Open Letter to The Mac

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by AbbiJoy78

I've had almost every year since of solo Stevie and Lindsey tours to satisfy me. But when they are together and Fleetwood Mac is on that stage, well it IS true -- it's about CHEMISTRY and hearing those great songs, because one day there will be fans who come here, who right now are only 10 years old, but in ten years they will be 20 and coming here for the first time, and guess what...they will be envious of us, and they'll be wanting to hear the stories of when they toured, because FM probably won't be touring in 2023! You know? So, it's not that I am drinking the Kool-Aid, or falling for some scheme of theirs to tour for the wrong reasons, and I'm not against ever hearing criticism for my favorite band. What I AM....is grateful no matter what, because even though I am a latecomer fan in Fleetwood Mac's career, I STILL got to see them LIVE in my lifetime. We are lucky we have that because not everyone will. Even if I didn't see the rockin' bangin' kick-ass FM of 1979, and even though I missed Sisters Of The Moon in 1982 etc....I got to SEE them, in some form, perform this great music. I was a part of something. In my lifetime. In THEIR lifetime.
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I'm grateful for the esacapism I got last weekend. Fleetwood Mac gave that to me. Moments of my life where all I felt was a tingle in my gut from the electric anxiety of seeing them live. Where all I felt was happiness. That's what they gave to me.

Great post - I love your sentiment! Now if only some other fans could understand, like you do, that some of us are a bit worn out on the same ole'. It doesn't make us any less of a fan than you are. We're just...burnt out, I guess.

*****

I think it's funny that, over the years, we've discussed so many aspects of the band on this board, with nearly gleeful abandon. Drug use, affairs, and infidelity. We've talked about how much we hate Stevie's shoes or her dress. How ridiculous Lindsey can be in interviews with his talk of 'cycles'. How much of a moocher Mick is. We've talked about how certain albums or songs are terrible, we've criticized lyrics, shamed them for not recording the demos we like, or for changing a song we liked into something we don't. We talk sh*t about how Judy Wong was treated, about Lindsey being an abusive jerk, about Stevie being a clueless narcissistic primadona. About Stevie putting cocaine in her butt, or having abortions. We've talked about who was screwing around with who and what a good or bad person they are because so-and-so was married. We routinely play games where we vote away songs we don't like. We've discussed songs that we wish had never been! Producers have been trashed - we've even said some admittedly terrible things about members of Stevie's family and Lindsey's wife.

But a tour setlist is off the table? A tour setlist is *too much*. Talking about the lack of an album or releasing new music? Over. The. Line. Not wanting to fork out money to see, essentially, the same tour as before, and before that - that is the final straw? That's SO NEGATIVE that it's enough to bring into question just how much of a fan one really is? Trashing Mick for greed, shaming Stevie for her footwear, publicly dicussing whose hotel room Lindsey was in - these are all ok, but the tour is off limits. Whatever.

For those who don't know or weren't around, this happens for every tour - solo or together as a band. There are always those who aren't content, and they talk about it, and inevitably there are those who just can't stand to read anything critical of Fleetwood Mac (or especially Stevie) when it comes to touring, and will point fingers and call you names for not being a yes-man.