Last Night In London, 9/27

[applebucked]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I think John would care if he thought it might hurt Christine's feelings. You know, John asked to make changes to the John and Christine bio that Lisa Adelson wrote for THIS site, so there are some things he cares about.

I forgot to say that last night Mick called John his best friend, "certainly in this lifetime."

Oh, really? Wow, that's very lovely of him that he still cared about her to this day.

And Mick and John's friendship has always been one things I love about this band too.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by applebucked

Oh, really? Wow, that's very lovely of him that he still cared about her to this day.

And Mick and John's friendship has always been one things I love about this band too.

Yeah, it's impossible to know what they were mad about. It might have nothing to do with the article or Christine. I just know John was mad and he got over it. Stevie was avoiding John too, but then she stopped after about 15 or 20 minutes. Later on, there was a guy who kept yelling to John from the audience and Stevie acknowledged him and pointed to John and John made a "get out of here" hand gesture and then she and John were pals from then on out.

With Lindsey Stevie was just ... she wasn't giving him her angry death stare. She was more giving him the, "I'm dying of consumption and I haven't the strength to interact with you" sad face more than anything else. Oh, kiss my hand, if you will stranger and I will politely respond. She was quiet and not spunky with him. But with Mick she was her same old, playful self.

Now it's true she may also have been sad about saying goodbye to Chris. The way she looked during SOTM I would have taken bets that she would be crying by the end of the show. She surprised me. So, she definitely looked sad, but she was also not too sad to josh with Mick as usual.

Michele

[applebucked]

I think the last option would be the most likely one.

[michelej1]

Uncut Magazine

Fleetwood Mac, London O2 Arena, September 27, 2013

Read more at http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/the-view...qVqRkKJD8mP.99

“Life is good,” reflects Mick Fleetwood. We are over two hours into Fleetwood Mac’s third and final show at the O2, and it has fallen to Fleetwood to introduce his fellow bandmates on stage.

While Fleetwood was talking for the most part about the enduring friendships that exist between the various members of Fleetwood Mac, he could just as easily be surveying the last, remarkable 12 months in the band’s career. This sprawling world tour has been a tremendous success – “We’re doing the best business we’ve done in 20 years,” Lindsey Buckingham recently told Rolling Stone. The 35th anniversary of Rumours earlier this year provided a useful reminder of the band's most successful and notorious period, while the Extended Play EP showcased a clutch of new songs that seem redolent of the Rumours-era sound. Elsewhere, there are the broader cultural threads that have pillowed Fleetwood Mac’s 2013 – the revival of the soft rock aesthetic, and the kind of West Coast vibes evoked on Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories and Haim’s Days Are Gone.

But in many respects Fleetwood Mac are actually a more interesting proposition away from the Rumours material. The reissue a few months ago of the band’s 1969 album, Then Play On was a terrific reminder of the magical guitar interplay between Peter Green and Danny Kirwan. Indeed, while it’s nice enough to watch Christine McVie join her old band for “Don’t Stop”, it would have been more remarkable if Green had strolled on stage to play “The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown)”. Tonight, the band’s decision to foreground songs from Tusk is sort-of brave – a great chunk of the audience seem bewildered by this – while the weird tensions between Buckingham's songs and Nicks' is actually quite compelling. To some extent, Buckingham and Nicks might as well be in different bands. Buckingham (who, I should point out, plays without a plectrum) seems to think he’s in some early 80s New Wave band for great chunks of the set, throwing punk rock shapes or shredding; at one point, during the extended coda for "I'm So Afraid", he seems to think he's in the middle of some wonderful, digressive Crazy Horse jam. His introduction to the Tusk section of the show involves a lecture in the merits of art against commerce; he clearly still has an almost neurotic attachment to that particular material, as his need to explain – or, perhaps, defend – it suggests. Later, his acoustic treatment of “Big Love” displays his extraordinary fretwork skills (incidentally, those solo albums are amazing). He and Nicks are gracious with each other – if, say, she’s singing a song, she’ll step back a little from the mic to let him play a solo – it’s slightly formal, a little awkward, you might say. Nicks, meanwhile, doesn’t entirely seem comfortable during the faster Buckingham numbers – she totters visibly during “Not That Funny”. Sounding a little like Edie Falco in The Sopranos when she speaks, and dressed as if she’s going for dinner with Big Edie and Little Edie at Grey Gardens, she seems clearly more comfortable with the soft focus Laurel Canyon Goth of “Rhiannon” and “Gypsy” than Buckingham’s angrier compositions. Her attempt to explain the provenance of the Extended Play track “Without You”, originally written by Nicks in the early Seventies, lasts longer than the song itself.

