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Mick Fleetwood and Friends – A celebration of the music of Peter Green

by 44 Comments

Year: 2021
Director: Mick Fleetwood

Like live shows add an extra dynamic, so too does seeing a movie of a concert in a cinema rather than at home on the box. Alas for most of you streaming or the soon to be released DVd are the only option. But for us ”down here” it had a very short run at the cinemas. So twenty or so of us sat in a cinema on a glorious Melbourne afternoon to watch this guitar heavy tribute to the music of Peter Green, the guitar hero and driving force behind Fleetwood Mac Mark 1. His legend heightened by his dramatic fall, head blown by acid, eventually returning to the stage a pale shadow of his former self.

The concert before a smallish audience took place in early 2020. Fleetwood assembled an interesting line up. The core band was Mick on drums plus Zac Starkey – not sure he needed him but it certainly biggened the sound. Dave Bronze on bass, Ricky Peterson on keys and musical director and a strong line up of guitar /vocals – Rick Vito, Jonny Lang and Andy Fairweather-Low. They played plenty of songs as a unit and with varous luminaries coming and going.
Billy Gibbons and Steve Tyler of ZZ Top usually came on for the rock out numbers. Tyler…. hmm. On the one hand he adds the energy, flamboyance and spectacle of a front man but he got a bit overbearing. The only one on stage being the rock star and his harmonica was hit and miss. Frustratingly cameras seem to always want to follow the singer even when they aren’t in the spotlight – cue cut away to Jagger clapping hands or shaking tambourine etc.
Noel Gallagher was a curious choice and he addressed that as he sat dwon for an acoustic bracket. “I know what you’re thinking- he ain’t got the blues. Well, we’ll see won’t we!” Verdict -he hasn’t, but he still acquitted himself well on World Turning. Out of his comfort zone and surrounded by top flight musicians it was refreshing to see him less brash. Kurt Hammitt of Metallica – well he owns Greeny’s Les Paul so it was probably the deal that if you get the guitar on stage, I get to play. He soloed on the troubling Green Manalishi . John Mayall came on early and was in fine voice on All Your Love. If anyone on stage is steeped in the blues it is him.
Rick Vito is pretty damn slick. Can sing, lovely player and handled the slide parts. Speaking of slide, the diminutive Jeremy Spencer played 2 songs and what lovely playing. Yes, he had a habit of turning every song into an Elmore James riff but what tone! He clearly is uncomfortable with the spotlight and adulation- but he deserved it. On bass was Bill Wyman. Blimey – what does he look like? Zip up cardigan, partly shaved and the worst haircut ever. (Ronnie and Keef look away). He clearly doesn’t give a rat’s so good on him I guess.
Some highlights were the trading of licks and the crescendo by Jonny Lang and Rick Vito on Black Magic Woman, Jonny Lang’s superb raw soloing on I Need Your Love So Bad and Pete Townsend. Pete comes on in an overtight wooly sports coat and commences to play a guitar intro – it’s Won’t Get Fooled Again. Then he says with a grin – “now have a listen to this, it came out earlier”. He then plays Station Man off Kiln House. The similarities are striking. Nice angular guitar and even some trademark windmills. Oh Well was played, of course, and according to Mick it is the first time ever that Part 2 had been played live. Gibbons and Tyler belted out Part 1 then for part 2 Dave Gilmour replaced Gibbons. It was another highlight. DG came on again later to play lap steel (?)on Albatross. IMO it was too much, too sweet. Slide alone would have been better, but a small complaint.
I’m considering buying the CD of the show.

The full set list and a link to the movie trailer are included below.

Act I
“Rolling Man” (feat. Rick Vito)
“Homework” (feat. Jonny Lang)
“Doctor Brown” (feat. Billy Gibbons)
“All Your Love” (feat. John Mayall)
“Rattlesnake Shake” (feat. Billy Gibbons & Steven Tyler)
“Stop Messin’ Round” (feat. Christine McVie)
“Looking for Somebody” (feat. Christine McVie)
“Sandy Mary” (feat. Jonny Lang)
“Love That Burns” (feat. Rick Vito)
“The World Keep Turning” (feat. Noel Gallagher)
“Like Crying” (feat. Noel Gallagher)
“No Place to Go” (feat. Rick Vito)
“Station Man” (feat. Pete Townshend)
Act II
“Man of the World “(feat. Neil Finn)
“Oh Well (Pt.1”) (feat. Billy Gibbons & Steven Tyler)
“Oh Well (Pt.2)” (feat. David Gilmour)
“Need Your Love So Bad” (feat. Jonny Lang)
“Black Magic Woman” (feat. Rick Vito)
“The Sky Is Crying” (feat. Jeremy Spencer)
“I Can’t Hold Out” (feat. Jeremy Spencer)
“The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)” (feat. Billy Gibbons & Kirk Hammett)
“Albatross” (feat. David Gilmour)
“Shake Your Moneymaker” (group finale)

Might appeal to people who enjoyed:

early era Fleetwood Mac, blues, lots of guitar solos

1

Comments

  4. When celebrating, we should not forget that the Mac had three marvelous guitarists: Peter Green , Jeremy Spencer and the late, great Danny Kirwan..

