Lincoln cut short. Mick very sick

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by AncientQueen

Had they just played on without Mick, that would have been a big no-go for me. The five Fireflies are in it together for once and it would be respectless to just go on with a substitute musician. They did the right thing, imho. Sh!t happens and a sudden illness is none of their fault.

Yes, how dare they play nine whole songs on an emergency basis with a guy who already plays drums behind the guitar amps?

[Danielle]

Originally Posted by redtulip

But still not everyone. I'd love to see it myself, might finally get some of the songs I'd really love to hear live.

I don't share the feeling but I understand it. One great thing I've also noticed through social media, is that most casual fans who maybe didn't pay that much attention to LB before are certainly aware of his brilliance after On With The Show.

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

The band is prepared to do set songs on a tour. They have rehearsed like crazy and don't venture from the setlist. Why cant they do Say Goodbye? They have not practiced that song in years. If they mess it up then they look foolish and stupid. Their reputation would also suffer. If you notice this tour they have the lyrics on monitors below on the stage. The prevents any mistakes. No band is going to venture into the unknown in front of 15000 fans and youtube.
Fleetwood Mac went well beyond what any band would normally do in such a situation. Some bands have just played and left the stage without any explanation. They explained exactly what was happening. They did an amazing thing with bringing the drum assistant to play on Go Your Own Way. He probably has played this many times testing the drums and sound checks, etc. Way to go! And then Chris has her final song that does not include drums.
I don't understand how anyone expects them to do shadow puppets, charades, solo acoustic songs to take up time as if pretending Mick is not sick. They would look so clumsy and unprofessional. If it was Stevie that was sick I expect the Mac to have done the same thing in respect to Stevie. They probably would have done Go Your Own Way to close the set and then songbird. To sum things up..... its like the old saying.... you get an inch and expect a mile. They gave 2 more songs that was quite amazing considering what was happening.

Honestly, I am baffled at these comments. Professional musicians can jump in on a song they've never heard and play along. Amateurs too. Are you telling me that FM would come apart if attempting to play a song they are not used to playing? It would be the band's own songs, after all.

But never mind that. Do you really believe that Mick is so irreplaceable? I bet there's probably at least a half-dozen people in their crew who can drum on their songs. And, by the way, don't they have a drummer hidden in the back of the stage playing along with Mick? As I said before, it's not rocket science.

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Yep. People are uneducated. It's not like bands had to wing it before.

Uh… you're kidding, right?

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by elle

yes, the band can do no wrong and fans have no right to say anything or suggest things can be done better. we should all just bow down in front of their greatness.

Yes, this band is seriously entitled. They do very little for the fans, but hey, it seems to be enough for a lot of people. I don't get it.

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by BigBigLove

For what it's worth, "Say Goodbye" is in an open Gb (and in 2013 down to open F) tuning that LB doesn't carry on any of his current tour guitars. The guitars are setup and optimized for the specific tuning that they're holding (given that many of LB's tunings are custom and have varying degrees of string tension that need to be accounted for).

I wouldn't want someone to retune one of my touring guitars on the fly, only for it to come out of tune mid performance. FM is simply not the kind of band that is ok with "winging it," and that perfectionistic vision is what allows the band to sound so incredible even into their late 60s and early 70s.

Wow, seriously? Why would a guitar tuned right before it's played fall out tune any more quickly than one that was tune two or three songs ago? In fact, you would want the guitar to be tuned and checked right before it's handed back to the player. I don't even get your comment. Lindsey switches guitars at the end of almost every song, and they are handed to the tech who retunes them every time. What am I missing here?

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by AncientQueen

I really had to laugh about this. I find that a pretty ignorant statement. I don't think that anyone would want to see the band without her in it. Even if she only plays around with a tambourine and sings background voice, she is still a main attraction on stage. And it would be respectless toward her and the fans to just play on as if nothing important is missing.

"Anyone?" Hmmm… were you just saying something about ignorant statements?

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Yes, how dare they play nine whole songs on an emergency basis with a guy who already plays drums behind the guitar amps?

