Hold Me from the Live album Deluxe Edition
 

So if they have the Hold Me audio from the Los Angeles show from the Mirage tour, do they also have the audio of the other live songs that were not included in the Mirage Deluxe Edition? Do they have the video of the songs that were cut from the Mirage tour video thing? I feel like the complete Mirage tour video (and audio) is a highly coveted thing in the Fleetwood Mac fandom community. When the Deluxe Edition of Mirage was coming out, I was really hoping they were going to include the full live set from the Mirage tour, like they did on the Deluxe Tusk and Deluxe Rumours. Also, I was checking out the Live Deluxe Edition on iTunes, and Hold Me is one of the most downloaded songs from that album on iTunes.

You are preaching to the choir. No one here is going to disagree with you. This has been discussed here for years. We can only speculate. Hold Me was the biggest hit from Mirage yet was axed for the HBO concert. It also was not included in the extended VHS/laser disc show. Even when they released the Mirage deluxe live CD, it was missing.
Everyone's speculation could be different. Hold Me is a hard song to do live because its studio track has tough elements to pull off live. I think the band or someone thought they would be flamed for its different sound? They thought people would flame them for allegedly butchering it? It was not done on the Tango, BTM, Dance, OWTH tour either which tells you the band did not like the live sound.
That is only speculation because why else would a band ignore one of their biggest hits in concert? IMHO I thought Chris's solo band and the Buck/Vie versions in concert are really good.
Its a mystery to me.

I thought Hold Me sounded good on all the tours they did it on. I was just not a fan of the added “yeaahhh” when they sang it on the Mirage tour. It was unnecessary. Hold me.. hold meeeeEEEE sounded much better. It sounded good on the Buckingham McVie tour and it sounded good on the 2018-2019 tour, but it’s a shame Lindsey was not there for that one. It’s also a shame Lindsey was not there for the Tango tour because they probably would have had Hold Me on the set for that tour if he was there.

I agree too. Although they used piped in pre-recorded vocals on the Buck/Vie tour. The "come on and" was pre-recorded or looked like from my seat. I did not see the 2018 tour so I cant comment. They only did it for a few days though, right?

I also did not see them on the 2018-2019 tour, but I’m pretty sure they did Isn’t It Midnight for the first several shows and then replaced it with Hold Me for the rest of the tour.

I was front row for show #2(Nashville), and they did Hold Me. The key was dropped from D to B. Christine WAS NOT playing the piano part. I'm 95% certain that Brett wasn't, either. Karenoke!

The live version came on my music playlist right after I read this post. In my opinion it was the chorus that never worked live. To me that’s what probably killed it on the 82 tour. However, with that said Blue Letter live never worked for me on any tour either. Christine shouldn’t be singing on Blue Letter on the chorus as Stevie shouldn’t be singing on Hold Me’s chorus on the live versions. The studio versions are blended with all the “MAC MAGIC” which works.

I think she was playing on the 2014-2015 tour, but I’m sure she had plenty of supplementation from Brett and/or pre recorded music being phoned in.

I was fine with it though. It was amazing to see her back with the band, regardless. But by 2018, I’m sure she was just pretending to play the keyboards, which again, I would be fine with. Just to have her still there singing and pretending to play the keyboards was good enough for me.

They did Hold Me on the Indy tour stop in 1982. I was in heaven.

I find it weird, though. Guitar is SO MUCH more physically demanding than keyboards. Bob Dylan(yes, I'd say that to him) switched from guitars to keyboards a few years back, and everyone assumes that that's the reason. I also play both instruments, and I'm beginning to have hand issues... it affects certain things I play on guitar, but nothing on keyboards.

I'm just curious if it was just arthritis, or something more debilitating...

In her case, it may have been a mix of things: she appears to have lost dexterity in her hand, which reduced her to chords during live performances; but that may also have been because Brett had been playing the keyboard parts for a long time. The band had already gotten into a comfortable place with LB/SN's songs, so she might have just said "Ok, you keep doing what you're doing and I'll play some basic things."

Weird thing, though is watching her practice with the "new" 2018 band. She was moving her fingers pretty fast in that clip. So who knows?

You always say that and I always disagree. I loved the "yeaahhh," especially enjoyable hearing Stevie sing it. I feel so blessed I was born at the right time and still remember seeing this performed in concert.

Didn't some sort of hand injury occur during the 2014/2015 tour that caused songbird to be removed from the set? Perhaps she either never quite recovered back to normal or she developed arthritis as a result of the injury?

I never thought of it in this way, but it's possible that certain songs had parts that she can play just fine, but not repeatedly night after night while on tour for months at a time. Maybe Brett took on those more physically demanding keyboard parts.

I bet David would know which keyboard parts were a workout compared to others.

Get Like You Used To Be is a workout, but this ain't 1975.

you're lovin too many people, EVERYONE YA SEE!