Behind them, but in their own ways no less interesting, are Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Fleetwood himself is an engaging figure, a drumming Gandalf, surrounded by his kit, a giant Zildjian cymbal behind him, windchimes within easy reach. Fleetwood comes from a generation of idiosyncratic drummers – Ginger Baker, John Bonham, Keith Moon – and inevitably there are moments here, like “Tusk” or the mammoth solo on “World Turning”, where he gets to show us what he can do. Next to Fleetwood, on his right, stands John McVie: these days, arguably the most interesting member of Fleetwood Mac. I find McVie fascinating; in a band full of personalities, he stands out, partly because he has less of a public voice that his colleagues, but partly because he is an excellent musician whose contribution often feels critically overlooked in the Mac narrative. It would be reductive, I think, to see McVie as just the staunch backline, the anchor for Buckingham and Nicks’ very different creative impulses. Certainly, McVie’s ability to serve a song discretely and sympathetically is what is required of a skilled, high-level bass player of his standard. But in truth, McVie’s story stretches right back to the early days of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers – he played alongside Clapton and Mick Taylor, and presumably knows where the bodies are buried. Watching him tonight, though, he is a man who appears happiest when diligently going about his business. There’s something of the Charlie Watts about John McVie in that respect – both professionals, untroubled or uninterested in the spotlight, who came from a tradition where straightforward craftsmanship is highly valued. There is one moment, though, where, quietly and seemingly unbidden, McVie goes to help his ex-wife off the stage at the end of “Don’t Stop”; it’s a gallant gesture and one that you hope says much about the kind of man McVie might be.

At two hours 40 minutes, the show could do with pruning. While giving the audience value for their money is commendable, the pool of material from which the band draw is limited - in this case, to five albums. You wonder what kind of setlist they could put together if only they'd go back further. As it is, the first hour or so – roughly up until “Landslide” – is well paced and the song choice seems thought out. It stutters then – a mighty “Gold Dust Woman” a notable exception – until “Go Your Own Way” and the first encore. The arrival of Christine McVie – Fleetwood Mac’s “Mick Taylor moment” – is understandably met with the largest cheer of the night. But as with Mick Taylor’s guest appearances with the Rolling Stones this year, her arrival reminds you of how significant her contribution was, and her departure seems cruelly premature.

As someone who is admittedly mildly indifferent to Rumours, I can't help wondering whether Fleetwood and McVie would consider going out on a smaller scale than this, to present an alternative iteration of Fleetwood Mac, celebrating Future Games, Bare Trees and all the other great and interesting Fleetwood Mac albums that have slipped between the cracks. It's a nice dream, isn't it?

Michael Bonner

Read more at http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/the-view...qVqRkKJD8mP.99

[applebucked]

I agree with the sentiment that they should've gone further back in terms to catalogue. Lindsey would do well with Kirwan/Welch-era material (with Stevie singing backup), plus maybe some Peter Green tunes. They did well with Green Manalishi and Hypnotized way back.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by MikeInNV

I can't really see John giving a flying f**k about that interview. And even if we aren't reading way more into Stevie's interview than we should be, I think Mick's Playboy interview was far worse.

Also, do you remember the Rock Family Trees interview? It was John who complained about all the negative press Stevie was doing back then and said that she is saying all of her time with FM was bad and that she was telling a bunch of lies. Clearly, he cared about interviews.

This Mojo thing is not important to him, but I can easily believe that any behavior or climate that does anything to sour what should be just a joyous reunion with Christine would upset him quite a bit.

