With the inflated ticket prices, people have inflated expectations.

It should be noted that Steve is much more than a stage hand. He's toured with the band for quite some time. In 2009, he was even introduced alongside other band members...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkwTtiorhEg

Steve is clearly visible in Say You Love me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xubf1zQopNw

As mentioned above, why couldn't Lindsey have performed an acoustical version of Go Insane? Seems like they gave up too easily.

I have to agree. I'm sure Mick getting sick threw a monkey wrench into the show but these are seasoned musicians. Just a few more songs would have appeased the crowd and actually gave them something special that the other audiences didn't get. I know the foursome could have played a few more tunes without Mick.

My thoughts exactly. Lindsey, the master of playing by himself, couldn't thave whipped up a few more tunes? Doesn't the band have a drummer hidden in the back? Couldn't the drum tech finish the show? Don't they have a percussionist as well, which would allow them to keep going with someone keeping time?

This band is so inept, it amazes me it still has the following it does. They can't agree on recording an album, can't stray from the setlist, can't deal with an emergency. It's seriously pathetic.

I wish Mick a full recovery.

LOL! Do you play an instrument? Just wondering.

Finally made the time to watch the video. Kudos to whoever captured that; they had a good vantage point from which to film, too.

A couple of thoughts. The off-the-cuff comments made by the audience members sitting around the person with the camera are really funny. "Can't they just play without him?" (Uh ... no.) After Steve-the-Drum-Tech's highlight of his career: "Can't they just go on with this guy? He was good."

Another thought: Seeing Chris and Lindsey do that lovely "Songbird" to end the night makes me long for an acoustic Buckingham/McVie show, just the two of them, unplugged. It sounds like an impossible fantasy ... but then, I never thought I'd see Christine (the beautiful Christine) in this band again.

The responsible thing was to cancel the show. It's wreckless to put an old man in that position, to threaten the health of everyone else in close proximity, and ultimately to embark on a show when you have to know there is a strong chance you can't finish it. Like it or not, it's a business transaction. I don't blame people for complaining because they didn't get the full value they paid for. The band should make it up to them somehow.

Here is the relevant point: If the tech can play Go Your Own Way, I assure you he can play just about any other FM song. With the exception of Tusk, I don't see any other drummer having a problem playing out this set. I would be willing to bet they could have pulled a drummer from the audience who would have done a competent job.

Drumming is a special skill, yes, but if you can do it, you can do it. Every single night, musicians across America get together at bars, garages and who knows where else and play together for the first time. And the drummer falls right int. It's not rocket science.

It could of been worse.He could had the G.I. Sheets. "The runs".:eek:

Sorry to mention that.LOL................

agree with this part.

I'm sure the thinking was, oh get through this one more show and then we have 3 days off to recover.

Problem is, you can't say to the flu-- hey, don't hit me hard until after the show and then you can slam me on my three days off.

You're sick when you're sick, and sometimes that's at a time that's inconvenient for business reasons, but tough sh*t.

At 68 you have to respect the limits of your body and give it a chance to put its energy into fighting the virus, not playing the drums (or whatever you do).

I have to wonder if the setlist is just another one of those highly-negotiated points of contention with this band… you know, "well if we do THAT song of yours, then IIIIII've only got 6 songs and now you have 7" or whatever. I can see managers arguing over this sh&t behind the scenes. Maybe this is part of why the set never changes…. too many lawyers and managers get involved. If Lindsey did any of the songs he does totally alone solo, that could ruffle feathers because "you know, this isn't a Lindsey solo show!!" blah blah blah … Plus the fact that he's kind of neurotic about doing songs off the cuff-- he's infected with the same 'omg we have to rehearse this 6 million times' bug that the rest of the band have. Let's face it-- these are not "wing it" kinds of people, S & N. Chris and John I think are far more comfortable with just jamming on the fly.

Ok get ready to flame me :eek: I don't hold back :eek:

But some of the comments I heard on youtube and this thread are uneducated. I chose that word wisely without calling anyone stupid. But here are some facts:

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.

LOL.He probably had that too but Stevie couldn't say "Mick is REALLY sick back there.He's throwing up and sh**ing his brains out".

It's likely that Mick didn't feel too bad before the show, that he felt as if he could make it through the show, but the bug got worse during the show. I don't criticize the band for trying to perform the concert; they were just attempting to do their job.

This thread has discussed what they could have done to extend the show to the expected length. They could have continued with the entirely competent Steve on drums, or thrown in a couple of acoustic numbers that didn't need drums (or both).

But that would have required them to act spontaneously, and to diverge from their rigidly scripted show. Somehow this band is stuck on the idea that what they present to the audience has to be perfection (thus all the backing singers and the pre-recorded tracks that they use). Spontaneity and perfection, in the minds of the members of Fleetwood Mac, cannot co-exist. Thus, it was really impossible for them to act with the spontaneity that continuing the show would have required.

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

No it wouldn't. Many people are NOT stupid. They'd realize it was an unexpected turn of events and that the band was winging it and they'd judge accordingly. Everyone in the audience would know that they were not getting the "regular" show and their reputations would in no way suffer, because they improvised and the result was less than polished.

In fact, the audience would likely rally around them and feel that they were part of the impromptu jamming and feel special to have witnesses such a unique event. The blunders would make it all more endearing.

Of course, I'm not surprised that the band didn't go that route. I don't fault them for not doing so, but they would have had nothing to lose if they'd tried.

Michele

Well, you could see that Marty was heavily involved. He probably talked to sick Mick before he talked to the others. Steve too. Steve not only plays but he gives Mick water and towels and he probably was the first to know when Mick couldn't go on. We saw the 4 on stage, but Mick, Marty and Steve may have consulted backstage too, allowing Mick to be as involved in the decision as anyone.

Michele

didn't some guy Jimmy who works for Stevie solo just have a rant on fb against fans/audience coming out of Lincoln show (someone reported it here http://dickdash.tumblr.com/)? hi Jimmy! :wavey:

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. :rolleyes:

:nod::nod:

i've asked Richard on his blog about that once, in the context of their rigidly scripted show and always sticking to the same setlists (it's been getting worse as they are getting older, too). he said something about mixture of wanting perfection and laziness to rehearse extra songs, if i recall correctly.

why? that makes no sense.

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. :shrug:

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.

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.

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.

That is not true. Speak for yourself.

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

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.

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

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. :]

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.

Uh… you're kidding, right?

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.

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?

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

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

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.

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

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).

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

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

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

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