The hardest thing right now

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

She was everything, a quiet center that kept it all together for so long. She was also a genuine person, without pretentiousness or a need for constant attention. Because of this, she has always had mine...

THIS is exactly how I've always felt about her. She was the only adult in the front.

[J.Miller]

Originally Posted by BigAl84

After 2018/2019 I thought I had put to bed and dealt with the fact that the original 5 would most likely never perform again. The passing of Christine really makes that final. I was introduced to the band in 1997. My first love with the band wasn't the Rumours album, it was their live performances. I don't lament a final album with all 5, but the realization that they'll never hit the stage as a complete unit is a gut punch.

I also don't want to see Lindsey and Stevie go to the end with bitterness between them. How great is it that Christine and John were able to be friends and put the past behind them, seemingly decades ago. I love this passage from a recent Rolling Stone article about Christine:

Some of the best moments in Fleetwood Mac’s final tours, reuniting all five of the classic lineup, came during the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham solo showcases. Every night, Christine would sit next to John on the piano bench, out of sight from most of the audience, just the two of them whispering and giggling together. They always huddled like two old friends, just sharing a private laugh. It was such a touching sight — so sweet and civilized, in the middle of all that emotional sturm und drang. She brought that warmth out in people. Even these people.

When it comes down to Lindsey and Stevie, it's so sad to see their animosity baked into their public persona, like an expectation of their coexistence. Time is so finite at this point in their lives. Knowing their animosity will be part of their epitaph is an incredibly hard pill to swallow. When the time comes, we probably won't see passages like the one written above in the context of Lindsey and Stevie.

https://youtu.be/RP95ZvV2fo4 I actually recorded one of those Chris and John McVie interactions. It isn’t much but I thought it was cute. Enjoy.

[J.Miller]

Originally Posted by BigAl84

After 2018/2019 I thought I had put to bed and dealt with the fact that the original 5 would most likely never perform again. The passing of Christine really makes that final. I was introduced to the band in 1997. My first love with the band wasn't the Rumours album, it was their live performances. I don't lament a final album with all 5, but the realization that they'll never hit the stage as a complete unit is a gut punch.

I also don't want to see Lindsey and Stevie go to the end with bitterness between them. How great is it that Christine and John were able to be friends and put the past behind them, seemingly decades ago. I love this passage from a recent Rolling Stone article about Christine:

Some of the best moments in Fleetwood Mac’s final tours, reuniting all five of the classic lineup, came during the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham solo showcases. Every night, Christine would sit next to John on the piano bench, out of sight from most of the audience, just the two of them whispering and giggling together. They always huddled like two old friends, just sharing a private laugh. It was such a touching sight — so sweet and civilized, in the middle of all that emotional sturm und drang. She brought that warmth out in people. Even these people.

When it comes down to Lindsey and Stevie, it's so sad to see their animosity baked into their public persona, like an expectation of their coexistence. Time is so finite at this point in their lives. Knowing their animosity will be part of their epitaph is an incredibly hard pill to swallow. When the time comes, we probably won't see passages like the one written above in the context of Lindsey and Stevie.

https://youtu.be/RP95ZvV2fo4 I actually recorded a bit of Christine and John talking to each other. It is not much but I thought it was cute.

[Macfan4life]

I was watching a 2017 interview of hers today and she was saying how much her love of performing brought her back to the band. This was right before Lindsey was fired. Her voice was struggling and her ability to play was being limited. Yet she carried on. Yes she hit a few frogs and clunkers on some nights but NEVER piped in fake lead vocals or autotune. Got to admire that. Jon Bon Jovi lost his ability to sing and they pipe in fake lead vocals for Jon (and he is much younger). She was such a trooper and went on with the show. She gave it her all up to the end. Roberta Flack and Linda Ronstadt are alive but lost their ability to sing and perform many years ago.
God Bless you Chris
Fly Songbird Fly

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I was watching a 2017 interview of hers today and she was saying how much her love of performing brought her back to the band. This was right before Lindsey was fired. Her voice was struggling and her ability to play was being limited. Yet she carried on. Yes she hit a few frogs and clunkers on some nights but NEVER piped in fake lead vocals or autotune. Got to admire that. Jon Bon Jovi lost his ability to sing and they pipe in fake lead vocals for Jon. She was such a trooper and went on with the show. She gave it her all up to the end. Roberta Flack and Linda Ronstadt are alive but lost their ability to sing and perform many years ago.
God Bless you Chris
Fly Songbird Fly

[J.Miller]

Originally Posted by BigAl84

After 2018/2019 I thought I had put to bed and dealt with the fact that the original 5 would most likely never perform again. The passing of Christine really makes that final. I was introduced to the band in 1997. My first love with the band wasn't the Rumours album, it was their live performances. I don't lament a final album with all 5, but the realization that they'll never hit the stage as a complete unit is a gut punch.

