40 Years Ago: Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham Play First Show With Fleetwood Mac
 

40 Years Ago: Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham Play First Show With Fleetwood Mac
By Bryan Wawzenek May 15, 2015 10:40 AM


Less than six months earlier, the situation looked pretty dire for a couple of young musicians named Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. Though the duo had released an album, the self-titled Buckingham Nicks, they were still paying off the studio fees – with Nicks doing housework and Buckingham contributing session work to Los Angeles’ Sound City Studios.

It was at Sound City that everything changed. Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood was checking out studios for his band’s next project and Buckingham was the guitarist chosen to demonstrate Sound City’s sonic capabilities. When current Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch departed abruptly in late 1974, Fleetwood remembered Buckingham and asked him to join.

“He was standing there grooving to this searing guitar solo and he needed a guitar player,” Buckingham later told Uncut. “That was as far as his thinking went. I had to explain we came as a duo. Stupid me, eh?”

With some trepidation (mostly because Fleetwood was worried that Christine McVie wouldn’t be thrilled having another woman in the band), Fleetwood extended the offer to both of the musicians, who quickly passed muster with bassist John McVie and keyboardist Christine. They all made it official on the last day of 1974.

The new, five-member Fleetwood Mac got to work quickly in 1975, recording the classic Fleetwood Mac album in about 10 days at Sound City. Songwriting duties were split between Buckingham and Nicks (who drew on leftovers from their former group as well as songs for a potential second LP) and Christine McVie. Among the songs that would become classics, “Over My Head,” “Monday Morning” and “Rhiannon” – which most often proved to be the show-stopper during the band’s 1975 concerts.

The other four members would begin playing before Nicks would appear onstage in a black top hat or flowing capes and announce “this is a song about a Welsh witch.” That might be the way the 10th (and most successful) incarnation of Fleetwood Mac introduced themselves when they played their first show as a unit in El Paso on May 15, 1975.

No matter how the show began, it had to be a somewhat strange experience for those who attended. Not only was the new album a couple of months away from release, this new version of Fleetwood Mac marked a radical departure from the Macs of the past (from Peter Green onward). Nicks remembers working quite hard to make an impression. “We just played everywhere and we sold that record,” she said. “We kicked that album in the ass.”

Fleetwood Mac toured incessantly from May 1975 until the fall of the next year when, 15 months after it was first released, Fleetwood Mac hit No. 1.




Read More: 40 Years Ago: Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham Play First Show With Fleetwood Mac | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/nicks...ckback=tsmclip

wow..
 

beautiful concert.

Ok...
 

I've never seen this show, so I'm having a virgin moment here... but, wow.

How can you not love Christine - opening the show with two incredible songs...

we only get part of Rhiannon, but what a part.. And Lindsey rocked those Peter Green songs... love Stevie at the end of Green Manalishi.. just love this concert. Thanks for sharing... perfect for a breezy, rainy Saturday night... thank you!

deede..
 

love the pony tail Stevie... love you on World Turning..

I'm confused. This is a really cool video, but it's not the first concert Lindsey and Stevie played with Fleetwood Mac, right? The date on the video is October '75 and the in the text is May '75.

But it's very cool. Thanks.

Kevin

I just speed watched it. I will watch it again from start to finish when I have more time. I also love the pony tail. I love how raw their sound was. The black and white is interesting. I find it interesting that Stevie wore the top hat even before she became famous. I think that took courage actually, and courage for the band to let everyone be who they were. It's too bad so many of the songs' beginnings were cut out of the video. Is this the Passaic show that was widely bootlegged? Anyway, lots of fun. Thanks again.

Kevin

they really did gel as a live band straight away. Looks like an awesome show to watch- I'd take a line-up like that now.
Looks like the World Turning drum solo was a bit more palatable back then.

Watched this whilst reading the weekend papers..........
Didn't read for long....amazing.

This is the oldest Fleetwood Mac footage available from Passaic, 17 October 1975, and it's been taken out from the Wolfgang Vault's archive last year. Since we don't have any footage nor pictures from their first show I think they settled for this.

P.S. It's not the same Passaic show of the famous bootleg, that was performed on the 3rd of May.

According to FMLegacy the first show of 1975 was on April 12 at the Balboa Bowl in San Diego and the second show was 3 weeks later on May 5 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, AB. The El Paso date is listed after that with possibly a few dates missing inbetween. (http://web.archive.org/web/201208262....com/main.html). So did these pre-El Paso dates actually take place, does anyone have any info?

http://www.buckinghamnicks.info/fm-fleetwood-mac says the same thing; rereading the article it says that "they played their first show as a unit in El Paso on May 15, 1975.", so maybe during the previous dates not all the 5 new members were present...

