Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, Southport 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Great music never goes away, it has no need, it can just wait happily secure in the knowledge that at some point somebody is going to pick up a guitar; beat a rhythm out on a drum kit and the vocals will be performed with the right sizeable emotion for it breathe life once more.

When it comes to class acts, true showstoppers who have been performing across so many decades, whose reputation musically is unassailable and character is brilliantly chaotic and shining like a raging sun sending out solar flares far into the unknowing Universe, then only the best dare try to emulate the best and for Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, that is exactly what they are.

With the opening and closing part of the evening dedicated to the Fleetwood Mac era that included the irreplaceable Stevie Nicks, the legendary Lindsay Buckingham and the gracious Christine McVie, Rumours of Fleetwood Mac performed some of their heroes perhaps more commercially well- known tracks with great aplomb. The delightful and enchanting Louise Rogan was especially inspiring as she slipped easily into the voice of Stevie Nicks throughout the evening. Not only capturing the beauty in the songs but the sometimes burning anger that resonated through the tempest like period of the album Rumours.

Tracks such as The Chain, Go Your Own Way, I don’t Wanna Know, Don’t Stop, You Make Loving Fun were as perfectly framed as you could dare wish for and alongside the beating Everywhere, the growling Big Love, Rhiannon and the almost unbelievably cool Tusk, this was a selection of songs that were effortlessly balanced with great music and sincere heartfelt vocals.

Not that the great Louise Rogan had it her own way, for Ms. Amanda Kostadinov gave one of the most stirring renditions of the track Songbird ever captured ever by audience, arguably not just in the Northwest but in the U.K. Even the stunning Christine McVie would have surely bowed her head in respect and admiration at Ms Kostadinov’s performance.

As effortlessly flawless as the two sets involving the women of Rumours of Fleetwood Mac were, there was something uniquely special, something impeccable about the middle section of the evening which was given away to the Blues era of Fleetwood Mac, the period in which the great Peter Green bought forth the start of one of the finest bands to have come out originally of the Blues scene in the U.K. With tracks such as Green Manalishi, the scintillating and dreamy instrumental Albatross, the sanguine beauty of perhaps one of the finest songs ever to have been written, Man of the World, and the devilish Oh Well, Peter Green was not just remembered by all inside the venue, but he was feted quite rightly as one of the leading lights of the day.

The whole evening wasn’t just about having fun, to recall the great tracks by Fleetwood Mac by a set of musicians highly regarded by all, including the distinguished Mick Fleetwood, it was about honour, to the name, the music and above all the spirit of a great music institution. Just sublime and brilliant!

Ian D. Hall