1997 FM Concert Reviews

[soul_drifter333]

By this point FM was a scripted affair. It was a multi-million gamble and they weren't going to take any chances. By gamble I mean they stood to make a lot of money and didn't want to take chances. I have to say Lindsey is the worse with the scripted dialog at the shows and interviews. I get they didn't want anyone to say anything embarrassing like "I'm not the boss", but it can be really boring for a rock show. That's one of the reasons I didn't like that version of Silver Springs. It in the wrong key causing her to strain and the ending is so planned out that I don't find it believable.

I only got to see one show. The Charlotte show got cancelled the day of the ticket on sale. By the time I bought a ticket to Atlanta I was left with a lawn (no) seat. They booked an outside show in Nov and it was ridiculously freezing outside, but there were a still few nice moments. Stevie wore a big coat through the whole show and it started late because the heaters on stage caused power issues. Who booked an outdoor concert in Nov?

[Penguin Emeritus]

"Miss McVie also shined. Sporting a velvet blazer that might have been worn previously by a member of the Partridge Family, Miss McVie precisely re-created classics such as "You Make Loving Fun" and "Don't Stop," from Fleetwood Mac' 1977 megahit album "Rumours."---

yeesh. ouch lol. i thought her blazers were cute. And why did they call these women 'Miss', are they 16? 'Ms.' should be a given for all women at this point, just as Mr. is for men. and so many of the articles spelled lindsey's name wrong, and i think i saw Rumours misspelled as well.

i do nitpick haha. interesting reviews though.

-Lis

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Oh yes, same as the NYC concert, including the "if my mom could see me now". Fortunately John was wearing a hawaiian shirt so I could realize I was at a different show.

So true. I never dreamed I would see those 5 together again. Perhaps I had played The Dance too many times before going but I remember feeling guilty walking away that I enjoyed the 1990 Farewell/BTM tour more. It had far more energy and fun than The Dance and it was real arena rock klonopin and all!

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

So true. I never dreamed I would see those 5 together again. Perhaps I had played The Dance too many times before going but I remember feeling guilty walking away that I enjoyed the 1990 Farewell/BTM tour more. It had far more energy and fun than The Dance and it was real arena rock klonopin and all!

But I remember they mentioned Lindsey's family in the audience and said hello to them, and were so glad they came to see their father and the band on Thanksgiving day. That was a nice gesture. It was nov 27 in NYC.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Penguin Emeritus

so many of the articles spelled lindsey's name wrong, and i think i saw Rumours misspelled as well.

i do nitpick haha. interesting reviews though.

-Lis

People who can't spell should immediately accept their status as third class citizens.

Joking? Meh...

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

People who can't spell should immediately accept their status as third class citizens.

Partially agree. Common people who are not constantly reading articles about an artist (like we do about the Mac members), may mispell a name because they don't remember it correctly. There are surnames that I sometimes doubt—do they have a double t, a double n, an s or z, etc. And they aren't names as complicated as Schwarzenegger.

But a journalist? That is unforgivable.

[anusha]

I was at the show at Great Woods outside of Boston -- it was a fun show, and to me they sounded pretty good. I had watched The Dance a gazillion times, and people did hang on the S/L interactions back in those days -- there were a ton of fan reviews as well on this site as well as the Nicksfix, I think.

It was a good show, but yes, very scripted and sort of cheesy because of how scripted even the "moments" between Stevie and Lindsey were. On the one hand, they were kind of stuck because people saw the TV version which seems to have been genuine when it was recorded, and now they had to play that out because that was one of the things that made The Dance go viral (before we called it viral). I think some folks were naive/willfully blind about the fact that S/L were playing it up for the show, but many others were happy with it.

I never got to see FM live before The Dance, so for that I'm grateful that I got to see that tour with all of them, and the one they did after Chris came back. Of the 1997-present tours, I think SYW might have been the best show, even though I didn't love some of the songs. Stevie and Lindsey both sounded very good, and some of the album tracks that they brought out from Tusk were a real treat.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by anusha

It was a good show, but yes, very scripted and sort of cheesy because of how scripted even the "moments" between Stevie and Lindsey were.

