Reviews of the classic west show?
 

Surprised no thread yet. How were they? Did Stevie even look at Lindsey?

http://i.imgur.com/JLe528V.jpg

More pictures and a few videos here.

Apparently this was the setlist...



The Chain

You Make Loving Fun

Dreams

Second Hand News

Rhiannon

Everywhere

Bleed to Love Her

Tusk

Sara

Say You Love Me

Big Love

Landslide
(Dedicated to Glenn Frey)

Never Going Back Again

Think About Me

Gypsy

Little Lies

Gold Dust Woman

I'm So Afraid

Go Your Own Way

Encore:
Don't Stop

Set list was exactly what you would expect. The performances were all very good. Stevie, Christine, and Lindsey all did great, except they did not seem very happy or enthusiastic to be there. Stevie's mic like fell and almost hit her in the face between Rhiannon and Everywhere so she joked about that. The crowd went nuts for most of the songs. Surprisingly there was no 15 minute long story before Gypsy. Lindsey did the slow whisper Never Going Back Again and the annoying solo Big Love. I'm really glad they did Sara, that was my highlight.

Fleetwood Mac's Classic West Performance A Well-Deserved Celebration

If forty years ago, when Fleetwood Mac was at the height of what guitarist Lindsey Buckingham now refers to as “The musical soap opera,” someone were to tell you that in 2017, the Mac would be a happy, healthy functioning touring act people would have thought you had partied harder than the six bands on this weekend’s Classic West.

But, 40 years after Rumours and all the tabloid drama that went with that landmark album, the Mac are a regular touring act and Buckingham told me earlier this year the band “is in a good place.”

So in a very unexpected twist of fate, the night after the Eagles delivered an emotionally compelling and dramatic performance (https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveba.../#4983218a1e6a) at night one of Classic West, Fleetwood Mac got to come out and revel in the celebratory, feel good vibes that have characterized their tours in recent years.

After opening with “The Chain” and the Christine McVie pop gem, “You Make Loving Fun,” Stevie Nicks established the mood of the night when she said, “Without further adieu, we should get this party started,” introducing “Dreams.”

Despite their numerous upbeat pop/rock anthems, Fleetwood Mac aren’t what you would call a typical party band. With songs like the encore, “Don’t Stop” and the Buckingham-fronted “Go Your Own Way,” the band absolutely possesses the capability to get 50,000 fans singing and celebrating in unison. And the anthem-like “Go Your Own Way” is a joyous and jubilant celebration.

There were plenty of more introspective moments too. After the sublime “Landslide,” a song like the Eagles’ “Desperado,” that is as heart wrenching as any in rock, Nicks dedicated it to the Eagles’ Glenn Frey.

“I’d like to dedicate that song to Glenn Frey, who was my friend,” Nicks said. “And I’d like to dedicate it to his son, who did such a beautiful job last night under so much pressure. That was for big Glenn and little Glenn.”



https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveba.../#a94129f356e1

Just what I was afraid of. They weren't happy to be there or they weren't happy to be around each other?

I'm not surprised there was no 15 minute long story before Gypsy, especially if they fit 20 songs in 2 hours. Did it ended at 10 pm instead of 11 pm like on Saturday?

Bummed they didn't do Silver Springs and World Turning. :distress:

But glad they at least did Sara. :nod:

Haha! :xoxo: Why would she? They're on different bands now. :D

The show was fantastic. I don't think Stevie and Lindsey came out together holding hands like they used to. But there was the interaction after Sara and Landslide. At end, usually, Stevie and Lindsey are next to each other for the bows but not last night. I don't know. Can't read too much into it. The music and voices were amazing. The crowd was so into this show. It was awesome. I am bummed it ended with Don't Stop although worked with firewords. Bummed about Silver Springs but was giddy as can be for Bleed to Love Her!!!!!

They didn't come out together holding hands and they weren't next to each other for the bows and you're not reading too much into it?! They're at war again, which is odd, given they're both doing what they like. :shocked:

I saw the inteaction after Sara. It was awful and fake. :nod:

Of course there at one again. Steve has been going around minimizing his contributions to her career and constantly telling whoever will listen that they are not friends anymore while Lindsay has kept his mouth shut I really can't stand her anymore

On an Eagles note, Deacon Frey did a fantastic job! I saw the video. His dad must be smiling.