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/14/danny-kirwan-obituary

    Surprising that Jeremy Spencer was on the bill for this tribute concert. We all know the story of how he walked out of the hotel in February 1971 and joined a cult.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Spencer

    But let’s not forget that Jeremy, particularly with his vintage rock n roll songs, was a show-stopper: an integral and much enjoyed part of the Mac’s live show.

  5. Nice review, Junior. My only (tiny) quibble would be your phrase ‘before a smallish audience’ could imply there were lots of empty seats. The Palladium was sold out, (official capacity 2286,) and, from what I remember, they could have sold it out 30 or 40 times over.
    Tiny quibble over. As you were.

      • It’s an interesting point. I don’t doubt they could have sold out a stadium. But then maybe sometihng important would have been lost.

        I wonder what was the biggest audience that the original Mac played to. Unlike their reincarnation, I don’t see them as stadium rockers

        More the Filmore, the Beacon Theatre in NY or the Rainbow in Finsbury Park

  7. I’ve had the box set on order for over 15 months now, release date pushed back several times by C19.

    It is now expected next month. I only read the first paragraph of your review Junior as I intend to watch the video first when I get the box and don’t want my view prejudiced.

    I will read your review after watching the show hopefully with friends round.

  8. Jeremy Spencer – then and now.

    In this first clip, the photographer is as interested in filming the cute French girls in the audience as he is in the band.

    In this clip from 2010, we have to wait three minutes for Jeremy to get on stage. But when he does….No wonder the young guys in the band are smiling.

  9. What an anomaly! A British blues band that had songs in the charts and a number one hit!

    I don’t think John Mayall, Chicken Shack, Savoy Brown were troubling the charts too frequently.

    Rather a shame that Mick did not get Haim in for the tribute gig. Talk about torch-bearers of the spirit of Fleetwood Mac!

    A fine doc from 2010 – Blues Britannia.

    The first few minutes are an excellent reminder of quite how grim and colourless the 50s and early 60s were.

  10. Sorry, Junior! I’m getting nostalgic about the blues boom.
    Well I never! Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll were briefly in the same band; Steampacket.

    The sound quality on this clip is awful but the line up is OK.

  12. Continuing our wander around the British blues world, there’s Keef Hartley and his Little Big Band who I was lucky enough to catch at Watford Town Hall. Keef had drummed with John Mayall for several years but then went solo and released Halfbreed in 1969.

    It was the first time I’d seen a band with a brass section and I was bowled over.

    There was an interesting interplay between the jazz, blues and rock scenes in those days, and neve more so than in this combo. Barbara Thompson, for example, appear here.

    Let’s not forget Harold McNair who played with Donovan.

    I feel I should mention that in the contract for any gig in the 60s there was a clause that demanded a drum solo. The audience would feel very short -changed if they did not get one.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKSPZt6iRUE

  13. On the subject of bands in the hinterland between jazz and rock …..

    Here’s Colloseum, another popular band led by a drummer: Jon Hiseman.

    Joyously experimental,

    and I always enjoyed trumpeter Ian Carr’s Nucleus.

    Here they are in Norway

  14. Mayall’s acoustic, drummer-less comb as featured on The Turning Point from 1969 are excellent.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nxJtb-kL64&list=PL8a8cutYP7fqljrZ2DeksTBmBFDiqWQUq&index=3

    “The performers on the album were Mayall on vocals, harmonica, a slide and a Fender Telecaster guitar, a tambourine, and mouth percussion, Jon Mark on acoustic guitar, Steve Thompson on bass, and Johnny Almond on tenor and alto saxophones, flutes, and mouth percussion.” Thankyou Wiki!

  16. If you are talking about the Blues Boom, then one can scarcely avoid mentioning the Blue Horizon label.
    Cerys Matthews found a copy of the Mac’s Pious Bird of Good Omen in Portobello Road and forked out 70 quid for it. That was the start of her love affair with Blue Horizon.

    Here’s the radio show she did about it. The first few minutes are another show, so please be patient.

    https://archive.org/details/BBC_Radio_4_Extra_20170815_193000_Cerys_Matthews_Blue_Horizon?start=1802

    Wiki is worth reading.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Horizon_(record_label)

    Here’s some early Mac.

  18. I was lucky enough to be the right age (late teens) to catch a lot of these bands in the pubs and clubs around East London in the late 60s. A lot of the Mayall spin off bands – Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum, Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, Keef Hartley, Fleetwood Mac, as well as Taste and Jethro Tull around the time of their first album when they were ostensibly a blues/rock outfit (but even then obviously offering a bit more). Also Cream at the RAH in 1968. I still have a fondness for the music as you’d expect, and in latter years have got to see the Blues Band many times – note they are doing their final tour soon, so catch them while you can.

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