Birmingham Arena show cancelled...

[PenguinHead]

I feel the pain and frustration of the fans who had tickets to the canceled show. You invested so much anticipation, time and money into the event.

Since 1981, I've gone to hundreds of concerts. I've experienced only one cancelled show. In the mid 80s I was driving to a venue to see Elton John, listening to the radio. One and half hours into the two hour commute I heard the DJ say the show was just cancelled. I was devastated. I'd be even more traumatized if I had to take the greater lengths and plans some of you made to attend the show. I hope most of you can recover and make it to the rescheduled show.

I've had concern about the demands of this tour, and the toll it's taking on their well-being. I hope Christine recovers quickly. I know they dropped Seven Wonders and Songbird from the set in the latter part of the US tour. Not sure why.

I'm sure Fleetwood Mac feels bad about disappointing their fans with the cancellation. If they were not so lock-step in their shows and set lists, they could have done some rearranging and performed without Christine. But they are a band on autopilot; flying without it is not an option.

Aside from the Elton John show cancellation, two other incidents stand out.
I attended a Jethro Tull show in the 8os and the show ended abruptly after a half hour! They left the stage quickly, without saying anything. The lights came up in the venue. Everyone was in shock, wondering what happened. I still don't know.

In a smaller venue I was at my very first Maria McKee show. She was touring her second album, which I just loved and still think it's one of her best records. She walked on stage and told the audience she was very sick, but would do her best to get through the show. She managed to get through six songs, then had to call it quits. It was heartbreaking. It would have been a fantastic show. It was a once in lifetime chance to hear those album tracks performed because she had a specially formed band (with horns!) to articulate the songs.