The Dance of Fleetwood Mac

[BLY]

I was looking back at a tape I made for a friend back in 1992 of Selections from Fleetwood Mac CDs. I wanted to give him some of the deep cuts at the time to give him a sense of what the MAC was outside of the " Radio Hits" I called it The Dance of Fleetwood Mac. some of the tracks included;

Dust
Jewel Eyed Judy
Station Man
Sometimes
The Ghost
Why
One Together
Emerald Eyes
That's Alright
Silver Springs
Never Forget
I Know I'm Not Wrong
Walk A Thin Line
Beautiful Child

[bethelblues]

I always wondered what took Fleetwood Mac so long to perform Beautiful Child live. It's a fantastic song. They kept playing Rumours forever and ever, even for The Dance, probably the last height in the band's popularity when a deep-cut from Tusk would've been most appreciated.

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by bethelblues

I always wondered what took Fleetwood Mac so long to perform Beautiful Child live. It's a fantastic song. They kept playing Rumours forever and ever, even for The Dance, probably the last height in the band's popularity when a deep-cut from Tusk would've been most appreciated.

It's because they convinced themselves that fans only want to hear the popular songs; the ones the general public know. I think the huge success of Rumours was a blessing and curse, because it eventually constrained their set lists. Granted, the Tusk tour, as well as future tours featured a few surprises here and there. A lot of established bands feel the pressure to pack their sets with all the expected songs -- the most well-known songs, to placate the masses. And it's easier to just go through well-worn motions.

However, I know of so many big, famous bands who don't go that route. They may honor their past glories to a certain extent, but they are not tied and strangled to them. Their set lists are fluid, and often very diverse and distinctive each time they tour. Nothing is set in stone, making shows very interesting and special for them and their audiences. Yet, Fleetwood Mac doesn't approach things that way. They play it safe, and I guess some fans like it that way.

I remember seeing a Fleetwood Mac show (I can't remember...it might have been a Behind The Mask show) and they didn't perform Rhiannon, and perversely, I was glad they didn't perform it, if that makes any sense to you.

I am happy that they have surprised us with a few rarely or never performed songs in recent years, but it's a small gesture. I'd truly like to see a profound and radical restructuring of their set. But that's asking too much, because they are just not that kind of band. It's even more challenging and complicated when there are three distinct singer/songwriters in the band.

[Dex]

Well, it wasn't exactly something they just made up. Fan/audience feedback is something it's very easy to get a sense of when performing live. And I can definitely understand their inclination towards songs that they know get a very strong reaction. The "I want Band X to play songs I know and love" mentality is a very real one that I hear all the time from people all over. I think we in the more hardcore fanbase are the exception, rather than the rule. But it is nice when they do throw us a bone now and again, even if I wish they did it more. Because let's face it, Beautiful Child is a lot more successful live than Dreams has been for the past 30 years.

ETA: BLY, that tracklist sounds superb! How did your friend like it?

[BLY]

Originally Posted by Dex

Well, it wasn't exactly something they just made up. Fan/audience feedback is something it's very easy to get a sense of when performing live. And I can definitely understand their inclination towards songs that they know get a very strong reaction. The "I want Band X to play songs I know and love" mentality is a very real one that I hear all the time from people all over. I think we in the more hardcore fanbase are the exception, rather than the rule. But it is nice when they do throw us a bone now and again, even if I wish they did it more. Because let's face it, Beautiful Child is a lot more successful live than Dreams has been for the past 30 years.

ETA: BLY, that tracklist sounds superb! How did your friend like it?

He loved it and couldn't believe the diversity.

[Dex]

Is that the complete tracklist or just a sampling of the range you put on it? I think I'd like to try it out myself. I'm always looking for new tracklists to make old songs seem fresh again.

[BLY]

Originally Posted by Dex

Is that the complete tracklist or just a sampling of the range you put on it? I think I'd like to try it out myself. I'm always looking for new tracklists to make old songs seem fresh again.

That was Just a sample of the selection of songs I included. I went through all the albums released from 1970- -1992 and put my favorites on the cassette. It was about 90 minutes long. It didn't include any solo stuff. I still can't believe that I titled it " The Dance of Fleetwood Mac" 5 years before the release of " The Dance"

[He's So Unusual]

Originally Posted by bethelblues

I always wondered what took Fleetwood Mac so long to perform Beautiful Child live. It's a fantastic song. They kept playing Rumours forever and ever, even for The Dance, probably the last height in the band's popularity when a deep-cut from Tusk would've been most appreciated.

I do wish the band would mix their set lists up a bit more, they just need to get a better balance between catering to the casual music fans and catering to the more loyal fans who want a few more surprises than one or two tracks here and there. They have a huge back catalogue that they need to show off more. I know a lot of casual music fans probably don't really care about a random track from the b-side of Mirage, but how are people supposed to get used to different tracks when the band never plays them live? Why should casual fans care about tracks that the band seemingly don't care about and choose to ignore? Listening to quite a few of the bootlegs from the Rumours Tour in 1977/1978 it sounds like some songs on that album took a while for the audience to warm to as their reactions seemed pretty nonplussed on occasion.

