MUSIC

It’s no rumor: Fleetwood Mac’s in NLR on Friday

John McVie (from left), Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac
John McVie (from left), Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac

The hook on which legendary Fleetwood Mac hangs its latest tour is the 35th anniversary of the band’s album, Rumours, which has sold more than 40 million copies since its 1977 release. For the occasion, it has released an enhanced version.

The band, which last toured in 2009, promoting Unleashed, assembled an “expanded” version of Rumours, including the much-loved “b-side,” “Silver Springs,” plus a dozen unreleased live recordings from the 1977 world tour, along with a disc of unreleased takes from the Rumours recording sessions. The “deluxe” version adds to the “expanded” version with a disc of outtakes and Michael Collins’ DVD, The Rosebud Film, a documentary about the album, plus an LP of the album on vinyl.

The DVD includes interviews, rehearsal footage and live performances of the band’s songs “World Turning,” “Rhiannon,” “Say You Love Me,” “Go Your Own Way,” “You Make Loving Fun” and “I’m So Afraid.”

Former President Bill Clinton would surely acknowledge, if asked, a debt of gratitude to the band for its song “Don’t Stop” (considered by some to be titled “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow”)and its cheery effect on his 1992 campaign for president.

So who is Fleetwood Mac after these 35 years? A couple of Englishmen, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie - who donated parts of their names when forming the band in 1967 - are still around, along with former partners in music and love, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks, who joined in 1975. Missing is singer/pianist Christine McVie, who gave up that most perfect of maiden names (Perfect) when she wed John McVie in 1970. They divorced as the Rumours tour was ending in 1978 and she left the band in the late 1990s.

(In addition to the McVie divorce, during the same period Fleetwood divorced his wife, Jenny Boyd, sister of Patty Boyd Harrison, wife of Beatle George Harrison; and Buckingham and Nicks, though never married, split up.)

Fleetwood opened a restaurant, Fleetwood’s on Front Street, in Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii in August. The grand opening featured musical performances by Fleetwood, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Jonny Lang, among others. Fleetwood also entered the world of wine making, with Mick Fleetwood’s Private Cellar, which has produced more than 20 vintages and varietals (for which he has received multiple medals at international tastings). And then there’s a bit of music as well: The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band released a Grammy-nominated album, Blue Again, in 2010.

John McVie, who also lives in Hawaii, has spent the years since the Unleashed tour at home with family, enjoying solitude, according to press materials.

Arkansas fans of guitarist Buckingham got to hear him when he performed Nov. 5 at Juanita’s. He was promoting Seeds We Sow, his sixth solo album and first independent release, which dropped September 2011.

Nicks also released a solo album in 2011, In Your Dreams, on Reprise Records. It debuted at No. 6 on Billboard magazine’s pop chart. She also produced and co-directed a documentary film about recording the album.

Fleetwood Mac’s U.S. tour, which opened April 4 in Columbus, Ohio, concludes June 12 in Detroit.

Buckingham, according to Rolling Stone magazine, promised at a concert April 9 that an extended-play disc would be released soon, and the band then performed two new songs: “Sad Angel” and “Eyes of the World.”

When the tour crosses the pond, fans at the London gig may have a rare treat in store. On April 4, Christine McVie told British music magazine Uncut: “If they wanted me to, I might pop back on stage when they’re in London [Sept. 24] just to do a little duet or something like that.”

An Evening With Fleetwood Mac

8 p.m. Friday, Verizon Arena, East Broadway and Interstate 30, North Little Rock

Tickets: $146.50, $117, $92, $71, $49.50, $39

(800) 745-3000

ticketmaster.com

Weekend, Pages 32 on 05/02/2013

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