Boston Tue & Wed-Observations and Thoughts

[John Run]

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see Fleetwood Mac perform Tue and Wed in Boston. I won't go into song by song details as that has been done with great detail and accruacy already.

Tuesday was a really different experience. As you know it was an invite only, fairly low profile and below the radar, taping for PBS and most likely a DVD release. The expensive part is taping the show and all invloved with that. Pressing some discs is easy and profitable. It will be done at some point. This show was set up so quietly, that Steve Morse the long time Boston Globe Music critic and big mac fan was not aware of the show until Tue afternoon.

There were basically 4 different pass lists to get into the show. Fan Club members, employees from Bain Capital which is a venture capital firm in Boston, founded by Massachusetts Govenor Mitt Romney, WGBH which is the Boston PBS affiliate, and the Ritz Carlton, which was basically people on the bands list and employees of the hotel who had been given passes by the band and its crew. Yes, they stayed at the Ritz, since Monday afternoon. It was about a 1000 people. Truth be told I think the director would have liked another 500-1000 people to fill in some more areas. In the end I think the audience was more for the band to not feel like it was not playing to an empty arena. There were 9 cameras used in the production. Very few seats on the floor. About 12 rows. Then larg escafolding was set up on the floor with 3 sationary cameras. Which were obviosuly gone for the Wed.Show. A mobile camera, 2 remote control arm cameras, 3 hand held. It was an elaborate production. Security was non-existent and it very much like getting to see the band in a small club. You could hear them speak to each other between songs. Some odd breaks that made the pacing a little off, but that is to be expected. The sound check was done Dreams, the Chain, and Say You Will 1.5 times. The Chain they were having problems with the vocal mix. Say You Will, Lindsey's first harmony vocals were too overwhelming and the were trying to adjust the mix. The show was at a nice voulme. A loud stereo. Far different from the Wed show which was incredibly loud. As a whole one of the most technically perfect FM shows I have ever seen. Almost perfect mixes/ Lindsey's playing was note perfect. Everyone was in superior voice. Various observations: Stevie went for high notes more than I have heard her do since 1982. Lindsey has added to the I'm So Afraid solo a whole new part. More on that in Wed's discussion. Lindsey's is playing on Stand Back. You could tell in such a intimate setting. A lot of Synth parts are being played by the Keyboard Tech located below the stage. Say Goodbye, a song I really like, but felt has fallen flat live. Tuesday in such a quiet setting....It was incredible. The harmonies exquisite. The emotion real and conveyed. I will write about Wednesday soon. Have to go now.