[David]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

I don't disagree with a lot of what you say. But, I think there's a lot of middle ground between what you're talking about and what they actually did. I think those '75-'76 sets were among the best in the band's history. And, it's not like they didn't perform ANY of the old songs. They were still there. They had a nice mix of old an new, which is what they should have been doing 19 years later!

But I'm talking specifically about May & June 1975 before the album was released: they played most of the album before it was released. Fleetwood Mac in 1994 & especially 1995 should have been doing that instead of ****ing around with Say You Love Me & Don't Stop & The Chain & all those others.

Look at the "Heroes" boots that are floating around. There's usually only two songs from "Heroes," but the band does "Manalishi," "Oh Well," "Black Magic Woman," and "Rattlesnake." I find it odd that the "Heroes" tour doesn't get the same type of criticism that the "Time" tours get, especially considering that they were touring in support of an album.

There's still a difference between that situation & the situation in 1994/95. The Heroes band wasn't living down huge, iconic hits from a previous incarnation in the United States. The 1994/95 band was. The geography is different, & that makes a big difference. Fleetwood Mac's connection with Manalishi & Rattlesnake & Oh Well in the United States was a little-known one--primarily among college audiences & the savvy 5 percent of radio DJs. As for Black Magic Woman, the Great Unwashed in this country thought it was a Santana song.

Fleetwood Mac in 1994/95 were up against previous incarnations in the United States that swamped it in the public's eye.

I think the band had to do "Oh Well" (which I believe almost every incarnation of Fleetwood Mac has done at one point), "Go Your Own Way," "Don't Stop," and, since Mason was in the band "We Just Disagree." But, after those four songs, the set should have been new and/or original material with maybe a few other "classics" for good measure.

We've talked about this ad infinitum before. I see no good reason for the band to play Don't Stop or Go Your Own Way in 1994/95, & plenty of bad reasons. That whole "have to play" mentality of yours is what destroyed Fleetwood Mac in 1995. It didn't help them at all. It totally hurt them. All it did was shove a reminder in people's faces.