(Late and Long) Tulsa review- dedicated to the UK'ers

Spikey · #1 01-15-2012, 05:25 PM

Hey folks,

I was supposed to post this about a couple months ago, now- and I'm still only halfway done. The last 2 months have been crazy.
I apologise! I should have had this done a long time ago.

But, now that I've heard of the UK cancellings, I feel obligated to share some of the magic and experience. Of course you can get the Blu-Ray, but some of the background stuff is the magic.

OK. This is part one, covering roughly half of the show from the Hard Rock Hotel in Catoosa (near Tulsa), on Monday November 14th, 2011.
It is very long and makes reference of (many) photos I have uploaded. The link in advance is:
http://sierramusiccentral.com/assorted/Lindsey1.zip

Onto the review..

Pre-show + intro

Well,
I have kind of a story for what prefaced the evening for me and my wife. I'm going to keep it brief
because it's not about LB but basically, the weather was crazy. It was raining a lot, it was evening, about 6pm while we were driving to the Hard Rock. Something else relevant to point out is that the Hard Rock Tulsa is actually about 15 miles or so from Tulsa (it's in a small town nearby, goodness knows why). So anyway, driving 15 miles, major highway, no big deal. Driving in pitch black conditions, with crazy rain, cars kicking up rain mist on our windshield, not so easy.
On top of that, the Hard Rock is pretty much not signposted. The only highway sign was "Catoosa: Left Exit", with Catoosa being the small town the Hard Rock is located in. So we assumed that wasn't it, kept going, and ended up in some podunk town about 40 miles from Tulsa. Thankfully we were able to find our way back and even eat with friends before the show, or I would've missed the excellent show I'm about to describe for you guys.

Pre-concert

(see pic 6568)
This is what the stage looked like, pre-concert.
You will probably notice the Buckhead I saw earlier with the UTS t-shirt. I wondered if he was a Ledgie.

Over the sound system (maybe to warm us up), there had been several instrumentals and songs that were modern sounding, and (I thought) a bit out of place for the show we were about to see. Sort of part jam band, part alt-rock, part modern top 20. Didn't seem to fit really well.
I made a comment like, "Why are they playing all this modern music crap? If Lindsey were Murrow, HE'D be turning over in his grave."
As if the Gods themselves were watching, the next song was an instrumental of the guitar part of "Bleed to Love Her". Being a bit of a Buckhead myself, I half-envisaged Lindsey playing it backstage with a microphone, to warm up. But in reality I think it was just the guitar part of the 5.1 mix of the SYW album version.
But still, it made my wife happy, since SYW is her fave Mac album. And that was as important to me as anything.

(see pic 6569)
An old roadie came out to make alterations. I was getting a bit antsy (it was right about start time), and the cynic in me thought, "You know it's Tulsa when some old guy with a beard is messing with amps."
I saw a lot of roadies that night. More than I've seen for some band concerts. And mainly giving LB new guitars.

(see pic 6570)
Lindsey finally walked out, much to my (and about 2500 other people's) ecstatic applause. You know it's gonna be a good show when people go crazy before a note is played, and instead of heckling or spouted nonsense people say respectful or complimentary things like "You're a wizard, Lindsey!"
Incidentally, I don't think people asked for random songs to be played very much that night, either. No "Play GYOW!!" like he always jokes about.

I guess I realised how good my seats were. I was in the seventh row back, directly in front of LB. Directly. Awwwweesome. I knew I was in for a good one.

Concert(NOTE: I've left out the Lindsey speeches descriptions. I think you get it.)
(NOTE: The pictures I'm mostly pretty confident about which pictures are which. There may be a couple off, but I think I've got most of them.)

(see pic 6571-6572)
I don't think there was any intro, just him, a guitar, and he started playing (very fast) a song I didn't recognise at first, which about a minute in I finally realised was "Shut Us Down", because I remembered listening to the album version, where he doesn't actually speak the title of the song for quite a ways in.
(Note: Although like everyone else, I knew the setlist at some point, I'd tried not to look at it a whole bunch before the concert, for about a month leading in.)

"Shut Us Down" was excellent. I don't remember the album version, but the guitar was fast and mildly furious (frenetic?), the vocals and lyrics complimenting each other beautifully. The guitar riff was the highlight, where he plays the louder notes during the chorus.

The crowd were wowed from the onset, and even though I don't think I was the only one who didn't remember the song. Possibly the only one was the UTS tour t-shirt Buckhead in front.
Nevertheless, people applauded like their lives depended on it, just for song one out of 19. Some cool shoutings from the crowd, but I don't remember these ones.

(see pic 6573-6576)
"Go Insane" was pretty much as you'd expect, low-key, this was probably one of the low-lights of the evening, just because it's been done, and I'd heard it down with the full band a couple years ago at "Unleashed". It was intimate, and he played it nice and slow. I like the way he sings "..and the rummmours are flyyying" a lot.

It did ramp up a lot towards the end and then it was a vastly more enjoyable solo effort. His guitar at the final stanza with the louder singing was much more emotive and driven, and he started getting into it (if he hadn't already with SUD).

