Washington, DC?

[Lee]

Isn't this Washington, DC night? I haven't heard anything from anybody. It didn't get cancelled, did it? This is close to me, so I'd be interested in hearing from any Ledgies there now or when you get back. Thanks!

Lee

[DigYourGrave]

I'm staying up cos I have a friend from home who now lives in Washington and he's at the gig. Ive texted him a few times but got no answer so Ive come to 2 possible conclusions:

1)The band plus crew and security have locked the doors and taken thousands hostage, playing Behind The Mask from start to finish, off key.

2)The show is too amazing for anyone to take their eyes away from it even to send one message.

..Part of me wants it to be the former.

[Edgeof27]

Originally Posted by DigYourGrave

I'm staying up cos I have a friend from home who now lives in Washington and he's at the gig. Ive texted him a few times but got no answer so Ive come to 2 possible conclusions:

1)The band plus crew and security have locked the doors and taken thousands hostage, playing Behind The Mask from start to finish, off key.

2)The show is too amazing for anyone to take their eyes away from it even to send one message.

..Part of me wants it to be the former.

the show stats at 20:20,

keep trying your friend

[MGridster]

The DC show was absolutley incredible. Stevie was way into it tonight, and Lindsey was phenomenal. Some highlights:

1. Setlist was the same as other shows.

2. Stevie dedicated Landslide to all the soldiers and had some beautiful words to say.

3. Mick forgot to introduce John!! It was awkward and then someone got his attention and reminded him. According to Mick, it was the first time he forgot in 50 years of band introductions. The whole thing was hilarious and John laughed it off.

More to follow...

[Keith]

I had a time!

I want to start by thanking Shel and Brian for sharing the music from the Detroit show - I got home late from work and only had time to put "Storms" (I mean.. "I've always been a Storm) on to my ipod. When I was coming up out of the escalator from the Subway after the show, I was playing Storms and I looked up and saw the perfect moon. I thought, what a perfect ending to an almost perfect concert. Sharing these bootleg songs really do mean alot and I thank you both.

Let me tell you -New York City here I come.. I'm definitely going, because I thought this Band was Terrific tonight.

I'm tired so only a few highlights..

"Landslide" was amazing. Stevie dedicated it to our men and women who served in the military and she took it up more than a notch - I can't wait to hear the boot, because her ending was splendid. I thought it was her best performance of the night.

"Storms" was beautiful.. I was pleased how the audience stayed and listened and applauded Stevie so warmly at the end. She said before she sang something along the lines of "Stormy Song from a Stormy Woman" and she sounded amazing. It really fits nicely into the set.

I love how they end "World Turning".. it was funky... nice encore song. I was surprised when the left the stage after "Dont Stop".. but they did come back out I guess a second encore.. the beloved "Silver Springs.." but some folks were leaving after Don't Stop.. I guess they thought that was it.

Disappointed in "Gypsy" mainly due to how loud Lindsey's guitar sounded - where I was standing it didn't sound good at all - not Lindsey's fault, but who was ever mixing it should be fired..ugh.

I thought both Stevie and Lindsey sound great vocally... Lindsey brought down the house with "I'm So Afraid.." "Say You Love Me" was fun, but it didn't have the impact I thought it would.

What else.. gosh, I'm tired.. boring merchandise this time around... I actually didn't buy anything, which is unusual for me.. saw Torri and met DavidMN.. nice chatting with both..

I love the stage setup.. and the scaled down backups.. I'll probably have other thoughts in the morning.. but overall, it was a terrific show. When I was in line at the beer depot (men's room) everyone was giving great reviews.. "Fleetwood Mac rocks" "Hell ya. what a band" "Stevie Nicks is hot" "Lindsey is the Guitar God" "Rock and Roll"... :-)

[SandyMac]

Ok, it is still official... Fleetwood Mac still kicks major ass !!!!

GDW Wail - Stevie nailed it.

Stand Back twirls were great

Landslide ending was phenomenal and it was dedicated to the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Navy soldiers

Mick and Lindsey had enough energy to light a small town. Lindsey was on fire for ISA, he was playing so fierce. Loved how he stalked the stage during that solo.

Silver Springs was so intense and powerful. All that passion directed towards the audience. Fantastic. Stevie's voice was so strong and it just totally filled up the whole arena.

I would say Stevie's movements were as to be expected during a FM tour and not a solo tour. I mean they are different, she is always more action for solo shows as it should be. With that being said, Stevie was smiling and playing the tambo with enthusiasm. She seemed energetic and in good spirits. I think what people are seeing between smiles is just her focusing on the music to get her cues right. Lots of times people think I look unhappy when I am focused on something, so maybe that is what we are seeing in between the wonderful Stevie smiles. I don't know, just my opinion.

