Well, here's one take, for what it's worth given 20 years of fading memory.
I caught the 1995 tour in August when they stopped at Redwood Amphitheater at Great America in Santa Clara, CA. My first official FM show, so I was quite excited, even if it wasn't quite the lineup I'd loved growing up (I was 19 by then). I'd listened to Billy's songs on BTM plenty, plus had listened to the Zoo album that featured Bekka, so I was intrigued by hearing them live.
The show itself was pretty good, considering it was very much a transitional lineup that wasn't ultimately going to last much longer. I remember thinking Billy and Bekka were the workhorses that day -- energetic and talented -- while Dave seemed a little indifferent. Mick and John did their usual thing, and Steve Thoma just stayed off to the side. I get what you mean about a different scale. Not just the length of the set, but the size of the stage...it was much simpler than what they put together nowadays.
Bekka and Billy were the highlight to me, especially on Go Your Own Way. I've always thought Billy does an awesome version of that song (I've heard some really bad ones), and Bekka put quite a charge into it with her backing vocals. It just fit their voices well. That and Don't Stop had the biggest reaction from the audience. Billy and Bekka really sang well together all day -- their take on Oh Well was also good and novel -- and really tried to make it a "Fleetwood Mac" show. (Although I wish they'd have featured a Zoo song or two...Bekka just rocked that album.)
Dave, on the other hand, seemed to treat it as a "Dave Mason featuring Fleetwood Mac" show. The Chain was the only song where he took one of Lindsey or Peter's parts (he sang two of his own pre-FM songs). And I don't know if it was a deliberate change in style or emphasis, but his guitar work was just not very compelling, either, especially compared to what Rick was able to do with Lindsey's and Peter's parts.
I left thinking it was a good show, but it could have been much more. I though Time itself was a good album and wished they'd have featured more than one song (Dreaming the Dream) on the tour, but when you're touring as FM and doing only 10 or 12 songs...what can you do?
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Originally Posted by guillamene
Not a lot of audio/video of these shows twenty years ago.I was wondering if there are any ledgies who attended any of the dates who could share their memories?
I'm curious as to what the audiences were like in terms of numbers and general reception that the band got in view of the very different line-up? I know that they were part of a 'package' tour in the U.S. with Pat Benatar and C.S.N. . R.E. O. Speedwagon(?) among others and that the sets were therefore quite short.
Listening to the few shows that I have, I notice that a portion of the set was solo/Traffic/Delaney and Bonnie material as well as -gulp!-'Imagine' and 'All Along the Watchtower'(so sad!) which left room for a reduced number of Fleetwood Mac songs. It was such a huge reduction in scale for the band and many fans felt little or no connection with the 'Rumours' -or even preRumours- line up. Nonetheless, I admire Mick and John for carrying on as it must have been difficult for them.
Two things always puzzled me about this tour: why it nver came to the U.K.(I suspect thet no promoter would book this line-up) and, secondly, why TIME was released(and not promoted) AFTER the tours?
Hope some can share their memories/thoughts.
"Never break the chain"
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