Me and my wife, sounds weird to say that again, venture off down the Jubilee line with all the other middle aged ex rockers to see the hottest ticket in town. We rub shoulders with Heidi from the Sugababes, ahhh pause for a quiet moment to myself, and then it’s ready for the show.
The Walker ticket machine works its magic and though we are at the back on the floor we are on the second row of a raised platform so we can see across those who paid significantly more than us for pretty much the same view.
I won’t rehearse the tempestuous story of the Mac as its too long and too complicated but suffice to say they have all being either married, engaged or romantically involved with each other for the past forty years. Christine McVie has re-joined the band after a 16 year absence and the circle is once again complete. It all somehow works and that tension has led to some of the greatest pop songs ever written in those decades.
Set opener ‘The Chain’ starts the show as it means to go on. The rhythm section of Mick and John are solid and relentless and don’t let up throughout the show and provide a flawless platform for the front three to build on.
There’s clearly some deal between the Christine, Stevie Nicks and Lyndsey Buckingham that they all have an equal quota of their own songs to get through and in the main that works albeit the latter two can slightly cross the line into self-indulgence.
The set hasn’t changed over the ninety odd shows in this tour and draws heavily from Fleetwood Mac and Rumours. All the hits are there, the vocals are spot on especially Christine’s who I think I have been guilty of under estimating in the past. The same is true of Lyndsey Buckingham’s guitar playing; often understated he can rock out with the very best with a unique open strumming style that I’ve not seen before.
The highlight for me is the three song acoustic segment which starts with just Lyndsey singing an emotional ‘Big Love’ (slightly spoilt by some existential monologue preamble) and then joined by Stevie for a spine tingling ‘Landslide’ which brought the lump to throat, hairs on end and tears in eye moment. Sublime.
It’s a slick two and a half hour show and forty years later they still have it. Unnecessary Mick Fleetwood drum solo and a low key although perfectly delivered final encore of ‘Songbird’ aside it was the perfect show. A swift exit and we’re home by midnight.