The last pic is right at the end of the song.

(see pic 6577-6578)
Sorry about these pics, I was grooving a little.

So yeah, apparently Lindsey's cool enough at 62 to have a light show! Who knew. I sure as hell was not expecting a cool light show, but it was really awesome all night, especially later on. I don't know about starting it in "Trouble", but that's where it started. This song (and if not this one, the next two) is where a lot of the people who maybe didn't know SUD or GI really got into the show. A lot of people started "woo"'ing, and Lindsey sounded amazingly contemporary as he played it.
I mean, you would think on paper a 62 year old guy singing the lyrics of this song would sound a little dated, or whatever. Even I wondered as he started playing. Well, I ate humble pie pretty quick. The way he played it, it could be on indie radio tomorrow and sound modern, fresh, whatever.
It definitely worked that he played it slower for the acoustic set. It just sounded *good*.

(see pic 6579-6581)
An obvious guitar change in the pictures

Like the last number, "Never Going Back Again" started slowly, but once people figured out what was being played, they started cheering. This sort of song is really big in this part of the country, being a banjo-y and country, more rustic sort of song.

It was more muted than I've heard Linds play it live before, I was surprised. He played pretty much like the album version with a bit of an extended instrumental bridge between verses.

No "I've been down THREE times, UH!" either. Just two times, that was all we got.

But it was OK, just nothing wow. But as with other songs of the era, some we've just heard to death

To be fair to my main man.

(see pic 6582-6589)
Lindsey gave a short speech in front of this track, which I won't repeat, but the gist was his speech about "Big Love", where he says both that:
a. It was written at a time where it meant something else
b. He wasn't looking 'for' love, but 'looking out' for love.
But we've heard that

Just before he started playing, people shouted requests for the first time, in amongst stuff like "Awesome". Someone shouted "Tango in the Night", and Lindsey looked over in a curious way, and said something like "Maybe".

The first picture is right at the end of the speech, as he just started going crazy.

This was pretty good. Same as always, but with a lot of feeling. And I love the song.

Pic 6588 is right at the end of the song.

6589 has a story, obviously, he's taking his guitar off after "Big Love". But also, some Buckheads, right up front, held up a banner that said "Lindsey- Will you play at our wedding". They showed it to him and he smiled and said he'd think about it.
He said something else but it was hard to hear all his banter with the hardcores up front, and because of all the cheering and buddy-buddy wooing and everything else.

(see pic 6590-6596)
Lindsey got me here. I am not a major fan of the UTS album (*now all you fellow Buckheads, I still like it, I'll show you- show you howww) but this version of "Under the Skin" was a lot rockier. I liked it a lot.

In the later verses of the song he really started belting it out, not just singing loudly like he did with NGBA. I like it when he shows his vocal prowess.
I really got into this track in those verses, and even though there was no bass or percussion, you could really *feel* the music.

Band set
(NOTE: Pics are a little unpredictable from here. Some songs I took lots of pics because the song wasn't my fave, some because he had antics, some didn't turn out because I was dancing or singing or both.. Sorry!

)

The band came out without a lot of fanfare and played "All My Sorrows" straight away. I didn't take any photos because I forgot they played this after the acoustic set and I was rooted to my chair, looking straight at Lindsey, and singing. I love OOTC and really like this song.

Lindsey and Neale looked my way a couple of times, I was thinking maybe to see if I would get the lyrics all the way through.

This was a really big highlight, probably the best slower song for me of the setlist. It was just perfect.

They extended it too, I believe they sang the "True love that will never die" verse twice. Maybe they replaced the last verse with it. Not sure.
I just listened to another bootleg of the tour, and he didn't do it there.. weird.

Another speech followed, this time about how this album (SWS) wasn't planned and it came out of time to fill. Instead of what he has said on tour previously- "It could be the best thing I've done, really", in Tulsa he said "And I think it's the best thing I've ever done."

(see pic 6597-6606)
Finally, some new music! This is what I came for (well I came for the big LB, but I mainly came for those 6 songs, or seeds, or whatever you wanna call them).

He rocked the house with this one. I had some family with me when he played Conan and played this song, "In Our Own Time", and it sounded OK, but not great. Live last Monday it sounded truly rockin'. He spared no expense, left no holds barred, he went for it. It was amazing.

If you thought it was a thundering song on the album, multiply it by about 10 and you get the live version. With the light show, and LB going for broke, just wow.

The band was really tight and any questions I had about them and how they could work with LB were just gone. They were incredible. Walfredo is a superb drummer, maybe even better than Mick, Neale is proven as a great understudy for LB and a talent in his own right, and Brett's bass and guitar were maybe the best, certainly the most underrated.

I got a lot of good band shots of this song, you can see Brett rocking in 6604 and Neale/Walfredo in 6605. I didn't get a clear shot, but I'm pretty sure Walfredo was singing as well as drumming. He had more energy than the rest of them put together. I'm serious, he probably could play a concert solo and draw crowds.

(see pic 6607-6608)
Just two pics, but then again it's a tease of a song.. "Illumination".
My wife loves this song, so she was singing.

