Just got back from the show. It was great. No vast changes from opening night, as far as I could tell. So, my song impressions remain mostly the same.
This time I heard the crickets. They started as soon as the lights went down and the roar of the crowd must have dulled them in Ohio, but now their chirping was most welcome and recognizable.
When they took the stage, Stevie and Lindsey came out together walking very slowly. I was rather surprised by the pace. Luckily, it was not an accurate bellwether for the show’s true energy.
After “The Chain” Stevie said she was likely to get choked up tonight because San Jose is just coming home for them. This is where it all began. So, all she has to say is, “Let’s get this party started.”
After Dreams, Lindsey notes that you wouldn’t think there was another chapter to be written in the book of Fleetwood Mac, but there is.
As Lindsey introduces the Tusk songs, I get his full axiom. I don’t think I caught the whole sentence in Ohio. But he says the saying goes, “if something works, run it into the ground and then move on.” Well, that’s not exactly a saying Lindsey and it wouldn’t make sense, if it were. If people actually moved on after running something into the ground, then there wouldn’t be much cause for complaint. It’s only when things remain static and become repetitive that the uprisings begin.
When Lindsey comments about the reaction of the people in the WB boardroom after they heard Tusk, I keep waiting for him to say they saw their bonus checks fly out of the window, but he doesn’t. He just notes he would like to have been a fly on the wall and that it clearly wasn’t the album that they expected and probably not the one they wanted. I think it’s a very fitting intro for “Not that Funny” and I like that speech there.
It seemed like Stevie was a little late coming to the stage for “Tusk”. There was a longer than usual pause between songs.
It seems like Lindsey walks across the stage more than usual now. We’re used to him going over to the right for GYOW and ISA, but he seemed to go center stage a little more often and for “Tusk” he crossed far right too.
Sisters of the Moon sounded really good and I’ll have to remember to take a picture of Stevie because she arches her back so far down, in a way I’d only been accustomed to seeing for GDW and Stand Back (like a willow I can bend). She gets into drawing “sister-r-r--r-r-r” out and although the song could be more raucous or ROCKous, it has a great mood and energy. “Ahhhhh.”
“Sara” is lovely and Lindsey creeps towards her when she sings, “I will be there,” to him.
For the “Big Love” intro, the audience applauds when he utters the words, “looking out for love”. No wonder some of the “reporters” think that’s the title of the song. Lindsey makes a show of limbering his hands up. He lets one arm hang down limply, like a broken wing, before diving in.
The grunts at the end have become high pitched squeals and Lindsey falls away from his mic, propelled backwards, at the close.
For Landslide Stevie says that there’s no time to make all the dedications she wants to send out, because if it wasn’t for San Jose, they wouldn’t be here. She says she’d like to dedicate it to Robin’s nieces and nephews, because she didn’t get to see them before the show. And Ron Fogel, the guy used to drive her to carpool with her to and from school each day and her very first boyfriend. She says that Lindsey probably has a lot of dedications he wants to make too (hmmm, Lindsey's quizzical expression doesn’t look particularly dedicatory, but ok) and she says she’ll just make them for him as well. Good, so Lindsey is joined in on the dedication to Stevie’s first boyfriend. Nice.
They hold hands at the end of the song and Lindsey pretends he has to tug himself away as they part.
Announcement: Stevie says that both Lindsey and she will probably move back to San Jose one day, because they both miss it so much. You got that, Kristen? Get the paint swatches and color palettes together. Looks like you’ll have a new house to design soon.
So, Lindsey having heard that so many people think he messes up the “been down one time” part of NGBA by holding the notes too long has decided to just ruin all the verses and not just some of them. He sings the whole darn thing slow and has resolved that what he’s REALLY never going back to is the time when this ditty sounded good. I don’t even bother trying to sing along with him anymore. I just take pleasure in listening to the instrumental in between the drawn out vocals. Brushes indeed.
Without Love: Lindsey and Stevie appear to have reached a historical compromise. She says that while the POEM was probably written earlier, before they moved to Southern California, they probably never put it to music until 1974. I think she believes it was written earlier because by the time they were doing that second BN album, her feelings for Lindsey were not as idyllic as they had been at the start of the romance. I suspect she can’t imagine having written words of such revel and wonder, completely devoid of romantic frustration, 3 years later. She says it’s the nicest song she’s ever written about her and Lindsey.
