RUNNING IN THE SHADOWS
Renowned as Australia’s leading tribute to Fleetwood Mac, Running in the Shadows brings this legendary music to stages in Alice Springs and Darwin.
WORDS ROSIE WILD
IMAGE GREG FOSTER
SINCE 2000, RUNNING in the Shadows has toured Australia extensively, played overseas, and filled venues with capacity crowds, paying homage to the superstar outfit, Fleetwood Mac.
Lush harmonies. Masterful songcraft. The songs of Fleetwood Mac span genres of blues, rock, and pop. They’re rich with poetic lyrics. They weave raw emotion into epic melodies. They weave into lives. Gary Stewart – keyboard player, vocalist, guitarist, and founding member – says they weave across generations.
“Fleetwood Mac were definitely a big part of our childhoods. The surprising thing is how the music keeps drawing in more and more generations … not only people who grew up while the band were at their height, but generations who’ve grown up with this music on their parents’ records, or their grandparents’, or discovered the music themselves as it’s been re-released," he says."
"That’s the thing about this music. It’s so well written. It just stands the test of time, and still hits as hard as when it was first written."
Stewart has spent decades exploring Fleetwood Mac’s extraordinary catalogue. He works together with a six-piece band of world-class musicians, honing the selection.
This tribute band doesn’t just bring the favourites – they’ve found the gold from Fleetwood Mac’s many talented songwriters.
“There’s songs like ‘Gypsy’, ‘Landslide’, ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘Rhiannon’, ‘Dreams’ … We always do those, but we like to explore beyond that, too,” says Stewart.
“We cover some songs from Peter Green, who started the band in the 60s, and there’s ‘Ebony Eyes’ from Bob Welch, who was the guitarist in Fleetwood Mac. Then you've got Jon Stewart, who wrote 'Gold', which Stevie Nicks sang backups on.
“Fleetwood Mac had so many different iterations, and there's so many spin-offs from band members who’ve done their own things and are all so talented in their own right as well. The hardest part is not deciding what to put in but what to leave out. Fleetwood Mac just have so many great songs.”
Running in the Shadows’ well-crafted curation of songs are delivered by charismatic lead singer Ursula Cain Stewart, and powerful singer, Bec Caruana. They’re backed by Stewart, Angelos Tsoltoudis, Mark Spiteri, and Adam Nicholls.
This band have these songs in their blood, knowing how to hit all the key moments while also keeping the songs fresh and alive, exploring and expanding into their own musicality every time they play.
“When a band gets together as a group, they all put something to it, and they make something pretty magical out of all those songs. There’s a synergy of the musicianship, that synergy of live bands playing together that you can only get on a stage,” says Stewart.
“We perform the songs as close to the original as possible, but we're all musicians, so we all add our spin. Sometimes, it just happens on the show, where someone will do something different, and we develop that a bit further, and that flair becomes part of it.”
It’s not just musical notes that lift this show. The experience is also lifted by Fleetwood Mac’s timeless themes. There’s the edges of anger sharpened by heartbreak, the bittersweet realities of change, songs about women with strength and freedom of spirit, songs about breakups, songs about new love.
“There’s a lot of true feeling, which lands for an audience as well. And everyone in the audience will have their own history with these songs, their own connection, their own take on them,” says Stewart.
“We’ve had everything from moshpits of 18-to-20-year-olds through to a woman from a small country town, coming to every show we’ve done in her region, because a Fleetwood Mac song we play meant so much to her late husband. These songs are just timeless … This is music I cannot see ever fading away.”
Fleetwood Mac Tribute Show Running in the Shadows
WHEN FRI 17 JUL | 8PM
AT ARALUEN ARTS CENTRE
COST $50-69
INFO araluenartscentre.nt.gov.au
WHEN SAT 18 JUL | 8PM
AT AANT CENTRE
COST $45-69
INFO yourcentre.com.au
