Never any doubt Fleetwood Mac tribute would wow the Newbury crowd

Fleetwood Bac

at Arlington Arts, Snelsmore

on Friday, July 26

Review and pictures by BRIAN HARRINGTON

WITH more than 120 million record sales worldwide and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Fleetwood Mac are undoubtedly music A-listers.

Fleetwood Bac pay a fitting tribute to this legacy and, in their own right have been recognised by The Times as one of the UK’s top five tribute acts, alongside the likes of The Bootleg Beatles and Bjorn Again.

They have toured as far afield as Dubai, The Cayman Islands and Monte Carlo.

Opening tonight on their return to Newbury, with The Chain, the capacity audience was instantly on-side and clapping along to the beat, there was never any doubt that they would absolutely wow the crowd and satisfy hardcore Mac fans as well as more casual viewers.

I have seen Fleetwood Bac live several times and they seem to get better each time.

Musically they are extremely authentic and the added touches of occasional dissent in the ranks, expressed in angry looks and a few sarcastic comments, reflected well, the at times, fractious and complicated relationships which marked Fleetwood Mac’s career.

There were plenty of huge hits to enjoy, such as Oh Well (part 2) and Little Lies, as well as less well known tracks like the wonderful Silver Springs, which was originally intended to be on the Rumours album, but was dropped and replaced by the next track they played, Songbird.

Originally, fans had to wait for the extended edition of the album for Silver Springs to be reinstated. The first half ended with a great version of Seven Wonders.

The second set opened with Gold Dust Woman, followed by an epic rendition of I’m So Afraid and an equally great version of Tusk. By this time the audience was enthusiastically singing along and dancing and waving. Big Love went down a storm.

Everywhere marked the end of the setlist before the two track encore of Don’t Stop and, finally, Go Your Own Way.

A hugely satisfied and happy audience went their own ways.

An excellent night.