She says that she usually says that Mick heard songs like that and wanted them to join the group, but then her anecdote is ruined, because she’s reminded that Mick was looking for a guitarist, not a duo. But Lindsey being a “loyal boyfriend” (Lindsey places an earnest hand over his heart) told Mick that he would not join the group unless his girlfriend joined too. She’s thankful he said this, because she was a waitress and a housekeeper and very happy to have left that all behind. . So, Stevie would like to thank both Lindsey and Mick Fleetwood for letting her join Fleetwood Mac. Lindsey chimes in, “I think we’re doing ok.” Stevie says they’re going to do the song exactly as they did in 1974.
I notice that when she gets to the line “rolling after you” she makes a swinging (rather than rolling) motion with her hand and it’s a lot like that lasso move from her Say You Will dance. Glad to see she recycles.
At the end of Without You as she and Lindsey sing, “ah ah ah ah ah” she faces him and counts off on each of her five fingers, for each set of notes.
I love the end of Gold Dust Woman. In the past when she said, “you should see me now” it was more like she was saying, “see what I’ve become. You should see me now and realize what you lost out on now.” This time, the meaning has changed yet again, just because she says “I wish you could SAVE me now” rather than “you should see me now.” She covers her head as if to suppress the roaring in her ears and chants, “you can’t save me now. You can’t save me now. You just can’t save me now,” and rather than ending, the song’s vocals just fade away as the mantra becomes a mutter, “you can’t save me” and she simply leaves her mic.
I’m So Afraid reaches the stratosphere. The stadium is his by the end. Obviously, Lindsey sweats throughout, but I think this is the song that leaves the entire front of his shirt wet.
During Stand Back someone at the foot of the stage offers Lindsey a beer. He laughs and shakes his head, “no no!” I see him gesturing to Stan at the side, trying to get the sound right.
At the end of GYOW when Lindsey jumps off the drum kit and onto the floor circling the stage, Stevie circles too, they pace in synch round and round.
Mick’s drum solo, he screams “don’t be shy” and “do you ever feel that you’re all alone in the world.” When Lindsey introduces him as the one and only Mick Fleetwood he adds a comment. I’m not sure but I think he referred to Mick’s resounding wand. Hmm. I’m not sure how to take that. You know what? How ‘bout don’t talk about Mick’s wand at all.
Mick says he has lost his voice due to all the screaming. Really? That’s a first. You do it every tour and I’ve never heard you this hoarse before.
He calls Lindsey “our mentor and inspiration.”
Stevie makes a lowering motion with her hands, gestures for him to keep his voice quiet. He says that she’s been acting as his vocal coach.
When he gets to John, John cups a hand over his ear as if he can’t hear Mick. Mick says, “All these years, John. Can’t you hear me?”
When they return for an encore, Mick approaches John as if to hug him. John wards him off with the sign of the cross, as usual, but he also clutches his throat too.
Lindsey says something into Stevie’s hair and she says, “thank you.”
Lindsey introduces Say Goodbye as a song he wrote 10 years ago. When Stevie wrote “Without You” all of their illusions were intact and everything was still in the future. When he wrote his song, all the illusions had fallen away and everything was behind them. But that’s actually a good thing, because it’s left them with faith, resolve for the future and acceptance.
He says that as Stevie mentioned, this is their home town. He grew up just 20 miles north of here and Stevie came to his high school in her senior year. That’s how long he’s known her. They joined a band for three years. So, when he says this is a special place, that’s very real. He means it.
During the verses, audience members notice that they can be heard during the quiet passages and they call out “Stevie!” and murmur, somewhat distracting from the message of Say Goodbye, but in the end, I think the sentiment pierces through. After the song, as Lindsey walks to Stevie he says, “Well.” They hug for a long time. She seems to say to him, “Are you ok?” He says he is, but he does appear to have tears in his eyes. He sprints off the stage as soon as the group bow is over.
Stevie takes the mic and says again what a special night this is, what a special place San Jose is. She feels as if she’s among friends even as to the people she doesn’t even know. She thinks she knows those of us who are strangers to her, better than we can imagine. There’s just one thing more she wants to say: “SAVE THE WORLD,” she bellows with a smile.
During her closing "Dreamcatcher" speech Stevie said that she wanted to thank us because we've heard some of these songs like GDW, NGBA and GYOW for 35 years and we listen and react to them as if it's the first time we've heard them and she appreciates that.
You're welcome Stevie, 'cause it ain't easy!
No, she made me smile because she was being egalitarian. She named Gold Dust Woman and then she had to name a Lindsey song. She probably had to do some quick brain processing. "Hmmm. What DOES he sing?"
Mick finds amusement in flattening his red red satin top hat and then popping it out again, with a flourish. The Mac Magician doesn’t let his hoarse voice deter him from closing the show.
They turned in another great performance, making this another great night in San Jose, where it all began for Buckingham Nicks.