10 years ago, Christine didn't name names, but she said some people were mad about her leaving and that she kept in touch with Stevie and Mick (at that time) occasionally, so I took it that John and Lindsey were the ones who were mad. Later she obviously made up with John and said that they exchange recipes, gardening tips, etc. Who would want to take a step backwards from that? I don't think he wants her to be in the middle of band politics that can distance people again and create bitterness that may never be reconciled, considering that they are aging and time is short.

John may not even know about the Mojo blurb, but he does know what's going on behind the scenes with the band (which may include the same subject matter as the Mojo comments) and maybe those going-ons have not been smooth these last days. Michele

[Deeshere]

Originally Posted by applebucked

I created a playlist of all the "Don't Stop" vids I could find.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...CbNq5v58WKcpqk

Nice playlist. There are also some videos posted on page 4 of this thread. I don't know if you have them all on your playlist or not because I did not compare the two list.

[applebucked]

Also, John may never seem to care about things, but if it concerns Christine in any manner, he does speak up about it, and is not shy to do so.

[applebucked]

Originally Posted by Deeshere

Nice playlist. There are also some videos posted on page 4 of this thread. I don't know if you have them all on your playlist or not because I did not compare the two list.

Thanks. I only included the "Don't Stop" performances, including the ones on page 4.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by applebucked

Also, John may never seem to care about things, but if it concerns Christine in any manner, he does speak up about it, and is not shy to do so.

And no matter who spoke up, John, Lindsey or Christine herself, I think Stevie was much more mindful of not crowding Christine on Friday, following the way Wednesday's appearance played out. Stevie was definitely standing back a little and letting it be more of a group thing than it had been on Friday. Very egalitarian.

It also tickled me when they went to take the group bow and Lindsey reached for Stevie's hand and she used her left hand to hold Christine's hand instead of giving it to him.

Michele

[applebucked]

^ and all of that's what I loved about Friday.

[iamnotafraid]

Originally Posted by applebucked

I agree with the sentiment that they should've gone further back in terms to catalogue. They did well with Green Manalishi and Hypnotized way back.

I disagree with that sentiment.
They have plenty of songs from
the albums of the 5 to choose
from.

If they do half-hearted versions of
their songs, why would they do any
better with songs they didn't have
anything to do with?

I imagine Peter Green's songs were
pretty much done because they didn't
have enough material of their own to
pick from at the time.

How I'd love to pick their setlist.

_________________________________

I need to stop writing on here. I sound
like I don't like them very much any more.
But...

[applebucked]

Without Christine, around 1/3 of that catalog is out (save for a few), but yeah it's still a sizeable list. Couldn't hurt to do a couple of previous lineup tunes, especially in places where those lineups have a sizeable following in.

[iamnotafraid]

Originally Posted by applebucked

Couldn't hurt to do a couple of previous lineup tunes, especially in places where those lineups have a sizeable following in.

I guess I'm thinking "if I were Lindsey" I wouldn't have
any interest in doing someone else's songs. Especially
Fleetwood Mac songs that had nothing to do with him
or Stevie.

[MikeInNV]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Also, do you remember the Rock Family Trees interview? It was John who complained about all the negative press Stevie was doing back then and said that she is saying all of her time with FM was bad and that she was telling a bunch of lies. Clearly, he cared about interviews.

This Mojo thing is not important to him, but I can easily believe that any behavior or climate that does anything to sour what should be just a joyous reunion with Christine would upset him quite a bit.

10 years ago, Christine didn't name names, but she said some people were mad about her leaving and that she kept in touch with Stevie and Mick (at that time) occasionally, so I took it that John and Lindsey were the ones who were mad. Later she obviously made up with John and said that they exchange recipes, gardening tips, etc. Who would want to take a step backwards from that? I don't think he wants her to be in the middle of band politics that can distance people again and create bitterness that may never be reconciled, considering that they are aging and time is short.

John may not even know about the Mojo blurb, but he does know what's going on behind the scenes with the band (which may include the same subject matter as the Mojo comments) and maybe those going-ons have not been smooth these last days. Michele

Well that's a possibility....there could be huge drama behind the scenes. I just don't think Mojo is on his radar, and if it is, he likely only knows of the blurb, not the whole interview, and I just don't think that little excerpt is so blasphemous.....though perhaps Mojo tried to make it that way.