Reviews of the classic west show?

[Lola]

http://variety.com/2017/music/news/c...st-1202497817/
This reviewer was hoping for an obscure album cut OR something from BuckVie. LMAO

[AliceLover]

This guy is just harping on the comment that Lindsey squeaked out about money. He's taking Lindsey's flawed and vulnerable comment and manipulating it. The writer found a weakness and exposed it. He's trying to make this "a thing." Obviously a negative festival review is going to get more of a reaction. "Why I felt Betrayed by Fleetwood Mac" what a drama queen. Must have minored in journalism...also whenever I see the phrase "grocery item checklist" in a concert review? Talk about Lindsey cringing.

[elle]

Originally Posted by bwboy

All of that might be true, but how can you compare the emotional resonance of the Eagles reuniting in tribute to their band mate who passed away, with his son performing in his place, to Fleetwood Mac coming together not too long after a huge world tour? So maybe FM was going through the motions a little bit- it sounds like they still put on a great, professional show, not an easy feat considering their age and the fact that Buckingham/McVie are smack in the middle of their own tour.

hehe yet again i have to agree with you bwboy! what's the world coming to? it just seems completely wrong to compare situation that the Eagles were in with any other band participating.

and ironically enough. weren't the Eagles when they existed in their full regular configuration the band that people usually complained about being detached in their live performances?

[elle]

Originally Posted by Lola

Positive review from Billboard
http://www.billboard.com/articles/co...m-classic-west

thanks! pasting the text - and love that this reviewer cited Lindsey's very recent and interesting interview with Dan Rather (from 2015 i believe) which shows he did his homework or is actual fan:

Fleetwood Mac Caps Classic West With Poignant Closing Set
7/17/2017 by Fred Schruers

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Scoop Marketing
Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac performs during The Classic West at Dodger Stadium on July 16, 2017 in Los Angeles.

Fleetwood Mac operates on one’s imagination in a way few other bands can -- whether within your musical memory, or onstage at Dodger Stadium as they were Sunday night (July 16), for the second evening of Classic West.

The sweetly intoned, plaintive melodies of Christine McVie, the now-gentle, now-angry mini-operas of Stevie Nicks, and what might be called the ecstatic agonies (“Bleed To Love Her,” anyone?) of Lindsey Buckingham, all swirl into an understanding that emotion will come to the fore. The shorthand for their genre is “hits," and they delivered plenty to a crowd that roared appreciatively from the time the lights went down to usher in “The Chain” to the last notes of “Don’t Stop,” 20 songs later.

The inherent drama that suffuses any Fleetwood Mac performance might be baldly stated as “Who’s still in love with whom?” and the band not only lives with that as a sometimes-aggravating hangover -- reliving your late twenties onstage as a member of a band whose average age hovers near 70 can’t always be easy -- but as an evergreen dramatic conceit.

Opening with “The Chain” definitely fed the beast of tortured past relationships as a topic: “And if you don’t love me now/ You will never love me again” reverberated with feeling even as it showcased the group’s durable trademark sound -- Fleetwood’s funereal drumbeats, John McVie’s underrated mutterings on bass, the ladies’ baleful harmonies, and Buckingham’s venomous leads. Buckingham’s clearly incapable of pretending it’s an evening’s casual entertainment and would come on at the end -- spotlight chasing him as he gyrated somewhere near the park’s bullpen -- to reinforce that he’s one of the great closers in the trade.

Fleetwood Mac
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Nicks, no slouch herself at fully projecting a somebody-done-somebody-wrong song, greeted the magnitude of the event with an early yawp of ready enthusiasm, and punctuated “The Chain” with a declamatory “No!” emphasizing the song’s warning. For his part Buckingham instructed “Run run, run run!” with what felt like climactic urgency. And yet, this was just the set opener. (In fact, Cindy Crawford was just finding her seat near the front of the crowd who seemed to fill much of the park’s 55,000-seat capacity. Earlier in the Forum Club, where the laminate-holders assembled, there was much speculation as to how gauzily veiled attendee Bjork was going to deal with the barbeque that was on offer.)

