'2 Gripes' isn't a bad idea, regarding the Unleashed Tour
1. The music...with the exception of SS not being done at some venues, the unimaginative insistance to cast the tour setlist in stone, as if it were a Broadway play, or a touring company of 'Cats', is just so lame, and so un-rock and roll, so uninspired, and so old-farts of them. Stevie's refusal to perform any Mac songs past 1982 (yes, the '83 'Stand Back' made the cut, i know) negates the fact that she has plenty of material from '84 on that should be included if she had any self-respect for her writing output of the past 25 years, it's like nothing after 'Gypsy' or 'Stand Back' has any merit in her mind, which i find disgusting. It's not only her shortchanging herself, its her not respecting her audience who have tried to hold on to her own desire that she be respected as a songwriter throughout her entire career, not just 1975 through 1983. And it's boring, and it's lazy. A Stevie-Lindsey 'Candlebright' moment would be inspired-- i know it was written in the early 70s, but with it not being officially released til 2001, it could be interesting live. Or 'Thrown Down', certainly a stellar example of a more recent songwriting triumph. Or mashing 'Everybody Finds Out' and 'Big Love' together, as we heard in an early version of EFO-- I'm not even suggesting she'd have to perform ALL of EFO, just a few verses and one chorus, would be enough to acknowledge that there are fans who do appreciate her later work- these three songs weren't hits, but then neither were 'Storms', 'I know I'm Not Wrong' and others that are included.
And not to even try even a few lines of"Frozen Love" which could fit so well into 'The Chain' is a missed opportunity. They don't see fit to even pay homage to Buckingham Nicks, which lead to them being in Mac.
In the earlier days of 'I Need to Know', it was kind of cool when she'd end it with 'take your violet and blue mornings with you'-- i don't see why she can't take a line or 2 from any of her volumes of songs and tack it onto the end of the dreadful 'Dreams', or just to be interesting, or poetic, early on in 'Rhiannon', try something like--"don't go..and still she goes each day to the forest of the black roses' or ANY line that would pay homage to her own vast output of songwriting that she seldom performs live.
Since this is so longwinded, i'll stop at 'one gripe'-- the unimaginative, stagnant, set-in-stone same songs every damned night. Cheating themselves, underestimating an audience's appreciation and knowledge of their musical history, and just painting by numbers every night. It would be artistry to allow a spontaneous moment, throw in a surprise unique to each performance, or even 1 in 20 performances.
No wonder her feet hurt
