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A TASTE OF THE ISLAND COMES TO THE DESERT
Article & Photos By: Tommy Ross
Saturday night at the Spotlight 29 Casino's showroom, a taste of Hawaii came to the desert as Mick Fleetwood performed with his new band Island Rumours. The original founder of the iconic rock band Fleetwood Mac and a drumming veteran of over 40 years now merges the sentiment and vibe of the popular Fleetwood Mac music with the heart and soul of some of the best Hawaiian songs. He does this by using some of the top performing artists on the Hawaiian scene today.
The band is comprised of Willie K. and Eric Gilliom of the longstanding island favorites Barefoot Natives, Lopaka Colon from Henry Kapono's Wild Hawaiian project, renowned Island bassist Lenny Castellanos, Molokai's Hoku-Award-winning singer Raiatea Helm, former Fleetwood Mac member Rick Vito and of course Mick himself on drums. Vito is no stranger to rock music either, having played over the years with Jackson Browne, Bob Seger, John Fogerty, and Todd Rundgren, amongst others.
The stage Saturday night was beautifully designed as a Hawaiian luau, complete with full moon backdrop, tiki branches, and vibrant colors. The set list followed a steady pattern all evening long as Fleetwood ebbed and flowed between Fleetwood Mac songs and Hawaiian favorites. What was great to see was the enthusiasm of the audience as they equally applauded both styles of music and in some cases even clapped louder following the Hawaiian songs.
The set list featured early Mac classics like "Black Magic Woman," "Oh Well" and "Albatross", as well as later and current Fleetwood Mac hits such as "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" "World Turning" "Dreams" "Rhiannon" and "Songbird." Interspersed among the rock and blues were Native Hawaiian songs such as "Indigenous Nations," "Back to Honopo" and "Lei Lokalani." They also performed a unique "fusion" instrumental with "Native Hawaiian going Rock and Rock influenced by Native Hawaiian".
One has to admire Fleetwood for going with his heartfelt inspirations and with Island Rumours coming up with something very original, broad in scope, yet fondly familiar all at the same time. The audience in attendance loved every minute of it, and it was surprising yet gratifying to see that the room actually had more attendees than last week's Starship concert. As stated in last week's review, the Spotlight 29's showroom is a top notch venue to experience a live concert and Saturday night was no exception.
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