McVie’s “You Make Loving Fun,” with her own pearlescent keyboard work, was a fine palate cleanser, and Nicks, who had recently carped lightly about McVie’s duet album and tour with Buckingham, quickly established with fond glances and earnest harmonizing that the Englishwoman is still her musical bestie. Notably here, and during other potentially challenging patches of the Mac canon, a pair of female back-up singers and a second keyboardist were somewhat shadowy but not clandestine contributors throughout the set.

The hits and occasional deeper cuts spilled forth -- Stevie’s never-quite-saccharine “Dreams," Lindsay’s “Second Hand News," Nicks' “Rhiannon” (done right but just shy of the abandoned passion she can sometimes lend it). Her “Sara” was dramatized to the frankly gaping crowd by a stroll to Buckingham’s side that ended in a sweet, if slightly awkward ex-lovers’ hug, and the set moved on through the catalog to “Landslide,” a song she recently told an English audience she has never skipped in concert. She dedicated it this night to the late Eagle Glenn Frey, with a warm nod to his son Deacon, who filled in for Glenn at the band's Classic West gig the night before.

Fleetwood Mac
READ MORE
Eagles and Fleetwood Mac Planning New York and Los Angeles Festivals: Exclusive
A little past the midpoint of the two-hour set, with Buckingham’s “Never Going Back Again” -- the chipper chords fighting it out with the lyrics’ painful regrets -- you could sense the turn towards home. The backdrop for “Gypsy,” by contrast to the bucolic images of trees and landscapes that previously dominated, deployed images that reminded the audience of that 1982 hit’s big-budget video. 1977’s “Gold Dust Woman” -- written, like “Gypsy,” around the time Nicks was having a later well-chronicled cocaine problem (even making a gesture of spooning something towards her face during her performance here) -- exemplifies the singer’s capability to match her life experiences up with rigorously savvy songwriting, and deliver it all with gritty certitude.

The previous night’s concert-capping performance by Eagles had taken on its own memorable gravitas as a tribute to the departed Frey, and given the many purchasers of two-day passes, the question hanging in the periphery was who scored best across six acts? Certainly Sunday’s opening set by Earth Wind and Fire was wonderfully played, polyrhythmic and got the house happily rocking, and Journey’s mid-show performance began with a wild momentum that carried from opener ”Separate Ways” through the fourth song, “Stone in Love,” as guitarist Neal Schon played with energy and precision. He owned the video screens while seemingly wardrobed for an MTV time capsule in bandana and shiny red jacket, gnashing his gum and very much on planet Neal --save for the moment when he dedicated “Lights’ to original singer Steve Perry. (Perry’s vocal replacement Arnel Pineda was reliably on the money.)

Fleetwood Mac photographed circa 1977.
READ MORE
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In Fleetwood Mac’s set, with an inevitable pair of song choices and an encore remaining, Buckingham stepped up with a certain I-got-this resolve. “I’m So Afraid” drills down to the parts most other singer-songwriters rarely reach -- as in, “Agony’s torn at my heart too long” -- with a performance to match, and as unsparingly frenzied as his vocal is, the lyrics can seem to be simply the platform for one of rock guitar’s signature epic workouts. Buckingham did not disappoint, at times even skipping about, though not in a carefree way, as the notes shrieked across Chavez Ravine.

By that time there, was only one song that could be thoroughly apt for the moment, and for the welcome release of the romantic tension that has served Fleetwood Mac so well even as it’s bedeviled them. The ringing chords of "Go Your Own Way" have joined with its freely stated pathos to make it a generational anthem, and if the message is plain as the author once stated to Dan Rather -- “It’s a damn shame -- it‘s not what I want” -- once again it made many thousands of concertgoers feel thoroughly fulfilled.

The break before the valedictory “Don’t Stop” was brief, and as the small temporary city headed for their various traffic jams, fireworks crackled and thumped overhead. There hasn't been much heard lately of the prospects for another Mac tour -- but based on the rattle, hum and heart of what the Dodger Stadium crowd witnessed, fans should wish the chain to remain unbroken for one more go-round.

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by elle

hehe yet again i have to agree with you bwboy! what's the world coming to? it just seems completely wrong to compare situation that the Eagles were in with any other band participating.