The Mac setlist was pretty good. It was the Australian leg minus a few but included Sara and Think About me.
Stadium shows are so impersonal. I would not put too much into the way they looked. Just a few weeks ago Christine commented that she is nervous for shows but not Stadium shows. They just see a sea of people, not personal faces. So it does appear they are going through the motions.

There's already an active thread on this topic, but I guess it got buried.

Here's a link to pictures, videos and the Twitter feed.

Hopefully their attitudes are better in two weeks. I'm going to The Classic East.

Was there any merch on sale? If so was it just general "The Classic" stuff or individual band stuff too?

Someone who went to the concert told me Lindsey was the only one present, and that Stevie's mic incident probably set the tone for her for the rest of the show.

I wonder what's gonna happen next year... :lol:

I saw some merch for the Saturday concerts. Lots of Eagles t-shirts, so I guess it was the same for FM yesterday.

Thank you for the videos. I just sat and watched them all from the comfort of my own living room.:angel:

Nice to hear that Lindsey is playing that beautiful high solo at the end of YMLF again - in recent years he has been playing it an octave lower, and it just doesn't have that same transcendent effect.

I often wonder if musicians ever listen back to their records and think, 'oh yeah, that's how I used to play it - I should do that again!'

I think the same thing. I wish he would play NGBA at regular speed.

Yeah Lindsey has been so obviously loving doing YMLF during BuckVie shows - it's been a joy to watch and listen! He must have been really missing performing some of Christine's songs in the years she was absent from the band.

Positive review from Billboard
http://www.billboard.com/articles/co...m-classic-west

Based on a few reviews from friends and after reading the Billboard review, it sounds like it was a great show.

Still glad I didn't go. The crowds and the ****ty Dodger stadium acoustics would have annoyed me - and I would have regretted the high ticket prices.

But that doesn't mean I won't go if they do a legitimate tour next year.
I'm all about the music and could not be less interested in all the manufactured drama surrounding the Buck/McVie album and Stevie.

Their three voices sounded terrific on "The Chain." 'I'm impressed they can still do it. They sing together and yet each voice is identifiable and important. Love it.

YMLF was very good. Christine's voice is strong here. Her piano playing on "Don't Stop" was welcome, too!

The other clips were equally good. "Gold Dust" is when Stevie shines brightest, I think.

The reviews are positively gushing, which was awesome to read. All three singers got great mentions overall, unfortunately leaving little mention of Mick and John, but I'm sure they did a great job, too.

I think their set list was totally awesome. I didn't check, but it sounds like it was the exact same set list as what they played last year at Dodger Stadium, at the fundraiser. Songbird wouldn't have been a good set closer in that stadium. I am surprised Stevie swapped Seven Wonders for the more subdued Sara, so good for her.

I can't wait to see them next year!

thanks for compiling that! surprised no pics of the final bows.

Ouch!
 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...717-story.html

This is perhaps the clincher:

But the true bummer was how unengaged the members were in the music — how little pleasure (or pain) they seemed to be taking in the job at hand. There was no humor or charm, nor any evidence of the group’s mythically complicated chemistry; song after song in the two-hour set simply rolled by as though they were marking items off a grocery list.


and

. In their excellent performance on Saturday, the Eagles showed that it’s possible to refresh a vintage sound while maintaining a cherished legacy.

Twenty-four hours later, the members of Fleetwood Mac made me feel like a sucker for caring about theirs.


Well, I wasn't there but the videos I've seen don't really show them gelling personally as well as they did on the last tour. I just hope they don't have to suffer the Eagles' recent tragedy to produce something that would please this reviewer more.

You have to wonder if the recent Buckingham-McVie bifurcation whilst the Mac remains a touring concern is having wider effects between them. Sympton or cause, though?

