Pittsburgh Plays Fleetwood Mac mixes classic hits with hometown flair
PITTSBURGH — Imagine if thunder never happens when it's raining. Or players don't love you when they're playing.
Worse yet, what if rulers made good lovers, and we all stopped thinking about tomorrow?
If that was all the case, the world would be deprived of some great Fleetwood Mac lyrics.
That truly classic-rock band has carved out an enormous legacy to be celebrated Dec. 17-18 during "Pittsburgh Plays Fleetwood Mac," a two-day musical extravaganza at the Thunderbird Cafe & Music Hall in the city's Lawrenceville section.
Covering the hit songs and channeling the influential style of Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Co. will be a rotating cast of Pittsburgh area musicians including Angela Autumn, Anthony Bello, Anne Celedonia, Chris Colditz, Jon Belan, Nick Bello, Jacian Blaze, Dan Bozek, Andre Costello, Pat Coyle, Sean Finn, Manu Gajanan, Josh Gerba, Alyssa Hankey, Morgan Hawkins, Todd Kaczorowski, Michael Lindner, Byron Nash, Mike Ofca, Anthony Pecora, Ben Portz, Danny Rectenwald, Buddy Rieger, Eric Sakmar, Kayla Schureman, Nikki Shapiro, Steve Soboslai, Patti Spadaro, Rich Stanley and Kyle Wacke.
You might recognize some of those names from popular Pittsburgh bands like Gene The Werewolf, Punchline, Bastard Bearded Irishmen and Slam Band & Sam.
"These shows are a great way to find new artists in the city and get a feel for the greater Pittsburgh music scene," Soboslai, singer for the internationally known pop-punk band Punchline, said. "And if you haven't seen the totally renovated Thunderbird Music Hall, wow. Breathtaking."
Pittsburgh Plays Fleetwood Mac follows the same format as the successful Tom Petty Plays Pittsburgh (2018) and Paul McCartney Plays Pittsburgh (2019) shows.
Soboslai explains: "Four bands are created from this pool of Pittsburgh Players. There's also a pool of singers where each song in the show features a different singer, including members of the band as singers at times. Every year is themed around a different legacy artist, this year being Fleetwood Mac.
"What stands out as unique to me is that because the people who run Pittsburgh Plays choose the band lineups, rather than letting the musicians pick their own bands, there's this beautiful byproduct of new friendships, new bands, and a fresh feeling of camaraderie," Soboslai said. "All of this forged around great songs that attract people from a broader spectrum of musical playing style."
Tickets cost $22 at pittsburghplays.com for the chance to witness Fleetwood Mac songs like "Rhiannon," "Don't Stop," "Gypsy," "Tusk" and "You Make Loving Fun" interpreted by the roster of notable Western Pennsylvania musicians.
"Yes, it's absolutely about Fleetwood Mac, too," Soboslai said. "'Dreams,' 'Landslide,' 'Go Your Own Way,' —the night is going to be hit after hit, also digging a little into solo efforts like Stevie Nicks' duet with Tom Petty, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."
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Scott Tady is the local Entertainment Reporter for The Beaver County Times and Ellwood City Ledger. He's easy to reach at stady@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @scotttady
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Pittsburgh musicians tackle Fleetwood Mac in 2-night event
