I miss her voice but I don't miss her songs.

I wouldn't. They aren't going to drop Songbird, but the chances that they will put a Tusk song that hasn't yet been performed live in the set from Christine is very high I'd think.

Michele

It's interesting to read all of these different posts exhibiting different opinions. For me, this is Fleetwood Mac coming back. I am fortunate enough to have seen them 3 times since 2003: the first two with no Christine, and the third with her on just one song. At all times at the first two concerts in '03 and '09, I felt that there was too much of a lurch between Stevie's songs and Lindsey's songs, and none of that 'happy middle' which Christine provided. For me, that lurch made the concerts less of an enjoyable experience. When she came to London last year, it was clear from just one song what a difference she makes - it was ineffable.

On a purely selfish note, I really hope that they play more TITN material now that she is back. I want to hear Little Lies again, and I would love to hear Isn't It Midnight. I am not a particular fan of the Tusk songs, so I don't care to hear any more material from that album than I have already heard. Different strokes, and all that...

Great news! My opinion of 'Say You Will' and the post-Christine FM is that they were good without her ... but with her they were transcendently fabulous.

My own personal pipedream is that they would eliminate the backing vocalists and musicians and perform live on stage, just the five of them. Those backing vocalists and musicians make the live show much too polished. I want to hear it if someone makes a mistake or if a harmony isn't exactly right. Live rock 'n' roll is supposed to be raw around the edges. But I have no realistic expectation of this actually happening.

:thumbsup: my feelings exactly. All of what you said.

Wonder whether all people lamenting that current reincarnation is stale have seen them in concert in 2013? Because they were tight and rocking, far from stale.

That said,i was one of the lucky people who got to see them a lot last year- and so I've seen enough of the 4 in 2013, and would not go see them again in 2014 if it was the same configuration. If Christine is back, I definitely want to experience the version of the greatest hits performed by the 5. Plus I think we will actually get Lindsey solo back muchfaster if Christine tours with them this summer than if it's still just the 4 in the summer and then they follow that with a full fledged return of the 5.

As for the ticket prices, I don't see them commanding the rolling stones prices, far from it, esp not in the US or continental Europe. UK may be a very different story. But that's talking about face. Mick's tickets may be a very different story. During 2013 he charged around $400, so that was doable especially since at some venues the face was well over $200. During Unleashed I've heard that he charged $ 1200 or so for basically the same thing. That's astronomical.

I can agree with this. If we do have to have another FM tour rather than solo work, I'd rather hear Lindsey/Stevie/Christine than just Lindsey/Stevie/backup singers. I hope this means they lose the backup singers, because they are always one of my least favorite parts of a current FM show. Their voices are fine, they just don't sound like Fleetwood Mac to me.

They won't lose the backup singers.

Not a chance in hell...

Their presence in the Mac show used to bother me, but based on the videos of 2013 I've seen on YouTube, not anymore. I don't think the Nicks and Buckingham voices have held up very well, and the backup vocalists were the only singers carrying a lot of the melodies, like the Go Your Own Way chorus.

I recently rented the Blu-ray of Lindsey's solo concert, and I was super-pleased with the vocalizing he and his backups created. They sounded marvelous.

Don't Neale & Brett sing backup in FM shows too?

Edit: Stevie sounded 100% this tour than on Unleashed.

If Christine tours this summer, I think it would just be for band sea legs and that a full fledged return of the 5 would still happen later. I don't think the Mac is going to finish up any faster whether she appears this summer or later. I'd take this summer as a season preview. But I guess it depends on what their schedule is this summer. I would expect for it to be very light. If it's heavy, then I see your point.

Michele

Yup! And, that reinforces my bitch about conversations/threads about the current lineup being in the Rumours section of The Ledge. Without Christine, it's NOT the Rumours crew. I don't care HOW you try to justify it, you're flat-out WRONG!

{sigh}:shocked:

Saw them 2x's in '74...my first two Fleetwood Mac concerts.

Never thought that Peter DIDN'T "have that fire"...he just had a different vision of how he wanted to play in '98 than he did in '70. I don't think there's any guitarist who has played the same way, with the same "fire", after 28 years.


Christine's coming back for one reason...it's Fleetwood Mac's Grande Finale tour. It's been pretty obvious that Fleetwood Mac hasn't been Fleetwood Mac since 1998. Mick wasn't going to let Fleetwood Mac sail into the sunset being Stevie & Lindsey's feeble attempt at being Buckingham Nicks again under an assumed (and more well-known) name.

As far as staleness goes, it's all relative. I enjoyed the Unleashed tour immensely. I enjoyed this Live 2013 tour better by comparison, but I don't think Unleashed was bad or that it was a lot different than the SYW tour. I found them to be equal. Yet, after the fact, Stevie expressed ennui during Unleashed and a lot of fans now say it was dull too. I hear that complaint now, but I did not hear it so much at the time.

Stale is what you're comparing it to.

Even though I have enjoyed FM's last three tours, there are some songs that definitely are stale to my ears. I realized that The Chain was weak, but I didn't quite see (hear) how much so until I saw Lindsey perform it with Little Big Town and I thought, "THAT is what has been missing." When the back up singers did such a sublime job on Beautiful Child, layering vocals with Lindsey and Stevie, it just made me realize how rare it was for them to enhance a song. When with Christine there the reverse was true. Most songs benefitted from beautiful harmonies, not just the occasional song. The Rhiannon choruses used to be as ethereal as Beautiful Child, but they no longer are.

Now, that they're all older, they probably won't sound as good together as they used to anyway, but I have hopes.

Michele

Right. Buckingham Nicks doing Fleetwood Mac songs is still not exactly Buckingham Nicks.

Exactly. Everyone's voice has changed, including Christine's. Holding out hope for the best though.