Yes. It was my first time to see them live, too. So the "scripted" didn't bother me nor diminish my excitement. But yes I do remember thinking... is it usual for bands to always say the same thing at all their shows on a tour? Anyway what did bother me was the MSG staff that didn't allow us to dance, they wanted to see the whole show sitting down, so ridiculous.

However, I remember some ledgies comments that year. Can't remember who or at what show, somebody told that the last verse You could be my... silver spring... Blue green... colors flaaashin', was sung by Lindsey instead of Stevie. And another comment about Stevie put her head on Lindsey's shoulder while singing some lines of SS. So there were some variations.

[Macfan4life]

Stevie, Lindsey, and Mick were really happy but it was so obvious that Chris was not enjoying herself. Its the only time in her life she has told Mick NO. Her marriage was on the rocks, the 1994 earthquake happened, and she was still mourning her father's passing while her estate was being finished.
If I could rearrange a page or two in time, I wish they would have recorded a studio album before hitting the road. 1996 was a sleepy year for all of them. It would have been something.

[David]

Originally Posted by anusha

I was at the show at Great Woods outside of Boston -- it was a fun show, and to me they sounded pretty good. I had watched The Dance a gazillion times, and people did hang on the S/L interactions back in those days -- there were a ton of fan reviews as well on this site as well as the Nicksfix, I think.

We had such fun on the Penguin that year, anusha. Remember how we talked about the mysterious green drink on Christine’s keyboard rig? We had all sorts of conspiracy theories about that.

The Mac was on top of the world (more or less) and it felt good to be a follower — for the first time in about ten years. The years leading up to it, when we assumed that the dive in stature and fortune was permanent, were dry years indeed. It was incredibly embarrassing to tell anyone (for example, at the newspaper where I worked from 1990 to 1996) that I loved this band. Sometimes, I even wondered whether I did or not. But the 1997 reunion cleared out all that stale air, the putrid fumes of has-beens. If I ever write a book about the 1988 to 1995 years, that’s what I’ll call it: The Putrid Fumes of Has-Been

It was a good show, but yes, very scripted and sort of cheesy because of how scripted even the "moments" between Stevie and Lindsey were. On the one hand, they were kind of stuck because people saw the TV version which seems to have been genuine when it was recorded, and now they had to play that out because that was one of the things that made The Dance go viral (before we called it viral). I think some folks were naive/willfully blind about the fact that S/L were playing it up for the show, but many others were happy with it.

I think that concerts and audiences were changing by then, too. Technology and the general way of performing were formulas by then. Too much money was involved for a 1970s spirit to prevail. Bands and managers and booking agents wanted the look of spontaneity without actual spontaneity. In the old days, if you saw Mac play a multi-night run somewhere (like the Forum or the Hollywood Bowl), you would immediately compute all the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between the nightly shows.

But by 1997 (really, by 1987, when I saw two nights in a row somewhere-or-other), one performance of “Say You Love Me” or “Dreams” sounded pretty much like another, including the pitter-patter before and after. Occasionally you got lucky and saw something distinct and sort of funny, like when Stevie was robotically introducing Billy and Rick in 1987 — “I would like to . . .” — but the little flap on her skirt was misbehaving and she abruptly said, “I would like to fix THAT.”

I never got to see FM live before The Dance, so for that I'm grateful that I got to see that tour with all of them, and the one they did after Chris came back. Of the 1997-present tours, I think SYW might have been the best show, even though I didn't love some of the songs. Stevie and Lindsey both sounded very good, and some of the album tracks that they brought out from Tusk were a real treat.

Say You Will was a great tour, for the time, probably the most energetic and even a little reckless. But the 1997 tour at least gave us some unusual moments: “Not That Funny” with extended jam, “Oh Daddy” with Christine on piano, “Farmer’s Daughter” with all three on vocals. I mean, the night wasn’t entirely predictable (even though the smell of Big Money was everywhere).

[Mr Scarrott]

I remember feeling crestfallen that the Mac never really extended their tour to the UK in 1997/98. It was a long wait to 2015 but that final tour of the five certainly felt more joyous, despite it's scripted moments, from my experience and from what I have read of the former.

