Christine on the new tour... a back up singer?
 

After the Ellen performance today, I am the most intrigued at how Christine will be incorporated into this new tour. They performed two songs and she didn't really sing in either of them. The fact that neither song included a single Christine solo (musically or vocally) is scary. This has to be purposeful. I did see her on the Buckingham McVie tour and she didn't have much vocal range, but she still had charisma. How will this work for the new tour? It will be quite odd if she isn't given at least 1/3rd of the songs in the set list. What is everyone's thoughts?

I'm sad. This should just be a Stevie solo tour, with guests. Coming from that perspective, this could be joyful. But calling this Fleetwood Mac is a disgrace.

Chris's voice is shot.
I think they will do their best to "lift" her parts with other players, but I remember it sounding very shaky on the Buck/McVie tour.
She didn't keep up with the vocal training like Stevie did, and it shows.

I wouldn’t read too much into the set list from the Ellen show. I suppose The Chain was inevitable, as was a Stevie-penned song. That unfortunately left Christine out... but this is unequivocally the Stevie Show now. The choice of both of these songs truly cements that. The Chain is the band’s anthem and only “group” song- this was the band’s way of legitimizing this new lineup. And there was no way the second song performed would be anything other than a Stevie tune. She’s not just the “star,” she’s now the boss. Hence why she was grinning like an imp the entire time, in spite of the rather sad renditions of each song.

I suspect Christine may decide to part ways with the band after this tour. Perhaps she'll join with Lindsey or perhaps she'll simply retire. I am surprised that the band didn't play a 3rd song (Little Lies?) that could have been web-only.

As much as I hate to come to terms with it but it’s over. Yes,Mick can still play the hell out of his drums but Stevie and Christine’s voices are done. Buckingham still has a lot of energy and creativity so his tour will be amazing. He may have pulled the Mac through for the 2018/2019 tour... but after the Ellen show I’m not sure. I think this is the END of the band. All good.

It was two songs on a TV show and the first public performance of the band.

I think it’s way too soon to read into anything or reach any conclusions.

Rewatch that interview with the roadies. They weren’t instantly great with the Rumours band. There were growing pains. Stevie especially struggled early on that first tour.

True my friend but in their 20’s at the time not in their 70’s....just saying.😎

Regardless of age, they still need to find their groove, which takes time and miles. If we had judged LBCM by their initial TV appearances, a lot of us would have missed out on some good shows.

no, the version we have is truly a multi songwriter composition. Stevie wrote the chorus, but Lindsey wrote the verses, and from after the second verse on comes directly off of Christine's song, including the bass line John created and Lindsey's guitar solo. All the keyboards in that second half are from her song.

It's truly a collaboration between the 5, done when they were going through really tough times, and it's about the sticking together and getting through it. That's what makes it sad to hear with other players. I'm guessing they thought the message of sticking together through tough times and carrying on was somehow appropriate to their current situation, but when one of the key architects of the song isn't there it's a bit ironic.

Reread the quote:

“I suppose The Chain was inevitable, as was a Stevie-penned song.”

In other words, The Chain AND a Stevie-penned song were inevitable.

You're right. My mistake. I read it as "as it was a Stevie-penned song".

Apologies to the original poster.

She'll do what Stevie decides apparently. Like the rest.

You'll do as your told!!! :laugh:

Set List:

The Chain
Stand Back
Stop Draggin My Heart Around
Dreams/Outside The Rain
Has Anyone Ever Written with Mike on Piano
Gypsy
Seven Wonders
In Your Dreams
World Turning with Stevie on Christine's parts
If Anyone Falls
Landslide solo with pre-recorded track of ac guitar
Don't Stop (with Glee cast and Christine back stage)
Rhiannon
I Will Run To You

Encore
Silver Girl
No Questions Asked
Goodbye Baby

This made me laugh out loud, more than once!! Thank you!!

Mike on piano hahahahahahahahahaha.

Hopefully doing that RIDICULOUS single finger plinking like he did yesterday!:laugh:

7 notes. I mean... what's going on ????

WTF were they thinking? Are they just trying to show how different he is from Lindsey, so let's let him look like a 2nd grader playing this(while TWO other keyboard players are on stage). No DOUBT this was idiot $tevie'$ idea!!!:lol:

Does anyone know if the blonde backup singer was Marilyn Martin?

I guess MIke had nothing else to do because of how complex the song is to begin with.

I've never liked Gypsy live. Even in 1982/1983.