All of that might be true, but how can you compare the emotional resonance of the Eagles reuniting in tribute to their band mate who passed away, with his son performing in his place, to Fleetwood Mac coming together not too long after a huge world tour? So maybe FM was going through the motions a little bit- it sounds like they still put on a great, professional show, not an easy feat considering their age and the fact that Buckingham/McVie are smack in the middle of their own tour.

Scathing review. 180 degrees from the 2 linked reviews I posted up thread. Chris and Lindsey are doing their thing. Stevie is still doing 24 Karat Gold shows. Maybe this Classic West show infringed on their ability to compartmentalize (even though they agreed to it). It would have been cool to do Tusk with the marching band but there's a cost. If FM was lukewarm to this show/just getting a check then there's no motivation for them to do anything extra like the drummers/horns.

That's the thing: this is a band that was always famous for their chemistry, good or bad, and the drama sorrounding them at all time. To be on the stage like robots who are doing their job sucks, simply because that's not who they are.

And it wasn't only Stevie and Lindsey. Christine didn't look very happy either. I don't know if the BuckVie tour is the cause of this strange behavior on stage, but a cold concert with no emotion whatsoever isn't exactly who they are. And it makes the concert less pleasurable. :distress:

And I certainly sympathize with the reporter. It makes you feel like a sucker for caring about their legacy.

It's a little sad somehow that these two Classic events are the only Mac performances this year as they approach the 50th anniversary of Fleetwood Mac's very first proper gig on 13 August 1967 and that this doesn't appear to have been acknowledged during their set (from what I have read). Did Mick not make any mention of it?

http://variety.com/2017/music/news/c...st-1202497817/
This reviewer was hoping for an obscure album cut OR something from BuckVie. LMAO

This guy is just harping on the comment that Lindsey squeaked out about money. He's taking Lindsey's flawed and vulnerable comment and manipulating it. The writer found a weakness and exposed it. He's trying to make this "a thing." Obviously a negative festival review is going to get more of a reaction. "Why I felt Betrayed by Fleetwood Mac" what a drama queen. Must have minored in journalism...also whenever I see the phrase "grocery item checklist" in a concert review? Talk about Lindsey cringing.

hehe yet again i have to agree with you bwboy! what's the world coming to? :laugh: it just seems completely wrong to compare situation that the Eagles were in with any other band participating.

and ironically enough. weren't the Eagles when they existed in their full regular configuration the band that people usually complained about being detached in their live performances?

thanks! pasting the text - and love that this reviewer cited Lindsey's very recent and interesting interview with Dan Rather (from 2015 i believe) which shows he did his homework or is actual fan:

Fleetwood Mac Caps Classic West With Poignant Closing Set
7/17/2017 by Fred Schruers

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Scoop Marketing
Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac performs during The Classic West at Dodger Stadium on July 16, 2017 in Los Angeles.

Fleetwood Mac operates on one’s imagination in a way few other bands can -- whether within your musical memory, or onstage at Dodger Stadium as they were Sunday night (July 16), for the second evening of Classic West.

The sweetly intoned, plaintive melodies of Christine McVie, the now-gentle, now-angry mini-operas of Stevie Nicks, and what might be called the ecstatic agonies (“Bleed To Love Her,” anyone?) of Lindsey Buckingham, all swirl into an understanding that emotion will come to the fore. The shorthand for their genre is “hits," and they delivered plenty to a crowd that roared appreciatively from the time the lights went down to usher in “The Chain” to the last notes of “Don’t Stop,” 20 songs later.

The inherent drama that suffuses any Fleetwood Mac performance might be baldly stated as “Who’s still in love with whom?” and the band not only lives with that as a sometimes-aggravating hangover -- reliving your late twenties onstage as a member of a band whose average age hovers near 70 can’t always be easy -- but as an evergreen dramatic conceit.

Opening with “The Chain” definitely fed the beast of tortured past relationships as a topic: “And if you don’t love me now/ You will never love me again” reverberated with feeling even as it showcased the group’s durable trademark sound -- Fleetwood’s funereal drumbeats, John McVie’s underrated mutterings on bass, the ladies’ baleful harmonies, and Buckingham’s venomous leads. Buckingham’s clearly incapable of pretending it’s an evening’s casual entertainment and would come on at the end -- spotlight chasing him as he gyrated somewhere near the park’s bullpen -- to reinforce that he’s one of the great closers in the trade.

