[i was surprised how relatively unpopulated this venue was - Mann is probably one fifth of the Wolftrap size (or maybe that was just the audeince size?), and while Wolftrap was completely full, in Mann upper parts and lawn were far from being filled. for a performance art center, although the security and a lot of the audience behavior was annoyingly fitting for a symphony rather than a rock concert - sit down!! was heard over and over to fans standing and dancing - the sound was not nearly as fantastic as the wolftrap sound.]
http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.c...2c61ea156.html
Buckingham-McVie focus on the new and the deep at the Mann
By Patrick Berkery, staff writer
McVie Buckingham
Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham teamed at the Mann.
Photo by Joe Russo
If you like the album Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie released last month (and if you're a fan of the duo's collaborative efforts on Mac albums like "Tusk," "Mirage" and "Tango in the Night," you have plenty to like about this Buckingham-McVie album) thank Stevie Nicks. Her unwillingness to participate in sessions for a new Fleetwood Mac album following the band's wildly successful 2014-15 world tour — the first with McVie since she retired from the road in 1998 — prompted the band's singer-guitarist-studio wizard and singer-keyboardist to carry on writing and recording without her.
They've taken to the road without her too, playing the Mann Center for the Performing Arts Friday as part of a summer tour that sandwiches two big Fleetwood Mac stadium shows in Los Angeles and New York later this month.
Without the star-power of Nicks, it's smaller venues like the Mann and a smaller crowd than the pair are used to with Mac (the Mann was about half-filled). More importantly, a show without Nicks (or Mac founding fathers John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, both of whom play on the Buckingham-McVie album) afforded the duo the opportunity to unearth some deep cuts and dig deep into the new album.
The pair began digging deep early on during a four-song acoustic set which opened the hour and 45-minute show, showcasing disparate skill sets that have always blended so seamlessly within the context of Fleetwood Mac. Few do love songs as well as McVie, and her swooning ballad “Wish You Were Here” (the closing track on 1982’s "Mirage") soared despite her somewhat diminished vocal range and a sparse arrangement. Buckingham answered that longing love song with tightly-coiled intensity on “Shut Us Down” (from his 2006 solo album "Under the Skin"), blending acrobatic finger-picking with a hushed and heated vocal.
Backed by four musicians (including Jersey Shore native Jimmy Paxson on drums) for the full-band portion of the show, Buckingham and McVie went where most veteran artists fear to tread, playing a whopping eight songs from their new album. And though some of the new stuff felt a bit canned with drum triggers and sampled backing vocals used to re-create the finer sonic details of the studio versions, the buoyant bounce of McVie’s “Feel About You” and Buckingham’s moody “In My World” fit quite nicely alongside Mac hits like “Everywhere,” “Go Your Own Way,” and “Hold Me.”
Quibbles could be made that Buckingham didn’t play that ripping solo at the end of “Hold Me” (the song closed instead with an a capella reprise of the chorus) or that some seemingly obvious fits for a Buckingham-McVie live show went untouched (whither Buckingham’s solo version of “Big Love” and Christine’s sublime “Songbird”?). But credit the duo for not just giving the people what they know and love under the guise of a separate project. They could easily be resting on well-earned laurels at this stage in the game. Instead they poured their energies into a solid new record and they’re standing behind it with a live show that isn’t merely a re-creation of the day gig.