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by David

The Mac was on top of the world (more or less) and it felt good to be a follower — for the first time in about ten years. The years leading up to it, when we assumed that the dive in stature and fortune was permanent, were dry years indeed. It was incredibly embarrassing to tell anyone (for example, at the newspaper where I worked from 1990 to 1996) that I loved this band. Sometimes, I even wondered whether I did or not. But the 1997 reunion cleared out all that stale air, the putrid fumes of has-beens. If I ever write a book about the 1988 to 1995 years, that’s what I’ll call it: The Putrid Fumes of Has-Been.

i love that book title! anyway, yes to all the above, it's hard to believe how the mac had sort of just 'drifted away' in those sad years before the dance reunion. I really thought they'd had their day and were perhaps headed towards irrelevance. so glad they came back to us.

--Lis

[soul_drifter333]

The marching band at the end was quite a moment and it still puts a big smile on my face. The rest of The Dance is pretty meh. Wouldn't that have been wild if they would have had a marching band on every show of the Tusk tour. It proves that were on some pretty powerful stuff to think they could pull that off in every town.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Mr Scarrott

It was a long wait to 2015 but that final tour of the five certainly felt more joyous, despite it's scripted moments, from my experience and from what I have read of the former.

I agree I saw them happier in 2014 than in 1997, specially and definitely Christine. I saw Lindsey at his peak of happiness and energy in 2009. Stevie's excessive prominence was in 2014, not in the two previous shows I saw. She did well in 2009, but I thought she looked a bit tired.

I loved the 1997 show because it was my first opportunity to watch them live. But I was at "210" seat segment at MSG. It's in the upper level and not close to the stage. There were no big screens so I couldn't see their face expressions. Their cloned phrases from the Dance video didn't bother me, but it did pique my curiosity.

Stevie was good in all three shows I've been, I'd say an average level, I mean singing. But too much speech in 2014. At the end of that show (after Songbird), she stayed on the stage and talked for quite a while. The audio wasn't very good, and I honestly couldn't understand much; remember, english isn't my native language. She was talking happily, but since I couldn't understand well, I took the opportunity to leave the venue before she said goodbye, trying to avoid the crowd.

Lindsey was great in 2009, his best performance I've watched. And Christine, 2014 was her year. Again, that's my perception about the only three concerts I went to.

[anusha]

Originally Posted by David

We had such fun on the Penguin that year, anusha. Remember how we talked about the mysterious green drink on Christine’s keyboard rig? We had all sorts of conspiracy theories about that.

The Mac was on top of the world (more or less) and it felt good to be a follower — for the first time in about ten years. The years leading up to it, when we assumed that the dive in stature and fortune was permanent, were dry years indeed. It was incredibly embarrassing to tell anyone (for example, at the newspaper where I worked from 1990 to 1996) that I loved this band. Sometimes, I even wondered whether I did or not. But the 1997 reunion cleared out all that stale air, the putrid fumes of has-beens. If I ever write a book about the 1988 to 1995 years, that’s what I’ll call it: The Putrid Fumes of Has-Been

It really was a fun time! I had been a fan through Tango, and I just couldn't get into Behind the Mask. I had liked some of the Stevie solo hits, but what really brought me back into the fold was Out of the Cradle. I saw his PBS special, including the acoustic Big Love, and I was sold. To see that live during The Dance was incredible. I know it's become old hat by now, but I still enjoy seeing it in his solo shows.

After seeing the unseemly way it all splintered, it's easy for me to look back and be jaded, but at the time it was a lot of fun, though more manufactured to capitalize on the Stevie/Lindsey lore than I would have liked in retrospect. But that is, in some ways, what keeps younger people still fascinated -- any number of tiktoks are devoted to it, Daisy Jones and the Six and the play Stereophonic are poorly disguised copies of their story.

I think many bands played more or less the same show with similar banter every night, but the main thing that I see changing was the ability of fans to share recaps almost instantaneously on the internet (and later video) made the repetition more evident to the average fan who might have read or seen prior versions of a show.