Fleetwood Mac
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Fleetwood Mac Talk Returning to the Stage for Classic East Gig After Two-Year Hiatus
Nicks, no slouch herself at fully projecting a somebody-done-somebody-wrong song, greeted the magnitude of the event with an early yawp of ready enthusiasm, and punctuated “The Chain” with a declamatory “No!” emphasizing the song’s warning. For his part Buckingham instructed “Run run, run run!” with what felt like climactic urgency. And yet, this was just the set opener. (In fact, Cindy Crawford was just finding her seat near the front of the crowd who seemed to fill much of the park’s 55,000-seat capacity. Earlier in the Forum Club, where the laminate-holders assembled, there was much speculation as to how gauzily veiled attendee Bjork was going to deal with the barbeque that was on offer.)

McVie’s “You Make Loving Fun,” with her own pearlescent keyboard work, was a fine palate cleanser, and Nicks, who had recently carped lightly about McVie’s duet album and tour with Buckingham, quickly established with fond glances and earnest harmonizing that the Englishwoman is still her musical bestie. Notably here, and during other potentially challenging patches of the Mac canon, a pair of female back-up singers and a second keyboardist were somewhat shadowy but not clandestine contributors throughout the set.

The hits and occasional deeper cuts spilled forth -- Stevie’s never-quite-saccharine “Dreams," Lindsay’s “Second Hand News," Nicks' “Rhiannon” (done right but just shy of the abandoned passion she can sometimes lend it). Her “Sara” was dramatized to the frankly gaping crowd by a stroll to Buckingham’s side that ended in a sweet, if slightly awkward ex-lovers’ hug, and the set moved on through the catalog to “Landslide,” a song she recently told an English audience she has never skipped in concert. She dedicated it this night to the late Eagle Glenn Frey, with a warm nod to his son Deacon, who filled in for Glenn at the band's Classic West gig the night before.

Fleetwood Mac
READ MORE
Eagles and Fleetwood Mac Planning New York and Los Angeles Festivals: Exclusive
A little past the midpoint of the two-hour set, with Buckingham’s “Never Going Back Again” -- the chipper chords fighting it out with the lyrics’ painful regrets -- you could sense the turn towards home. The backdrop for “Gypsy,” by contrast to the bucolic images of trees and landscapes that previously dominated, deployed images that reminded the audience of that 1982 hit’s big-budget video. 1977’s “Gold Dust Woman” -- written, like “Gypsy,” around the time Nicks was having a later well-chronicled cocaine problem (even making a gesture of spooning something towards her face during her performance here) -- exemplifies the singer’s capability to match her life experiences up with rigorously savvy songwriting, and deliver it all with gritty certitude.

The previous night’s concert-capping performance by Eagles had taken on its own memorable gravitas as a tribute to the departed Frey, and given the many purchasers of two-day passes, the question hanging in the periphery was who scored best across six acts? Certainly Sunday’s opening set by Earth Wind and Fire was wonderfully played, polyrhythmic and got the house happily rocking, and Journey’s mid-show performance began with a wild momentum that carried from opener ”Separate Ways” through the fourth song, “Stone in Love,” as guitarist Neal Schon played with energy and precision. He owned the video screens while seemingly wardrobed for an MTV time capsule in bandana and shiny red jacket, gnashing his gum and very much on planet Neal --save for the moment when he dedicated “Lights’ to original singer Steve Perry. (Perry’s vocal replacement Arnel Pineda was reliably on the money.)

Fleetwood Mac photographed circa 1977.
READ MORE
Every Song on Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' Ranked
In Fleetwood Mac’s set, with an inevitable pair of song choices and an encore remaining, Buckingham stepped up with a certain I-got-this resolve. “I’m So Afraid” drills down to the parts most other singer-songwriters rarely reach -- as in, “Agony’s torn at my heart too long” -- with a performance to match, and as unsparingly frenzied as his vocal is, the lyrics can seem to be simply the platform for one of rock guitar’s signature epic workouts. Buckingham did not disappoint, at times even skipping about, though not in a carefree way, as the notes shrieked across Chavez Ravine.

