Last week on April 1, I saw Fleetwood Mac. Attending a concert of theirs has been a dream of mine for a long time and despite considering it to all be a sick joke for a minute or two among the day’s abundance of April Fool’s tomfoolery, the show did go on and I had the time of my life.
I’m not typically the kind of guy who gets excited about a show. I grew up in a place where all I had were my parents’ records and CDs to listen to, far away from screaming fans in packed stadiums. But this show in particular was a meaningful, once in a lifetime opportunity, especially because many of those CDs and records I grew up on were by none other than Fleetwood. So for this show, I couldn’t have been more giddy.
The show started at 8 p.m. at the Pepsi Center, but I was out of class by 4. So naturally, my friends and I began pregaming several hours before necessary. We listened to “Rumours”—Fleetwood’s most iconic album—on repeat for about three hours while refining our dance moves, and it was time to go before we knew it.
We hopped on the lightrail, made friends with a couple elderly men who were also attending the show and hopped back off at the Pepsi Center in a similar fashion to a group of teenage girls I once saw get off at the same stop for a One Direction show.
There was no opener, probably because there is no one that could properly open for a band like Fleetwood. But that was just fine with us, and as the gang made their way out onto the stage, we went absolutely nuts.
As expected, and as hoped, Fleetwood played all of their greatest hits. And while I’m sure they’re sick of playing them, they at least seemed to be having fun doing it. They began with “The Chain,” a tune that starts out nice and slow but turns into an absolute foot-stomper with some impressive singing from the main vocalists Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
The band went on to to play nearly all of their hits: “You Make Lovin’ Fun,” “Dreams,” “Second Hand News,” “Rhiannon,” “Everywhere,” “I Know I’m Not Wrong,” “Tusk,” “Sisters of the Moon,” “Say You Love Me” and “Big Love.” All of them were ridiculously good, and my buddies and I found ourselves dancing with our arms around each other the whole time. While some of the elderly folks around us weren’t quite as animated, we got some good laughs out of them, as our energy seemed to be appreciated. One guy did tell us to shut the f*** up at one point, though. C’mon, man; it’s Fleetwood.
Things slowed down after “Big Love,” and Stevie took the mic to perform what is probably her best-known song, “Landslide.” Her voice was just as beautiful as it was when the song was originally recorded 40 years ago in 1975 and it was so beautiful that I almost cried. After the song ended, Stevie said something that was so simple, yet just perfect in response to the crowd’s overwhelming cheers: “Thank you, you make me happy.”
At that point of the night, I knew this was the best show I had ever seen. And, just when I thought it couldn’t have gotten any better, they played my absolute favorite song of theirs, “Never Going Back Again.” This is a song that holds great meaning for me. I listened to it over and over when my father passed away in 2012, and when I drove out west in his truck. It signified leaving an unfortunate situation behind, “never going back” to it again and simply doing what makes me happy. Hearing this live was a fantastic moment in my life that helped me realize how far I’ve come since those tough times.
The band played six more classics: “Over My Head,” “Gypsy,” “Little Lies,” “Gold Dust,” “So,” “Afraid” and “Go Your Own Way.” And they did such an incredibly great job that they were cheered back on stage for three encore songs: “World Turning,” “Don’t Stop” and finally, “Silver Springs.”
April Fool’s Day is perhaps the worst day of the year to think a dream will come true, but it happened for me this year, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it. This was the best concert of my life, and I will never forget it. Thanks for everything, Fleetwood.
