Once great band dying on the ropes
 

People said give the new lineup a chance. People said they are in it for the music, not for the character of the band members.

Doesn’t seem like there’s much music or character left in this bunch. It’s sad, but hopefully the band will be remembered for what it was and this won’t really hurt their legacy which is checkered anyway.

I have to admit I’m somewhat smugly gloating. although 80% plus of general classic band ticket buying public have no clue who Lindsey Buckingham is or who is or is not in Fleetwood Mac, for anyone with some clue the lackluster lounge-y performance from yesterday validated his enormous contributions, not just in studio, but also live.

It also showed that some wholes are way better than just sum of the parts. And that just putting together some otherwise competent parts does not mean you’ll be able to actually get even a mediocre result.

I couldn’t force myself to watch the performance on live tv... I waited until it was posted on here so I could decide to pause it to scream/cry/vomit. :laugh: While it ended up sounding EXACTLY as I thought it would, I don’t feel vindicated. I just feel this huge wave of sadness that just keeps crashing over me. It honestly feels like it did being a Mac fan in the early/mid ‘90s when the band was a depressing caricature of itself. Except I think it’s even worse now- they redeemed themselves from that, but have reverted back to the caricature as their final act. Fleetwood Mac’s story can be summed up as a parade of missed opportunities, so I guess it’s only fitting. Still, it’s incredibly depressing.

Yes! This is the key point that makes this so different from the LB-less years post Tango (other than the obvious fact that he wasn't fired then).

You think somewhere in his ivory tower, Azoff is like "WTF" did I let them do?

nah. he's just paying off bit internet radio djs and bloggers to say they are oh so incredibly fabulous iconic greatest ever and whatever else accolades you could imagine even though nobody can see that. :laugh:

Irv Azoff just wants money lol. I mean, Glenn Frey died and he's still got The Eagles going. And he practically controls Rolling Stone so you can guarantee positive reviews from them for any of his acts.

True, but the Eagles sound good with Vince and Deacon, and Glen is dead (I don't mean to be harsh) so it's not like he can rejoin them. I am actually seeing them in October--very excited about it (side bar)
The Stones....well they are the 8th wonder of the world. I assume Keith is getting nightly blood transfusions so he can get out there and play. I mean.... And Mick---well THAT IS ENERGY!!

idk. that "FM fired LB" headline definitely ran away from him and the rest of the band. it's still to this day the only real reference everyone else goes to when they talk about what happened. you still have bunch of originally planned articles talking how he "left" his "departure" etc. the only other reference? the Bucks - LB himself (not my doing or my choice) and KB. all band and Mick's responses are always completely jumbled up and all over the place.

Oh he definitely has tons of sway with RS. You can especially tell from his younger acts. Look at how they talk about Harry Styles, you'd think his album was multi-platinum and all his singles went to the top of the charts when that's far from the truth. I just doubt he cares in regards to articles about who fired who or how someone left. But I'm almost positive that once their tour starts or whatever they do next comes around, they'll get heaps of praise from RS as if this new lineup changed the entire music industry for the better.

you haven't been on social media much, have you? you know when there was a huge buzz about FM show back in 2013-2015? when Harry was there. did you see Musicares the chain vids and gifs going around? the rest of the FM was cut out, you could only see LB because he was next to Harry. Harry was (i think still is?) huge among kids. but they've been complaining lately that his social media became completely crap and he's not tweeting or responding anymore because Azoff has got him on the leash and doesn't allow fan social media interactions.

i'm not saying that you are wrong about IA sway and influence in RS or otherwise - i'm sure it is huge. just adding some perspective on HS.

I agree--they lost the narrative there pretty quickly. I don't think RS is going to inflate a review just for the sake of it---maybe positively neutral (assuming that's what they think

Although RS once declared that Billy and Rick were the best thing to ever happen to Fleetwood Mac.

I liked Billy and Rick, but I had to laugh a little at that.

Lol I'm well aware that Harry Styles is popular amongst young people online. I myself am a young person so I see it. He's cute and was in a big boy band and I myself like his stuff but he's literally the ultimate example of how popularity doesn't always translate to big sales. None of his singles since save the debut went higher than 40. I think one of them didn't even make the top 100 at all. Compare that to other acts in their 20s, like Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, who get more flack online-- their stuff just flies off the shelves, they've never even heard of an album selling anything less than 3 million copies. You hear those songs on the radio constantly, constantly. I'm not saying he hasn't done well, I think his album went Gold, but if you look at how much Rolling Stone praises him you'd think he was pulling in much more than he does. And that's likely because of Azoff.

If I’m being honest, I was scared that they were going to get Harry Styles, which is why I am happy with Neil Finn.

interesting. i have no clue how his songs / albums are charting but had a feeling from award shows that they were doing fine. i remember he started his first solo tour in small intimate venues to dip the toes and immediately jumped to stadiums the next leg.

see dreamsunwind - posts like this one from Steve is what gets me thinking wtf are some FM fans talking about. why would artist selling out stadiums solo join the band selling only arenas? yeah Azoff is managing both, but why would he deliberately lose money?