Anyway, on the metro train ride back home, a woman said "I hope I look that good at 60, she looks 40" Yay! Go Stevie!!!
The woman on the train was also amazed at the show's length, which proves Fleetwood Mac can still have stamina to go the distance.

A big thank you goes out to my hubby who is a significant other who is not a fan, but goes with me anyway because he knows how much I love FM and Stevie and also because he is tall and got some videos. Got some good stuff I think, SB twirls, GDW wail and some other stuff. I have off tomorrow (Wednesday), so will be going through the videos to see what I can post and take screen caps of.

Overall grade: A (Would be A+ only if SOTM) were in the set, so that is my little bias.

Oh, and no little story about Gypsy before the song tonight and Stevie did not raise her arms/sleeves for the ending of Rhiannon like previously documented in a photo so am really glad that moment got captured when it did. It does seem like they are being a little spontaneous with some movements and arrangements from time to time to keep it fresh.

Oh, it appeared as though Mick almost forgot to introduce John as a member of the band. After he introduced "Stephanie Nicks", Mick sat back down at his drum kit and then he got back up really quick and looked a little embarrassed that he almost forgot John. You know... since he is so quiet and lurking in the shadows half the time. (my words, not Mick's)

SB cape was the normal black one with the dots. I wonder how Stevie decides which cape to put on (red or black), eh, will always remain a mystery.

I recommend going to this show and "Unleashed" is starting to really be a very good description of this tour.

And for Storms, I think she said "A stormy song, for a stormy city" I guess with politics and all, plus it was cloudy here today and kind of chilly. Was a nice little ad lib from Stevie.

"Oh Well" was really rocking too, but can tell not a lot of people knew it and started to sit down, but Lindsey rocked it hard.

Oh, I think it was right after the Chain, Stevie welcomed the crowd and said "It was time to get this party started!"

[Keith]

you reminded me how great the Gold Dust Woman wail was, and how the song fades out so nicely with the lights on Stevie softly fading at the end... beautiful..

man, I'm still living off fumes from last night's show - the Detroit show that was shared is helping..

You are right - this band is still dynamite! They rock and they are LOUD!!

Yep- I smiled big time when Stevie said "Lets Get This Party Started.."

and I had the coolest seat. Sec. 209 - Row H. It was the only row...so I could stand and dance to my hearts content.. There was a good 4 feet behind me, then a wall leading up to the Box Club seats. I loved the couple dancing (like how they do on the tv show with the Stars) to the side of me... the couple to my right got up 4 times to Dance.. on Dreams, Tusk, Go Your Own, and Don't Stop. they were cute..

ah.. why do I have to work today.. because I'm taking off next Thursday and Friday to go to New York City to see this AMAZING band again.. Thank you Mick, John, Lindsey, and Stevie - thank you for doing this again. I'm selfish - I don't care what you reasons are - it's about me and I enjoy every bit of the experience!!

[Lee]

Thanks for the reviews everyone. Glad you all had a good time. And I'm glad that Stevie seems to be enjoying herself now. Maybe she was just having some stage fright when the tour first started.

Lee

[wheart]

Originally Posted by Keith

you reminded me how great the Gold Dust Woman wail was, and how the song fades out so nicely with the lights on Stevie softly fading at the end... beautiful..

man, I'm still living off fumes from last night's show - the Detroit show that was shared is helping..

You are right - this band is still dynamite! They rock and they are LOUD!!

Yep- I smiled big time when Stevie said "Lets Get This Party Started.."

and I had the coolest seat. Sec. 209 - Row H. It was the only row...so I could stand and dance to my hearts content.. There was a good 4 feet behind me, then a wall leading up to the Box Club seats. I loved the couple dancing (like how they do on the tv show with the Stars) to the side of me... the couple to my right got up 4 times to Dance.. on Dreams, Tusk, Go Your Own, and Don't Stop. they were cute..

ah.. why do I have to work today.. because I'm taking off next Thursday and Friday to go to New York City to see this AMAZING band again.. Thank you Mick, John, Lindsey, and Stevie - thank you for doing this again. I'm selfish - I don't care what you reasons are - it's about me and I enjoy every bit of the experience!!

Are they ending GDW the same as the SYW tour? I always felt it ended a bit too abruptly. Just curious how they were doing this time around.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by wheart

Are they ending GDW the same as the SYW tour? I always felt it ended a bit too abruptly. Just curious how they were doing this time around.

Yes, they are ending it with her back to the audience, standing in front of the drum kit. She is backlit, so the outline of her spread shawl is illuminated. She does not add the extra lines that she uses in her solo show, "you can't see me now" etc. Those are not used. I miss them, but I understand her wanting to keep the group and solo arrangements distinct. Michele

[michelej1]

Baltimore Magazine

http://www.baltimoremagazine.net/ont...kers-s?page=26

March, 11th 2009 Always Going Back Again by Amy Mulvihill


As Jess said in her introductory post, this blog will have three contributors. I am one of them: Hi! I'm Amy Mulvihill, assistant managing editor. You may remember me from such blog posts as Virgin Fest 2007 and Virgin Fest 2008! If not, that's fine, too. We'll get to know each other soon enough.

