Whatever one might say about the staticness of the setlists on the Tusk and Mirage tours, the early live versions of "Rhiannon", the spontaneity of the speeches between 1975-78 and the good number of pre-BN line-up songs they played, they were still the peak of their live playing between 1979-82 IMO.
Lindsey and Stevie didn't really sound convincing with the material of early FM, except for a few isolated spots. Even on Rumours tour the band tried to act as one big happy family on stage throughout.
With the Tusk tour "I'm So Afraid" had gained a truly depressing quality, "Go Your Own Way" could crackle with feedback, "Not That Funny" had a cat playing the fiddle and a cow jumping over the moon
and overall there was just a lot more daring, bravado and youthful swagger. Perhaps it was the tensions inside the line-up. The Mirage tour was essentially a smaller scale version of that.
Quote:
Originally posted by David
They bury their natural live sound under so much flotsam & jetsam, & poof goes the charm & the weirdness, all those highly individual, sometimes dorky styles of playing that separated them from the pack (*cough* Eagles *cough*).
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I agree with pretty much everything in your post David. The only way they could really try to cover up the sterility of their current (floor)show would be by trying to change the setlist. I can forgive them for not doing so constantly during the Tusk and Mirage tours because even then the playing had the proverbial "balls" that Lindsey spoke about. They're too satisfied with what they have right now, it seems.