David |
12-01-2010 11:01 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by PenguinHead
(Post 925040)
No matter how many times I've seen it, that clip is always stunning to me. Fleetwood Mac was great live band without 10 support players.
The first time I ever saw them live was a Mirage tour show, and it was great. They had a fine set list too. I feel lucky to have experienced them in concert purely by themselves.
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The important thing would have been to keep the backups to a minimum & to keep their time onstage (or active backstage) down. Even on the Mirage tour, Tony Todaro played some drums on "Tusk," Ray played rhythm guitar (not a huge deal but still) on about three or four songs ("Second Hand News," "Gypsy," "Go Your Own Way"), & Jeff Sova played the USC parts on a synthesizer for "Tusk," & added a synthesizer pad to "Hold Me."
Very little, all in all, considering today's practice of keeping the backing boys active from the very start of the set to the very close. But, as we all know, every band is doing this now. The appeal of that live rock band sound, which was so popular from the late '50s through the late '70s, seems to have nearly disappeared, thanks to live rock's move into a more variety-hour or Vegas-show style, where the rapping or the dancing become the focus.
Even small-time bands that play in clubs & casinos prerecord their tracks & their harmonies. They can't afford to hire backing musicians (like Fleetwood Mac) but they still want everything to sound "perfect"--& so do their buyers.
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