Songs they rehearsed for The Dance...
 

I was watching the Destiny Rules DVD recently and saw, once more, that they rehearsed YMLF without Christine in 2003. That set me thinking...

I've always wanted to compile as definitive a list as possible of the songs which the band rehearsed, even if briefly, for The Dance, but which didn't make it either onto the DVD or the tour set list.

I heard they tried As Long As You Follow, Little Lies and Twisted. Does anyone have any idea what was tried out?

:D

Edit: maybe ignore my post! I just found this thread from 2004... http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/archiv...p?t-15373.html

Rehearsals for The Dance April 18th, 1997

The Chain
Dreams
Big Love
Say You Love Me
Second Hand News
Where Were You
Rhiannon
Little Lies
Twisted
Never Going Back Again
Brown Eyes
Forbidden
Shadows Of Love
Don't Stop
Go Your Own Way
Landslide
Songbird
Little Lies

I have never heard the 3 songs I highlighted.

Poor Little Lies, even with two rehearsals ;) it still didn't get on the setlist!

There's a recording of Oh Daddy from the Dance tour on youtube. I'm at work can't do youtube. :cool:

Yeah what are those songs, who wrote them?

There was speculation on that 2004 thread I linked to that Where Were You might be an early version of Temporary One.

It's a shame that Little Lies has never been performed live with the Rumours lineup. I love The Dance version of Everywhere. It's too bad they didn't have time to set a version of Little Lies that they felt comfortable performing for the album or tour. Not even once. Or like the case of Oh Daddy, just for the tour. It'd be wonderful if they updated this song from the obsolete world of 80's pop.

One thing I'd like to stress is that the band really prepared and thought out their setlist for The Dance. It was a hugely important time, and they wanted to do something great for their reunion. I wish this rehearsal time and high level of effort was put into each of their recent tours. Maybe then we'd see more new takes on very old songs and more thoughtful arrangements: perhaps the re-emergence of the acoustic version of Gypsy people have been calling for, an updated Little Lies that fits Buckingham Nicks, a Sisters of the Moon that actually rocked and wasn't dead on arrival, a Lindsey version of Albatross (one of Fleetwood Mac's most celebrated and singular songs), etc. The songs are so good, just the simple re-worked intros to Rhiannon and Say You Love Me were hugely welcome changes for me and breathed new life into the songs.

(Hope you don't mind that I rewrote your quote to talk about one song instead of two)

Normally I would agree with you or anyone else that suggests an updated new arrangement of a song. But SYLM is so perfect exactly as it originally is that I was actually disappointed that it was the only updated classic. I didn't mind the banjo arrangement but I did not love it either.

Wait, were you disappointed in SYLM or disappointed that they didn't update more songs? Not sure I'm getting what you mean in your second sentence.

I definitely understand your point on the banjo. I liked it, but I agree SYLM is a perfect pop song. Actually, the importance of the song to the band was underlined in their choosing of it for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction performance. It absolutely belongs in the top 10 Fleetwood Mac's most iconic songs, over Everywhere, Little Lies, Hold Me, even You Make Loving Fun. I tried to make this point in that other thread. It's one of the songs the band will be most remembered for.

I wish they had updated other songs.SYLM is fine as it is. Rhiannon will never be as good as any performance of it from 1975-1982.

Gotcha. Yeah, I think that updating Rhiannon though helped compensate for your point that it will never capture Stevie's 1975-1982 performance; it provided a new version of the song, speaking to 1997 Stevie. Not as hardcore, but emotional in a different way.

I think I would count Everywhere as an updated song. As I said before, I'm still hoping they do something more exciting with Gypsy, as great as the one acoustic performance was. Gold Dust Woman, The Chain, and You Make Loving Fun were fine. I'm a fan of The Dance version of Dreams, which was great. I find I don't have many qualms with the classics in that set. The band really took the rehearsals and preparation seriously. But by now, following three more tours, I understand why some people feel certain songs have begun to sound stale; that definitely wasn't the case in 1997. That's why I wish the same effort was put into the planning this tour, where I have the feeling not as much time was spent in rehearsals, especially since Stevie was spending some of that time promoting her documentary.

It really is such a shame they didn't add more to the set. I would've liked to have seen only one new song per member (sorry, Lindsey, but I much prefer Bleed to Demon), no outside solo hits, and drop Farmer's Daughter (never liked that song either). Anyways, this is what I would've liked to have seen on the tour or the special....

01 The Chain
02 Dreams
03 Everywhere
04 Gold Dust Woman
05 I'm So Afraid
06 Temporary One
07 Bleed To Love Her
08 Gypsy
09 Oh Daddy
10 Big Love
11 Landslide
12 Say You Love Me
13 Sweet Girl
14 Little Lies
15 Tusk
16 Sara
17 Isn't It Midnight
18 Not That Funny
19 Rhiannon
20 Second Hand News
21 Silver Springs
22 You Make Loving Fun
23 Go Your Own Way
24 Sisters Of The Moon
25 Don't Stop
26 Songbird

Now THAT, in my opinion, would be one hell of a comeback setlist especially while Stevie's voice still could've possibly handled Sisters miles better than she can nowadays.