[Did Stevie and Lindsey have a romance on tour?]

From an article on Nicki Minaj

http://www.app.com/story/entertainme...rdom/30588313/

Also, Philly rapper Meek Mill is on the bill. He’s Minaj’s significant other at the moment, and the amount of buzz on social media the two are generating harkens back to the tour romance of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

I was watching this a few days ago. Christine sounds amazing on Spare Me... wow..

What a great band!

good thing they were only together for a tour fling. :laugh::laugh:

Wow is Rhiannon the only Stevie song in the whole set?? :eek:

Yes, it's the only Stevie song in this set because the band prior to the 80s filmed only part of their concerts.


P.S. This is the setlist of the entire show:

1. Get Like You Used to Be
2. Station Man
3. Spare Me a Little of Your Love
4. Rhiannon
5. Monday Morning
6. Why
7. Landslide
8. Crystal
9. Frozen Love
10. Over My Head
11. Say You Love Me
12. I'm So Afraid
13. Oh Well
14. The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)
15. World Turning
16. Blue Letter

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/fleetw...j-bd25d6e.html

Must've been a one-off set because:

"Crystal"? I don't recall them ever playing that in concert (I saw numerous shows in '75)

"Say You Love Me"? I didn't think they played this until they released it as a single (replacing "Get Like You Used To Be" after the beginning of '76)

"Monday Morning"? I don't recall them playing this until '76 (when they replaced "Station Man" with it)

Too bad they didn't keep "Frozen Love" in the set, just wish the 2 bootlegs I have of those were of such poor sound quality.

The set at pretty much every show I saw back in '75 was:

Get Like You Used To Be
Station Man
Spare Me A Little Of Your Love
Rhiannon
Oh Well
Why
Landslide
Over My Head
I'm So Afraid
Green Manalishi
World Turning
Blue Letter

(then the encores, depending if they were an opening act or a headliner)
as opening act:
Rattlesnake Shake

as headliner:
Don't Let Me Down Again
Hypnotized

Occasionally, they'd insert an early version of "Go Your Own Way" between "Over My Head" & "I'm So Afraid" when they headlined.

It's true, but this is the only setlist.
Crystal has been played on ther Buckingham Nicks tour, so I won't say it's totally impossible, but it's strange.
As you already said, Frozen love is on more than one bootleg so it could totally have been played. My bootlegs aren't so ****ty, what quality are yours?

As others have noted, this is only part of the set. She often sang Landslide, too. But there were some early shows where Stevie only sang lead in one song. A good example is the Largo show (filmed in its entirety) where she only sings Rhiannon. That show's set was as follows:

Get Like You Used to Be
Station Man
Spare Me a Little
Rhiannon
Why
I'm So Afraid
Oh Well
Green Manalishi
World Turning
Don't Let Me Down Again
Blue Letter
Hypnotized

I could be messing up the order in some places, but that's what they played.

Oh--I now see ChilD already answered this. Oh Well (pun intended)

Do we know for certain that the Largo show is unedited?

It seems complete. If it were edited, possibly the only song removed from it would have been Landslide, which is pretty unlikely considering it was featured on many of the bootlegs that WERE edited.

However, who knows? It's possible. Stevie's role in those very early shows (before 1976) were pretty limited. The band weren't entirely sure how to use her, and she herself felt unsure of her place in the band. It wasn't until Over My Head cracked the top 20 that she began to gain in confidence--and that was early in 1976, months after the single's official release date.

That said, she and the band knew exactly what to do with Rhiannon since the first shows.

Yeah, I agree but I think that the biggest reason behind Stevie's limited role back then was that she really didn't know how to use her voice yet, as you can hear in the Largo Rhiannon in which she sounds so insecure and imprecise.

Is there any recordings of "Rattlesnake Shake" done with the Rumours lineup?

Not that I know.

I see your point, but I only feel somewhat this way about the song when it's compared to the full-blown versions a year later. As a performance in itself, I think the Largo Rhiannon is excellent--and the crowd apparently agreed.

Frozen Love should had been a set list staple. But it was only performed once, maybe twice. I believe the only evidence we have is the live (bootleg) performance recorded at an outdoor musical festival. I can't recall when or where.

But two other Buckingham Nicks songs instated themselves in the Fleetwood Mac cannon: a studio remake of Crystal which, surprisingly, has never been performed live, and Don't Let Me Down Again, which is only represented as a live performance.