By that time there, was only one song that could be thoroughly apt for the moment, and for the welcome release of the romantic tension that has served Fleetwood Mac so well even as it’s bedeviled them. The ringing chords of "Go Your Own Way" have joined with its freely stated pathos to make it a generational anthem, and if the message is plain as the author once stated to Dan Rather -- “It’s a damn shame -- it‘s not what I want” -- once again it made many thousands of concertgoers feel thoroughly fulfilled.

The break before the valedictory “Don’t Stop” was brief, and as the small temporary city headed for their various traffic jams, fireworks crackled and thumped overhead. There hasn't been much heard lately of the prospects for another Mac tour -- but based on the rattle, hum and heart of what the Dodger Stadium crowd witnessed, fans should wish the chain to remain unbroken for one more go-round.

:thumbsup:

pasting the full text of this one too -

Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham offers stunning solo moment during Classic West at Dodger Stadium

By MICHELLE MILLS | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: July 17, 2017 at 10:38 am | UPDATED: July 17, 2017 at 3:15 pm

Following the Eagles’ headlining set on Saturday, the second night of Classic West at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Sunday, July 16, featured performances by Earth, Wind and Fire, Journey and Fleetwood Mac. while each of the acts offered strong performances with their share of memorable moments, Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham proved the star of the evening with a stunning solo performance during the band’s 2-hour headlining set.

As the rest of the band – drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, singer Stevie Nicks and singer and keyboard player Christine McVie – slipped off stage, singer/guitarist Buckingham told the audience that they are “a band of contradictions,” and alluding to past adversity said, “We wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t a great deal of love.” Then he offered up a moving solo performance of “Bleed to Love Her,” demonstrating not only his musical prowess, but pushing all the right emotional buttons as well.

Later as band finished “Sara,” there was an audible sigh from the audience as Stevie Nicks gave Buckingham a hug. She added on that emotional moment when after singing “Landslide” she took a moment to dedicate the tune to her friend Glenn Frey, who died in 2016. Frey’s son, Deacon Frey, stood in for him with the Eagles the night before.

“He just did it so beautifully; his daddy would be so proud of him,” Nicks said with a catch in her voice. “I didn’t (dedicate) it before I sang, because I would have started to cry.”

Journey had their share of sweetness as well, beginning with Arnel Pineda dedicating “Lights” to the band’s original singer Steve Perry and then performing it with the audience joining in on the choruses.

Keyboardist Jonathan Cain discussed how hard it is to tour and be away from your family. He told the crowd that it’s tough for the members of the military too and sent “Faithfully,” the last song recorded on the 1983 album, “Frontiers,” out to them.

Earth, Wind and Fire had the audience up and dancing through their entire set, despite the heat. Lead vocalist and percussionist Philip Bailey and the band paid tribute to founder Maurice White, who died in 2016, with “Serpentine Fire,” accompanied by a photo slideshow offering a wealth of images, both on and off stage.

After the group’s founding more than 45 years ago, there are only three original members left in EWF, Bailey, bassist Verdine White and percussionist Ralph Johnson, but the group offered up tight, upbeat tunes and an eye-catching stage show with sharp choreography. They ended their set with thanks, an applause for the crowd and big waves goodbye.

I've been watching all the videos on youtube. I must say I am fascinated with Journey and Anrel Pineda and his amazing story from the slums to fronting his favorite band. Journey rocked and I loved their performance.

Thank you Elle. When I saw these reviews earlier they were basically what I expected to read not FM let me down! Jeez. I dunno, wasn't there. The true review is probably somewhere in the middle. It'll be fun to compare the East and West shows.

hehe, thanks again! i actually enjoyed this one and actually learned more about the performance! and, someone posted on facebook that huge billboard / screen advertising BuckVie at the Greek - very cool. :nod: :thumbsup:

pasting full text:

Concert Review: ‘Yesterday’s Gone,’ but the Music Lives on for Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Classic West Crowd

Chris Willman
Music Writer
@chriswillman

Stevie NicksGETTY IMAGES FOR SCOOP MARKETING
JULY 17, 2017 | 02:22PM PT

“Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone,” Fleetwood Mac sang in the closing moments of the Classic West festival Sunday night, but considering that out of 97 songs performed by six acts over two days at Dodger Stadium, not one tune was younger than 20 years old — and only three had been minted in the last three decades — yesterday is very much alive. Thinking about tomorrow, or today, or anything as fresh as the 1990s was as far away from the agenda as a surprise Chainsmokers appearance.

