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lindsey buckingham made a big sound with his "small engine" at plaza live: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/ent...laza-live.html


Concert review: Lindsey Buckingham at Plaza Live
Concerts — posted by jimabbott on August, 7 2012 10:38 PM

It was a one-man show by Lindsey Buckingham on Tuesday at Plaza Live:

No opening act. Buckingham didn’t even bring a band.

Yet it would be understandable if members of the sold-out crowd might have needed an occasional reminder that the Fleetwood Mac star was working alone. It seemed incredible that one person could deliver such an array of sounds.

Buckingham and his arsenal of a dozen or so guitars, with subtle help from a few effects pedals, offered an impressive overview of his long career with Fleetwood Mac and as a solo performer.

Unlike many solo shows by members of famous bands, Buckingham’s 80 minutes unfolded without lulls between the biggest hits. He referred to his band and solo careers as the “big machine” and ”small machine,” then demonstrated that he can harness both engines effectively.

He blended the big and small in the early moments, shifting from the opening “Cast Away Dreams” (off the 2006 solo album “Under the Skin”) into ”Bleed to Love Her,” a Fleetwood Mac song that first surfaced on 1997’s “The Dance.”

“Thank you all for coming out tonight in the rain for part of this little experiment,” said Buckingham, who wasn’t as chatty as his bandmate Stevie Nicks was last week at Amway Center, but still willing to offer insights into the music.

Even better, his exceptionally intricate guitar technique injected the material with astounding emotional range. In songs such as “Not Too Late,” his fleet finger-picking was feather-light — until it exploded like a match to gasoline into an intense crescendo.

On the instrumental “Stephanie,” Buckingham unleashed a brilliant ringing tone that sounded like chimes. “Go Insane” built from its ominous, slowly creeping introduction into another big finale.

Buckingham used more expressive dynamic shifts to elevate Fleetwood Mac favorite ”Never Going Back Again,” taking the song down to an intimate whisper in the verses. On the other end of the spectrum, he pounded the neck of his guitar in the raucous chorus to “I’m So Afraid,” a song propelled by the addition of booming bass drum.

The solo tour might be the small side of Buckingham’s career, but it still makes a mighty big sound.