Buckingham Leads the Mac Attack, Review from Raleigh N&O

[Carolina Girl]

http://newsobserver.com/features/sto...-3208450c.html

Buckingham leads the Mac attack


By DAVID MENCONI, Staff Writer

RALEIGH--You rarely hear Lindsey Buckingham cited in the pantheon of guitar gods. But if Fleetwood Mac's latest reunion tour proves anything, it's that Buckingham belongs up there with anybody you care to name.
Saturday night at Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek, the band played a 2 1/2-hour show that didn't scrimp on the songs people paid as much as $100 to hear. Buckingham was just right on the classics, without being slavish about duplicating anything note for note. He also revived half-forgotten oldies such as 1987's "Big Love" with an almost flamenco-style acoustic rendition. Even lesser songs of recent vintage came to life as his solos took flight, exploding into the equivalent of six-string fireworks displays.
Buckingham plays with an idiosyncratic fingerpicking style that looks more like what you'd use on a banjo than an electric guitar. Occasionally, he even beat on the strings with the palms of his hands. Then he'd take the instrument off and fling it away, its work done. He changed guitars after every song (which must make him a challenge for his guitar technician). In all, his guitar pyrotechnics matched the lightning flickering behind the stage.

As for the rest of the group, Mick Fleetwood grinned maniacally and still came across as the drummer you'd get if you hired the Monty Python comedy troupe to cast your band. Bassist John McVie was modest to a fault, staying in the shadows as he thumped away. Stevie Nicks wore a corset so tight that it almost hurt to look at her as she sang around the high notes she can't hit anymore on "Rhiannon."

The hit parade began immediately with the opening two songs, "The Chain" and "Dreams," both from 1977's definitive "Rumours," an album that chronicled the disintegration of the group's romantic relationships.

"Most people know by now that our story has been a difficult and strange one," Buckingham said early on. "But the point is, here we are now."

Indeed, the dynamic between Buckingham and band mate/ex-lover Nicks dominated long stretches of the evening and made for some of its most moving interludes. "Sara" was lovely, with the video screens showing footage of Fleetwood Mac from 25 years ago. "Tusk" was peculiar, as Buckingham and Nicks pretended to box and eventually hugged instead. And "Landslide" was almost too emotional, just Nicks singing and Buckingham playing. As Buckingham picked out the song's solo on an acoustic guitar, Nicks stood behind him with her hands lightly on his shoulders. They clasped hands at the end and he gave her a chaste kiss on the head.

Keyboardist Christine McVie is sitting out this tour, and her absence was felt -- no "Say You Love Me" or "You Make Loving Fun." But in a nice gesture, the group dusted off McVie's "Don't Stop" during the encore, a group-vocal version in which no one stepped out from the ensemble.

Fleetwood also delivered the inevitable drum solo during the encore, with his body wired for sound with pads he "played" by tapping. Then he thanked the crowd for coming and bellowed, "The Mac is back!"


Staff writer David Menconi can be reached at 829-4759 or [email protected].

[wondergirl9847]

Funny to me that we get two TOTALLY different perceptions of Lindsey's talent. This review is for the Jacksonville, Florida show.


http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin...15683254.shtml

Fleetwood Mac's mythology thrives with a limp

By EYDER PERALTA
The Times-Union
Watching Stevie Nicks take the stage Sunday at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, you could have easily forgotten what it was that has made her one of the most incredible women in rock. The years have taken their toll: She was helped up the stairs and she ambled around the stage, with a smile that choked on itself and then turned serious.

But then she sang, and the charm was new all over again. It was then that you realized that Nicks is the glue that still holds this band together, that she has gone from a twirling gypsy who rambled about love to a wise matron who admires it from afar.

She didn't play any instruments, as she has always done, and she watched Lindsey Buckingham as he laid down guitar solo after guitar solo. And when they played Landslide or Say Goodbye the energy that once existed between Buckingham and Nicks was there: They stared at each other longingly and everything that could've been was right there on that stage. And even if it was all an act, even if after the show they hiked on two separate buses and never spoke, this was a time when the mythology of rock came to life.

Before Beautiful Child, Nicks explained that it was a song she thought she could never sing live. It's a song about growing up, about disillusion that turns into acceptance.

