"Glad you're still here," Lindsey Buckingham cracked from the Robinson Center stage Wednesday night during his concert with longtime Fleetwood Mac band mate Christine McVie.
The guitarist was referring to a fire alarm that forced the evacuation of the building as members of opening act Wilderado were taking apart their equipment after their set.
After less than a half hour, with the building definitely not engulfed in flames, the audience was herded back inside, wisecracking and ready to rock.
What followed was a rock 'n' roll nostalgia trip served along with a healthy dose of new material as Buckingham and McVie revisited plenty of their band's hits and played new songs from Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, the album they recorded together and released earlier this year, for an appreciative crowd that filled most of the venue's 2,200-plus seats.
Buckingham picked at his acoustic guitar while McVie stood behind her keyboards for stripped-down, impassioned runs through the first four songs, which featured the solo Buckingham track "Trouble" and McVie singing her Fleetwood Mac tune "Wish You Were Here."
Joined by a four-piece band, they dove headfirst into the new music, which to no surprise sounds a lot like updated Fleetwood Mac -- creative, adult pop rock -- and which was received warmly by the audience.
"Sleeping Around the Corner," the new album's first track, got a playful spin. "Too Far Gone" became a blues-rock workout, with drummer Jimmy Paxson thundering his way through the song in what could best be described as a warm-up for "Tusk," the percussive title track from the band's 1979 double album. That appeared later in the evening to much enthusiasm.
More nods to the past came in the form of "Hold Me" and "Little Lies," and Buckingham crept to the edge of the stage while peeling off a blistering guitar solo during "I'm So Afraid" from 1975's Fleetwood Mac.
A spirited take on the classic rock radio staple "Go Your Own Way" closed the set before the group returned for a two-song encore that included "Everywhere" and the new song, "Lay Down for Me."
What? No "Don't Stop," the song that soundtracked Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign? Alas, no. An opportunity missed in an otherwise fine evening with old friends.
Los Angeles-based four-piece Wilderado opened the evening with a spirited 30-minute set of jangly, atmospheric guitar rock and spot-on vocal harmonies reminiscent of Band of Horses.
Metro on 10/27/2017