[elle]

Originally Posted by Lola

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/07/17...odger-stadium/

pasting the full text of this one too -

Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham offers stunning solo moment during Classic West at Dodger Stadium

By MICHELLE MILLS | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: July 17, 2017 at 10:38 am | UPDATED: July 17, 2017 at 3:15 pm

Following the Eagles’ headlining set on Saturday, the second night of Classic West at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Sunday, July 16, featured performances by Earth, Wind and Fire, Journey and Fleetwood Mac. while each of the acts offered strong performances with their share of memorable moments, Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham proved the star of the evening with a stunning solo performance during the band’s 2-hour headlining set.

As the rest of the band – drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, singer Stevie Nicks and singer and keyboard player Christine McVie – slipped off stage, singer/guitarist Buckingham told the audience that they are “a band of contradictions,” and alluding to past adversity said, “We wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t a great deal of love.” Then he offered up a moving solo performance of “Bleed to Love Her,” demonstrating not only his musical prowess, but pushing all the right emotional buttons as well.

Later as band finished “Sara,” there was an audible sigh from the audience as Stevie Nicks gave Buckingham a hug. She added on that emotional moment when after singing “Landslide” she took a moment to dedicate the tune to her friend Glenn Frey, who died in 2016. Frey’s son, Deacon Frey, stood in for him with the Eagles the night before.

“He just did it so beautifully; his daddy would be so proud of him,” Nicks said with a catch in her voice. “I didn’t (dedicate) it before I sang, because I would have started to cry.”

Journey had their share of sweetness as well, beginning with Arnel Pineda dedicating “Lights” to the band’s original singer Steve Perry and then performing it with the audience joining in on the choruses.

Keyboardist Jonathan Cain discussed how hard it is to tour and be away from your family. He told the crowd that it’s tough for the members of the military too and sent “Faithfully,” the last song recorded on the 1983 album, “Frontiers,” out to them.

Earth, Wind and Fire had the audience up and dancing through their entire set, despite the heat. Lead vocalist and percussionist Philip Bailey and the band paid tribute to founder Maurice White, who died in 2016, with “Serpentine Fire,” accompanied by a photo slideshow offering a wealth of images, both on and off stage.

After the group’s founding more than 45 years ago, there are only three original members left in EWF, Bailey, bassist Verdine White and percussionist Ralph Johnson, but the group offered up tight, upbeat tunes and an eye-catching stage show with sharp choreography. They ended their set with thanks, an applause for the crowd and big waves goodbye.

[Macfan4life]

I've been watching all the videos on youtube. I must say I am fascinated with Journey and Anrel Pineda and his amazing story from the slums to fronting his favorite band. Journey rocked and I loved their performance.

[Lola]

Thank you Elle. When I saw these reviews earlier they were basically what I expected to read not FM let me down! Jeez. I dunno, wasn't there. The true review is probably somewhere in the middle. It'll be fun to compare the East and West shows.

[elle]

Originally Posted by Lola

http://variety.com/2017/music/news/c...st-1202497817/
This reviewer was hoping for an obscure album cut OR something from BuckVie. LMAO

hehe, thanks again! i actually enjoyed this one and actually learned more about the performance! and, someone posted on facebook that huge billboard / screen advertising BuckVie at the Greek - very cool.

pasting full text:

Concert Review: ‘Yesterday’s Gone,’ but the Music Lives on for Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Classic West Crowd

Chris Willman
Music Writer
@chriswillman

Stevie NicksGETTY IMAGES FOR SCOOP MARKETING
JULY 17, 2017 | 02:22PM PT

“Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone,” Fleetwood Mac sang in the closing moments of the Classic West festival Sunday night, but considering that out of 97 songs performed by six acts over two days at Dodger Stadium, not one tune was younger than 20 years old — and only three had been minted in the last three decades — yesterday is very much alive. Thinking about tomorrow, or today, or anything as fresh as the 1990s was as far away from the agenda as a surprise Chainsmokers appearance.

And while we’re doing some math, the amount of F’s given about this lack of topicality by the crowd of tens of thousands added up to, well, zero. This was a vast audience that believes, overtly or innately, that the zenith of American culture can be firmly placed in the years 1972 to 1980, when both the Eagles and Steely Dan had their original runs before epic-length breakups, and when fellow festival attractions Fleetwood Mac, Journey, and the Doobie Brothers were all enjoying peak moments.

