Over the past few years my husband and I have made a conscious effort to see more live concerts, most featuring artists whose careers began in the 1960s and who remain popular today, producing new music while also performing hits from the past. Such was the case this past Monday evening when we traveled to Portland, Oregon’s Moda Center to see Fleetwood Mac perform. The band, in one iteration or another, has been performing for more than 50 years, and they certainly pleased their fans that evening.

Shortly before this “An Evening with Fleetwood Mac” tour began this fall, it was announced that Lindsey Buckingham and the rest of the group were parting ways . . . for reasons and under circumstances which vary, depending on the source. Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Christine and John McVie invited Neil Finn   to perform lead vocals and play guitar and Mike Campbell (formerly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and an awesome guitar player) to join them on this tour.   Both proved to be excellent choices and seemed to mesh well with the group.

The concert, with no intermission and a 15-minute encore, lasted just a bit over 2 hours and had the audience on their feet and singing along on several songs. For the most part, I didn’t find the projected videos which accompanied several of the numbers added anything to them, but otherwise I completely enjoyed the performance. Because of Stevie Nicks’s longtime friendship with Tom Petty and Mike Campbell’s career with The Heartbreakers, it was only right that the group perform a tribute to Petty in “Free Fallin,'” which again had the audience singing along.

Each of the long-time members of Fleetwood Mac, as well as Campbell and Finn, was featured in at least one song or extended solo. Mick Fleetwood, at 71, performed a truly awesome extended drum solo that would have wiped out a younger, less talented player. Campbell’s artistry and skill really impressed; what a great addition to the group. Finn has his own sound and doesn’t try to mimic Buckingham’s style, and that’s as it should be. Nicks and the McVies still have it and clearly still enjoy performing.

What’s next on our concert line-up? Well, The Rolling Stones are going to be performing in Seattle this coming May, with tickets going on sale this coming week. I think we’re going to have to try to snag a couple!

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor