Solo Lindsey Live: yay/nay/meh?
 

I suddenly decided to make a poll to get an idea of how many times you'vehave seen solo Lindsey live. Some may have seen him only a handful, others far more, and maybe some have not seen him at all. It's not so much a comparison as it is a means for discussion.

I'd love to know what it is about Lindsey live that made so many see him more than once? And those who haven't seen him: do you want to ever? Just share your thoughts.

For me it's a no-brainer. :) But I'll share that later...

Of course I want to. My geographical location and the money it would cost to fly to the States for one is somewhat of a barrier. As is the fact I didn't even know his name before March 2013 and I'm fairly certain he's not done solo shows since then... ;) :D

#haventbeentostevieorfleetwoodmaceither

I've seen him twice live (which is both of the tours he's done since I've become a fan).

I see him live for the same reason I see any other person live. I like his music and his playing.

But that's ok Nicole because your fandom has to start somewhere. Think about the amazing parts: you get the chance to "discover" Lindsey when many of us (myself here I'm talking about myself) have been fans since, well, I was in undergrad and I fell so deeply and the experience of hearing all his music as "new" to me was just wonderful. I felt like I had found a treasure trove of greatness.

I hope you see him!

Thanks for sharing. I appreciate your feedback. Good reason to see an artist live. Generally, my favorite live experiences have always been with those artists who's music AND live performances I love.

lol! VOTE PEOPLE. Don't be scared of me. :wavey:

I voted somewhere between 11 and 15. It could be more, but I lost count. However, I felt better voting that just to be safe. I really should have marked them down somewhere.

Why so many? Because he is incredible live and I could just sit there and listen to him play "Go Insane" over and over and never tire. He's amazing.

:wavey: Nico! it's been a long time, good to see you back here! :xoxo:

you know my answer. more than the times you have listed, but haven't lost count, yet.

and still not enough. why so many times? first i loved [some of] his music, then i saw him live at Saban show, and figured i'd see one more when he comes to my area. then talked to some other fans, and it just started rolling. now we have big fun roadtrips and parties around his tours, and i met some of my closest dearest friends along the way. it's like an addiction. or maybe like some sport's team club. whatever it is, it's been a great journey.

live solo, i love his intensity, especially when he's performing on his own. he takes you on emotional roller-coaster ride, plus gives you unbelievably mesmerizing guitar experience that one can gets never tired of watching. solo he doesn't play chords like he mostly does with the mac, but you also get much more of that thunderous fingerpicking that is hard not to get drawn into.

the fact that Lindsey is so open to audience interactions and that you can tease him during the shows and get him to add some requests adds in the fun. and that he is so warm, appreciative, and easy to shoot breeze with these days doesn't hurt either.

Keep going hoping he'll grow on me some day:( .

Michele

lol. it's a struggle, Michele. :cool:

What a perfect response. You know, there are some artists you see live and they're good and everything, but their performances don't necessarily showcase a completely different side to their artistic abilities. When I saw Lindsey live, I felt like I saw a whole different side of him. On albums, his songs could be more mechanical, precise, and "perfect."

There is something so intense, passionate, REAL, and...fiery about seeing him live. All the emotions come through and, to be honest, I've loved a lot of his live arrangements as much- even more- than on his albums.

Not to mention- YES! Some truly awesome people I have met through this fandom. You all know who you are. :xoxo:

:lol: I love it.

;) right. you know it's more. :laugh:

Ok yeah everyone. It's more than 15. I sort of forgot how....um, excited I got in 2006 when he announced his tour. Yeah I went to a LOT of shows. It's probably more like, oh, 17/18...

wow, didn't know you are such a new fan. how cool!

I'm somewhat envious of her, elle. I loved the time I was discovering Lindsey's brilliance. I wish I could relive it!

Yep, I've only been a fan for a few years, and already I envy those experiencing Lindsey for the first time :nod:

Beautifully stated, all of that, but the part about the friends is really special, and I wish/hope Lindsey knows how much his music means to us, and how it does, in fact, bring people together. I love you guys so much, and I so want to convey that to him, that it's a gift he has, beyond his playing, and his writing.

He really is like nobody else. It's not like with some artists who people love the music, or they love the image. He makes you really love him. Like Elle said, it's more like an addiction. It really is. The coming down part, after a show or tour, is unreal, but worth it for the high of the show. What is really cool, though, is the way we need him, and depend on him, to be what we need him to be. That sounds funny, but I'll give you two examples. I know one friend who is always so positive, and upbeat, and just so inspirational. She finally got around to getting tickets to FM this last year, and out of nowhere posted to her friends how upset she was. We were all shocked. She was always so even keel. But she was in major traffic, after a long day, and then couldn't find parking, and so got into the venue late and was in a bit of a meltdown. We couldn't get a hold of her to see if she was okay, or what was wrong, and then, out of nowhere, she contacted us, saying, she was a few rows in front of Lindsey, and he smiled at her. All was right with the world. I have another friend who had the worst year ever. She almost didn't go to see him with FM, but at the last miute decide to give it a go. Same story, bad traffic, bad day, bad year, running late. the last thing I heard from her was "Buckingham, YOU better not let me down". A while later, I heard from her again and it was something along the lines of he saw me, he smiled at me, and he blew me away. When I have the worst day ever, I put on his music, and my day is improved drastically. Seeing him in concert is like a religious experience. That's why I see him so much. Because he does it for me.

ok, you got me teary-eyes Lindsfan because this is SO true. What a perfect way to explain it. I think with Lindsey it's like...you know, the music is brought to life in a very personal way with him. His solo songs may not be as affective on albums on the mass level that FM is (thought that baffles me because all I hear is perfection), but when you see him up close and personal it's like he is singing to you/for you and the way he plays that guitar...when George Harrison wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" I honestly feel he was connecting with those special types of musicians whose instruments are another part of their body. I can't picture LB without his guitar because the two belong together. He can make so many incredible things come to life in such a powerful way, with just simple strumming.

And so meticulous and gorgeous. Plus his songs are easy to relate to because, although his lyrics can be internal and sometimes not easy to analyze, the way he performs makes the connection happen. Ugh, it's hard to put in words for me but YES to all you said. He's a special kind of artist.

I feel like Lindsey does on a smaller scale what Bruce Springsteen does for his fans on a larger one. They connect with every word, but with us it's like every note he plays just goes right to our souls. Well, for me at least. :)

4. But with the UKgigs that got cancelled it would have been 6. :-(

1. I hate that he always sticks to the same songs.
2. I hate that he always overdoses sheen in the studio.
3. I hate that he overreacts on stage the same way everytime.
4. I hate that he never really opens up on how he writes or composes in interviews. ( always the same metaphors).

Still, he is my favorite artist ever, because he never fails to amaze me with his recordings and with his stageperformance.
He always makes choices that attack my expectations, so I really have to go into it to fully enjoy.
In his own, controlled artistic world he always searches for his own challenge. ( not always the challenge I want him to search).

In all his overproduced, idiosyncratic, almost comicbooklike recordings, he always finds a way to go straight to your Heart, and finds emotion. It's pretty Unique in the musicworld. He's polished bubblegumpop, RAW punk, cheesy country, experimental folk and pure rock and roll at the same time.

He's the master.

It's funny. The first time I went to see him (first leg of Under the Skin tour) I really wasn't that excited. I only liked two songs on the album. However, when we got to the venue, someone offered my mother two front row tickets...dead center. It was unbelieveable. I was also tickled that he was playing Holiday Road. After the show, I started listening to "Out of the Cradle" and at that point was hooked. I played "Turn it On" 1,000x times. Then, he ADDED it to the set list! Hook, line, and sinker!

UTS Tour (4 shows)
GOS Tour (3 shows)
SWS Tour (3 shows)
OMS tour (3 shows) - could have been 6, but the only song that interested me was "Stephanie"

It was a touch overwhelming, actually - just because there was SO MUCH. When I get interested in something, I quickly veer towards obsession so within two or so weeks of first watching The Dance (previously all I knew of FM was cursory knowledge of their greatest hits...) I'd listened to - chronologically - all released Fleetwood Mac albums, Lindsey studio/live albums, Stevie studio albums, Buckingham Nicks, and a bunch of demos and boots. I'd watched The Dance, Live in Boston, Mirage, Rosebud, Japan tour footage, Tusk doco, Destiny Rules, L's Soundstage and Bass Hall, S's Soundstage, and various other miscellaneous clips. Oh, and read pretty much every thread on The Ledge that interested me from the very beginning (well, the beginning of this incarnation of the board). So, yeah, I was a tad overwhelmed by the end of that fortnight or three weeks or whatever it was...

Totally worth it. ;)

wow. only 4. for some reason i always had a feeling you saw him more since you flew to the US for both UTS and GOS tours, in my mind just during GOS it was 4... and your fabulous descriptions of GOS touring experience you had was the impetus for me to even start thinking of going on little roadtrips and seeing multiple dates in a row. too bad those are lost now. i loved reading those.

5 trips over to the USA = 22 times solo :cool:

obsessive nature? sounds familiar. :nod: :laugh:

i was like that in Dec 2009. and thinking how great it is to have internet and be able to dig out all this stuff so fast. spent nights watching youtube videos... and that adds up so fast, 3-5 minutes each! several things cemented it for me - watching a video of Go Insane from Soundstage and that Big Love/Landslide from Letterman. so much of both virtuosity and emotion! but then i had the whole 2010 when nothing was happening. i thought that's it, i will never get to see LB live. and after reading several people's descriptions - especially shackin'up's that i mentioned above, but also Nico's and some others, i wanted to, really bad. then 2011 rolled around and Saban show was announced, about 2 weeks before it was actually happening. that was it. i've been extremely lucky he's been so active 2011-2013.

Nice post. You nailed it.

