Originally Posted by David (Post 1277177)

But how do we know how much they really did that? It’s just that we see her do that on the St. Louis film — and then, what? assume that she did that the entire tour? It’s like everyone saying she did the Charleston on “Angel” every night just because you see her do it in St. Louis, or that she had her hair in a Gibson bun for “Sara” all the time. Sometimes she did and sometimes she didn’t, I bet. We can’t just watch one film and then say, oh, that was the formula for ten months of touring.

We could check the Landover/Largo 1979 film, too, but we don’t have much visual evidence for anything.

Originally Posted by David (Post 1277177)

But how do we know how much they really did that? It’s just that we see her do that on the St. Louis film — and then, what? assume that she did that the entire tour? It’s like everyone saying she did the Charleston on “Angel” every night just because you see her do it in St. Louis, or that she had her hair in a Gibson bun for “Sara” all the time. Sometimes she did and sometimes she didn’t, I bet. We can’t just watch one film and then say, oh, that was the formula for ten months of touring.

We could check the Landover/Largo 1979 film, too, but we don’t have much visual evidence for anything.

Originally Posted by Macfan4life (Post 1277162)

The song was never performed during the 1987 Tango tour. I saw the show very early in the tour and no Sara. The band did perform Sara the next year in Europe but only a few stops. Believe it or not but they did not even drop a song to perform Sara. Their standard set was 20 songs but for a few lucky Euro stops they got 21 songs and Sara.
Sara no doubt is not easy to perform live since its very intricate. But guess what? The Mac nailed it every time. I never bought that reason. I don't find it a coincidence that once the Don Henley article was released, Sara disappeared in the set for an entire decade except these few Euro stops. I was in shock in 1988 when I read Sara was performed in Europe. I was like...what gives? Is there not an article in the Greatest Hits package that talks about the band and mentions Stevie dressed in red performing Sara in Europe? Or that was from somewhere else. I just remember being in shock the band chose to perform it there instead of the states. But maybe they just wanted to try it out there and was not crazy the way it sounded.

Standard Tango setlist from the states performed in Europe - London stop
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/fleet...-5bd39730.html

Sara added a few London shows, Birmingham, and Scotland
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/fleet...-53d3974d.html

Originally Posted by Wdm6789 (Post 1277166)

Sara has always sounded good live on every tour they have played it. I would even argue that sometimes it sounds better live than the album version. Sara is a beautifully crafted song. The album version is amazing and it’s equally amazing when performed live. Now songs like Gypsy, Hold Me, and Everywhere don’t translate as well live. They sound better with the added production on the album versions. (The Dance Everywhere is awesome though, but that was cleaned up a lot for the video).

Originally Posted by David (Post 1277176)

Stevie is the gal who should be responsible for giving the song a slow build and climax, but she doesn’t have that dynamic range anymore unless she is singing to acoustic backing, like “Landslide.” So I blame Stevie for screwing it up. Thoughts?

Originally Posted by jmn3 (Post 1277193)

Those 1987 setlists always puzzle me from Stevie's perspective. Especially with Lindsey gone, starting with Rhiannon and Gypsy in the set, only to remove both, is a real head scratcher. Given the success of both Gypsy and Hold Me on their previous album, I always thought it was strange to chug ahead without either. And yes of course Lindsey was gone and Hold Me would be different, but Chris did it on her solo tour. I suppose Gypsy and Rhiannon being left out are the price you pay for including HAEWAFY and Mick wanting to include Stand Back.

Originally Posted by jmn3 (Post 1277192)

Well, I dug out my old external HD with all my MP3's on it and went through tons of Mac stuff and alas, I do not have any Sara's from 1988. Now, I know I've heard one and I swore I had one, but, nope. From what I recall, it was very perfunctory in its execution. Not a bad performance, but nothing special. To me, Sara peaked immediately upon being played live during the Tusk Tour. Some of those recordings are incredible - certainly the Live album and what came out on the Tusk Deluxe - but also bootlegs like Melbourne always stuck out to me as peak performances of the song. After 1980 there was always less magic IMO. Her solo performances were always meh and even on the Mirage Tour, they altered it just slightly enough to make it lesser.

The modern Sara's (2004-2017) were, like most songs in that era, performed well and somewhat true to the recorded version (as best as the band and the backing band could do it), but still rather perfunctory. The dance and the theatrics with Lindsey and Stevie were really stupid of course. "OMG SHE USED HIS MIC!!?!?!?!!?!?" Kill me.

Originally Posted by Villavic (Post 1277208)

Mick final words in his first book, about each member, he said this: Stevie Nicks? Better than ever, in my opinion. (Although she doesn't let us play "Rhiannon" in concert anymore.)

Well I seriously doubt she was better than ever in early 90s, but the point is about Rhiannon, I always wonder why "she didn't let" them play that song anymore, I guess because she didn't want to risk her voice with the screams, but she prove us she could perform it in a decent way since The Dance.

Originally Posted by Macfan4life (Post 1277200)

You caught something that I did not. That set does not include Rhiannon nor Gypsy. Both were in the set in the USA. Perhaps for Europe that is why Sara got added. Was Sara a bigger hit there than Rhiannon and Gypsy? Rhiannon was her staple and always has been. Surprised it was removed.

Originally Posted by Wdm6789 (Post 1277210)

I appreciate you looking through you stash. Thank you!!

I really liked Sara on the Mirage tour. They sped up the tempo just a little bit from the Tusk tour and it sounded really good. I think Mirage tour Sara is my favorite. I’m bummed they didn’t add an entire live set to the deluxe Mirage reissue because I really wanted a live 1982 Sara.

But Stevie always sang the last line of Sara on Lindsey’s mic. She started that on the Tusk tour.

Originally Posted by jmn3 (Post 1277215)

They dropped both Gypsy and Rhiannon in the states. I want to say Gypsy was dropped first and then Rhiannon. Certainly by the later shows in 1987 they were both gone. I have the Salt Lake City show which was end of November and the set was:

Say You Love Me
The Chain
Dreams
Isn't it Midnight
Oh Well
Seven Wonders
Rattlesnake Shake
Over My Head
Gold Dust Woman
Don't Let Me Down Again
HAEWAFY
I Loved Another Woman
Brown Eyes
World Turning
Little Lies
Stand Back
You Make Loving Fun
Go Your Own Way
Blue Letter
Don't Stop
Songbird

Originally Posted by Macfan4life (Post 1277218)

On another note we wonder why Mirage is a forgotten album when the band forgets it too. With Gypsy out of the set mid Tango that means no Mirage songs and the entire 1990 tours had no Mirage songs. They play the songs the classic rock stations play as their concert staples.