You’ve heard the rumours. You’ve heard the lies. You’ve even heard they’re coming to Perth this year! Now delve into the mystery. Sex, Drugs and Fleetwood Mac is an edgy, rock cabaret that focuses on the Buckingham/Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac and provides a snapshot into the internal turmoil of the legendary supergroup. The perpetual conflict and troubled personal lives of the band are well storied, but just how did they journey through it all to make Rumours, one of the best selling rock albums of all time, and continue to inspire generations to this day? With live music performed by Sweetwood – one of Australia’s premiere Fleetwood Mac tribute acts, you can find out when you head to Downstairs at The Maj at His Majesty’s Theatre, every night at 9pm from Tuesday, January 22 to Saturday, January 26. To give us a taste of what we can look forward to, Zalia Joi, who fronts the band as Stevie Nicks, shares five (well, six…) songs that capture the essence of the Mac best of all…
Rhiannon – This is a song about a Welsh witch written by Stevie Nicks. She believed in the magic of the universe and the magic of music and art. This song is where we really get to see the spell of Fleetwood Mac working and get to experience Stevie the mystical and ethereal alongside the band as wizards of sound and emotion.
Gold Dust Woman – The scene that accompanies this song touches on the band’s experience with cocaine. There is a sexy scene with Lindsey accompanied by the chords from Gold Dust Woman which is edgy and dark. It’s the song which Stevie wrote looking at their substance reliance and the disintegration of the relationships between her and Lindsey, Christine and John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood’s own marriage. It is lamenting and dirgey but I love the feel of it.
Songbird – This is my favourite song to perform in the show. It is a song of hope and forgiveness. Love and encouragement. The words and melody are simple yet together they create such a tapestry of rich imagery and emotion it is hard not to cry while performing it. Christine McVie is a genius and this song shows vulnerability as well as strength. It is stand-and-deliver, raw and stripped back – something very special.
Go Your Own Way/Dreams – These songs are from the Rumours album and are about the infamous break up between Stevie and Lindsey – the angry Go Your Own Way by Lindsey and the softer, forgiving (but still cutting) Dreams by Stevie. We play these two songs back to back. At this point of the show the two are arguing and both have and are flaunting other relationships and hurting each other with words and petty arguments. Go Your Own Way has that angsty, angry distorted guitar that forces you to move and Dreams is that anthemic song that one can’t help to sing along with.
Edge of Seventeen (White Winged Dove) – This is another favourite song of the show (despite being a solo Stevie Nicks song). Stevie has just walked out of the band and it is the dark night of the soul moment for her. We have taken this song back to basics and play the first two verses with just vocals, keys, bass and percussion at half time. The words are very strong and poetic in this song and they take us on a journey far beyond what any script could. Here we see Stevie have her ‘ah-ha’ moment about changing her life around and taking back the control, followed by the band kicking in with the distinctive, chugging 16th-note guitar riff that makes this song so iconic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOD-0ZZpU6Q
