Fleetwood Mac Concert Calgary

The Wednesday Morning “Nobody-Asked-Me-To, But-Here-I-Go-Anyway” Concert Review: (of the postponed earlier appearance of) Fleetwood Mac.

(or, Why I Will Never Be A Professional Concert Reviewer…)

After postponing their last concert here in Calgary due to an illness in the band, Fleetwood Mac finally rolled through town last night, just before our previously scheduled trip to California this morning. Which is why I’m typing this post out at just around 4 AM, and an even blearier-eyed Mrs. That Dan Guy is trying to wash a few hours sleep off with a cold face cloth.

But hey, there was a concert for me to sort-of review here, so on with the show!

Well, I will confess to this show last night being something that we were both looking forward to. This was the first chance we’ve ever had to see Fleetwood Mac live in concert, let alone with MUCH of the line-up or band-mates that has cranked out hits since the early 1970’s. Which, happily, was pretty much the point of this whole tour. Hits, hits, and more hits.

And yet, for some odd reason, I have to say we were both underwhelmed initially. Even some pretty big hits just didn’t seem to generate much of anything – I don’t know why. Maybe it was the sound quality where we were seated, just under the echo chamber. Maybe it was a bit of vocal…uh…imperfection? It wasn’t until late into the first half of the show that the gang seemed to catch fire for us, with some smokin’ acoustic versions of their catalogue, notably an INSANE solo version of “Big Love” – Egads man, that Lindsey Buckingham is one under-rated guitar slinger – he absolutely kicks ass on the thing.

And of course, finally seeing the delightful Stevie Nicks prowl a stage was some fun. As I say, once they caught fire, the show rolled right along. Their catalogue is beyond comprehension, and they trotted out a few tunes that were a nice surprise, along with every major hit they’ve enjoyed. We snuck out during the second encore, mega-hit “Don’t Stop” – almost an accusation of our early departure. But hey, we’ve got a plane to catch, and only a few hours sleep – so we had to beg out early.

Great show in the end, oddly lacking spark early on.

Chow for now!