Fleetwood Mac
Wachovia Center
September 28, 2003
By Laura Nachman


Fleetwood Mac, without Christine McVie (who left the group before the recording of the group's last CD "Say You Will"), played the Wachovia Center for the second time during its "Say You Will" tour.  Though it would have been nice to hear some of McVie's signature songs, there were plenty of Lindsey Buckingham and Steve Nicks numbers to keep the crowd happy during the two-and-a-half hour concert.

Along with founding members John McVie (bass) and Mick Fleetwood (drums), Nicks and Buckingham led the touring band that included a keyboard player, two female back-up singers, two extra drummers, and two guitar players. 

Frontwoman Nicks, 55, looked fantastic (get that woman a Loreal endorsement) and her harmonies with Buckingham were great to hear.  However, as she says in her ode to aging "Landslide," "I'm getting older too," she's traded in her trademark platform boots for a pair of sensible shoes and her twirls were less frequent.  And instead of full costume changes, she only switched shawls for certain songs.  

Lindsey Buckingham proved that he is an irreplaceable part of the group with his performance and chemistry with Nicks though he's married to somebody else now, and guitar work on all the songs, especially "Big Love" and "I'm So Afraid."   

"Say You Will" is the title of Fleetwood Mac's latest effort, which was released in the spring and had a moderately successful Adult-Contemporary song "Peacekeeper."  Around five songs from the new CD were sprinkled through the concert, but of course the greatest responses from the audience came from old standards from the "Fleetwood Mac/Fleetwood Mac," "Rumours," "Tusk," and "Mirage" albums.

Some of the hits included "The Chain (which opened the show)," "Dreams," "Second Hand News," "Never Going Back Again," "Rhiannon," "Gypsy," "Gold Dust Woman," "Silver Spring," and "Landslide," which the mature audience seemed to relate to. 

The highlight of the show was when they sang "Tusk," the Stevie Nicks solo hit "Stand Back," and "Go Your Own Way" to end the concert.

Mick Fleetwood did his requisite drum solo during the oldie "World Turning" in the first encore. 

One of the last songs of the concert was "Don't Stop," which sounded strange when Nicks sang McVie's part of the song.  But that is the only mild complaint, for what what was a very good concert.

To read what other concert-goers thought of the show, go to www.fleetwoodmac.net