Allan Cosgrove talks Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, at the Ipswich Regent tonight

Rumours of Fleetwood Mac play the Ipswich Regent tonight. Photo: Contributed (Image: Archant)

Rumour has it there’s an excellent Fleetwood Mac tribute band around. So good in fact that Mick Fleetwood introduces them on stage at every show and a former member of Mac tours with them occasionally.

Formed by ex-Merseybeats drummer Cosgrove more than two decades ago, the band is going from strength to strength. It’s currently on the road with its Hits To Blues Tour.

“Mick recorded a video introduction that we play at every show – in fact, he might be doing another one for us soon.”

It must be gratifying to be held in such esteem by the people you are emulating on stage?

“Of course it is, yes. Mick’s behind us 100 per cent which is humbling, after all they don’t require us to spread the word about their music.”

Former guitarist Rick Vito, who replaced Lindsay Buckingham in the 1980s, appeared with the band as on some dates in the last tour.

“He did and it was a great honour. Sadly, he won’t be with us on this tour, but hopefully he’ll be back towards the end of next year,” says Cosgrove.

The hits of Fleetwood Mac are legendary and they had two separate “careers”.

Early on, when led by Peter Green, they were a blues act and enjoyed success with hits like Albatross, Man Of The World and Oh Well.

Following many changes, the band reinvented themselves in the mid-1970s and became one of the biggest bands on the planet with hits such as Little Lies, Dreams, Tusk and The Chain which is well known to anyone who follows Formula One.

Rumours of Fleetwood Mac cover all the bases and showcase their whole catalogue.

“It’s an honour to play these songs,” he says. “The bands’ catalogue are the songs of my life and there’s nearly six decades worth of material. Plus, I was speaking to Rick Vito last night and they are thinking of going back into the studio.”

Since the last tour there have been a couple of changes to the band, one of them being that Cosgrove won’t be behind the drums this time.

“No, we have a new drummer in Paul Walsh who has played with us before and we have a new bassist in Etienne Gerrard. They both have a great love and appreciation for the music, especially the Peter Green material.”

The tour is called Hits to Blues, does that mean the band will be showcasing the earlier blues songs?

“Not unduly. We have expanded that part of the set and revisited those tracks. They do give us a bit of poetic licence, but you can’t get away from the big numbers.”

But there are some new songs in the set?

“Oh yes, one of them is Jigsaw Puzzle Blues which was the b-side of Albatross.”

To keep such a large show on the road is hard work.

“Certainly. There’s six months of work going into 60 dates. There’s eight of us on stage and a technical crew as well,” adds Cosgrove who’s overseeing everything.

“We are kept on our toes. The show is forever expanding and we are paying homage to a great band. As I said before, it’s hard work, but it’s well worth it.”

The whole band always looks forward to touring.

“Every single venue is special. That’s because the people come out to join the party. You just dream of doing something like this.”

Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac stop by Ipswich’s Regent Theatre tonight.