Setlist ideas

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by David

At these enormous arena shows with 20,000 people, I believe that even fabulous songs can be boring. Does Hypnotized really bore people because it's a very old album radio staple, or does it just require them to be kind of quiet and thoughtful and enjoy the misty mental journey for ten minutes—something that nobody can due in that chaotic, assaultive setting? How can anyone—even a big fan of the song—enjoy it while 20,000 people are yelling and screaming and walking in and out and chatting with their friends and all of that noise is bouncing off the arena walls and there is NO quietly powerful magic at all? It isn't that the song is boring: it's disconcerting, it doesn't complement the environment.

I think that's why great songs like Hypnotized and Storms get dropped: the environment, not any intrinsic blah-ness they might have for people who have never heard them. You just can't easily do certain material at an arena rock concert. I said in another post about a month ago that Lindsey's being in theaters is a clear advantage, not for his pocketbook, obviously, but for his choice of music and the emotional dynamics he wants to create. In a theater, you can go hushed, you can take a lengthy narrative journey, and you can go balls-to-the-wall loud. In an arena, you can only do the latter, for the most part (unless you're a Springsteen, and as Dennis Hunt once said about the members of Fleetwood Mac: "Rock's premiere showmen are under no threat from anyone in this band"). The exceptions to the rule are few and they generally involve a sing-a-long, as with Landslide and Don't Dream It's Over—the stuff that people sing in the shower.

If Fleetwood Mac really wants to go for the most amazing, diverse sets, they'd better play more intimate shows. And if they really cared about playing such sets, they'd play different venues part of the time. Why must EVERY stop on a four-month tour be 20,000 screaming people? Why not play a string of Wilterns along the way—and film them AND do Storms and Hypnotized and Man of the World and all the stuff they got so excited about in rehearsal? Isn't that what the Heartbreakers did in San Francisco on a big tour once?

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Interesting. That’s an angle I never considered.

I agree with both of you. I never thought about why they would drop unknown songs but what Dave says makes perfect sense. But I have always wished, as far back as I can remember that they would do smaller gig shows in addition to arenas on every tour. I wish they would sell tickets to small shows only to diehard fans too.