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It's No Rumour: Buckingham will play Kernersville

Lindsey Buckingham will perform at 9 p.m. Friday at Bucked Up Super Saloon, 1160 N.C. 66 South, Kernersville. Doors open at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $40-$55, $200 for a table of four.

See www.buckedup supersaloon.com or...

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By: LISA O'DONNELL |
Published: August 02, 2012
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LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM'S ONE-MAN SHOW will take him to New Orleans, Austin, Chicago, Atlanta — and Kernersville.

Let us pause here to ponder the incongruity of the previous sentence.

Once you've finished scratching your head, let us commence to celebrate, because it's not every day that a musician of Buckingham's caliber blows into town.

Buckle up, K-Vegas, you're about to get seared with some serious star power.

Buckingham, a Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer with a musical pedigree as sizable as his 1977-era afro, will play Bucked Up Super Saloon on Friday. It's a relatively new music venue that typically is host to regional country and Southern rock acts, with an occasional Zumba night for good measure.

So, landing Buckingham, best known as the guitarist for Fleetwood Mac, is quite a coup.

Marilyn Ingram, who books bands for the venue, said Buckingham's management contacted her about hosting him for one of his four shows in North Carolina.

With Fleetwood Mac on hiatus, Buckingham has taken to the road, playing his second leg of shows in support of last year's acclaimed album, "Seeds We Sow."

Buckingham has brought his solo show to North Carolina before, playing energetic shows in Durham last year and Asheville in 2007. But this is his first appearance in the Piedmont.

"He's absolutely a feather in our cap," Ingram said. "This is going to be really, really special."

Though Buckingham has long maintained his preference for studio work, he is no slouch as a live performer. Whether employing his distinctive finger-picking style or wailing away on one of his many classic-rock solos, Buckingham is a whirling dervish of a guitar player in concert, fully engaged in the moment, as creatively alive as he was in his arena rock days when Fleetwood Mac was the hottest band in the world.

Which is good news for fans, because at 63, with his legacy intact, Buckingham could phone it in.

But that's not his style, as anyone who has seen him perform can attest.

Buckingham comes to Kernersville (sorry, but that's just never going to sound right) at a time when his creative juices are percolating as never before. Over the past six years, he's released three solo albums ("Under the Skin," "Gift of Screws" and "Seeds We Sow"), equaling the number of solo releases he had from 1981 to 1992.

His classic "Go Your Own Way" might have been written as a kiss-off to ex-flame Stevie Nicks in 1976, but some 35 years later it aptly describes how Buckingham has approached making music in the 21st century, a visionary forging his own path, even though it cost him major-label support ("Seeds We Sow" was a self-release) and means he has to play the occasional musical outpost to support the album.

In interviews over the past year, Buckingham has talked about his split musical personality, making mainstream music and touring with Mac, "the big machine," versus his off-kilter solo output, "the small machine."

The big machine pays the bills and feeds the ego, but the small machine is a better reflection of his musical heart. Compare that with the radio-friendly Nicks, who once again is playing arenas and sheds this summer with Rod Stewart (The two played Greensboro on Wednesday) and showing up on such fluff as "American Idol" and "The Voice."

Friday's show at Bucked Up Super Saloon will feature a mix of songs from both machines, a blend of favorites from the Mac canon, some of his best solo songs ("Trouble," for instance) and lots of new work from "Seeds We Sow."

The big machine, gathering dust since 2009 to the dismay of Mac fans, is expected to crank back up in 2013. Nicks recently told "CBS This Morning" that the band will reconvene in 2013 for a tour.

Is a Kernersville stop too much to ask?

lo'[email protected] (336) 727-7420