As nostalgic impulses go, this one isn’t exactly the coolest, but it isn’t the craziest, either. Listening to McVie’s band again reenact the crazy experiment in which the lushest soft rock is set to an impossibly muscular rhythm section, or hearing Earth Wind & Fire recreate a peculiar niche of soul that should have lived forever instead of going as extinct as the carrier pigeon, you, too, could have a moment of being lulled into advocating for the Me Decade as the Greatest Generation.

If it’s possible to copyright a decade, Irving Azoff has one on the ‘70s. The legendary talent manager is the force behind both the Classic West fest and its identical Classic East counterpart, taking place at New York’s Citi Field July 29-30. He represents all six billed bands, or at least individual members thereof — which surely goes a long way toward explaining why there’ll be no Desert Trip II this fall. Last year, Goldenvoice had the genius idea to put every remaining superstar whose career dates back to the 1960s on one bill out on the Coachella grounds… and, having used up virtually everyone who fit that criterion, short of reuniting Led Zeppelin or Simon & Garfunkel, they would have had no choice for a boomer sequel but to move on to the next decade of legends. But it would be pretty difficult to book a Superstars of the ‘70s festival without going through Azoff, who has nothing if not the kind of DIY attitude that makes cutting out the middleman look easy.

Irving Trip, if we can call it that, was an unqualified success by any visible marker. Ticket sales might have been in question when an aggressive marketing campaign offered attendees a free Dodgers ticket in combination with a two-day pass, but it was clear that campaigning had paid off when attendants were asking drivers to show their tickets before gaining entry to the parking lots. The festival was VIP-friendy, too — an Azoff trademark. The stadium’s Dugout Club was transformed into the Forum Club, a nod to the elaborate buffet area Azoff’s people set up to encourage industry folk to make the trek down to Inglewood when he took an interest in that facility. Chavez Ravine may not have the mystique of the desert, but it did have creature comforts for invited guests, and no blisters or pedicabs.

What this festival didn’t have is a headliner with the ongoing creative vitality of Desert Trip’s Bob Dylan or Neil Young. On Saturday night, even though they were playing strictly ancient material, the Eagles had a sense of occasion built into the show, because of the notable guests filling in for the late Glenn Frey. But the limitations of relying entirely on material from three or four decades ago became more apparent during Fleetwood Mac’s closing set Sunday, particularly as the band played precisely the same 20-song set they’d played a year earlier at Dodger Stadium.

Surely they’d bring out a guest, or pull out a lesser played single or obscure album cut, or do anything at all that would mark the show as something fresh or special? Like, maybe, just add a song from the brand new Buckingham/McVie project, which is pretty much a Fleetwood Mac album in everything but its Nicks-lessness? No, not even that, although LED screens did advertise an upcoming Greek appearance by Buckingham and McVie as a duo, which is the ticket you apparently need to buy if you want to hear some not-by-the-numbers Fleetwood Mac music.

The most oddly incongruous moment came when Lindsey Buckingham gave a short speech that was actually about the need for artists not to rest on their laurels. “People who’ve been doing this as long as we have tend to sort of, what would you say, chase the brand, if you will, and end up doing pretty much what’s expected of them,” he said. “And it becomes a little more tenuous going out there and taking risks and continuing to define yourself as an artist.” Was this a setup for a new song? No, just an introduction to a frenzied solo acoustic version of “Big Love” — rearranged from the studio rendition, as he suggested, but the same version he’s been playing on tour as a solo artist since 1993 and with Fleetwood Mac since 1997. Given Buckingham’s brilliance and past track record of artistic restlessness, it was bizarre to hear him sell this decades-old arrangement of “Big Love” as a Big Risk.

But as intransigent as the set list may be, no one would ever accuse Buckingham of phoning it in. Screaming at the end of guitar solos, the guitarist worked himself into a lather as if he were just discovering his wild man side for the first time, perhaps protesting the band’s essentially sedentary 21st-century nature a bit too much. He did give Mick Fleetwood a good laugh by doing a Ministry of Silly Walks march across the stage at the close of “I’m So Afraid.”