As Jess also explained in her introductory post, this blog will be primarily about Baltimore nightlife. To make things extra confusing though, we decided to begin our coverage with a post about something neither in Baltimore, nor particularly nightlife related. Yay for sticking to a theme!

This post is about Fleetwood Mac. More specifically Fleetwood Mac's concert in D.C. last night. I went and I'm going to tell you all about and there's nothing you can do to stop me.

As Jess mentioned in her introductory post (she really covered all the bases there, didn't she?) I love Fleetwood Mac. Like, a lot. They are my favorite ever, ever, ever and I will defend their general awesomeness until I am blue in the face, so you can pretty much expect this concert review to be favorable, but I will try and maintain a minimal level of journalistic impartiality.

So, let's begin by ragging on D.C. a bit, shall we. That's always been a popular Baltimore pastime. But seriously, what is wrong with that city? Nothing makes sense and everything is so poorly marked. You would think that wouldn't be the case since it is one of the major tourist destinations on the continent, but then you would be wrong. Anyway, this is my long-winded way of saying I got lost and missed the first three songs of the set, which went thusly:

Monday Morning
The Chain
Dreams
I Know I'm Not Wrong
Gypsy
Go Insane
Rhiannon
Second Hand News
Tusk
Sara
Big Love
Landslide
Never Going Back Again
Storms
Say You Love Me
Gold Dust Woman
Oh Well
I'm So Afraid
Stand Back
Go Your Own Way

Encore
World Turning
Don't Stop

Second Encore
Silver Springs

They're calling this tour "Fleetwood Mac Unleashed" but I think we can all agree that's a stupid name. What it is, in fact, is a "Greatest Hits" tour, where the foursome of Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie (Keyboardist and contributing songwriter Christine McVie retired from the band in 1998) can play the hits without worrying about shoehorning new songs into the set when the audience clearly just wants to hear the Rumours songs for the umpteenth time. And, you know what? I'm okay with that, particularly since they sounded great and performed those old chestnuts with vigor.

Stevie Nicks, in particular, was in fine voice. Past cocaine use has destroyed the high end of her vocal range, but her weathered, reedy alto is still as affecting as ever, especially on the ballads. She sang a particularly wistful version of Landslide, which she dedicated to the members of the Armed Services. Storms, a somewhat obscure ballad from 1979's Tusk, was gorgeous and haunting, just the way nature intended it and Sara, my personal favorite Stevie ballad, was lush and romantic, like a sonic Bronte novel. Her uptempo numbers—Gypsy, Stand Back, and Rhiannon—achieved varying degrees of success, depending on how generous you feel like being. Our senior editor, Evan Serpick, who also attended last night's concert, felt Rhiannon lacked oomph because Stevie avoided the high notes. Fair enough. But she hasn't been hitting those since the 70s anyway, so I wasn't bothered. Would it be awesome if Stevie could still kick out the jams like she could in 1976 (see below)? Yes, yes it would. But I'd also like to weigh what I weighed in sixth grade. Too bad. It's never gonna happen. The woman is 60 and she still looks and sounds better than almost any 60 year old I can think of. That's enough for me.

Lindsey Buckingham, the group's once mercurial and resentful guitarist/problem child, seems to have finally found the affirmation he's been craving. He received the only two standing ovations of the night for his heroic guitar work on Big Love and the bluesy I'm So Afraid. I've always found him to be something of a whiny brat in interviews, always grinding on about how he never gets enough credit for being the genius producer behind The Mac's hit-making machine. It's a valid gripe. Stevie did initially seize the limelight (Check out the above video. Can you really blame people for focusing on her?). But that was more than 30 years ago now and since then, anyone who knows anything about Fleetwood Mac, is well aware of his contributions to the group as a vocalist, brilliant guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He's also developed into quite a showman, leaping around the stage with more gusto than whippersnappers half his age, all the while never missing a note.

The one weakness in Buckingham's arsenal is his voice, which I find overly-guttural. He tends to add lots of whoops and hollers to compensate and some people really like that. They think it shows passion. I think it shows that he can't hit the notes anymore, but I suppose it could actually be both. Still, you can't argue with his guitar playing and it is absolutely egregious that he is not a household name like so many of his axe-slinging contemporaries. But after the performance I overheard lots of youngsters enthusing about his mad skillz, so it seems all hope is not lost.

Anyway, this post is already about 500 words longer than it should be and I could go on and on and on as my poor friends and colleagues know all too well. Let's wrap this up, shall we? Fleetwood Mac were awesome, you should have been there to see it. It was even worth driving to D.C.