And while we’re doing some math, the amount of F’s given about this lack of topicality by the crowd of tens of thousands added up to, well, zero. This was a vast audience that believes, overtly or innately, that the zenith of American culture can be firmly placed in the years 1972 to 1980, when both the Eagles and Steely Dan had their original runs before epic-length breakups, and when fellow festival attractions Fleetwood Mac, Journey, and the Doobie Brothers were all enjoying peak moments.

As nostalgic impulses go, this one isn’t exactly the coolest, but it isn’t the craziest, either. Listening to McVie’s band again reenact the crazy experiment in which the lushest soft rock is set to an impossibly muscular rhythm section, or hearing Earth Wind & Fire recreate a peculiar niche of soul that should have lived forever instead of going as extinct as the carrier pigeon, you, too, could have a moment of being lulled into advocating for the Me Decade as the Greatest Generation.

If it’s possible to copyright a decade, Irving Azoff has one on the ‘70s. The legendary talent manager is the force behind both the Classic West fest and its identical Classic East counterpart, taking place at New York’s Citi Field July 29-30. He represents all six billed bands, or at least individual members thereof — which surely goes a long way toward explaining why there’ll be no Desert Trip II this fall. Last year, Goldenvoice had the genius idea to put every remaining superstar whose career dates back to the 1960s on one bill out on the Coachella grounds… and, having used up virtually everyone who fit that criterion, short of reuniting Led Zeppelin or Simon & Garfunkel, they would have had no choice for a boomer sequel but to move on to the next decade of legends. But it would be pretty difficult to book a Superstars of the ‘70s festival without going through Azoff, who has nothing if not the kind of DIY attitude that makes cutting out the middleman look easy.

Irving Trip, if we can call it that, was an unqualified success by any visible marker. Ticket sales might have been in question when an aggressive marketing campaign offered attendees a free Dodgers ticket in combination with a two-day pass, but it was clear that campaigning had paid off when attendants were asking drivers to show their tickets before gaining entry to the parking lots. The festival was VIP-friendy, too — an Azoff trademark. The stadium’s Dugout Club was transformed into the Forum Club, a nod to the elaborate buffet area Azoff’s people set up to encourage industry folk to make the trek down to Inglewood when he took an interest in that facility. Chavez Ravine may not have the mystique of the desert, but it did have creature comforts for invited guests, and no blisters or pedicabs.

What this festival didn’t have is a headliner with the ongoing creative vitality of Desert Trip’s Bob Dylan or Neil Young. On Saturday night, even though they were playing strictly ancient material, the Eagles had a sense of occasion built into the show, because of the notable guests filling in for the late Glenn Frey. But the limitations of relying entirely on material from three or four decades ago became more apparent during Fleetwood Mac’s closing set Sunday, particularly as the band played precisely the same 20-song set they’d played a year earlier at Dodger Stadium.

Surely they’d bring out a guest, or pull out a lesser played single or obscure album cut, or do anything at all that would mark the show as something fresh or special? Like, maybe, just add a song from the brand new Buckingham/McVie project, which is pretty much a Fleetwood Mac album in everything but its Nicks-lessness? No, not even that, although LED screens did advertise an upcoming Greek appearance by Buckingham and McVie as a duo, which is the ticket you apparently need to buy if you want to hear some not-by-the-numbers Fleetwood Mac music.