You had to love the contrast between the lengthy speech Buckingham gave about the band’s tortured history — excerpt: “Through all the difficulties … and all the politics … in this band, and it can get pretty convoluted sometimes, you have to acknowledge that we wouldn’t here still if there weren’t a great, great deal of love” — with Stevie Nicks simply saying: “It’s a journey. In SO MANY WAYS.” In another seemingly spontaneous moment, Buckingham walked up to Nicks during a lull in “Sara” and tenderly rested his head right above her heart. As ex-girlfriends are prone to do in that kind of situation, she gave him a sort of half-hug in return. If you’re a fan of awkward moments, that one was almost worth the price of admission.

Sunday’s sets by Journey and Earth, Wind & Fire were hardly any less rooted and sealed in the past, but with those openers, the time capsule factor seemed to matter less. That’s partly because we expect less of them creatively, with both missing their former creative leaders, Steve Perry and the late Maurice White, respectively. It’s also because neither crew has any pretensions at this point about anything beyond competing to be the world’s greatest block-party band, a title either outfit could effectively contend for at any given moment, based on the relentlessly high-energy, ridiculously entertaining sets both turned in Sunday.

Journey was the only one of the six acts you’d say had something significant to gain from these bicoastal festivals, beyond the obvious paycheck and good will. They were the only one of the opening bands to get a 100-minute slot, as opposed to the 75-minute bookings for Steely Dan, EWF, and the Doobies. It was hard not to see that padded set length as an act of added evangelism on management’s part — because, as successful as the group tends to be on the road, there’s still enough of an aversion to ringer singers that the majority of Classic West attendees would probably never give a moment’s thought to buying a Journey ticket in 2017. They will now, though, so: Evangelism accomplished.

Journey is actually almost a decade into having Filipino-American success story Arnel Pineda as singer, and it’s not just because we haven’t been paying strict attention to time passing that we still think of him as the kid. It’s because he doesn’t look or, certainly, act a day over 19, even though a web check reveals Pineda is just shy of his 50th birthday. He has the Perry chops down, of course, but also a propensity for very non-Perryesque midair splits. Pineda gives off the kind of energy that makes you think he could hop over to Sunset and pave the whole length of it to the sea and back in amber, and still be back on stage by the end of Neil Schon’s guitar solo.

So, yes, we can maybe agree that they don’t make ‘em like they used to, when most of the true remaining rock royals, as seen here or at Desert Trip, are sixty- or seventy-something… but there’s still a lot to be said for the unrelenting vivacity of youth after all. Even if, in Pineda’s case, youth is actually just five months shy of an AARP card.

FILED UNDER: EaglesFleetwood MacIrving AzoffJourney

[dreamsunwind]

I've watched a lot of videos from the shows and it looked great! I'm still kinda iffy on how The Eagles are still performing without Glenn, even if it's with his son which is very touching, it just doesn't feel right to me. But it's amazing how well Don Henley's voice has held up. Obviously it's not the same as during his young prime, but he still sounds really great if you ask me. Same tone, same overall sound, good range. He's got one of the great voices in music. And I had to admit it, but it really shows you how much Stevie, Lindsey and Christine's voices have deteriorated. Stevie and Lindsey especially don't even sound anything like how they did during their primes.

[justcrazylove]

C'mon lets all get real here, who is actually shocked by any of this?

Going on the videos on YouTube i think they sound great, however they were always going to phone this performance in and that's exactly what we got.

The only thing I'm hoping for is next years tour has some bite to it, and isn't a by the numbers greatest hits fest.

[elle]

and another review (i think this one hasn't been posted yet?) -

http://ew.com/music/2017/07/17/class...wood-mac-more/

Classic West: 6 standout moments from The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and more
MAUREEN LEE LENKER@THEMAUREENLEE

POSTED ON JULY 17, 2017 AT 4:52PM EDT

The popularity of Coachella has bred a new kind of music festival – a nostalgia-fueled Woodstock in miniature, filled with the iconic bands and artists of rock & roll’s past. Last fall saw the inaugural Desert Trip – a two-weekend extravaganza featuring the likes of the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and The Who.

Los Angeles got its own taste of a throwback weekend with The Classic West on July 15 and 16. The two-night concert at Dodger Stadium featured The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and Journey, as well as headliners The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. The same groups will do it all over again for The Classic East on July 29 and 30 at Citi Field in New York.

