That was beautiful

Fleetwood Mac crept up on me. They weren’t on my playlist for the first few decades of my life.

I thought “Tusk” was a pretty cool song, but that was about it.

Somewhere along the way I fell in love with so many of their songs. I wouldn’t say I’m a diehard fan, but I have their greatest hits on high rotation, “Landslide” spoke to me during my marriage break up, and their music was the soundtrack to my road trip through the US with DD on our first holiday together.

A few years back, we attended my friend Darren’s birthday dinner at Brokewood vineyard in the Hunter Valley and Fleetwood Mac were performing live next door. The music drifted over the vines as we ate our sumptuous meal and I felt disappointed that I’d missed what was probably my last chance to see them in concert.

Neil Finn is another story. I’ve seen him perform live more times than I can count.

The love affair began one Sunday night when I was watching Countdown. Molly showed a clip of Split Enz performing “I Got You” … featuring Neil Finn soft-shoeing around with a perm and eyeliner and I went oh, hello!

I was 13 and he was 23. I was gaaaaaawn. And my affection has been enduring, through Split Enz, the Mullanes, Crowded House and more.

These days the obsession has subsided into warm regard, though DD reckons I wouldn’t say no to a fling.

And so I found myself last night watching 61-year-old Neil perform “I Got You”, with Stevie Nicks doing the harmony. Suddenly I was a teenager again and it felt pretty wonderful.

I was quite literally gobsmacked when Neil first announced he was joining Fleetwood Mac. And I wasn’t convinced it it was a match made in heaven.

Then I saw them perform on Ellen together and I was hooked.

I was so excited I even contemplated flying to the US to watch them perform.

Fortunately they’ve toured Australia and last night was my chance to make the dream come true, albeit cloaked as a birthday gift from me to DD ….

The whole concert was awesome. DD reckons it’s one of the best he’s seen, so it ended up being a pretty good gift to him too (I was so nervous that I’d Flannagan it)

My favourite part was the back-to-back duets that Neil and Stevie did in the middle of the concert: Don’t Dream It’s Over and Landslide.

Watching Neil perform has brought me to tears on numerous occasions and last night was no different. I was so overwhelmed with emotion I could barely sing along.

It was beautiful, with all those voices in the audience raise and all those mobile phone lights swaying in the dark.

What a fantatic night! Bucket list item ticked off.

I’m a bit knackered this morning though – the band was on stage for almost two and a half hours and then we had the long drive home.

I’ve no idea how Stevie does it at 71.

Have a great weekend. Catch you Monday!

Song of the day: Fleetwood Mac ~ Don’t Dream It’s Over/Landslide