I’ve had ‘See Fleetwood Mac live’ on my bucket list for quite some time. Sitting here typing this review still doesn’t seem real.
Did I actually see Fleetwood Mac perform live?? Stevie Nicks… in the flesh??
Yes, yes I did and it’s a concert I’ll remember for a very long time.
I started listening to Fleetwood Mac when I was around 15 or so and big into Tumblr. I received a record player for Christmas when I was 17 and slowly racked up a collection of their vinyls.
I’m not going to lie, I was more a fan of Stevie Nicks than anything – her songs and her voice just really resonated.
When I visit home, there’s nothing I love more than to lock myself in my room with my record player and put on their greatest hits vinyl.
I never thought I would get the chance to hear the group live, so of course I jumped at the chance when I heard they were going on tour.
Related blog posts to read:
- Gig Review: James Arthur, Royal Albert Hall, London
- Live Gig Review: Dermot Kennedy, Radio City Music Hall
- Gig Review: Picture This, o2 Academy, Brixton
- Live Gig Review: Lewis Capaldi, Croxteth Park
- Gig Review: Westlife, M&S Bank Arena
Getting there
Well, did we have a mare before the concert even begun. I’ve been to quite a few concerts in Dublin before, but they’ve always been in the 3 Arena or Croke Park which are both very easy venues to get to from Dublin City Centre.
But the RDS? It’s out in Ballsbridge, which is quite a bit away.
When we checked into our hotel, we were able to book a taxi for around 6pm which would get us to the concert on time (or so we thought). When we arrived in the hotel reception at 6pm we were told that the likelihood of getting a taxi was very slim as Elton John was playing in the 3 Arena that night as well.
So there were going to be around 18,500 people attending Fleetwood Mac and 13,000 attending Elton John. So you could assume that around 30,000 people were looking taxis on the same night in Dublin. Not a chance.
Public transport from where we were staying out to the RDS wasn’t that easy and we would have to change from trains to buses and back to trains and it was also going to take well over an hour as it was also rush hour on a Friday evening.
Crazy taxi
With not much choice but to head to the nearest bus stop, we were luckily able to flag down a free taxi that was driving past and jump in it.
This taxi driver knew every backstreet of Dublin in existence and sped around like Michael Schumaker to get us to the concert in good time. Only, when he was about to park up and drop us off, his mind must have been somewhere else as he didn’t see a woman walking across a driveway and knocked into her and sent her flying.
Well I can tell you that the three of us passengers nearly took sick and heart rates just about tripled at what had just happened.
Thankfully, the woman was just in shock and a little sore – nothing too serious. But what a start to the night. You can bet that we were all in desperate need of a drink by that stage.
The concert
When we got there, The Pretenders were already on stage warming up the crowd. I’m not going to lie, I only knew about three songs that they sang but they were good all the same.
For their last song, they wheeled on a special guest – none other than Shane McGowan himself (pint in hand). Chrissie Hynde and Shane sang ‘I Got You Babe’ before he was wheeled back off the stage again.
And then at 8pm on the dot, the great Fleetwood Mac graced the stage. And what a show they put on. All of their best hits and Stevie getting the best reception of all. I was beyond happy that they sang all of my favourites as well; Landslide, Rhiannon and best of all, Go Your Own Way.
The biggest surprise of the night was probably when Stevie Nicks told everyone that she was 71 years old. She performed the entire night with high-heeled boots on her and danced like she was 30 years younger. I can only hope that I look and can move as good as she can when I’m the same age.
It also made me think that this may just be Fleetwood Mac’s last ever tour – so I’m so thankful that I got tickets and was able to see them perform live. But how on earth they are all managing a world tour at their age is just admirable.
The Bucket List
I’ve been to so many concerts that I could never count all of them. I’ve seen Rihanna, McFly, One Direction (about ten times), Avicii, Ellie Goulding, Westlife (about twenty times), Little Mix, Steps, Harry Styles and just about everyone else.
But Fleetwood Mac will be a concert that I will remember for a very long time.
There are only a few music legends that I would want to see in concert. But Fleetwood Mac topped that list so I feel very lucky that I was able to see them in concert.
The only others that I think make that list of people I really want to see in concert before I die are Adele, James Arthur (I’ve been waiting five years to see him live), Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera and Eminem.
Well those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head right now. But I have a list as long as myself of people I want to see perform live. How I wish Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson were still alive.
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