Classic West was the perfect hazy summer rock concert – a chance to wander down memory lane (even if it might be your parent’s memories and not yours) and soak in the good vibes. They don’t call it “The Classic” for nothing. Here are our six favorite moments from the weekend-long classic rock festival.

We Will Never Be Here Again…

An inevitable part of these shows is the absence of band members – whether they’ve simply left the band or died. Tributes and a bittersweet melancholy were a natural part of the weekend, including a medley in honor of Maurice White and a celebration of the remaining original members of Earth, Wind, and Fire. The most palpable absence was that of Eagles singer Glenn Frey – this show marked the band’s first concert since his Jan. 2016 death. The lack of his presence was still a fresh wound felt by band members and fans alike.

Frey’s band members spoke lovingly of their missing friend. Guitarist Joe Walsh kicked off the show, saying, “This one’s for you, Glenn – you’re in our hearts tonight and the music goes on.” Don Henley noted, “Glenn is with us tonight. Glenn is with us in spirit, and Glenn is also here in the form of his fine son Deacon.”

Looking uncannily like his father during the early days of the band, Deacon Frey took over some of his dad’s lead vocals, most notably on “Take it Easy,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” and “Already Gone” (country singer Vince Gill did some of the heavy lifting on other Frey-led charts). The talents and unassailable grace of Frey’s 24-year-old son Deacon were the revelations of the night. His soulful vocals belied a deep well of talent suggesting he’s inherited much of what made Glenn Frey a singular voice. He didn’t merely pop out to cover a few songs — he truly integrated into the band, lending background harmonies and guitar stylings throughout the night and never leaving the stage. But it was his emotional proclamations that really brought down the house, as he told the audience, “The only remedy for something like that [grief] is love – you guys are my medicine tonight.” He took the musical break in “Peaceful Easy Feeling” to ask, while visibly choked up, “Anyone out there miss my dad?” – a query that drew loud cheers and provoked many tear-stained faces.

Artists outside the band also paid tribute to the late Eagle. During Sunday night’s concert, Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks dedicated “Landslide,” her emotional ballad of loss and change, to Glenn Frey and Deacon for a performance she said would have made his dad proud. Nicks waited until the conclusion of the song, remarking with a lump in her throat, “I didn’t do it before because I knew I would have started to cry and I wouldn’t have gotten through it.”

They Called it Paradise

Part of the magic of The Eagles is that their soulful harmonies have always meant they didn’t need much more than a few instruments and their own voices to put on an amazing show. But they pulled out all the stops for this special engagement, bringing on a cadre of gifted musicians and instrumental acrobatics to wow the crowd. Bob Seger joined the group on “Heartache Tonight,” a tune he co-wrote with the band over the phone.

The most important special guests, however, were those without recognizable names and platinum albums to their credit. Henley sang the final track from the Hotel California album, “The Last Resort,” a song he noted is rarely performed in concert because of the “personnel” it requires. They certainly didn’t skimp on personnel, bringing on a string section to provide the necessary backing on this provocative ballad about our tendencies to destroy the things we find most beautiful. It was a rare treat to hear live in concert with full orchestrations what Frey once dubbed “Henley’s opus.” The Eagles were also joined by a killer horn section that added exciting riffs to a new arrangement of “Witchy Woman,” and a stirring, mariachi-infused trumpet solo to the opening of “Hotel California.”

An Axe to Grind

Both The Eagles’ Joe Walsh and Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham hold a place of honor on Rolling Stone’s list of “100 Greatest Guitarists.” With many on that list no longer living, it’s easy to think the chance for a one-two punch like “The Classic” is something that belongs only to the past and the likes of the Monterey Pop Festival. To see two such legends strut their stuff in one weekend? It’s almost too good to be true.

Walsh was in top form Saturday night, from his iconic riffs in “Life in the Fast Lane” and “Hotel California” to his lengthier jam sessions on his solo charts “Life’s Been Good” and “Rocky Mountain Way.” He has a mesmerizing talent and a dexterity with his instrument that makes it impossible to take your eyes off him when he’s performing.

It was Buckingham’s turn to bring the goods Sunday night, with his dizzying guitar sprees through the likes of “Big Love” and “Never Going Back Again” that made him appear a man possessed by an inner spirit that flits between demon and rock angel. For all of his intensity and musical aggression on “Big Love,” “The Chain,” and “Go Your Own Way,” he brought an equally compelling softness and deft touch to the lilting tunes of “Never Going Back Again” and “Landslide.”

