Through a combination of storytelling and music, The Fleetwood Mac Story is a beautiful performance covering the late ’60s British-American rock band’s songs across a variety of their albums. Performed by three vocalists (Maia Elsey, Sarah Leanne, and Alex Beharrell), and accompanied by the Night Owl Band, they produce such a wave of nostalgia from the late ‘60s as they sing both the happier and sadder songs of Fleetwood Mac.
The band opened their set with ‘Rhiannon’, and from that moment, I was able to nail down the instantaneous excitement created within the sold-out audience when the two female vocalists began singing. Both Elsey and Leane’s strong voices, with Beharrell as backing vocals, bounced off the interiors of the large venue, sounding harmonious and heavenly all at once. The stage presence shared among the three was encapsulating as they exuded a late ‘60s vibe. And with their energy radiating off the stage toward the audience, it was hard to tell who was having more fun — the band, the vocalists, or us. Performing songs like ‘Tusk’, ‘Oh Well, Pt. 1’, and ‘Dreams’, they also did exceptionally well in reproducing the band’s instrumentals, sounding exactly like a replica of the originals and producing the same hype the music would’ve done in the 1960s.
Throughout the show, the three vocalists provided a brief history of Fleetwood Mac. This included informing the audience of the number of times the band changed their members, and how Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 Rumours album has been in the UK Official Albums Chart for an impressive 21 consecutive years. Also, on how it all began in 1967 with blues guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood, and bassist John McVie, with a discussion on the different dynamics between band members (particularly in the arrival of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham).
I may have been the youngest person in this sold-out audience for The Fleetwood Mac Story, but it was an honour to witness the generation before us happily passing down music that is dear to them, onto the next generation to perform and bring happiness to others. Once ‘Songbird’ began to play, it made my heart ache when I saw many in the audience starting to cry and hold their loved ones beside them at the sound of Leanne and her beautiful voice — and I’d be lying if I were to say I wasn’t tearing up and sniffling in my seat too.
Performances like this truly remind me of the reason why the Fringe Festival exists: to laugh together, to cry together, and especially, to bring people together in a space where we are all able to experience and appreciate the art of music.
Image by Dan Clews, provided to The Student as press.
