[David]

Thanks for the videos, Elle and others. I can't get over how enjoyable everything is, especially the never-before-heard numbers from Go Insane and Out of the Cradle. The band is successfully replicating the lustrous sheen of the studio tracks every time out of the gate. I think Lindsey has this year's band fine tuned the way the 1993 band was fine tuned—every line and every piece of filigree are there and in balance with their surroundings. It's an orchestrative triumph. I'm sorry I missed the team play live at the Orpheum in Los Angeles. I wish the anthology had been held until after the tour—then it could have included many of these live performances. Both the spareness and the rococo luxuriance are perfectly complementary in these theaters with their excellent sound systems. This is the way to hear live music, as far as I'm concerned, not being packed in at the sports arena with 18,000 drunkards staggering and bellowing like Animal House. Fleetwood Mac is forced to crank up the gain on everything they do when they play a sports arena, which turns most of the show into sound sludge. In a theater, the Buckingham crew can create a much, much wider dynamic range, from hushed to ear-splitting and everything in between, as the song dictates. That's the beauty of an "intimate" venue.

The only thing I don't understand is why the people in the videos aren't dancing. Such beautifully proportioned live shows make it clearer than ever just what good dance music Lindsey Buckingham creates. These songs get down. This is propulsive folk-funk to make George Clinton throw his four-on-the-floor. Lindsey's got the mothership connection.