Close your eyes and you’d be hard pressed to believe you were not listening to the real thing.

That’s just how good eight-piece tribute outfit Rumours of Fleetwood Mac are in both sound and appearance ... right down to the signature white hat worn by bass player James Harrison, who takes the John McVie role.

Add to that the realistic vocals and dress sense of Louise Rogan (Stevie Nicks) and Amanda Kostadinov (Christine McVie) plus the stunning guitar playing of Alan Hughes (Lindsey Buckingham) and you have all the ingredients of possibly the best tribute act to anyone, anywhere.

They are so authentic in every possible way and cover the whole spectrum of the Fleetwood Mac songbook right back to the Peter Green era and the haunting sounds of Albatross, which got a standing ovation from the audience.

The band has just kicked off a UK tour with Ipswich the eighth stop on their five-month trip, which ends in March, in Cardiff.

Rogan shone through with Silver Springs and Landslide while Kostadinov displayed her vocal talents with a lovely rendition of Songbird.

With more than 500 concerts under their belts and having played to more than 500,000 people around the globe, the band is well seasoned and it’s hard to pick any faults.

The whole production is nothing but professional. The light show would be the envy of many touring bands and a lot of thought has clearly gone into providing an authentic feel to the show complete with a video screen backdrop.

The show is broken into three parts. The first sees the group fire through a selection of well known songs including Little Lies, As Long As You Follow, Sara and Isn’t It Midnight, before returning to perform music from the Peter Green era as part of the two hour 15 minute show.

For those unaware of earlier Fleetwood Mac material, Black Magic Woman,

Need Your Love So Bad, Man Of The World and Oh Well are well known, good starting points and they all get outings during this section.

Dave Goldberg did an excellent job stepping out from behind the keyboards at the rear of the stage to fill the role of Green.

Next they return and go through some of the band’s best known songs: Stand Back, Everywhere, Rhiannon, Big Love, The Chain and Go Your Own Way, to get the crowd on their feet before they bid the audience a fond farewell.

Returning for the obligatory encore the band provides a sublime version of Tusk and finish with Yesterday’s Gone.

It would be hard, if not impossible, to find a more credible, authentic or talented tribute to any band anywhere.

It cannot be overstated that Rumours of Fleetwood Mac is simply a stunning act.

Russell Cook