Posting the first half of my review today as a Thanksgiving to all my North American friends here.
The trip.
I live in Tokyo. I took one week off work and travelled on a direct flight to the
Empire State, appropriately watching
LBJ on the way over. After two days in the Big Apple (which was just enough!), it was back to JFK Airport for my flights down to the southern states (where I had heard rumor that a talented young musician by the name of Buckingham was touring..).
There I was, sitting at the airport gate at 4:30 am on the day of the concert, thinking about the day ahead and filled with uncertainty about all the unknowns (Would the flights be on time? Would I survive driving on the wrong side of the road? Would I find the way without GPS? Would I make it in time for the concert? Would I get on well with the fans I was meeting? Would the jetlag hold off until after the concert?)--and then I hear a familiar synthesizer sound playing through the airport concourse: it was
Seven Wonders. An encouraging omen!
On the flight from NYC to Charlotte, I watched a documentary called
Three Identical Strangers--about triplets who were separated at birth and later reunited. Now, I was jetlagged and sleep-deprived and it was 5 am at 35,000 feet, with plans to see a Lindsey Buckingham concert later that very same day, but I swear that the triplets looked like a young Lindsey!
Bluegrass country
From Memphis it was driving. Not only had I never driven on right side of road before, there was heavy rain and very poor visibility. Being unfamiliar with sitting on the left seat of the car, I was constantly veering to the right shoulder of the road.
After a brief stopover at The Mississippi Museum Of Fleetwood Mac Memorabilia (owned and operated by a megafan who even has expert commentary published in
literature on the subject) (NB: "museum" closed to the general public! :-)), three of us fans embarked on a road trip to the concert!
The venue.
The venue--a restored old concert hall in downtown Birmingham called the Lyric Theatre--was gorgeous. Buckingham Nicks had performed there back in the day.
It was rainy for pretty much the whole 24 hours I was down Dixie way, and before they let us in for the Meet and Greet we were all locked outside the venue in the wet and cold, peering in through the glass to where the tour and venue personnel were standing around in the warm and spacious foyer inside. It was a most unbecoming experience for a so-called VIP package, but each venue is different I guess.
The merchandise was fun to get. Some of the notebooks were in slightly poor repair--sizeable dents in the faux-leather covers, etc. I picked up a signed copy of the 3-CD Anthology. But because it’s a cardboard case, there was nothing to protect the signed cover. And the merch seller didn’t have anything to offer except a bunch of napkins, which I gladly accepted! So that was the crown in my VIP cake--”
deluxe napkin wrapping” for a signed CD! I also ended up getting the LB tote bag (justified it as a means of transporting the merch).
Meet and greet.
The theatre was incredibly similar in scale, layout and design to the Majestic Theatre on Broadway, where I’d just seen The Phantom Of The Opera two days prior.
And here I was about to see another tortured musical genius who crafts beautiful music for a backstabbing diva!
Standing in line for the meet and greet, we were positioned behind the backing screen against which the photos are taken. The result was that Lindsey’s silhouette was projected onto the screen for us to watch while we waited for our turn. It was quite entertaining. He may be stone-faced and still in the photos, but watching him between snaps was like watching Indonesian shadow puppet theatre--a lithe, gesturing, cavorting silhouette.
We were near the end of the line. As our turns came closer, we got to hear some of what Lindsey was saying to the other meet and greeters. It was difficult to pay full attention because we were also anxious about our own impending minute with him. But I caught the tail end of one conversation. Lindsey was saying to one of the fans, “
...Well it’s about motivating people. I was thinking we’d do a reunion… But people weren’t interested… Well, certain people.”
(to be continued on Side B)
(Disclaimer in advance--regrettably I didn't take any notes during the concert so I don't have much in the way of song-by-song commentary.)