Just a few ideas:

- Instead of performing I'm So Afraid yet again they should perform Tango in the Night.
- Instead of playing the acoustic version of Big Love yet again they should play the full band version for a change.
- Drop Oh Well and perform Albatross. European audiences would be incredibly receptive towards that. Stevie can twirl or exit the stage to put on a shawl or something while the band play. Black Magic Woman or The Green Manalishi would also be great to hear instead of Oh Well.
- I know Stand Back gets a good reaction from the audience, but they should drop it for a change and perform another Stevie song like I Don't Want to Know or Seven Wonders instead.

I'm really hoping that the upcoming tour isn't just going to be a rehash of The Dance. This is the first time that the band will have the chance to really showcase Mirage and Tango in the Night to audiences outside of the US as the classic five-piece line-up (same goes for Tango and US audiences), I hope they make the most of this and really highlight both albums which have been largely ignore for decades now. One thing which has always surprised me is that Stevie and Lindsey didn't use Christine's departure as a reason for putting a few Buckingham Nicks tracks into the set lists on their Say You Will and Unleashed Tours, especially Frozen Love and Don't Let Me Down Again.

[Dex]

Originally Posted by He's So Unusual

- I know Stand Back gets a good reaction from the audience, but they should drop it for a change and perform another Stevie song like I Don't Want to Know or Seven Wonders instead.

Oh dear God please do this, FM. Please! Stand Back live is the deadest of all the horses in the entire horse graveyard.

[BLY]

Originally Posted by Dex

Oh dear God please do this, FM. Please! Stand Back live is the deadest of all the horses in the entire horse graveyard.

It's got my vote too. Not to mention, I Don't Want to Know is the song that got me hooked.

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by He's So Unusual

I do wish the band would mix their set lists up a bit more, they just need to get a better balance between catering to the casual music fans and catering to the more loyal fans who want a few more surprises than one or two tracks here and there. They have a huge back catalogue that they need to show off more. I know a lot of casual music fans probably don't really care about a random track from the b-side of Mirage, but how are people supposed to get used to different tracks when the band never plays them live?

On the one hand I'd love to see/hear a load of deep cuts played live. However, it was really off-putting to see the mass 'comfort breaks' whenever the likes of Storms and Not That Funny were played on 'recent' tours. I can understand the band's aim of trying to play to the masses (of course, people still need to take breaks but they aren't noticeable when the are spread out). At the end of the day, most audience members at shows will probably own a couple of albums at most, one of which will likely be a compilation.

I do however strongly feel they need to mix things up for different audiences. It is so disappointing not to get any pre-75 material on European tours. The second encore consisting of Silver Springs and Say Goodbye would I'm sure have been great for a US audience but they weren't perhaps the best songs to play at the end of UK shows. Silver Springs came to prominence on The Dance which was huge in the US but isn't really massive in terms of the UK's consciousness and relatively few audience members would be familiar with Say Goodbye. 'Shall we stay Bob? Nah, I don't know this one, lets shoot'. At the London shows the O2 arena was half empty by the end.

I'd love to hear Oh Well in the set list, though Need Your Love So Bad or Black Magic Woman would be good and a return to Station Man could be a good replacement for World Turning. Why should definitely be in there- perhaps as Christine's second song of the set.

[bethelblues]

I've seen Santana play "Black Magic Woman." I want to see Fleetwood Mac show everyone it's theirs, with Christine doing the vocal. I also want Christine to play Why, as per the other thread. Albatross is one of my favorites; Lindsey should suck it up and play it in a medley tribute, Albatross then right into Black Magic. People know these songs! The worst thing for a band to do is consistently return to only one of their albums; they then become a one trick pony in the collective consciousness. Rock critics/publications even pass over songs from Tusk, pre-1975, Tango. When Christine returned, top 10 lists of her best songs hardly mentioned any deep cuts and zero Mystery to Me songs.

[BLY]

Having Christine back in the fold I cant see them doing her pre 1975 stuff. There is no reason to do anything from that era with all the great material that can be pulled from Mirage and Tango.

[bethelblues]

Originally Posted by BLY

Having Christine back in the fold I can see them doing some of her pre 1975 stuff. There is no reason to do anything else from that era with all the great material that can be pulled from Mirage and Tango.

Oh, it definitely shouldn't be more than a song or two. Doing a medley or when one song goes right into another would probably work: Albatross/Black Magic/Oh Well, for example, since they are pretty short songs. Also---Paul McCartney just began a North America tour yesterday, playing 41 songs in his setlist!! One can hope...

P.S. The Tango and Mirage songs I most want to hear are all Christine's: Love in Store, Hold Me, Little Lies, Isn't It Midnight, and Everywhere.

[BLY]

Originally Posted by bethelblues

Oh, it definitely shouldn't be more than a song or two. Doing a medley or when one song goes right into another would probably work: Albatross/Black Magic/Oh Well, for example, since they are pretty short songs. Also---Paul McCartney just began a North America tour yesterday, playing 41 songs in his setlist!! One can hope...

P.S. The Tango and Mirage songs I most want to hear are all Christine's: Love in Store, Hold Me, Little Lies, Isn't It Midnight, and Everywhere.

Agree, Agree..... But I would also like hear Tango in the Night and Book of Love live.