Irvine, CA 1982
 

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Mirage tour that kicked off September 1, 1982, here is the Irvine, CA show. Its really good for an amateur recording. Incredible to hear Stevie hit those high notes on Gypsy, Landslide, etc. The band performs Leather and Lace and I love how they ease into it without introduction or anything. Sounded really organic and spontaneous which of course it would not be. The encores are not recorded which is a shame because the band was on fire this night. It could be the tape or the coke but they are playing fast which actually works really well for Hold me :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S9epR7U7xo

I love this, thanks for posting. Great piano on Don’t Stop! Brown Eyes sounds very good. And Love In Store sounds better here than on the concert video. As usual, Lindsey makes the difference: all the tunes are brimming with energy, thanks in large part to him. Stevie sounds excellent in Landslide and Sara. The audience loved Leather and Lace—with Henley?—but I was not happy to hear it in that context.

I’d love to know how that came to be in the context of Fleetwood Mac. Henley on stage with them. Playing a Stevie solo song. I thought at that time Stevie’s solo success had to always be hidden from her band mates who were not happy about it.

It was a benefit show called The City of Hope for cancer treatment. If you listen Lindsey tells everyone that attending the concert was for a good cause. Glen Frey and J.D. Souther opened the concert and Don Henley was a special guest. The song is performed without John on bass and without any drums. Its just Chris, Lindsey, Stevie and Don. Stevie dedicates Landslide to the City of Hope for "giving us a little more time" a reference to Robin who passed away about 2 weeks before this concert.

(Sunday afternoon making onion gravy and Yorkshire puddings for the freezer.)

Listening to Peter Greens early Mac stuff…
I just love that era
And then this concert….great stuff.
Yes it’s all a bit manic and fast….but bloody good..

It IS “a bit manic and fast ....but bloody good”, isn’t it? In addition to the upped tempos and raucous delivery, there is the age-old Mac conundrum: how do all of these styles and moods fit together? Brown Eyes follows a guitar frenzy. Tusk follows Leather and Lace. Don’t Stop sounds great on its own but it’s a seventies time capsule at an eighties show. Everything’s all over the place, a but of a mess, but it somehow works—and works well!

Another interesting aspect that these shows highlight is we all think of Dont Stop as an encore or closer but in those days it was performed early in the set which seems almost strange to not think of it as the anthem it has become today.
Almost forgot Oh Well was still played by Lindsey up to 1982. Like a fantastic sauce recipe we get a dash of this and a dash of that. We get a classic hard rocking Oh Well, a mystical Brown Eyes, a country Gypsy (no coming down or hey hey), Hold Me, and great playing with no back up singers or extra musicians anywhere in sight. Landslide gripped the audience in silence compared to the sing along it is today. Intense stuff! 5 songs from Tusk, 4 from Mirage.
Its all in there!

What always has made Fleetwood Mac great to me is the varied mix of songs in their repertoire.

Don’t Stop earlier in the set is definitely jarring compared to the end of show anthem it became starting with the next tour. When they regrouped with Chris in 2014 I thought it would’ve been a cool throwback to do Don’t Stop following The Chain instead of You Make Loving Fun to give Chris her big moment. But I suppose Lindsey singing the first verse kind of kills that idea.

I’m sure there may have been some few exceptions, but pretty sure Oh Well was played at nearly every show, regardless of who was in the band, from the time it was released right through to The Dance. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I love how Lindsey has always played that one and was thrilled that first night in Pittsburgh in 2009 when they unearthed Oh Well for the first time in years!

I love Lindsey's Oh Well. One of the highlights of the 1980 Live Album. Thankfully they captured this gold gem on vinyl. As with life, its sometimes the small things that make the biggest difference or the smaller things that have the most impact. Stevie's 1981 solo tour, Chris's solo tour, and the Mirage tour were extremely short and fleeting. If you blinked you missed them. But for anyone to have captured these moments in person did not appreciate at the time that there would NEVER be a similar moment again. They were at the peak of their powers.

Oh Well is my FAVORITE song from the live album.

Another tiny detail that I love is this tour was the last to hear Sara and Dont Stop with a real and genuine piano. I know Chris on her solo tour played a real piano for Dont Stop, Hold Me, etc. But by 1987 didn't the one size fits all keyboard piano take over? (someone correct me if I am wrong).
IMHO to hear Sara with a real piano is so genuine. That is why I never cared for Stevie's solo Sara, it was so keyboard synthed.

Almost nobody uses a real piano anymore. They're setting a keyboard inside a piano case. I you watch carefully you can see it in videos.

Totally agree on Sara with the piano. The Bella Donna version was slowed down too.
After Mirage Tour, I don't think it was crisp live until Australia in 2015 with Chris back. It wasn't great but it was much better to me than 04-13.

The LA Times critics voted this the best rock concert in Orange County of 1982 (for what it's worth). I always said that Mac filmed the wrong concerts. They should have filmed this one (or Detroit in September). Irvine was the first time I ever saw I'M SO AFRAID get a standing ovation from about two-thirds of the audience.

True but maybe that's what makes it so great. When you know you are being filmed and the camera crew is in the way takes the edge off the performance. Just a theory