THEY begin the night as Fleetwood Mac, but at any moment, they have the capability to transform into Abba.
"I tell everybody, 'I know you've heard the songs and everything, but you've got to see it and feel it while you're watching it, because that's what it's really all about," says Mario Parente, who lends his guitar work, vocals, and Lindsey Buckingham-like beard to the band's Fleetwood Mac persona.
Dreams, the tribute to Fleetwood Mac, tend to kick off the night and Arrival, the tribute to Abba, close the show. Much like Clark Kent always shows up after Superman has left, the two bands are never on stage together.
The duel-identity seven-piece group is set to play the Centennial Theatre on March 24 as part of Retro Fest, presented by the North Shore News.
Parente, 54, was born and raised in North Vancouver, and while he spends his days as a construction worker, his nights are spent rehearsing and refining the music that dominated AM radio in the 1970s.
"We've been playing in and around pubs, private parties around the Lower Mainland for about seven years," Parente says.
Weaned on Elvis, The Beatles, and the Motown sound, Parente says he wasn't particularly aware of Fleetwood Mac until personnel in the group shifted.
"When Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band, that's sort of when it caught my ear," he says.
While Fleetwood Mac was a blues-based band looking to sweeten its sound when it added new members, Abba-tribute Arrival was a pure-pop group looking to add a little musical muscle.
"We both kind of slid into the Abba/Fleetwood Mac tribute just like Lindsey and Stevie did with Fleetwood Mac in the '70s," Parente says, discussing himself and Tracy Masson, who plays Stevie Nicks.
"If you close your eyes, you can hear a young Stevie Nicks coming through her," Parente says. Concentrating primarily on Fleetwood Mac's hits from the mid and late 1970s, Dreams have gradually refined their stage presence.
"The music became this really spiritual powerful, thing . . . it's quite a visual thing to see," Parente says. "We've got the hairpieces and the clothes and everything."
The band's performances have left a few audience members wondering if they've just stepped out of a time machine, according to Parente.
"We were in Alberta one weekend, and somebody in the crowd . . . maybe they had a few extra drinks, but they thought we were Fleetwood Mac and they came up to us and they actually couldn't believe how we hadn't changed in 30 years," Parente says.
While there is always a healthy dose of drama in any band, Parente says each member of Dreams is committed to their craft.
"People who have seen Fleetwood have maybe seen the shows at a time when Fleetwood Mac wasn't playing very well because maybe there was a lot of drugs. . . . We're the clean Fleetwood Mac. We're up there and we're actually focused on what we're doing, not so much messed because of the money and the booze and relationships," he says. "Some of us are divorced, some of us are single, some of us are getting married for the second time or whatever it may be, but together we're just enjoying the moment."
For Parente, the concert this Saturday has extra importance.
"It'll be the first time for me to do a show at the Centennial Theatre," he says. "I've always watched my kids do Christmas shows there."
Tickets cost $35 and are available at the box office or at www.centennialtheatre.com.
