When I first heard The Dance version of Big Love (never having heard the original) I didn't understand why he was doing all that howling at the end. Now I do, lol, but I admit I still wish he would keep it to a minimum.

As a whole, the Dance album was a very good live re-working of the Mac's classics, and it would be impossible for me to say if the live versions are "better or worse" than the originals. The Dance songs have a very powerful ambience about them, but the studio tracks have a priceless sweetness to them. I think the songs where there are really significant differences between studio and live versions are:

The Chain - The intro. riff is extremely powerful, designed perfectly (along with Mick's drum beat) to make 20,000 people scream at the same time as Lindsey hits the opening notes.

I'm So Afraid - The studio version has an eerie darkness which none of the live versions ever had, but the Dance version is (for so many reasons, including, of course, the solo) the definitive version of the song.

Big Love and Go Insane - Obviously totally different.

You Make Loving Fun - I love the Dance version, and that single note Lindsey plays right at the beginning makes all the difference and really sets you in the mood for one of Christine's best songs. His live lead is one of the coolest (and most fitting) solos I've ever heard.

Say You Love Me - Two things I love about the Dance version: the intro. banjo (I WISH I could play that fast!!!), and Lindsey and Christine harmonizing on the "ooh la la la"s. Very, very, sweet!:)

Go Your Own Way - I HATE what they did with the vocals on the chorus on The Dance...Instead of singing low->high during "you can go your own way" they sing low->lower.....ughhh..!!!! And they're doing it like that again on this tour. I can't figure out whether it's Lindsey or Stevie who can't hit the original note(s)....maybe it's both of them. However, the Dance solo is absolutely AWESOME!:nod:

:wavey: :wavey: :wavey:

No, he should keep it to a NONEXISTANT. :laugh: And no stage banter either! "Isn't that wiiiiieeeeerrrddd??!?!?!?!!" :laugh:

I still think Stevie is more intense in the early live versions, but that’s a personal taste. But I wouldn’t want to be without the Dance version in any case. Hearing it with her current voice is a revelation. However, in the early live versions Lindsey’s guitar does its typical intense ‘70s rock screaming at the end with Stevie’s voice. That’s why I prefer them. And it’s obviously destiny that brought the number back on stage. ;)

Not everything in this world has to be polished, smooth and easy to digest. The new version of “Tusk” is a lot clearer and goes down much easier than the original, so if it didn’t have those screams a lot of the excitement would be gone for me. “Big Love” is such a thoroughly arranged song that the sexual noises at the end add the rock’n’roll to it. Otherwise Lindsey might as well have exact sheets of notes before him when he plays the number on stage.

It all comes down to whether you like certain quirks in his singing or not. You might claim that it’s all a show-off. I know very well, EricBliss12345, that you don’t like punk music and I think that Lindsey’s screaming can remind one of a punk singer. However, for me it adds an intensity and a fascination that these otherwise interchangeable current live versions would lack, if he didn’t scream. I don’t care if he hits wrong notes, I don’t care if his voice strains. I care about the intensity, and Lindsey has had that since the beginning. I might as well claim that the tables have turned; where Stevie did the intense vocalizing in the ‘70s, it’s now mainly Lindsey’s turn. Not everything in this life has to be as carefully pre-planned and in complete musical harmony as a progressive rock suite. ;)

But I do agree with you on his speeches. Damn his nerdish insecurities. ;)

If he was going to record an 76 minute album with all That "crap" and some screaming guitar over acoustic fingerpicking I would listen to it the rest of my life.:nod: