Mick Fleetwood to Lead All-Star Concert Celebrating Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green Era
By Jem Aswad
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Fleetwood Mac drummer and cofounder Mick Fleetwood today announced an all-star concert honoring the group’s early years of and its founder, Peter Green.
Set for February 25 at the London Palladium, Fleetwood has enlisted a stellar cast of musicians to perform, including Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, Jonny Lang, Andy Fairweather Low, blues legend John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac singer/keyboardist Christine McVie, Who drummer Zak Starkey and more to be announced. Veteran Glyn Johns has joined as the executive sound producer and the house band will feature Fleetwood along with Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze, and Ricky Peterson.
Green — pictured above, second from left, with the group in 1970 — was one of the greatest guitarists to emerge from the 1960s British blues-rock boom and actually succeeded Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers before departing a year later to form Fleetwood Mac (and was himself replaced by Mick Taylor, later of the Rolling Stones). While Mac became one of the most successful rock bands of the era, via hit songs like “Oh Well,” “Man of the World,” “Black Magic Woman” (later made famous by Santana) and the U.K. chart-topping instrumental “Albatross,” he and fellow guitarist Danny Kirwan were served some bad LSD at a party in 1970 and never completely recovered; Green left the band shortly afterward and spent time in mental institutions, although he has largely regained his health. Kirwan died in 2018.
Fleetwood, who curated the list of artists performing, said: “The concert is a celebration of those early blues days where we all began, and it’s important to recognize the profound impact Peter and the early Fleetwood Mac had on the world of music. Peter was my greatest mentor and it gives me such joy to pay tribute to his incredible talent. I am honored to be sharing the stage with some of the many artists Peter has inspired over the years and who share my great respect for this remarkable musician.” He closes by referencing the band’s final album with Green, 1970’s “Then Play On.”
The concert will be Executive Produced by Deke Arlon, Carl Stubner and Mick Fleetwood, in association with BMG and will be filmed for eventual broadcast release. Martyn Atkins has signed on as Director.
A donation from the event will go to Teenage Cancer Trust, the only UK charity dedicated to providing specialist nursing and emotional support to young people with cancer. Their life-changing care and support for young people before, during and after cancer provides young people with an opportunity to build their self-esteem and meet others living through the same experience.
Pre-sale tickets are available Wednesday (Nov. 13) at 10am; tickets go on-sale Friday (Nov. 15) at 10am GMT
