Glasgow set to love Fleetwood Mac once again TIMES PAST
ROCK icon Stevie Nicks is heading for Glasgow this summer.
As a member of Fleetwood Mac, the star has had a long association with the city, stretching all the way back to Green’s Playhouse in 1969.
The venue, which opened as a cinema, ballroom and tea rooms on Renfield Street in 1927, began to host music gigs in the 60s ( it later became the much- lauded Apollo) and Fleetwood Mac played there as part of a Glasgow Students Charities Appeal do on October 16, 1969.
The support acts were Eclection and The Sleaz Band, and ticket prices started at 10 shillings.
According to the glasgowapollo. com website, which aims to list all the acts who performed there and at Green’s Playhouse, the band featuring Christine Perfect, later McVie was back on November 20, 1970, supported by Trees and Northwind.
On April 4, 1977, Fleetwood Mac played the Apollo as part of their famous Rumours tour, supported by UK rock band Charlie, which was led by Terry Thomas.
The band has returned to the city to play the SECC and the Hydro on several occasions since, including in 2003 and 2009.
Fleetwood Mac almost as famous for their off- stage antics, romances and fall- outs as for their music were formed in 1967. Their 1977 album Rumours is one of the biggest- selling albums of all time. The band also had huge hits with subsequent albums b Tusk T k in i 1979 19 9 and d Tango T I In Th The Night in 1987.
The original members were Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. After Green left, Christine McVie ( John’s wife) joined the band, along with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
Both couples ( the McVies and Nicks and Buckingham) subsequently broke up and in the 80s, the band members pursued solo careers.
Further line- up changes followed, but Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Buckingham and Nicks reunited to perform at the inauguration of US President Bill Clinton in 1993 ( Clinton had used Don’t Stop from f Rumours R as his hi campaign i theme song).
The band, minus Christine, released Say You Will in 2003 and it was not until a decade later that she rejoined and Fleetwood Mac embarked on their first major tour since 2009.
In October 2013, Stevie Nicks talked to our sister title The Herald ahead of their first gig in the city for four years. The singer had had a tough year, following the death of her mother and a bout of pneumonia, but she was positive about the band’s future.
“I told the press last year that 2013 was going to be the year of Fleetwood Mac,” she said. “And I was just hoping with all my heart that this big statement was gonna come true.”
Stevie also revealed she and fellow band member Christine McVie ( who died in November 2022, aged 79) were “fighting for the feminist movement.”
She added: “I knew from the beginning, when Lindsey and I joined Fleetwood Mac, that Christine and I had to really stand our ground. And we had to be a force of nature.
“Or we would be considered secondclass rock stars. And between the two of us that was never gonna happen. We made a pinky swear pact, ‘ we will never, ever walk into a room that’s full of rock stars and not be treated as if we’re not as good as them. Because we are as good as them.’ And that never did happen.”