Buckingham Displays Talent-The Republican (review)
 

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Buckingham displays talent
Monday, April 02, 2007
By GEORGE LENKER
Music writer


As a full-fledged member of the 1970s punk and New Wave generation, I used to loathe Fleetwood Mac. Along with the Eagles and several other too-slick arena-rock acts, Fleetwood Mac pushed teenagers like me to embrace the raw and real punk eruption of bands like The Clash and The Jam.

I mention the above only to disclose what might be construed as a bias. But all that was 30 years ago, and I have since realized that although Fleetwood Mac will never be a favorite of mine, I now know they had a great talent in guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. That talent was on display in full force Friday night during a two hour-plus set at Northampton's Calvin Theatre.

Buckingham strolled onstage alone to wild applause and immediately mesmerized the near-capacity crowd with the intricate finger-picking of "Not Too Late" off his new CD, "Under the Skin."

Although his amazing guitar work wasn't surprising - he's always been great, if underrated - what did catch the ear was the growth in Buckingham's lyrical prowess. Whereas his Fleetwood Mac-era words were often light and stilted, the lyrics now are more substantial, if a bit too confessional.

Buckingham then trod older ground, performing a nice acoustic version both of his first solo hit "Trouble," followed by Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again" off the impossibly huge-selling album "Rumours."

His band then took the stage and romped through another Fleetwood hit, "Second Hand News." Next came one of the show's highest points, "Castaway Dreams," a poignant and gorgeous gem off the new CD.

Overall the evening was a brilliantly executed exercise in how to put on a pop-rock concert. Along with being in good voice and exhibiting the aforementioned guitar god powers, Buckingham also was chatty and engaging. At one point he flirted with the crowd by saying "You're such a peppy audience and this is such a beautiful venue, I was thinking we could disassemble it and take you on the road."

The band, featuring Reyes, guitarist Neale Haywood, and multi-instrumentalist Brett Tuggle, was tastefully sublime and supportive - and clearly having fun.