Taking the Long Way Home
Just got back from the show. It was great. No vast changes from opening night, as far as I could tell. So, my song impressions remain mostly the same.
This time I heard the crickets. They started as soon as the lights went down and the roar of the crowd must have dulled them in Ohio, but now their chirping was most welcome and recognizable.
When they took the stage, Stevie and Lindsey came out together walking very slowly. I was rather surprised by the pace. Luckily, it was not an accurate bellwether for the show’s true energy.
After “The Chain” Stevie said she was likely to get choked up tonight because San Jose is just coming home for them. This is where it all began. So, all she has to say is, “Let’s get this party started.”
After Dreams, Lindsey notes that you wouldn’t think there was another chapter to be written in the book of Fleetwood Mac, but there is.
As Lindsey introduces the Tusk songs, I get his full axiom. I don’t think I caught the whole sentence in Ohio. But he says the saying goes, “if something works, run it into the ground and then move on.” Well, that’s not exactly a saying Lindsey and it wouldn’t make sense, if it were. If people actually moved on after running something into the ground, then there wouldn’t be much cause for complaint. It’s only when things remain static and become repetitive that the uprisings begin.
When Lindsey comments about the reaction of the people in the WB boardroom after they heard Tusk, I keep waiting for him to say they saw their bonus checks fly out of the window, but he doesn’t. He just notes he would like to have been a fly on the wall and that it clearly wasn’t the album that they expected and probably not the one they wanted. I think it’s a very fitting intro for “Not that Funny” and I like that speech there.
It seemed like Stevie was a little late coming to the stage for “Tusk”. There was a longer than usual pause between songs.
It seems like Lindsey walks across the stage more than usual now. We’re used to him going over to the right for GYOW and ISA, but he seemed to go center stage a little more often and for “Tusk” he crossed far right too.
Sisters of the Moon sounded really good and I’ll have to remember to take a picture of Stevie because she arches her back so far down, in a way I’d only been accustomed to seeing for GDW and Stand Back (like a willow I can bend). She gets into drawing “sister-r-r--r-r-r” out and although the song could be more raucous or ROCKous, it has a great mood and energy. “Ahhhhh.”
“Sara” is lovely and Lindsey creeps towards her when she sings, “I will be there,” to him.
For the “Big Love” intro, the audience applauds when he utters the words, “looking out for love”. No wonder some of the “reporters” think that’s the title of the song. Lindsey makes a show of limbering his hands up. He lets one arm hang down limply, like a broken wing, before diving in.
The grunts at the end have become high pitched squeals and Lindsey falls away from his mic, propelled backwards, at the close.
For Landslide Stevie says that there’s no time to make all the dedications she wants to send out, because if it wasn’t for San Jose, they wouldn’t be here. She says she’d like to dedicate it to Robin’s nieces and nephews, because she didn’t get to see them before the show. And Ron Fogel, the guy used to drive her to carpool with her to and from school each day and her very first boyfriend. She says that Lindsey probably has a lot of dedications he wants to make too (hmmm, Lindsey's quizzical expression doesn’t look particularly dedicatory, but ok) and she says she’ll just make them for him as well. Good, so Lindsey is joined in on the dedication to Stevie’s first boyfriend. Nice.
They hold hands at the end of the song and Lindsey pretends he has to tug himself away as they part.
Announcement: Stevie says that both Lindsey and she will probably move back to San Jose one day, because they both miss it so much. You got that, Kristen? Get the paint swatches and color palettes together. Looks like you’ll have a new house to design soon.
So, Lindsey having heard that so many people think he messes up the “been down one time” part of NGBA by holding the notes too long has decided to just ruin all the verses and not just some of them. He sings the whole darn thing slow and has resolved that what he’s REALLY never going back to is the time when this ditty sounded good. I don’t even bother trying to sing along with him anymore. I just take pleasure in listening to the instrumental in between the drawn out vocals. Brushes indeed.
Without Love: Lindsey and Stevie appear to have reached a historical compromise. She says that while the POEM was probably written earlier, before they moved to Southern California, they probably never put it to music until 1974. I think she believes it was written earlier because by the time they were doing that second BN album, her feelings for Lindsey were not as idyllic as they had been at the start of the romance. I suspect she can’t imagine having written words of such revel and wonder, completely devoid of romantic frustration, 3 years later. She says it’s the nicest song she’s ever written about her and Lindsey.
