Christine McVie has officially returned to Fleetwood Mac, and recent concerts in Boston and at New York City’s Madison Square Garden are replete with rave reviews.

On Friday night, at Boston’s TD Garden, Stevie Nicks introduced McVie’s return to the band.

“Welcome back, Chris,” Nicks shouted to a screaming crowd. “Where have you been?”

“Of course she delivered her early classics, ‘Say You Love Me,’ ‘Over My Head,’ ‘Don’t Stop,’ and closed the night with a wonderfully tender reading of ‘Songbird.’ Again: obvious, perfect,” the Boston Herald reports.

VIDEO: Christine McVie talks about why she left Fleetwood Mac and what it's like to be back: http://t.co/t8o5MJlgX0

— The Associated Press (@AP) October 10, 2014

“But it must be noted that Nicks’ twirls got an ovation equal to Christine’s introduction. For so many Nicks Chicks, this is Stevie’s band,” they added.

What the band’s fans are no doubt noting is that Christine McVie’s return is a monumental completion that many believed they would never see.

Just days before their Boston performance, Fleetwood Mac serenaded fans at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The New York Times writes, “Fleetwood Mac can’t duplicate its youthful sweetness. Ms. McVie’s voice has held its richness, but sometimes falters at high notes. Ms. Nicks’s huskiness has grown harsher, and in her glittery shawls she turns slowly now instead of twirling across the stage. But Fleetwood Mac still has the intricacy, elegance and underlying punch of its songs.”

It’s important to note that Christine McVie is 71 years old. Stevie Nicks is 66. These aren’t kids bouncing around the stage any more–and it’s not unfathomable that years of singing (and of some drug and alcohol abuse)–have taken their toll.

McVie was the band member least wracked with substance abuse and alcohol issues, however–even though she recalls, “staying up for three days with the white powder, liberally washed down by Dom Pérignon.”

Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie had a conversation about that return to Fleetwood Mac. The New York Times shares it as follows.

“How would you feel if I decided to come back to the band?” (She had already made a guest appearance in September 2013 at a Fleetwood Mac concert in London.) Ms. Nicks added that she advised Ms. McVie to get a trainer because Fleetwood Mac’s shows are so “physical”; its concert set runs 2 ½ hours. And while Ms. McVie’s voice, like the others in the band, has roughened over the decades, it’s still hearty.

A Chicago audience enthusiastically welcomed Christine McVie back.

Fleetwood Mac’s songs ‘Don’t Stop,’ and ‘You Make Loving Fun’ now truly take fans back to the 1970s and early 1980s.

Christine McVie is back. Fleetwood Mac is complete. How long will they stay together? Their North American tour has just begun. Their On with the Show tour continues through January of 2015.