IT was the turn of tribute band, Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, to take the stage at The Lowry’s lyric theatre last night. Our entertainment reporter, Abi White, was there to review the evening…

Calling all super-fans of Fleetwood Mac – this tribute act is certainly not to be missed if you are partial to your 60’s and 70’s British-American rock music. Covering over four decades of music, the tribute act, Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, prove that tribute acts can be up at the top-spot alongside the best.

After a quieter opening in comparison to the finale, it took the audience a good few songs to get into the spirit of Fleetwood Mac’s music. After playing two opening songs, the tribute band spoke to the audience, giving history of the tracks along the way. The band explained that the third song they would play would be the first song off Fleetwood Mac’s album, ‘Rumours’.

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After the first initial interaction with the audience, the audience were still mellow and the band seemed to be lacking energy at the start due to the lack of audience participation. The band continued to cover some of the band’s hits, including ‘Silver Springs’ giving history of how the initial track wasn’t on the first edition of the vinyl as the song was too long for the vinyl. Then the following track was ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, which climbed into the top 10 in 1969. The well-known hit, ‘Dreams’, then followed, and by this point, the audience became seemingly more engaged.

Tell me lies’ was next up on the set list, which was well received by the audience, but still seemed to be lacking something. Up until this point in the set, it had become noticeable that the performance was slightly lacking energy. ‘Rhiannon’ was next up, which was undoubtedly sung incredibly well by Louise Rogan on lead vocals and pulled back the performance of the first half.

The second half of the performance was almost certainly the better half. The audience seemed more engaged with both the performances and song choices, and the band members seemed to have a lot more enthusiasm on stage.

The second half opened with just the male musicians showcasing their talent and interacting with the audience. After a few songs, the instrumental of the well known song, ‘Albatross’ was played and executed fantastically. The song that people may recognise from the Marks and Spencer’s advert, received a roaring round of applause and the performance could well be mistaken for that of Fleetwood Mac’s.

After a lot more audience interaction and participation, it was at this point during the performance that the talent of the musicians could really be noticed. After the women musicians returned, the band played the hit ‘Everywhere’, which had a few audience members tapping their feet along to the beat.

This part of the performance to the end was definitely the best part of the set. After ‘Everywhere’, the rest of the evening was filled with clapping audience members, songs that people had requested, and another of the band’s famous songs, ‘The Chain’, which features as the Grand Prix soundtrack.

During this period, the energy and the spirit of Fleetwood Mac had most certainly spread around the theatre. ‘Go your own way’ was the last song played prior to the encore, which was the first song that had the whole audience on their feet dancing.

Upon returning for their encore, the tribute act proceeded to end with their track, ‘Don’t stop’. This was a perfect ending, full of energy that radiated the room both through the audience and the performers.

By Abi White
@AbigailwhiteUOS

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