FLEETWOOD MAC

Alamodome, San Antonio, October 31

"Not that funny is it?" spat out Lindsey Buckingham. "Don't know what it is. But you can't get enough of it. Not that funny is it?" No, it really wasn't. Except when Buckingham did the crazy man mix of "Not That Funny." Barking, twitching, and generally spazzing out, Buckingham tore into his acerbic Tusk tune and demonstrated some of the mad genius that crafted perfect pop/rock over the course of five or six Fleetwood Mac albums and made him the Seventies equivalent to Brian Wilson. More importantly, this tune, buried at the end of Mac's two-hour-plus extravaganza at San Antonio's Enormodome (rigged small for this show), demonstrated how stale Rumors has become with this whole reunion hoopla. Not only was the 25-song set-list dominated by the album (10 songs if you include the Rumors B-side, "Silver Springs"), it sounded almost exactly like the recent Rumors live CD spin-off, The Dance, and video, VH1 Cashcow. In fact, twice during the evening, Buckingham introduced songs word-for-word as he introduces them on The Dance. And because the band played the same set that's featured on the CD and video, the whole show went over like a repeat, or worse yet, like sitting at home listening to the album. The only surprises, then, were those tunes not on The Dance, namely "Gypsy," "Second Hand News," and a couple of solo tunes. Maybe just because they broke the stranglehold of the stale, Buckingham's stark acoustic reading of "Go Insane" and Stevie Nicks' Eighties flashback, "Stand Back" proved to be high points. Overall, the band sounded tight -- Mick Fleetwood and John McVie are about as polished a rhythm section as any in music history -- with Buckingham reiterating what an amazingly underrated guitarist he's always been, and gravel-throated Nicks confirming her status as feminine figurehead and sex symbol (lots of twirling during "Gold Dust Woman"). In another year or so, Tusk can celebrate its 20th birthday. Being twice as emotionally charged as Rumors -- and twice as long -- maybe that reunion/anniversary tour will be twice as good. -- Raoul Hernandez

Thanks to Barbara II for posting this article to the Ledge and to Anusha for formatting and sending it to us.