Music

A reunited Fleetwood Mac proves its continued vitality at MGM

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Fleetwood Mac returned to Vegas with Christine McVie in tow April 11.

Three and a half stars

Fleetwood Mac April 11, MGM Grand Garden Arena

A few songs into Fleetwood Mac’s concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, singer Stevie Nicks noted that it was the 78th show on the band’s current tour with returned singer/keyboardist Christine McVie. Having McVie back after a 16-year hiatus seems to have reinvigorated the group, and they played with the enthusiasm of the first show on the tour, along with the confidence of experienced veterans.

McVie’s return meant the chance to hear many of the band’s classic hits (including “You Make Loving Fun,” “Say You Love Me” and “Little Lies”) that have been absent from recent tours, although it also meant less room for more obscure songs (and nothing recorded after 1987). McVie didn’t have the manic energy of drummer Mick Fleetwood (who delivered a characteristically bonkers drum solo during “World Turning”) or the showmanship of singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham (who performed a bravura solo version of “Big Love”), but she quietly shined, especially on the lovely show-closing “Songbird,” which she performed on piano accompanied only by a few guitar lines from Buckingham.

Of the group’s three singer-songwriters, Nicks remained the shakiest in her vocal delivery, but that was partly because she was most likely to push herself. Even so, she sounded better than the last time the band came to town, and she was clearly overjoyed to have McVie back, delivering an endearingly rambling speech at the end of the show about her bandmate’s return. Like so much of the two-and-a-half-hour concert, it was more than a little self-indulgent, but after 40 years of ups and downs, line-up changes and reunions, the members of Fleetwood Mac have earned it.

Set list:

“The Chain”

“You Make Loving Fun”

“Dreams”

“Second Hand News”

“Rhiannon”

“Everywhere”

“I Know I’m Not Wrong”

“Tusk”

“Sisters of the Moon”

“Say You Love Me”

“Big Love”

“Landslide”

“Never Going Back Again”

“Over My Head”

“Gypsy”

“Little Lies”

“Gold Dust Woman”

“I’m So Afraid”

“Go Your Own Way”

Encore:

“World Turning”

“Don’t Stop”

“Silver Springs”

Second encore:

“Songbird”

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