I didn’t see the tour in person, but the whole thing kinda reeked of impersonal mass-audience spectacle, even by Fleetwood Mac standards. I loved the fact that the band threw in some of those left-field songs, such as “Tell Me All the Things You Do,” “Hypnotized,” “Monday Morning,” and “All Over Again.” Apparently, some of them didn’t last long, but at least the band tried, and perhaps gave up on them too soon. (In a show filled with sing-alongs and hits, what is so bad about a few songs that slow things down a bit?) I saw a video of “Hypnotized” and I was really pleasantly surprised at how subdued, personal, and tuneful it sounded.
It’s always been my contention that I don’t care what the band actually plays, so long as it’s performed with emotion and commitment and New Wave-ish Talking Heads-ish style — that’s what I remember for decades afterward. I don’t remember the hundreds of recent times they’ve done “Dreams” or “Don’t Stop” with their onstage battalion of mercenaries and hardware. I remember the way the five of them used to attack “What Makes You Think You’re the One” with such dingaling ferocity and devilish charm, like in
this performance from Alabama in August 1980. Of course, that Fleetwood Mac isn’t
this Fleetwood Mac, today, I realize full well. But in light of that, it doesn’t matter what’s in the set if they’re just doing a Celine Dion show. Unless they’re tightly wound and about to blow, they’re nondescript.
Apart from “Hypnotized,” I think “Landslide” worked the best. Stevie gives that song more poignancy every year she sings it.