http://thesoundla.com/2014/11/fleetw...oncert-review/
Fleetwood Mac Sacramento Concert Review
Uncle Joe
Nov 26, 2014
Going to see Fleetwood Mac tonight or tomorrow at the Forum? Here’s a humorous take on their concert in Sacramento this week from Sound listeners Dave & Robyn:
1) Apparently we had the best seats in the house, because we were on the aisle, and every person in the place with a nosebleed number on their ticket stub decided to “Come On Down!” And take their photo(s) video(s) selfie(s) right in front of us. All night long.
2) Apparently Sacramento is a late night working market, because pretty much everybody around us arrived late for the 8PM SHOW, and none of them had eaten yet, or indulged in their usual alcoholic post-work beverage, because everybody around us was drinking beer (sloppily, like pigs in the muck) and eating pizza and chicken fingers and something that looked like nachos but was probably a new NoCal sushi thing that hasn’t hit SoCal yet. And a lot of that beer and food(?) ended up on the floor around us. The eminent Phil Jackson once labeled this market “Cowtown” during an intense NBA playoff series between the Lakers and Kings back in the early 2000s. I thought he was just being a jerk. Until last night.
3) Okay, I could keep writing all day about what we saw and heard last night, but you don’t have time, so, cutting to the chase, five things:
3a) Remember those signs you used to see at concerts? “No Cameras Allowed” Well, they’ve been replaced by new signs. “Cameras Required” You woulda looked stupid last night if you weren’t waving your iPhone or Galaxy around above your head all night and snapping pictures and videos of anything that moved.
3b) Regarding anything that moved—time to mention Stevie and Lindsey. We spent most of the concert debating which one is nuttier. Lindsey grabbed the lead, for good I thought, during his pre-Big Love monologue, followed by, of course, Big Love, followed by, of course, thespian-like motions and bows and kisses blown to the crowd and, well, he charged into the lead. Definitely the nuttiest.
3c) Then Stevie sang Gold Dust Woman, and that was okay until the big long instrumental bridge where she proceeded to sort of waddle/shuffle/swoon/fly across the stage in her grandmother’s black shawl and granny dress and then pirouetted into a Black Swan kind of curtsy followed by a flip of her too-long hair back over her shoulder in a move more reminiscent of 1977 than 2014. This didn’t happen quickly. It took her about 7 minutes or so to accomplish all of those moves. Lindsey ran out of creative bridge licks and just started repeating the ones he’d already played. We looked at each other and agreed: She’s ahead now. She’s the nuttiest of the two.
3d) Then Lindsey cut loose on I’m So Afraid. Which was great, the guy can play that guitar like nobody else, no guitar pick, nothing but his God-given hands, each one moving around that guitar fret like a high school kid getting his first grope and actually getting all the way to third base. Mesmerizing stuff. And so Stevie was still in the lead, but then Lindsey went absolutely crazy-tunes with the big guitar finish, and that was cool too, until, the crowd in a frenzy, he puffed out his cheeks like he’d just run a marathon and proceeded to huff and puff and apparently tried to blow the whole arena down. Followed by several long, low bows, the blown kisses, the “I know, I’m an icon” facial contortions and the guitar over his head and Christine McVie, the normal one, off to the side nodding her head, appreciatively, while no doubt thinking to herself: “I didn’t have to come back, but hey, it’s a great paycheck. And they let me sing Everywhere and Little Lies. Just play along. Just play along.” And probably also noticing the two people in row 8 debating who’s nuttier, Stevie or Lindsey, and psychically sending us the answer: “Hey you two. It’s a tie. Lindsey just tries harder.”
Go Your Own Way was the final song before the two encores, and it made the whole night worth it. Stevie and Lindsey glared at each other, and when they sang the line “shackin’ up’s all you wanna do,” they both looked like they were accusing the other one, and that’s when I decided that they are equally nutty, fruitier than the fruitiest of fruit cakes, and they should never have broken up. We can only imagine the great songs that never got written because they went their separate (nutty) ways.
3e) The not so new phenomenon, but still worth noting. In the crowd, the cigarette lighters, held high in the air as a sign of approval, have been permanently replaced by the Flashlight App. Still looks pretty cool, but somehow it’s not the same.