Review of the February 16th Fleetwood Mac concert at the Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, AUS.

14 years on, latest Mac attack scores

By Iain Shedden

AS one 70s icon, David Bowie, prepared to kick off his Australian tour tonight, another, Fleetwood Mac, made its first appearance on an Australian stage for 14 years.

The band that scored multi-million sales with its landmark album Rumours paraded hits in front of a sold-out Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, NSW. Fronted by the queen of hippy chic, Stevie Nicks, the group performed songs from its recent comeback album Say You Will, as well as crowd favourites from the 70s such as Don't Stop and Go Your Own Way. The group last played in Australia on the back of its 1987 album, Tango in the Night.

Fleetwood Mac, which has sold more than 3million albums in Australia, is one of the most successful bands in the world, although the peak of its commercial recording career is long past. Ticket sales for the current tour amassed $91million in the US last year, and the Australian leg of the tour is sold out.

Formed in England in 1967, the band achieved global success only after abandoning its blues-influenced rock for a more pop-based sound in the mid-70s. That success has come at a price, however, with personal feuds, drug addictions and the departure of founding member Christine McVie.

"If you take out all the bad stuff in the band, the songs wouldn't happen," Nicks told The Australian prior to the release of her solo album Trouble in Shangri-la in 2001. "We're a tense bunch." "We've always had our differences and we always will," she said last year. "But through it all we managed to be smart about what matters."

Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will tour continues in Brisbane on Thursday and travels to Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.