Springs that surprised me as being the one this gang went the wildest for. the other was the mentioned divergence to solo, for Ms Nicks' classic Edge Of Seventeen got a blistering blinding performance. sure, Gypsy got well received too, but them were the main ones. as far as i can work out, or have been able to grasp, it's something to do with "tik tok" (whatever that is) that they are so popular, but also some film or tv series appears to have been inspired by Silver Springs.
after performing Edge Of Seventeen they said to "make it fair" they were going to do a Lindsey Buckingham solo song. i got really excited, optimistic and hopeful that they were going to do Holiday Road. sadly, or alas, no. it was Tusk what got done for this, with the disclaimer that it was "all Lindsey" as none of the rest of the band had any clue what it was. still, great to hear that one.
on that note, yes the performance is all very much in character, as it were. there's a good deal of banter and fun, and if you are aware of the legends (the mythology) of the band then there's quite a few wonderful little comments made as the show goes on. no, i won't quote them here, it wouldn't be as entertaining. but worth seeing and yes, of course (mindful of the infamous Rumours creation process) cocaine very much gets a look in.
undoubtedly you shall be relieved to learn that the above is the last bit of video here. quite surprisingly they didn't hold on to Don't Stop as the last track, but it was the last one on the second set before the encore. as rousing and as good a performance as you could wish for. forgot to mention, earlier in the set there is indeed a throwback to the 60s variation of Fleetwood Mac, but no not Albatross.
last song done, then, was Go Your Own Way. this was particularly ace, as it's (very much) on my a list of favourites. if one takes as a given that you can't have just one top tune off of them. here was the closest to disappointment, though, although that's harsh. one of the greatest parts of this song is Mick Fleetwood's drumming, be it the fills or the cheeky, catching you off-guard double taps towards the end. no, the drummer of Fleetwood Bac couldn't quite replicate it, but then there are very few drummers who would be able to get it perfect. rather an admirable go, though.
every passing year does tend to make the lyrics to I'd Rather Jack off of Reynolds Girls seem all the more stupid. Fleetwood Bac are a celebration of a band with dynamics crazy enough to deliver some of the greatest music ever made, and my word do they honour that. it was a fantastic night out, even if my current medical plight prevents a couple of pints and so i wasn't quite loose enough to full tilt get my groove on (dance wise). should you get chance to see them, see them.
yes, indeed they do have their own web page thing, so if you want to see some proper videos of them and check on where they will be playing, click here.
next up shall (or will) be the Stones one, then. with most of the appeal of seeing them being that they appear to have gone with a Brian Jones type figure instead of a Ronnie Wood one.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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