I also don't want to see Lindsey and Stevie go to the end with bitterness between them. How great is it that Christine and John were able to be friends and put the past behind them, seemingly decades ago. I love this passage from a recent Rolling Stone article about Christine:

Some of the best moments in Fleetwood Mac’s final tours, reuniting all five of the classic lineup, came during the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham solo showcases. Every night, Christine would sit next to John on the piano bench, out of sight from most of the audience, just the two of them whispering and giggling together. They always huddled like two old friends, just sharing a private laugh. It was such a touching sight — so sweet and civilized, in the middle of all that emotional sturm und drang. She brought that warmth out in people. Even these people.

When it comes down to Lindsey and Stevie, it's so sad to see their animosity baked into their public persona, like an expectation of their coexistence. Time is so finite at this point in their lives. Knowing their animosity will be part of their epitaph is an incredibly hard pill to swallow. When the time comes, we probably won't see passages like the one written above in the context of Lindsey and Stevie.

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I was watching a 2017 interview of hers today and she was saying how much her love of performing brought her back to the band. This was right before Lindsey was fired. Her voice was struggling and her ability to play was being limited. Yet she carried on. Yes she hit a few frogs and clunkers on some nights but NEVER piped in fake lead vocals or autotune. Got to admire that. Jon Bon Jovi lost his ability to sing and they pipe in fake lead vocals for Jon (and he is much younger). She was such a trooper and went on with the show. She gave it her all up to the end. Roberta Flack and Linda Ronstadt are alive but lost their ability to sing and perform many years ago.
God Bless you Chris
Fly Songbird Fly

https://youtu.be/bDsQ-P4ZEYg We went to see Fleetwood Mac in 2019 in Nashville. That night Christine sounded quite well compared to some uneven performances earlier in that tour. I even remarked out loud that she was all the way back to her better performances since she returned to the band. The video I posted here was the final time I will get the pleasure of see the wonderful and beautiful Christine McVie. A lot of people were starting to leave as the song started. They shouldn’t have.

[Mr Scarrott]

Originally Posted by J.Miller

https://youtu.be/bDsQ-P4ZEYg We went to see Fleetwood Mac in 2019 in Nashville. That night Christine sounded quite well compared to some uneven performances earlier in that tour. I even remarked out loud that she was all the way back to her better performances since she returned to the band. The video I posted here was the final time I will get the pleasure of see the wonderful and beautiful Christine McVie. A lot of people were starting to leave as the song started. They shouldnÂ’t have.

I couldn't bring myself to go to the Lindsey-less show in 2019. I think I made the right choice- the imaginative set initially tempted me but it had largely been pared down by the time they came to London- not the band's fault, just under-informed and confused audiences. The videos I have seen of Christine on that tour do seem to show a growing frailty, both vocally and physically so I kind of worried about her back then. She was certainly spouting the company line,but I never believed she approved of Lindsey's firing. The 2015 tour was a gift of an only occasionally benevolent god, and Christine was largely magnificent and a joy to behold. Yes, there was a flub here or there , but it made it all heroically real, a fascinating glimpse of a woman who had been through everything her profession could throw at her in her first fifty odd years, who then retired, and then did it all over again. I would never have been able to thank her enough for that.

[The Catdancer]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Amen, brother! They highjacked the band narrative for so long but I will NOT let their **** take an ounce of space away from Christine’s memory. I am heartened to see so many musicians and fans recognizing her full worth. There have been a couple of moments where journalists got it wrong (the “Don’t Stop” “Co-write” mentioned in BILLBOARD; one passive aggressive writer who said Christine’s songs never reached the chart heights of Buckingham or Nicks—which is bs, outside of “Dreams”) but overall people “know the score.”

She was everything, a quiet center that kept it all together for so long. She was also a genuine person, without pretentiousness or a need for constant attention. Because of this, she has always had mine...

Hear, hear!! Totally agree with you.

[J.Miller]

Originally Posted by Mr Scarrott

I couldn't bring myself to go to the Lindsey-less show in 2019. I think I made the right choice- the imaginative set initially tempted me but it had largely been pared down by the time they came to London- not the band's fault, just under-informed and confused audiences. The videos I have seen of Christine on that tour do seem to show a growing frailty, both vocally and physically so I kind of worried about her back then. She was certainly spouting the company line,but I never believed she approved of Lindsey's firing. The 2015 tour was a gift of an only occasionally benevolent god, and Christine was largely magnificent and a joy to behold. Yes, there was a flub here or there , but it made it all heroically real, a fascinating glimpse of a woman who had been through everything her profession could throw at her in her first fifty odd years, who then retired, and then did it all over again. I would never have been able to thank her enough for that.

