Fleetwood Mac: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
21/12/2009
We drove over to New Plymouth on Friday night, rented a house for two nights - we had tickets for the Saturday night Fleetwood Mac concert. Now I'm a huge fan of the Mac as I pretty much indicated here. And the band was excellent - amazing in fact - and as well as enjoying the show and the performances (particularly Lindsey Buckingham's blistering guitar work) I also thought back to the years of my life spent listening to this music; absorbing the tales of Fleetwood Mac: their songs and the soap-opera that informed so many of the tunes - and went on regardless of, as well as because of, the music.
It's an amazing story, or set of stories.
On the drive back - yesterday afternoon - we chatted about some of the stories connecting the band; about the Peter Green years and then on to the involvement of Bob Welch and then the "classic lineup". I even have time for the album they recorded called Time.
But I do not have a lot of time for idiots in crowds. And I was reminded of why I hate open-air concerts in New Zealand.
The venue, oversold from what I could tell, was stripped of its unique selling-point: the pond in front of the stage was crudely/cruelly boarded over with a platform to house some seats so that people can be packed in (can anyone say Concert Cave Creek?) There was also a couple of eyesore mini-grandstands jutting out like the back-ends of a bogan mullet, flanking the front of the stage, rendering large patches of the banks useless.
You either queue up early - or you fight for your patch of land. If you do get there early you have people push in and end up on your turf anyway.
All of this should be okay - not ideal but okay - but in among the picnic baskets and recyclable bags filled with cushions and blankets, people forget to pack any sense of humility. And to save on space most tend to not bother taking along any dignity.
I will never, as a music fan, understand how people can choose to spend $120 on a ticket and stand there talking, hooting, laughing, being annoying until the three or four radio megahits are played. And I will also never understand why people pay so much money to go to these shows - including petrol or flights and accommodation as well as ridiculous booze prices - to get written off and not really remember anything but the obvious songs.
I didn't want Fleetwood Mac to play Don't Stop. I don't need to hear that song ever again.
But you know they will - and that's fine. You take it because you know you are going to get Silver Springs and Oh Well (a tribute to the old blues band); you know you are going to get Rhiannon and The Chain. I don't mind some of the big-big hits; I'm not being a snob. Go Your Own Way is probably as overplayed as Don't Stop. It's a far better song though.
Stumbling and tumbling around the crowd of apparently 18,000 people (according to this) were, presumably, no fewer than 987 women between the ages of 35 and 17 named Rhiannon - just waiting for the moment to yell "this is MY song"; their mothers there too, hoping for Landslide for the chance to yell "this song is about MY life" and far too many females dressed in leather and lace - with only the lace being removable - unaware that Gypsy is anything other than a Fleetwood Mac song (one of the ones to singalong to) and that Cougar is a type of pre-mixed bourbon-drink.
Before you write in calling me a killjoy, I am all for people having a good time. I think it's great to be part of a crowd that is having a good time - I enjoyed Don't Stop more than I thought I would on Saturday night because all around me people were partying, wrapped up in a song that everyone knew.
It's the aggression and agitation I cannot stand. That - and the absolute idiocy.
This was similar to any of the shows I have reviewed at Hawke's Bay's Mission vineyard. A place where they could put a guy on stage with a lawnmower and you would still have a paying audience pouring in with chilli-bins. "Mow another strip Trev; classic! Absolutely classic!"
We cannot stop these people from buying Dai Henwood's new CD/DVD. We cannot stop them from cackling at Bro Town. We cannot stop these people from playing Fat Freddy's Drop at a BBQ or for calling the first Norah Jones album jazz.
But we should not have to rub elbows with them on the way in and out of a poorly designed park in a mad rush.
Outdoor concerts are gross.
The venue takes a hammering with cans and bottles being biffed; food and rubbish everywhere. People are rewarded for hooligan behaviour because articles are written saying the show was well supported; the city will apparently benefit from the cash injection/s. It reduces good music to the base level of being background drinking sounds for The Brains Trust.
It's insulting - to the real fans and to the band.
It rained the whole way through the concert - that cannot be helped. It made me wonder, though, if the people behaved worse because of it, or should I have been relieved? Maybe if it was a sunny day there would have been more drunken goons with no idea, no taste and no real business being there.
I vowed, as I spent 45 minutes in a near standstill trying to leave what had been an amazing musical performance, that I would never go to an outdoor show at a vineyard or natural amphitheatre ever again. Of course it's not true - it's an occupational hazard that I will have to (continue to) endure. But I'm getting close to picking the venue as being almost as important as the act. I will probably always make exceptions - I really wanted to see Fleetwood Mac and it was worth it to me to travel there, pay to stay, pay for tickets - but if I can help it I will be sticking to seated stadium shows and indoor events.
People are idiots. And it's a shame.
