I heart Rumours

Roisn Ó stealing the show in the Opium Rooms

I'm not wild on tribute bands. Yeah, ok, there's some good ones - the Bootleg Beatles, Rebel Rebel and Brit Floyd spring to mind - but, for the most part, I can't reconcile the desire to see the real band with the reality of seeing the tribute band. I went to see The Live Last Waltz a few years ago and it was pretty good – although the "guests" - Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, etc., were hammier than the meat aisle in your local supermarket. However whatever belief had been suspended during the show was crushed on the way out when we saw Robbie, Rick, Levon and the rest chatting with friends at the exit – something I'd guess didn't happen outside the Winterland on Thanksgiving 1976. 

So I don't know what I was thinking when I said I'd go to 'I heart Rumours' in the Opium Rooms last Saturday night. Mostly, I was thinking that it'd be a chance to catch up with an old pal with some nice music in the background. Of course I hadn't really bothered to check what it was so I didn't know that it wasn't a tribute band so much as it was a tribute show. And what a surprise it was! Happily, there wasn't anyone onstage trying to be Stevie Nicks or Mick Fleetwood – just a crack band drawn from various Irish bands who rattled through all of Rumours with a host of different vocalists before dipping into a few songs from the Peter Green era, a handful of Tango in the Night songs and the odd stray from a couple of other Mac records. Nothing from Tush though, unfortunately, but you can't have everything. It was for the most part exhilarating, uplifting, and not at all like seeing a self-conscious tribute band trying to squeeze into character on stage.

Granted, it didn't all work - a few of the versions of the Mac ballads strayed a little close to X Factor territory but the standout was Roisin O whose version of 'The Chain' was so good that the final encore of the night was a repeat performance of it. I haven't heard much of her own material (apart from her new Florence-esque single) but, holy jeebus, she wiped the floor with everyone else. She returned later to do another song, Rhiannon (I think), that was almost as good. Honestly it's my favourite live moment for a long time - not least because it came from such an unexpected place.  

Oh - and another thing - when I walked in to the venue I expected it to be full of old duffers like me. Fleetwood Mac aren't, I wouldn't have thought, the hippest band out there so the audience, I assumed, would be of a certain vintage. And that's the way it was when I got there - but not for long. By the time the gig was in full swing, the floor was full of young people. Mostly girls, in their late 20s, early 30s. At first I thought they were early for the club that follows the live music but, no, when the gig ended, they all left to go wherever the young people go these days. But while they were there, they sang and danced to every song as if Fleetwood Mac were headlining Electric Picnic or some such festival. Which, on last week's evidence, isn't the worst idea in the world. 

I heart Rumours was a charity event supporting UCDVO who are sending volunteer nurses and medical students to Uganda. Apparently, the bands get together every few months to do similar shows. I don't know who they're doing next but I expect it'll be well worth seeing.