Do several Fleetwood Mac bootleg recorded performances of Frozen Love exist, or is this just a rumour?

I have a 1975 Buckingham Nicks performance played in Tuscaloosa, then I have two Fleetwood Mac recording of the same year performed respectly in Oakland and South Orange.

Videos
 

Great video. I wish they would have all of their videos re-mastered (getting rid of the nasty overdub of crowd applause on the Tusk Documentary/concert). I always thought that would be a great project that Richard Dashut could be involved in. There must not be much market for re-mastered concerts in this YouTube age we are in (otherwise WB would front the cash), but the band should invest in a project like this to help secure its' legacy in rock and roll history.

I wouldn't say that, these last years there have been a number of remastered DVD of live shows that have done pretty well, I was thinking about purchasing the Queen live at the Rainbow myself.
There are a lot of Fleetwood Mac Live shows that fans would like to see in an upgraded and or unedited version.

[From an article on the Tropicana Motel]

Thu, Jan 07, 2016 By Bob Bishop for Wehoville

http://www.wehoville.com/2016/01/07/...opicana-motel/

Van Morrison wrote “T.B. Sheets” and several other songs while staying at the Tropicana. Big Brother and the Holding Company, Rhinoceros, Bob Marley and the Wailers and Alice Cooper all made the Tropicana their Hollywood base of operation at one time or another. A pre-Fleetwood Mac Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham holed up at the Tropicana when they came to Hollywood and got their first recording contract; their debut album, “Buckingham-Nicks,” was released in 1973.

I'm not sure they are right but the Setlistfm website lists Crystal as being played 30 times by FM in 1975, Say You Love Me 51 times, Monday Morning 50 times and Frozen Love 34 times. Go Your Own Way is listed 3 times in 75;

http://www.setlist.fm/stats/fleetwoo...html?year=1975

Maybe they're wrong, but who's to say what's right?

I would pay double to hear this set list today :)

:thumbsup:

Almanac: May 15, 2017

On This Day:

1967 - Paul McCartney met Linda Eastman for the first time at a Georgie Fame concert in London.
1968 - The film Wonderwall premiered at the Cannes Film Festival with George Harrison and Ringo Starr in attendance. Meanwhile, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were holding a press conference to announce they were no longer associated with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
1971 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono show their films Apotheosis and Fly at the Cannes Film Festival.
1974 - Frank Zappa and his wife welcomed Ahmet Rodan.
1975 - Fleetwood Mac, in the new configuration with Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine and John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, plays live for the first time in El Paso, TX.
1977 - Procol Harum played their last concert (up to that time) in New York.
1980 - The Sex Pistols film, The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, is released.
1981 - Public Image Ltd, led by John Lydon, were booed off the stage in New York when they "performed" by standing behind a video screen while pre-recorded music played.
1982 - Ricky Skaggs joined the Grand Ole Opry.
1984 - Nils Lofgren joined Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band.
1994 - Sting and Nancy Wilson receive Honorary Doctorates of Music from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
1995 - R.E.M. resumes their Monster tour after Bill Berry's recovery from an aneurysm.
1995 - Scott Weiland was arrested for trying to buy drugs.
1997 - Courtney Love sold the mansion she shared with Kurt Cobain.
1997 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted The Bee Gees, Joni Mitchell, The Young Rascals, The Jackson 5, King Records founder Syd Nathan, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Bill Monroe.
1998 - Sonny & Cher received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2000 - Bob Dylan and Isaac Stern received Sweden's Polar Music Prize.
2002 - Jay Kay of Jamiroquai was assaulted and received facial injuries after seeing Star Wars II: The Attack of the Clones.
2003 - The manager of t.a.t.u. is arrested by Russian authorities after fans riot in Red Square.
2004 - The Beastie Boys played a secret show in London to promote their new album, To the 5 Boroughs.
2004 - Terri Clark was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.
2008 - Shania Twain and Mutt Lange announced they were separating.



http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2017...y-15-2017.html

Gosh, that set list is a dream!

Probably the greatest living genius.

(Chili, please correct me if I am wrong)

In 1975 were u Ledgies aware that Stevie did not appear onstage til the 2nd song of the set? She just sorta wandered onto the stage with tambourine in hand. People must of wondered who she was and where she came from. LOL

I've been wondering that for 42 years! :lol:

lol Stupid!!!

I believe you are correct. She came on during Station Man. There are youtubes of these shows. I believe 2 of them. Her Rhiannon was pretty amazing on this tour. I love the Tusk Tour Rhiannon the best.