Yes it is . No Lori Nicks this time around

Christine is definitely facing the audience so you can't see you barely plays. This is such a farce.

I'm beginning to think Lindsey or no Lindsey, that is what she'd be doing in performances. :(

Seemed like the case at the BuckVie shows.

As far back as The Dance, she has been 'playing' less and less and, yes, the keyboard is positioned to hide this. Sad......I would actually prefer her to come out front and simply sing, rather than this charade. Even her 'singing' yesterday looked ….well.....suspect.
After watching yesterday's performance, I listened to the audio of 'Live in Boston' and it highlighted what this band has lost: chemistry and ,really, the ONLY guitar player for these songs that we all love so much.
2015 should have been the end.

At least it gives us a few songs we haven't heard live before! The cup is half full people!

The thing for me about Christine is that she's had tons of pitchy moments ever since she came back. Stevie and Lindsey's voices are also shot now but I've never really noticed either of them going off pitch. But with Christine, there's plenty. I saw a video of YMLF from the BuckVie tour and she hit one note that was a HUGE yikes.

Thank you.

She's always been pitchy. Even in her prime, she'd have off nights or off moments.

At the end of the day, Christine is a fantastic studio singer and/or chamber singer. Her voice has never projected especially well live. I say this as one of the biggest Christine McVie fans ever. She had moments from 1974-79 where she sounded fantastic onstage, and then again from 1987-90. She sounded great on THE DANCE performances, but overall she's just not that kind of singer.

Still, I would welcome and prefer her pitchiness to her lipsynching.

And for what it's worth, some songs she still sings very well: "Too Far Gone" was routinely well executed on the LB/CM tour.

I think this is the beginning of the end.

Chris doesn't play You couldn't hear her sing at all. Or Stevie for that matter. It might have been a sound issue. We'll see when the tour starts.

I hate to say it, but without Lindsey, they just don't have it anymore. It's a shame this couldn't have been the great final tour it should have been.

I have always been the biggest Stevie fan, but I'm just mad at her now. I hate the black outfit and her stage movements, I can't stand. What is with all the hand gestures? I have been on the fence about going to see them in November, but this has showed me I'm better off saving my money.

via GIPHY

Some sort of attempt at a dark jedi mindtrick.

"The band you are watching do not suck."

She’s been using a second full time keyboardist since 1984.

Truth.

But her playing was still upfront and audible. She played a lot of parts all the way up to and through THE DANCE.

They had Brett with them right? My guess is Ricky is replacing Brett? But now apparently they need Mike too..doesn’t Neil play keys too?

Yes, Brett was with them then. But Christine still played a lot of her own parts. Her contribution was substantial.

Did Christine ever stop smoking? It always mystifies me when people who make their living with their voices still smoke.

I was thankful for small favors—he hit the right notes.

The single thing that makes me the saddest about this whole situation is the sixteen years when Christine was leading the quiet life in the England countryside instead of making music with the band. True, she put out an excellent solo record during that time, but didn't tour with it and hardly even did any promotion, and contributed almost nothing to the band. Think of what this band could have done if she had been active with them during those years. What a missed opportunity.

Now, we are debating about how much she is even playing or singing with the band on stage. We hear a few small notes on the piano and declare that she is indeed playing, but nothing like what she used to do. I watched her play and sing "Songbird" in 2015; that's only three years ago, but can she even do that much anymore? I heard her play and sing "Game of Pretend" last year, and I believed it was all live, but maybe not. Frankly, I want to hear her play and sing, and if her skills have escaped her so much that the band won't even put a microphone on her, then she needs to retire altogether from live performing. Maybe it's time for her to call her nephew and make another solo record, since she seems (based on BuckVie) to still excel in the studio.

i don't know how much she played live on BuckVie, but she definitely sang. fast songs like You Make Loving Fun or Red Sun were rough / off pitch on verses. but ballads like Wish You Were Here and Game of Pretend were heavenly. she still has a voice, and on some songs it's definitely worth hearing. :):thumbsup:

but on other songs she is so off pitch that they don't let her sing on live tv - i'm guessing because it can be hit or miss. BuckVie mostly did only Lindsey songs on live tv. there was one of the Chris songs (was it Feel About You? can't remember) that was available on the youtube channel of the show they did, and hearing how off pitch she was made it very clear why they chose to air Lindsey-lead song instead.

So WHY couldn't Christine play that?

Christine and Stevie made a pact to stop smoking together right before the Dance tour. Stevie hired a voice coach and their pact worked.