Yes! I've been making that point. Isn't he duplicating Mick's work beat for beat?

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by RockawayBlind

Uh… you're kidding, right?

Just showing that when Danny broke a string, Peter decided to play a song he hadn't played in a long time instead of having the show go completely silent for a few minutes. He winged it. Fleetwood Mac could have winged it without Mick. It was an emergency situation, so I'm sure crowds would have understood.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by RockawayBlind

But never mind that. Do you really believe that Mick is so irreplaceable? I bet there's probably at least a half-dozen people in their crew who can drum on their songs. And, by the way, don't they have a drummer hidden in the back of the stage playing along with Mick? As I said before, it's not rocket science.

You're right, Steve could play the songs. They were probably just mindful that if Steve on Mick's parts, there would be no one to do Steve's parts, the little licks he does behind Mick that add depth and layer. They probably thought the sound would be shallow without the double drumming.

Michele

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by RockawayBlind

Yes! I've been making that point. Isn't he duplicating Mick's work beat for beat?

I don't know if he's duplicating Mick's parts on each song, but he does a lot of cymbal work that Mick never did (i.e. on Rhiannon).

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by michelej1

You're right, Steve could play the songs. They were probably just mindful that if Steve on Mick's parts, there would be no one to do Steve's parts, the little licks he does behind Mick that add depth and layer. They probably thought the sound would be shallow without the double drumming.

I'm sure most people would rather have shallow drums than have the band NOT play the rest of the show.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by AncientQueen

I really had to laugh about this. I find that a pretty ignorant statement. I don't think that anyone would want to see the band without her in it. Even if she only plays around with a tambourine and sings background voice, she is still a main attraction on stage. And it would be respectless toward her and the fans to just play on as if nothing important is missing.

If she got sick with the flu and had to leave, it would be respectful TO the fans to try to give them a show without her, to show you value the time it took them to come out and see you and the money you paid. If she dropped dead, that would be another thing. Like when John got sick with cancer, waiting for him to return was a question of respect. But if someone just starts throwing up, you don't have to pay tribute to them by stopping the show altogether. This has nothing to do with respect towards the band members.

I don't care that they decided to wrap it up, but the idea that if they had decided otherwise it would have been disrespectful to anyone in the band strikes me as absurd. If your band mate is suffering a life or death situation that's one thing, but if they have diarheaa that's another.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Danielle

Based on social media only, it's true to most casual listeners/concert goers.

We aren't talking about making a decision to buy FM tickets if Stevie is not in the band. If that's the choice, I agree with you that many casual fans want to see her. But that's not the choice. We're talking about going there, seeing Stevie for half of the show and then having her get sick and have to leave.

You're already THERE.

If that happened, given the option of going home an hour early or having the other band members play songs in her absence, I don't think most casual listeners/ concert goers would say, "Stop right now. Don't you dare try to finish the show without her."

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by elle

the only 3 Stevie's songs left at that point were Gypsy, GDW and Silver Springs. why not just skip those and do all other songs they had left? while Stevie provides visuals, musically she's not nearly as essential on non-SN songs as the drummer is. she provides harmonies on other members' songs, but so does Christine and they managed fine without her for 3 tours; plus Brett's been doing harmonies on Lindsey's songs during his solo shows, he could easily jump in if needed.

Flip it. Let's say Lindsey cut his hand banging on the drum kit and had to leave to go get stitches. I think the rest of the band wouldn't even do ONE song without him. They'd just wrap it up right there. But if they wanted to prove me wrong and try to improvise with Brett and Neale to do songs in Lindsey's absence, I'd say, "Go for it!" I wouldn't be thinking, "That's disrespectful." As long as the guy's not critically ill, it's no insult.

Heck, if Mick wanted to pull his ex-brother-in-law Eric out of the audience and have him play in Lindsey's absence, I'd get a kick out of that too, mostly because I would be imagining all of the things that Lindsey would be thinking if that happened and I'd have to giggle at the thought.

Michele