On August 23, 2021 I received the 2 CD/1 Blu-Ray set of “Celebrate the Music of Peter Green and the Early Years of Fleetwood Mac” from Amazon. I quickly popped the Blu-Ray in my A/V system and settled in to watch the video of the concert. I had been looking forward to watching the Blu-Ray since seeing a clip from the concert on YouTube the week before. I was not disappointed: the concert video was outstanding!
The concert featured many great guitarists and other musicians playing homage to Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac’s early music. Among the guitarists were Rick Vito, David Gilmour, Jonny Lang, Pete Townsend, and Billy Gibbons. Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones played bass on several songs and John Mayall played piano on one. Also, Christine McVie sat in on two songs.
The core band for the concert included Mick Fleetwood on drums, Rick Vito, Jonny Lang, and Andy Fairweather Low on guitar, and Dave Bronze on bass. Dave Bronze was Robin Trower’s bass player and played bass for Eric Clapton for 4 years. Andy Fairweather Low was a popular artist in Britain for many years, and toured with George Harrison and played in Eric Clapton’s band for many years.
Rick Vito was in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and replaced Lindsey Buckingham in FM in 1987. I’ve been a big fan of Rick’s since I saw him with FM in concert in Dallas in 1987. Billy Gibbons, of course, is the front man for ZZ Top. Billy blew me away when I saw ZZ Top in Rapid City on their Eliminator tour.
During the concert the musicians who weren’t in the core band took turns taking the stage to play in two or three songs.
I’ve loved early Fleetwood Mac since my college roommate at South Dakota State University introduced me to them. I have listened to their early albums scores of times over the last 45 years. Love of FM’s early music undoubtedly is part of why I enjoyed the concert so much, but the concert has a lot to offer to music lovers who are not familiar with FM’s early music.
I own a fair number of rock concert DVDs and Blu-Rays and I have watched many other concerts on streaming services and cable TV. This celebration of Peter Green and early Fleetwood Mac is one of the best concert videos that I’ve seen and heard. Of course, a great concert video starts with great music and this one has outstanding music in spades, but it also has great video quality and camera work (something that is sadly lacking in many concert videos).
For me, one the highlights of the concert was Rick Vito and Jonny Lang playing lead guitar off each other on “Black Magic Woman”. If you think that Santana originated “Black Magic Woman” you’re not alone, but you are wrong. Peter Green wrote “Black Magic Woman” and Fleetwood Mac recorded it in 1969, a year before Santana covered it in 1970.
Another highlight was original FM member Jeremy Spencer playing on “The Sky Is Crying” and “I Can’t Hold Out”. Jeremy abruptly left FM 50 years ago to join the “Children of God” cult in California and hadn’t played with FM since. Jeremy wanted his performance to be about Peter Green, not himself, so his participation in the concert was kept secret until the last minute. Jeremy played two of Peter’s songs and just blew me away. I have always thought of Jeremy as the least special of FM’s early guitarists but his great talent was obvious on those two songs.
The final highlight that I’ll mention is David Gilmour and Kirk Hammett on “The Green Manalishi” (the last song that Peter Green recorded with FM). Kirk is the guitarist for Metallica and owns Peter Green’s famed Les Paul (famed for its extraordinary tone). Kirk has loved Peter Green’s music for years and told Mick Fleetwood that he always played an early FM song as part the sound check before Metallica concerts.
I highly recommend this video to 60’s blues fans, Fleetwood Mac fans, and fans of great music in general. If you are a Peter Green fan, this CD/Blu-Ray set is a must have for the concert video. At the time this article was posted the set was available on Amazon for $21.