Not great pics, but you can see Walfredo freaking out in the second one. He sung here too. Mainly on the new music.

As for the song, it was pretty much how the album version was played, far as I remember. Not too many surprises. I may actually like the album version better, just because it's a very precise studio song. Kind of a funny choice live, really!

BUT- Walfredo's drumming was very tight, and who doesn't like hearing Lindsey sing "I've got a bad reputation" (I'm looking at you, Nico, Elle, Michele).

(see pic 6610)
Only one pic of "Second Hand News", since the whole crowd was practically dancing (a short time after the pic was taken, which was early in the song).

Myself included. It was pretty good, although his vocal was a little.. flat, maybe? Maybe he was singing in a lower key for part of it. I guess I should give him some slack for being, y'know, 62? But he's Lindsey, he has to be perfect forever.

His guitar solo at the end made up for it. Very satisfying to hear any guitar solo of his. One of the only Rumours things I actually don't mind hearing a lot.

(see pic 6611-6620)
Now this may be in the top moments of the night. Someone had posted on the Ledge about the revitalised "Tusk" on this tour. But I had no idea how different it would be.

I kmew it from the old bootlegs, and the "Unleashed" tour, where they could not play it and I would be cool with that. But this was.. different.

Yes peeps, Lindsey made Tusk fun again. Not loving, but Tusk. Anyway. The first pic showed how cool it started.. everything went dark and it set the mood.. then some crowd noises started, but quieter than most concerts, so it wasn't just annoying, plus at that level it blended with the noises the crowd was still making from the previous song, and just general crowd hum.

Then, shown over the next few pics, he made a lot of theatrics and gestures during the first part of the number.
Every time he said 'you', he pointed out with both hands, like pic 6613, and for the 'who's on the phone', he made a phone gesture, and swept his arm out, like in 6614.

Plus, it was more like the album version, which for this track, is a major plus. Too often (in my humble opinion, mind you) it's been rushed like it had to be played, or pared down. This was the real deal.

A major plus was the band (marching band) sounds. I've heard some Tusks that sucked because the sounds were cheezy. And I don't mean the ones were Christine played accordion back in the 80's. I mean the fake synth ones.

Now mind you, Brett played a synth. But they sounded great!
Not phony. It really helped the latter part of the song come alive, even when you've heard the one line and Tusk a whole bunch of times.

As you can see in the later pictures, Lindsey really rocked out in the later parts of the song. It was awesome, seeing him move over the stage.

At the end, the point where on the album track there's the moaning, Lindsey moved in a way that looked sexual while he was playing the guitar, kind of undulating, or gyrating, or grinding, or something. That's pic 6619.
It was cool, but I'll keep it brief.

6620 was shortly thereafter, right at the end of a Buckingham tour de force.

One other thought, Lindsey almost seemed demonic playing this. In a *good* way mind you. He was acting badass, getting into it, his past, it was like the song had no more pain for him and he could enjoy it and really play it right. Well Linds it rocked. Thank you.

(More to come..)

michelej1 · #2 01-15-2012, 06:56 PM

Well worth the wait. Thank you for taking the time to put this together for us, complete with your own pictorial references.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spikey

One other thought, Lindsey almost seemed demonic playing this. In a *good* way mind you. He was acting badass, getting into it, his past, it was like the song had no more pain for him and he could enjoy it and really play it right. Well Linds it rocked. Thank you.

Nice description of Tusk, a a song that has sometimes been allowed to lose its horns.

You know when he had GOS in for the GOS tour, I felt he looked demonic, or at least possessed and transformed when he did that song. Obviously, he'll rock for ISA, but there was something about Screws, maybe because it is so short with constant and relentless drive. It unleashes, whereas ISA and Come build up.

Anyway, he just ripped right through it with a fierce energy that left me a bit breathless. It felt so different than everything else and I'm so sorry that we only had it for one tour. Face contorted, mind comported.

Nico · #3 01-15-2012, 07:25 PM

What a fantastic review!!!! I loved reading that. Thank you!

Silver Springs · #4 01-15-2012, 07:34 PM

I love that you were able to write such an informed review with such detail. If this were me I'd have forgotten half of what had happened by the time I'd gotten home and my head had hit the pillow, just leaving the memories of me squeeling through every song. Unless I write about things whilst experiencing them, I tend to be so absorbed by the moment that I just can't write about it eloquently enough afterwards. My reviews exist only in my feelings, unfortunately.

Thank you for sharing this with us.

Spikey · #5 01-15-2012, 11:58 PM

Thanks guys. It's only halfway done. I do it for you, really I do. Michele, Nico and the rest

There are a lot of special people at these forums, even if I only know them in passing or in relation to the Mac.

SS is pretty close when she says:

Quote:

Unless I write about things whilst experiencing them, I tend to be so absorbed by the moment that I just can't write about it eloquently enough afterwards.

Hence, the difficulties in continuing the epic. But I will do it. Hope everyone is enjoying 2012 so far.

I haven't got to this part yet, but I can still remember 'feeling' the bass in the song "Stars Are Crazy". I think I'll carry that feeling to the grave. A special one, indeed.