Walsh is all rock & roll bravado fueled by his mischievous spirit – an antic sprite of music. In contrast, Buckingham is the rock answer to classical guitar with fingerpicking that elevates his folk music roots into stadium-worthy licks. The two are the yin and yang of epic guitar playing, particularly when presented in direct complement and contrast to one another.

Don’t Say That You Love Me

In 1979, Fleetwood Mac made history (and gave a college marching band a platinum album) when they recruited the USC Marching Band to record and star in the music video for “Tusk.” Mick Fleetwood later called the moment his “lunacy.” In 2012, Stevie Nicks told the BBC, “I honestly think that that might be the very best thing that came out of that whole record because it was so crazy and the song was so insane and what we did with it with that video was so magical, that nobody, I don’t think any band has ever re-created something quite that cinematic.”

To see Fleetwood Mac bring the same life, fire, and yes, lunacy to a live rendition of this tune nearly 40 years after the original in the very stadium where they crafted an insane and iconic music video defies description. Fleetwood was in top form on drums, and Buckingham can still bellow his unintelligible and chilling vocal riffs with guttural aplomb. For good measure, they included the original footage of the music video and the Trojan Marching Band on the screen behind them. It was the most meta moment of the night and a chance to feel like you were being transported back into a part of rock history.

Shatter Your Illusions of Love

Stevie Nicks is a witchy, mystical, supreme goddess. And she brought all of her boho-queen magic to the stage this weekend, most particularly on a haunting rendition of “Gold Dust Woman.” Swathed in a gold shawl, Nicks first wowed with her signature vocals but then brought the crowd to its feet with her mystic moves, which included a series of spins and a litany of poses that erupted out of her as she let the power of the music drive her.

Nicks has always crafted a witchy, numinous image, but the reason it works is because her performances make you feel as if her vocals and her movements are truly being fed by some magical inner life force. Her voice has a haunting power that suggests she’s not exactly of this world, and her accompanying iconic moves and clothing just seal the deal.

“Don’t Stop” x Two

Sunday’s show was the night of “Don’t Stop” encores – first, Journey made “Don’t Stop Believin’” their penultimate tune and then Fleetwood Mac wrapped up the entire weekend with “Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow).” The two charts are show-closers for a reason.

“Don’t Stop Believin’” has become a bit of a musical punch line at this point, thanks to the likes of Glee and endless karaoke covers. But you’d have to be quite the curmudgeon to not enjoy the experience of hearing it earnestly belted out across a stadium of thousands of eager concertgoers.

“Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” is almost the antithesis of the other “Don’t Stop,” a jaunty pop-rock blast of optimism in contrast to the power ballad melodrama of the Journey tune. For fans of Fleetwood Mac, it was a thrill to end the night with the Christine McVie song, considering she was absent from the tour line-up from 1997-2014. Accompanied by a flurry of fireworks, “Don’t Stop” sent the crowd out on a literal high note – a frenzy of effervescent light and fizzy good tunes.

Click here to purchase tickets for The Classic East.

[elle]

TY @fleetwoodmac #johnmcvie #christinemcvie #stevienicks #mickfleetwood #lindseybuckingham #fleetwoodmac #classicwest #concert #music #fun pic.twitter.com/B8Oiyo92cm

— Joni Milken-Noah (@malibuheaven1) July 17, 2017

[aleuzzi]

Having watched the clips, I'm quite frankly surprised so many people are displeased with the performances. They're tight, professional, and well-executed. What else would someone expect from this gig? It was done to please someone with a lot of money and influence. The band were paid well. And well, that's that. I'm just really glad they can still perform so well at their ages.

Now, if they went out on tour with such an unadventurous set, I'd be annoyed. But they may very well do so anyway!

[Macfan4life]

OUCH!
Not sure if this was posted but this guy from the LA Times felt betrayed by the Mac's performance.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...717-story.html

I can’t say I wasn’t warned.
In a recent interview with Lindsey Buckingham, I asked the Fleetwood Mac frontman about turning his attention from his and Christine McVie’s new duets album to Fleetwood Mac’s participation in Classic West.
First he cringed, as though the mere mention of the two-day festival — which brought Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, among other veteran rock acts, to Dodger Stadium over the weekend — had embarrassed him. Then he explained that the explicitly nostalgic event wasn’t exactly his dream gig, but that he’d agreed to do it in deference to his manager, Irving Azoff, who put the Classic West together.
Buckingham’s mantra for the show? “Just close your eyes and take the money.”

