[Villavic]

According to Mick's book it was the Rumours recording year, but since we have read and seen so many articles and videos about it, I choose this chapter about the 1976 tour and how Rhiannon was a hit, ending with an episode about Don Henley:

Rehearsals for the summer tour began on June 14 and lasted ten days. Six months of studio frustration and claustrophobia were unleashed, and the band roared as I'd never heard it before. Off we went on June 18, opening at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. This leg of the tour consisted of three acts us, Henry Gross, and Jeff Beck. Then to the Omaha Arena, the Iowa State Fairgrounds, the Pine Knob Music Theater in Michigan, then all around Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Illinois. On June 29, we played Busch Stadium in St. Louis with Jefferson Starship, Jeff Beck, and Ted Nugent. Then to Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

A bunch of big outdoor shows supporting the red-hot Eagles began on July 2 at the Greensboro Coliseum. The next day we played the Omni in Atlanta. On the American Bicentennial July 4, 197~we played Tampa Stadium with the Eagles; this was truly a gig I'll never forget. As I looked out into the crowd that packed the massive field and stands, I beheld hundreds no, thousands of girls dressed exactly like Stevie in black chiffon dresses and top hats Stevie's stage costume. At the point in our set when Lindsey began to play the guitar intro to "Rhiannon" and Stevie walked out and intoned, "This is a song about a Welsh witch," these girls went mad, swaying and singing and giving themselves to the music, to Stevie, and to the spirit of the ancient Celtic goddess. By now, with the success of the single, "Rhiannon" had become one of the focal points of the set. Graceful and mysterious in her diaphanous chiffon, Stevie sent us into a dimension that can only be described as mystic. I would look at her, dancing with her eyes closed, and I could see she was in heaven. By our reviews I could see that a lot of people were jumping in and reading all sorts of stuff into this performance. Only nine months earlier, Stevie's reviews had been so bad she thought about leaving the band. But now the critics were calling her the most compelling woman in rock music. And I felt the same way. Onstage she was like a goddess, or a high priestess of music and poetry. I began to develop a rapport and friendship with Stevie, and did all I could to spend as much time with her as possible.

In any case, people got very excited about "Rhiannon," and it stopped the show every time we performed it.

After another show with the Eagles in Jacksonville, we took a week off to do more work on our new album at Criteria Studios in Miami. We arrived just after Bob Marley had finished mixing his Rasta~nan Vibration album there, and the studio still smelled of sweet Jamaican ganja smoke.


We spent the rest of that summer on tour. The Spectrum in Philadelphia. ..... We had a hot record, the audiences were wonderful and we knew we had a big winner in the call. However, I do remember that the tension between Stevie and Lindsey was very real. They were still negotiating their personal adjustments to each other while touring in a band and making a record. Oh, the sparks, and how they did fly! Feelings were running so raw between those two, that the slightest word or look could set off an emotional cyclone. In those days Stevie was still quite dependent on Lindsey to provide musical direction and settings for her songs, and she resented this dependence.

"Well, that doesn't work," Lindsey would comment sarcastically when she tried something of hers that didn't sound right to him. "Why don't we do it this way." He'd play something on the piano, and she would just glare at him furiously.

I'd try to intervene. "Stevie, what's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing," she said. "I just feel like my music has been hijacked, that's all." Lindsey would lose patience and storm out of the studio, or he'd say something caustic and Stevie would leave in a flurry of recriminations and tears.

It all boiled down to Lindsey's sorrow that Stevie had left him, while Stevie feared that her music would lose its appeal without Lindsey's guiding hand. In addition, Lindsey felt jealous, since new men were being drawn to the now-single Stevie like honeybees to a gorgeous, pollenladen blossom. And the fact that Stevie was being courted by the Eagles' Don Henley didn't really help matters. He had called earlier, asking to meet her. They talked on the phone a few times, but hadn't met when Fleetwood Mac played our first show with Henley's band. So we get to our dressing room in Greensboro and are told the Eagles are in the next dressing room. Stevie, who is quite shy, wasn't at all the type to go over and introduce herself. So when she enters the dressing room she sees a huge bouquet of roses and a card, which read: ''The best of my love . . . Tonight? Love, Don."

Stevie was furious. She thought it was the least cool approach anyone had ever made in the history of romance. They hadn't even met! She was really pissed off, flushed with anger. She didn't notice me and McVie, collapsed in the corner with hysterical laughter. Finally, Christine had to take Stevie aside. Don didn't send that note, Chris said. Mick and John did. It was a while before Stevie felt like talking to either of us again.