The most oddly incongruous moment came when Lindsey Buckingham gave a short speech that was actually about the need for artists not to rest on their laurels. “People who’ve been doing this as long as we have tend to sort of, what would you say, chase the brand, if you will, and end up doing pretty much what’s expected of them,” he said. “And it becomes a little more tenuous going out there and taking risks and continuing to define yourself as an artist.” Was this a setup for a new song? No, just an introduction to a frenzied solo acoustic version of “Big Love” — rearranged from the studio rendition, as he suggested, but the same version he’s been playing on tour as a solo artist since 1993 and with Fleetwood Mac since 1997. Given Buckingham’s brilliance and past track record of artistic restlessness, it was bizarre to hear him sell this decades-old arrangement of “Big Love” as a Big Risk.

But as intransigent as the set list may be, no one would ever accuse Buckingham of phoning it in. Screaming at the end of guitar solos, the guitarist worked himself into a lather as if he were just discovering his wild man side for the first time, perhaps protesting the band’s essentially sedentary 21st-century nature a bit too much. He did give Mick Fleetwood a good laugh by doing a Ministry of Silly Walks march across the stage at the close of “I’m So Afraid.”

You had to love the contrast between the lengthy speech Buckingham gave about the band’s tortured history — excerpt: “Through all the difficulties … and all the politics … in this band, and it can get pretty convoluted sometimes, you have to acknowledge that we wouldn’t here still if there weren’t a great, great deal of love” — with Stevie Nicks simply saying: “It’s a journey. In SO MANY WAYS.” In another seemingly spontaneous moment, Buckingham walked up to Nicks during a lull in “Sara” and tenderly rested his head right above her heart. As ex-girlfriends are prone to do in that kind of situation, she gave him a sort of half-hug in return. If you’re a fan of awkward moments, that one was almost worth the price of admission.

Sunday’s sets by Journey and Earth, Wind & Fire were hardly any less rooted and sealed in the past, but with those openers, the time capsule factor seemed to matter less. That’s partly because we expect less of them creatively, with both missing their former creative leaders, Steve Perry and the late Maurice White, respectively. It’s also because neither crew has any pretensions at this point about anything beyond competing to be the world’s greatest block-party band, a title either outfit could effectively contend for at any given moment, based on the relentlessly high-energy, ridiculously entertaining sets both turned in Sunday.

Journey was the only one of the six acts you’d say had something significant to gain from these bicoastal festivals, beyond the obvious paycheck and good will. They were the only one of the opening bands to get a 100-minute slot, as opposed to the 75-minute bookings for Steely Dan, EWF, and the Doobies. It was hard not to see that padded set length as an act of added evangelism on management’s part — because, as successful as the group tends to be on the road, there’s still enough of an aversion to ringer singers that the majority of Classic West attendees would probably never give a moment’s thought to buying a Journey ticket in 2017. They will now, though, so: Evangelism accomplished.

Journey is actually almost a decade into having Filipino-American success story Arnel Pineda as singer, and it’s not just because we haven’t been paying strict attention to time passing that we still think of him as the kid. It’s because he doesn’t look or, certainly, act a day over 19, even though a web check reveals Pineda is just shy of his 50th birthday. He has the Perry chops down, of course, but also a propensity for very non-Perryesque midair splits. Pineda gives off the kind of energy that makes you think he could hop over to Sunset and pave the whole length of it to the sea and back in amber, and still be back on stage by the end of Neil Schon’s guitar solo.

So, yes, we can maybe agree that they don’t make ‘em like they used to, when most of the true remaining rock royals, as seen here or at Desert Trip, are sixty- or seventy-something… but there’s still a lot to be said for the unrelenting vivacity of youth after all. Even if, in Pineda’s case, youth is actually just five months shy of an AARP card.

FILED UNDER: EaglesFleetwood MacIrving AzoffJourney

I've watched a lot of videos from the shows and it looked great! I'm still kinda iffy on how The Eagles are still performing without Glenn, even if it's with his son which is very touching, it just doesn't feel right to me. But it's amazing how well Don Henley's voice has held up. Obviously it's not the same as during his young prime, but he still sounds really great if you ask me. Same tone, same overall sound, good range. He's got one of the great voices in music. And I had to admit it, but it really shows you how much Stevie, Lindsey and Christine's voices have deteriorated. Stevie and Lindsey especially don't even sound anything like how they did during their primes.