Having seen Sunday’s miserable excuse for a concert, I wish I’d been closing my eyes.
It’s not that I object to (or was scandalized by) Buckingham’s avowed desire to be paid. Pop music is fundamentally a commercial enterprise; money plays no less a role than a strong beat in making the whole thing go.
So of course Classic West was a paycheck, one almost certainly inspired by the enormous success of last year’s Desert Trip festival in Indio, which made an estimated $160 million with a boomer-attuned bill that included the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney. (On Sunday, Fleetwood Mac was preceded by Journey and Earth Wind & Fire, both as competent as they were unremarkable.)
But great pop makes you forget about the profit motive; it finds ways to put across real emotion or drama or excitement — something, anyway, that feels like those things — while doing its dirty work behind your back.

And that’s a trick Fleetwood Mac knows better than just about any other band in rock history.
Take the group’s celebrated “Rumours” album, which we’re constantly reminded has sold approximately 1 zillion copies since it came out in 1977. At another point in our conversation, Buckingham said the album’s vaunted sales numbers have been so widely discussed that they’ve actually overwhelmed the music itself.
But it’s not true.
Put on “Dreams” now, 40 years later, and your mind isn’t filled with thoughts of Mick Fleetwood’s ample retirement fund. You think about thunder and players and the sound of your loneliness like a heartbeat.
It’s not just these musicians’ old stuff, either. Buckingham and McVie’s record is a low-key delight, with loads of crafty melodies and inventive production touches that demonstrate how clearly they’ve influenced hip young bands such as Haim and Phoenix.
Stevie Nicks put out two solid solo albums in the last few years. And before Saturday I’d have said Fleetwood Mac was sounding as vital on the road — especially since McVie rejoined in 2014 — as the group ever had.
At Dodger Stadium, though, I thought a lot about that ample retirement fund.
For the record, the band did not play well. “Little Lies,” one of Fleetwood Mac’s most luscious hits, was comically ragged, while “Gypsy” moved so sluggishly that you felt like you were hearing the band’s batteries die in real time.
But the true bummer was how unengaged the members were in the music — how little pleasure (or pain) they seemed to be taking in the job at hand. There was no humor or charm, nor any evidence of the group’s mythically complicated chemistry; song after song in the two-hour set simply rolled by as though they were marking items off a grocery list.
“What album is it from?” McVie asked, a cartoon of rock-star distraction, before “Think About Me.” Elsewhere, Nicks, looking like she regretted skipping her disco nap, dedicated “Landslide” to Glenn Frey’s son, Deacon, who’d filled in for his late father the night before with the Eagles.
At least Nicks’ tribute took the show off the script it otherwise clung to tightly.
Look, I get it, bands use set lists; they’re practically required by big productions with lights and video. But Sunday’s show was a step-by-step replica (minus the energy and charisma) of other gigs I’ve seen Fleetwood Mac play in recent years — a real disappointment given the potential for something special here.
For instance? “Tusk.”
In the late ’70s Buckingham famously recorded that song at Dodger Stadium with help from the USC marching band.
How hard would it have been to arrange for some drummers and horn players to bring that moment back to life in the very same place? Imagine the smiles and goose bumps the band would’ve given to the tens of thousands of fans who’ve kept Fleetwood Mac afloat for decades.
Maybe those folks were the problem though.
As Buckingham’s queasy feelings about Classic West suggested, the singer and guitarist appears more interested these days in cultivating a new audience than with servicing the lifers.
Which is a valuable impulse. But that meant that this concert, with its graying demographic, resembled an obligation on the band’s part — a chore not worth putting too much effort into.
And that’s not only a cynical position, it’s a poorly informed one. In their excellent performance on Saturday, the Eagles showed that it’s possible to refresh a vintage sound while maintaining a cherished legacy.
Twenty-four hours later, the members of Fleetwood Mac made me feel like a sucker for caring about theirs.