Does Fleetwood Mac Still Rock??!

Last night, some friends and I went to the Fleetwood Mac "Unleashed" concert at Philips Arena (which surprisingly did not sell out). We had barely made our way down the steps to our floor seats right at show time, when we heard the familiar tune, “Monday Morning,” opening up the evening. We quickly realized there wouldn’t be an opening band for the night and for three straight hours we danced to all of Mac’s greatest hits.

Despite the core four members having an average age of 60, they performed with the exuberance of twenty-something year olds. Stevie Nicks is still majestic and beautiful as ever and her presence was nothing shy of enchanting throughout the night. Her husky but sexy voice invoked goosebumps a few times on my arms during her powerful ballads in songs such as “Landslide” and “Dreams.”

Lindsey Buckingham gallantly played his guitar with pure passion and enthusiasm. He performed nearly the entire concert with no breaks, breathing heavily in between songs when the lights dimmed but quickly recovering as the lights came back on. An ever humble John Mcvie kept up with his fellow band member’s energy level, joyfully strumming his bass with expertise and ease.

And of course, Mick Fleetwood proved age hasn’t slowed his sense of humor. As he stood from his drum-set to greet the energetic crowd, a pair of balls (literally) dropped from his pants. He even had a spotlight moment during one of two encores to prove he could still keep rhythm at his age during a powerful drum solo. At one point after a major jam session, Buckingham and Fleetwood exchanged glances that looked like they were expressing to one another, “I can’t believe we just made it through that one!”

The overall sound at Philips isn’t the best quality, but the seat arrangement is ideal for a show; as they are set up in rows at the right angles that even someone in a "nose-bleed" section has a pretty decent view of the stage. Nicks vocals were muffled a little on a few songs, but it didn’t interfere with her overall performance. Really, the only bad part of this concert was the food. We got a hot dog in a stale bun that coincided with the stale Pretzel Wetzel we couldn’t finish.

All in all, everyone performed as if it were the last time they would embrace a stage before an audience, which I think magnified the concert to a heightened level of amazement.

So when posed the question, does Fleetwood Mac still rock? The answer, quite simply, is yes, they still do.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

-Nicole Black

Currently Listening to: “Silver Springs” by Fleetwood Mac