Fleetwood Bac review 26/6/02 by Rachel

This lot are like a drug. I've spent all week getting fractious and anxious to see

them again- I snapped at my family and left a bomb-site of a house in my wake in my hurry to get out to Pip's last night. It's been a long couple of months since the last one I was at. Was that Falmouth? I can't remember. Anyway what IS nice is not the be one of the only two people on the dance floor, and while we may be loud and 'going-a-bit-mental' down the front, at least FB don't have to do much in the way of crowd warming if we are there. Once they are on stage we are up for it! However we were once again sidelined by that familiar large group of ladies at centre stage... am I starting to detect the travelling Matt Pearce fan club??...he he!

Saturday night finally comes and so does heaven. Hearing that music coursing through your body again is bliss and you have 2+ hours on a complete high. Once it's over you are left wanting more... quick! over to the Bac Tour dates page - where can I get another fix!!!! I can't understand it how on earth people manage to stay rooted to the spot clasping their drinks when 'Stevie' is singing tracks like 'Rhiannon' or 'Edge of Seventeen' how do they do it because my feet just want to dance. And dance we did. Mike was doing his famous 'Gypsy' twirling (stand back everyone!) and he brought his tambourine along and we all had a go at following 'Stevie'....she ought to give us a master class in tambourine-playing! I didn't bring mine along in the end, but I did give my shawl it's first airing, although remind me not to wear the green top again because it kept getting tangled on the beadwork.

But seriously folks....they were absolutely wonderful last night - Pip and I said they were the best we'd seen them so far - everything sounded fresh and polished. You missed an absolute jewel if you weren't there. The set was full of sparkling gems (and so was the audience -LOL!)..

including our first opportunity for Fireflies to hear 'Christine' perform 'Songbird' which was just perfection and has to be the Song of the Night for me! It was wonderful to hear it performed so well and our reaction to it surely proves to her that she's nailed it as far as us devoted Mac fans are concerned.....go 'Christine'...more please!!!!! Mike nearly deafened me shouting 'Christine' VERY loudly and I think embarrassed the poor lady!

Making a very welcome return was 'Silver Springs' performed flawlessly once again by 'Stevie' which I don't think I've heard since Putney last year. 'Lindsey' traded in his much-heralded acoustic 'Big Love' for the Rumours track 'Never Going Back Again' and although I completely rave over 'BL' it was nice to hear something more unusual for a change. 'Mick' managed to make his drum kit sound amazing during the 'Tusk' drum solo - it was reminiscent of being next to the runway at RAF Fairford

at the 1993 Air Tattoo when Concorde took off! 'John' looks very visible now in his whites giving solid bass line support...perhaps 'Lindsey' should think about something a bit brighter than the usual black outfit because he's a body-less head with a guitar on most of my band photo's!

'Edge of Seventeen' was there, so was 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around', 'Everywhere' (yes!), 'Seven Wonders', 'Green Manalishi', 'Leather and Lace', 'Sisters of the Moon' (don't forget to buy your copy of the painting - sorry, shameless plug I know!) plus a whole host of others which I can't remember now because I forgot to ask for a copy of the set list.

If there's one thing I'd really like to do is be able to chat to Fireflies and the band afterwards without having to scream at everyone to be heard....perhaps we can have special backstage passes for Fireflies ....just a thought!

by Rachel Lewis