She says that she usually says that Mick heard songs like that and wanted them to join the group, but then her anecdote is ruined, because she’s reminded that Mick was looking for a guitarist, not a duo. But Lindsey being a “loyal boyfriend” (Lindsey places an earnest hand over his heart) told Mick that he would not join the group unless his girlfriend joined too. She’s thankful he said this, because she was a waitress and a housekeeper and very happy to have left that all behind. . So, Stevie would like to thank both Lindsey and Mick Fleetwood for letting her join Fleetwood Mac. Lindsey chimes in, “I think we’re doing ok.” Stevie says they’re going to do the song exactly as they did in 1974.
I notice that when she gets to the line “rolling after you” she makes a swinging (rather than rolling) motion with her hand and it’s a lot like that lasso move from her Say You Will dance. Glad to see she recycles.
At the end of Without You as she and Lindsey sing, “ah ah ah ah ah” she faces him and counts off on each of her five fingers, for each set of notes.
I love the end of Gold Dust Woman. In the past when she said, “you should see me now” it was more like she was saying, “see what I’ve become. You should see me now and realize what you lost out on now.” This time, the meaning has changed yet again, just because she says “I wish you could SAVE me now” rather than “you should see me now.” She covers her head as if to suppress the roaring in her ears and chants, “you can’t save me now. You can’t save me now. You just can’t save me now,” and rather than ending, the song’s vocals just fade away as the mantra becomes a mutter, “you can’t save me” and she simply leaves her mic.
I’m So Afraid reaches the stratosphere. The stadium is his by the end. Obviously, Lindsey sweats throughout, but I think this is the song that leaves the entire front of his shirt wet.
During Stand Back someone at the foot of the stage offers Lindsey a beer. He laughs and shakes his head, “no no!” I see him gesturing to Stan at the side, trying to get the sound right.
At the end of GYOW when Lindsey jumps off the drum kit and onto the floor circling the stage, Stevie circles too, they pace in synch round and round.
Mick’s drum solo, he screams “don’t be shy” and “do you ever feel that you’re all alone in the world.” When Lindsey introduces him as the one and only Mick Fleetwood he adds a comment. I’m not sure but I think he referred to Mick’s resounding wand. Hmm. I’m not sure how to take that. You know what? How ‘bout don’t talk about Mick’s wand at all.
Mick says he has lost his voice due to all the screaming. Really? That’s a first. You do it every tour and I’ve never heard you this hoarse before.
He calls Lindsey “our mentor and inspiration.”
Stevie makes a lowering motion with her hands, gestures for him to keep his voice quiet. He says that she’s been acting as his vocal coach.
When he gets to John, John cups a hand over his ear as if he can’t hear Mick. Mick says, “All these years, John. Can’t you hear me?”
When they return for an encore, Mick approaches John as if to hug him. John wards him off with the sign of the cross, as usual, but he also clutches his throat too.
Lindsey says something into Stevie’s hair and she says, “thank you.”
Lindsey introduces Say Goodbye as a song he wrote 10 years ago. When Stevie wrote “Without You” all of their illusions were intact and everything was still in the future. When he wrote his song, all the illusions had fallen away and everything was behind them. But that’s actually a good thing, because it’s left them with faith, resolve for the future and acceptance.
He says that as Stevie mentioned, this is their home town. He grew up just 20 miles north of here and Stevie came to his high school in her senior year. That’s how long he’s known her. They joined a band for three years. So, when he says this is a special place, that’s very real. He means it.
During the verses, audience members notice that they can be heard during the quiet passages and they call out “Stevie!” and murmur, somewhat distracting from the message of Say Goodbye, but in the end, I think the sentiment pierces through. After the song, as Lindsey walks to Stevie he says, “Well.” They hug for a long time. She seems to say to him, “Are you ok?” He says he is, but he does appear to have tears in his eyes. He sprints off the stage as soon as the group bow is over.
Stevie takes the mic and says again what a special night this is, what a special place San Jose is. She feels as if she’s among friends even as to the people she doesn’t even know. She thinks she knows those of us who are strangers to her, better than we can imagine. There’s just one thing more she wants to say: “SAVE THE WORLD,” she bellows with a smile.
During her closing "Dreamcatcher" speech Stevie said that she wanted to thank us because we've heard some of these songs like GDW, NGBA and GYOW for 35 years and we listen and react to them as if it's the first time we've heard them and she appreciates that.
You're welcome Stevie, 'cause it ain't easy!
No, she made me smile because she was being egalitarian. She named Gold Dust Woman and then she had to name a Lindsey song. She probably had to do some quick brain processing. "Hmmm. What DOES he sing?"
Mick finds amusement in flattening his red red satin top hat and then popping it out again, with a flourish. The Mac Magician doesn’t let his hoarse voice deter him from closing the show.
They turned in another great performance, making this another great night in San Jose, where it all began for Buckingham Nicks.