I remember being completely floored and blown out of the water with Lindsey's acoustic version of "Big Love." I wish now he would do a 180 and blow us away with a full-blown rockin' version of the song with the whole band.

We all want that. But it ain't never gonna happen.

It would be great if the band had more contact with their fans, and reached out to learn what the fans want. It's impossible to do that when the band makes few if any attempts to reach out to fans. Do kind of like what the Rolling Stones did for their tour this year: a fan request through Facebook.

no we do not.

Oh yes we do.

Not too much of an update over the White Winged Dove 1981 version, except it didn't have the solo, which it hadn't had since 1987. :shrug:

Are you an insider?

i totally felt and feel the same way

I've wanted a full band version of Big Love for many years. I would also be keen for Stevie to sing back-up vocals similar to those she provided on the 12" Extended Version.

A Sara from The Dance tour would've been interesting. As Long As You Follow also could have been a nice choice. I'm just not sure how they could've performed Little Lies without it coming across as cheesy. It's most definitely a product of its time. That's the only complaint I would ever have against Christine's songs...they don't age as well/are as adaptable as Lindsey or Stevie material.

i SLIGHTLY disagree with this. I think Christine's songs are fine for adaptation/updates. the PRODUCTION of many of her songs might not age quite as well. You Make Loving Fun, just SCREAMS 70's. but with some thought and re-working, I think they could have re-worked Little Lies nicely for The Dance.
I just think that the Tango era ended so bitterly, that they decided to relegate it to 2 songs.

ditto! i'd love a full band treatment of Big Love! maybe they could even talk her into doing the "love grunts" with Linds

I think You Make Loving Fun has aged extremely well. That shuffle groove gah... it's just so damn cool. Love it. Good point on Little Lies. They certainly could have reworked it and they certainly still can rework it. For this 1997 reunion the band did do this. They made Everywhere work and I think it sounded great! I can't say they've put the same thought and time into reworking any of their songs for subsequent tours, which is really too bad. Without the pressure of a live album and how that would be received, they have just gone through the motions in their rehearsals, so much so that Stevie missed quite a bit this time around promoting the IYD documentary.

yeah, but The Dance was their BIG re-introduction to the public via MTV. Stevie even said "How many bands in their 50's get played on MTV??" . So, they upped their game. The subsequent tours were put together by managers for $$$$$$$$$. I wish they had treated each one as thoughtfully as they did The Dance. I do think the SYW tour was good, (anything adding Beautiful Child works for me). But for some reason, Stevie was NOT happy on that tour.

Yes, exactly! Good point about MTV.

as discussed in Lindsey forum, i finally now understand why you all are calling for full-band Big Love :laugh: :laugh:

If you listen to the original studio version of the song, there's banjo all over it. It's just not as prominent in the mix as the guitars, but listen on headphone (or ear buds)...the banjo is carrying what would normally be what the rhythm guitar would be playing.

I'd like to know more about songs that were rehearsed but never made it to the reunion tour setlist.

I read somewhere that Brown Eyes and Easy Come Easy Go were rehearsed in early stages and then dropped. What else I wonder?

If people wanted to hear her do love grunts, they'd only have to listen to Walter Egan's Tunnel o' Love.

She wouldn't on Big Love anyway. She'd probably have Margi make her a skirt that she could swish like she did in the video and stand there and do that.

Michele

I remember that "Why" was on a list of songs to be rehearsed, but I don't remember if they actually did rehearse it.

I actually wonder how long it takes the band to relearn songs (and what that process is like) when they either have never performed them live or haven't played them in a long time. Obviously I'm not talking about Dreams or Go Your Own Way. Do the songs return instantly by memory, do they have sheet music or chord reminders (though Lindsey doesn't read music, right?), do some songs take a long time and do they always want to put that effort in, etc.

From personal experience, I would think that it wouldn't take that long to brush up on older songs that haven't been performed in a while. Especially if the particular song was a regular in the set list for a tour or two previously (regardless of how long ago). When you play a song that much, it sticks in your mind...you may forget the flow of the arrangement, but the song itself would pretty much come back as you were playing it. I would think that a song they haven't performed at ALL would obviously take a little longer to put together...unless it is one that is fresh in their minds from recording it. :shrug:

The only fly in the ointment would be if there was the necessity of changing the key of the song (drastically, to where it just wouldn't be a matter of the guitarist changing the fret of a capo)...that would take some work...since playing a song in a certain key for so long, you'd have that "muscle memory" of going to specific chords or riffs in the original key. It would take a while to get the song to flow in the new key.

Thanks for your input. Certainly makes sense that songs could come back quickly; I also assume they have files and assistants to make the rehearsing easier. I imagine it might be fun how to translate a much more involved and instrumented studio version into a 5+ man band.