What do you reckon? Over the top? Or do you agree? Have you had gigs ruined for you by drunken jerks? Or do you think that if you pay the money you get to, within reason, do what you want?
And were you at Fleetwood Mac this weekend? What did you think? Did the rain dampen your spirits? Or could nothing stop the Mac attack? Or were you disappointed by the music? Maybe they only played Rhiannon and Don't Stop once each and that bugged you? (I heard someone yell "play Rhiannon again!")
What are your thoughts on this weekend's Mac show? And/or on outdoor shows in general? Do our crowds embarrass themselves? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
59 comments
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Oldest First Jonno #1 09:26 am Dec 21 2009
Same thing happened at Pearl Jam in Auckland. Goons pushing up through the standing crowd, with no respect for anyone.
CoucH #2 09:27 am Dec 21 2009
If it is such a pain, why go? Stay at home and listen to your cds
Aimz #3 09:32 am Dec 21 2009
I was there - Lindsay Buckingham was superb. Both his musicianship and voice were outstanding. An absolute pleasure to see a band at the end of their world tour - so tight. Yes it rained, but I hardly noticed. Not to be missed.
Spartacus #4 09:57 am Dec 21 2009
I think you're stating the obvious as well as sweating the small stuff.
Spartacus #5 09:58 am Dec 21 2009
I think you're stating the obvious as well as sweating the small stuff.
Personally I HATE going to concerts and being near stuck up people who want the gig to play out like a school assembly. I reckon the worst thing about NZ crowds are that they're often too passive, it's embarrassing watching an international band play and no one even makes any effort to show their enjoyment.
The only thing worse is people in the front rows filming the whole thing on their crappy mobiles instead of watching the show.
T-Rex #6 10:38 am Dec 21 2009
Bad crowds and drunken idiots can so easily kill a show. I can't stand the Big Day Out - it's impossible to see a band you really like without it being ruined by dickheads. We were excited about seeing Serj Tankian last year and we had this bunch of shirtless caveboys screaming 'play System of a Down' every five seconds for the ENTIRE set. Years before when I'd seen System they'd left the stage because of idiots screaming at them to play certain songs and calling them 'faggots' and 'homos' if they didn't. When I saw Placebo at BDO they had a bunch of genetic mistakes up the front yelling 'You're gay!' and 'you look like a girl huh huh huh' and 'play Metallica!' (and yes I know Placebo are crap I don't know why I wanted to see them).
I'm always disgusted at the behaviour of some men at BDO (well every concert really). When Garbage played there was a constant stream of 'show us your tits' etc. Even Bjork got SUYT which is crazy because I'm pretty sure nobody really wants to see her tits. Even at Gin Wigmore (a very small inside concert) a guy behind me yelled 'show us your tits' twice (he didn't a third time because I have him a nut-shrivelling look). At the same concert two girls stood at the front texting, talking and answering phone calls the whole way through the show. They danced for one song - the Godawful Under My Skin - then went back to texting.
I can't understand why people bother going to a concert if they're just going to yell abuse at the artist the whole way through it. Or text and take calls etc.
It's OK to yell out Freebird though. But only once.
Steve #7 11:13 am Dec 21 2009
Man you're grumpy! The venue was fantastic and the seating platform over the lake looked awesome. It gets people closer to the band and helps the artists interact better with the crowd - surely that's got to be a good thing hasn't it?
As for your comments about the people watching the show, my experience was completely different. I too am a long time fan who wanted to hear more than just the hits. Yes, there were plenty of people there who didn't know some of the songs and yes some of them dared to talk and laught among themselves. But we weren't at the library Simon - people were having a great time and soaking up the atmosphere of a great concert at what is undoubtedly the best outdoor venue in the country, and probably in the whole of Australsia.
Hey, make sure you come back for Cliff Richard in February. As far as I know there won't be a seating platform or any grandstands, so that should put a smile on your face.
Happy Christmas to all from Taranaki!
Samuel #8 11:23 am Dec 21 2009
I've had a drunken jerk ruin quite a few shows for me.
Sylvian #9 11:23 am Dec 21 2009
Babyboomers! Nuff said.
tellurian #10 11:34 am Dec 21 2009
I used to love outdoor events, but the bogan element and absolutely faceless drunken dicks you have to deal with, or the slobs who think its great to piss in their empty plastic cups and throw it, or the 30min queue for a toilet only to be greeted by a site gauranted to haunt you when you do get to use the toilet have turned me off completely.
Oh and the morons who insist on singing loudly and out of tune to the songs so you can't actually hear the song the bands playing, or morons who cant clap in time, oh and the idiots that are surgically attached to there phones and have to text or phone the whole time.
Save myself the grief now, i just buy the dvd play it on the 50" screen at home with the volume cranked and the sub pumping, get in a few litres of spirits and party much much better.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment...e-Bad-the-Ugly