They dropped “Tell me all Things You Do” before our show. It was a good jam.I think it fit Mike Campbell’s guitar style rather well. Christine has a groovy piano solo in it. I really wanted to hear something from Kiln House but to no avail.

[SteveMacD]

The hardest part is listening to people singing along to her songs in the Keith Urban and Harry Styles videos in total adulation and not knowing if she ever really felt that. I know there was a thunderous roar the second Mick hit the high hats on "You Make Loving Fun" in 2014, but that's really all I can think of. She was always overshadowed, be it Jeremy, Bob, or especially Stevie, and that seemed to suit her personality, but I wonder what she'd think of an arena full of people that isn't a Fleetwood Mac show singing her songs?

[Street_Dreamer]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

The hardest part is listening to people singing along to her songs in the Keith Urban and Harry Styles videos in total adulation and not knowing if she ever really felt that.

I don't know if that mattered to her. I mean, I'm sure she knew that plenty of people that admired her and loved her work but she said many times that she felt she was closer to the rhythm section of the band with John and Mick as opposed to the stars of Lindsey and Stevie. She was never one who felt the need to have the spotlight on her even though she obviously deserved it.

Looking back, it's poetic that Songbird closed Fleetwood Mac shows for so many years. It was the one time that the spotlight was completely on Christine. She closed the show just like she is (hopefully) ending the tumultuous history of Fleetwood Mac. It's also coincidental that the Songbird collection was released just a few months ago.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

The hardest part is listening to people singing along to her songs in the Keith Urban and Harry Styles videos in total adulation and not knowing if she ever really felt that. I know there was a thunderous roar the second Mick hit the high hats on "You Make Loving Fun" in 2014, but that's really all I can think of. She was always overshadowed, be it Jeremy, Bob, or especially Stevie, and that seemed to suit her personality, but I wonder what she'd think of an arena full of people that isn't a Fleetwood Mac show singing her songs?

Originally Posted by Street_Dreamer

I don't know if that mattered to her. I mean, I'm sure she knew that plenty of people that admired her and loved her work but she said many times that she felt she was closer to the rhythm section of the band with John and Mick as opposed to the stars of Lindsey and Stevie. She was never one who felt the need to have the spotlight on her even though she obviously deserved it.

Looking back, it's poetic that Songbird closed Fleetwood Mac shows for so many years. It was the one time that the spotlight was completely on Christine. She closed the show just like she is (hopefully) ending the tumultuous history of Fleetwood Mac. It's also coincidental that the Songbird collection was released just a few months ago.

I feel like she did come to understand what she'd accomplished, how much of the band's success was due to her work, and her "legacy" as LB would say, because during one of her interviews in the last few years she was asked (I think it was talking to Johnny Walker on BBC2...) something like what she would tell her younger self or some such and she responded with "You're Christine F*****g McVie, and don't you forget it"

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by elle

i was able to happily capture some of that Christine-John sitting on the amp interaction in DC

Thank you for posting that. This is why I'm glad to be back at the ledge. I need to see all these things, it helps my heart. ♥

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by J.Miller

https://youtu.be/RP95ZvV2fo4 I actually recorded a bit of Christine and John talking to each other. It is not much but I thought it was cute.

very sweet. all these things give me a good cry. I'm so grateful she found her way back to the band and they had those tours and that time together. thanks for posting.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

The hardest part is listening to people singing along to her songs in the Keith Urban and Harry Styles videos in total adulation and not knowing if she ever really felt that. I know there was a thunderous roar the second Mick hit the high hats on "You Make Loving Fun" in 2014, but that's really all I can think of. She was always overshadowed, be it Jeremy, Bob, or especially Stevie, and that seemed to suit her personality, but I wonder what she'd think of an arena full of people that isn't a Fleetwood Mac show singing her songs?

Yes, I would like for her to have seen that. If her brother is alive, since her official site tracked the tributes, he is seeing these things. I am sure his children and grandchildren show him. That feels good.

I don’t know how much Chris got out at the end but if she was like me she hears Everywhere all around. When I pump my gas, there it is being played at the pump station. I do think that there was a dearth of young artists who referred to her has an inspiration and she may have felt that. She joked that there hasn’t been much hero worship but that we could start it. I think she might have liked to have been mentioned more in pop culture round ups, mentioned in her own right, not as part of FM.