The part about searching for his own challenge is especially astute. When I hear people complain about the way he produces, or the way he speaks, or the why does he play this, and not that, they wanted an acoustic album, or they wanted a more rockin' album, etc., this is what I think, but could never put into words. SWS tour he played All My Sorrows, and some were like, of all the OOTC songs, why that one?? And like everyone else, I would have chosen any number of other songs instead, from that album, but I could totally see why he would choose it, and wasn't concerned with what the fan choice might be. Elle and I debate a lot about requesting songs, and I always say, it's not that I don't have songs that I'd love to hear, it's just that I trust him to choose, and to put together a set that is wonderful. It may not be anything close to the set I imagined him playing, but he seems to know what he's doing, so I'm fine just trusting him, and sure enough, he's yet to let me down with his choices, even when they were the furthest thing from my own choices.

see what i mean?? i LOVE this guy's posts!

and, i don't feel like doing it this moment, but now i want to list all the stuff that frustrates me to no end about LB!

overreacts the same way? :lol: a-ha. that ISA jump comes to mind. too funny.

oh no. i don't trust him to choose right. not one bit. he needs to listen to me. :p

I wanted to fly over for UTS, but it was impossible with work, and I did OKC and Dallas for FM in july 2003. So it fitted in my short vacation in october 2008. Lifeboosting events, both of them. Still pissed off about the cancellations in the UK. Yeah those descriptions were all straight from the heart, I miss them too.

I don't have a huge income, and those few trips costed me a lot of recovery financially. And I still like to visit other talented and characterful bands and artists. So about every five years I can go for a deeppocketdive like those FM-LB trips.

ah, that's where i was confused. i remembered you saw him in the US before that GOS experience. but it was SYW, not UTS.

i know, re money. living in the States, sharing hotel rooms and car costs, LB solo related roadtrips were not that funds draining. and other bands that i want to see eventually come to DC area, and i can buy cheap tickets. good FM tickets however, way too much - i'm not that keen on putting LB's or Mick's kids through college, gotta think of my own :rolleyes:. i'm putting a stop to FM. i hope. unless Christine comes back, i would love to see that show.

i was hoping you still had those descriptions in some word file on some old computer... too bad they are lost.

I've only seen Lindsey solo once. I would definitely love to see him solo again. I have seen him with FM twice. I am fine with either solo or with FM.

Just 3 times. I barely knew any if his solo music when I first saw him in Council Bluffs, just the FM stuff and Stephanie. I was a changed person afterwards! I fell head over heals in love, and I haven't looked back. Saw him two more times, when he released more dates closer to me, in Overland Park (M&G!) and St Louis. I SERIOUSLY regret not going to more shows before Council Bluffs :distress:. Now that I live in California, I CANNOT WAIT for him to go back solo! So many more dates out here :woohoo:

I love your reply. Everything you've said is so balanced and makes sense to me. There are things that sort of annoy you, but the goods FAR outweigh the bads and live Lindsey is simply an extraordinary experience and when you feel it, it's incomparable. He's truly the master, as you say.

I am not worthy of you.:shocked::shocked::shocked:

Have NEVER seen him live, but really want to. Need I say any more?

That's great. How was your experience seeing him?

we've been working on it SadAngel. he doesn't listen! although when sufficiently badgered he did tell us that he's [trying to] working on the Small Machine too, despite FM summer dates.

I have seen him live solo 4 times. What made me want to see him more than once:

1. Hearing his solo songs live
2. His amazing guitar playing
3. Reuniting with friends
4. Accessibility
5. Appetizer before the main course (FM)

I have seen Lindsey solo, live once. It was after seeing FM 3 times, I have seen them 3 times since and Stevie solo once. As much as I love Stevie, I thought Lindsey's show was more:
raw,
real,
exquisite,
deep,
less polished but more rich,
edgy,
relaxed,
interesting and
fun!

I have always had a crush on him, and for that matter the whole band, since Rumours came out. But we had the best time at his solo concert and would love to see him again. We drove 8 hours to see it, and neither of us regretted the time spent at all. We would definitely go again to those lengths to see him solo. Everything at Stevie's show was so regimented feeling, & you couldn't move up to the front. At Lindsey's show, anyone could go to the front and dance. I had eye contact with him, and swooned. At one of the FM concerts, we had front row tickets right in front of him and (I've told this story before), he looked at me at one point and mouthed "What??" while he was playing and Stevie was singing. I was like a deer in headlights. Turned out my husband was behind me, standing 6'4" pointing at me for Lindsey and mouthing "#1 fan." Later in the show, he was sitting on the side of the stage watching Mick's drum solo. My husband pointed over to him and Lindsey gave me a thumbs up sign and a huge smile. If there was any doubt about being a dedicated, lifelong fan, it evaporated in a second. He does an unbelievable job of reaching out to his fans. It doesn't take much to please us, but he takes the time that many won't.

I do find I zoom through his standard comments that he always makes, ie:
big machine/small machine
etc, etc. and I agree with shackin'up........it would be wonderful to have him really explain songs, events, etc. without always using the same wording.

But you gotta love him anyways.

:thumbsup: to all that. great way to describe it!

yes to this too. every word.