"I'm not a child anymore," she sang. "I'm tall enough to reach the stars / I'm old enough / to love you from afar / Too trusting? Yes / But then women usually are."

And out of that band, whenever Nicks took centerstage, everyone listened. Maybe she has gained a little weight, and maybe her twirls have become wobbly, but she's become a woman: a woman who sings songs with a deeper understanding than she did when she was young and all coked up.

Buckingham on the other hand, spent the show gliding through the fretboard without any rhyme or reason. He shouted lyrics angrily and dropped solos that were unsettled and uninspired. It was as if he was purposely making it loud and fast to hide the emotions underneath the playing. It was as if he was trying something funny to keep himself from crying.

Even on Big Love, where he stayed on stage alone, he snapped at the guitar strings and he sang as if he was irreparably hurt, as if he was getting back at the audience for something they had done. He stumped off the stage, screaming in an unlikely fury.

The show was at times over the top, perhaps because Buckingham seemed unreasonably angry. But Mick Fleetwood contributed. He worked his way through World Turning with a drum machine on his belly and he screamed an annoying yelp and the energy that once was the biggest rock band in the world was blunted by egos, perhaps, who had to play five minute solos that gave up sincerity for show.

But it was all okay, when they encored with Don't Stop and ended it with Nicks centerstage on Goodbye Baby. And she wore a golden shawl and her voice echoed a deeper shade of her former self, and just as the song ended, she bowed out, gracefully.

[Lala]

Originally Posted by wondergirl9847

Funny to me that we get two TOTALLY different perceptions of Lindsey's talent. This review is for the Jacksonville, Florida show. Buckingham on the other hand, spent the show gliding through the fretboard without any rhyme or reason. He shouted lyrics angrily and dropped solos that were unsettled and uninspired. It was as if he was purposely making it loud and fast to hide the emotions underneath the playing. It was as if he was trying something funny to keep himself from crying.

Even on Big Love, where he stayed on stage alone, he snapped at the guitar strings and he sang as if he was irreparably hurt, as if he was getting back at the audience for something they had done. He stumped off the stage, screaming in an unlikely fury.

The show was at times over the top, perhaps because Buckingham seemed unreasonably angry. But Mick Fleetwood contributed. He worked his way through World Turning with a drum machine on his belly and he screamed an annoying yelp and the energy that once was the biggest rock band in the world was blunted by egos, perhaps, who had to play five minute solos that gave up sincerity for show.

OUCH!!!!!

[CarneVaca]

F***ing Floridians! First they give the presidency to the worse primate that's ever occupied the office. Now they're trying to make our man look bad. It is clear this reviewer is an imbecile. The first one, however, is exceedingly astute!

[stefan]

Well guess how much I care for somebodies opinion who praises and believes in the rehearsed interaction of those two...

Read it again and roll your eyes please:
"They stared at each other longingly and everything that could've been was right there on that stage."--- that`s enough for me

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by CarneVaca

It is clear this reviewer is an imbecile. The first one, however, is exceedingly astute!

If we take the assessment of Lindsey's stage contributions from the first review, and those of Stevie's from the second, then we would have the most astute review yet.

He provides the explosive guitar-oriented rock and roll energy with the appropriate amount of edginess, and she provides the balance with her warmth, wisdom and graceful deportment.

[strandinthewind]

Ahhh - its good to know chiffonheads and LB egoists exist in the press as well as here

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Ahhh - its good to know chiffonheads and LB egoists exist in the press as well as here

Not egoists, fancy pants elitists!

[ShangriLaTroubl]

I agree JohnnyStew..I think they both add an equal amount of energy to the show...Lindsey is in no way, IMO , mad and trying to hide his sadness with anger...that reviewer was way off, and Stevie isn't standing there these days squeezed in her corset mumbling to Dreams...I believe they both give a lot, and I respect them equally for that..Lindsey is the guitar god who gets down there with us fans (thank God I finally got to play the guitar with him!!) and makes sure he acknowledges all the fans in front of him...Stevie's interaction is harder to obtain, and she tries to keep her performances a little more serious, and mysterious..and giving in here and there..and making interactions....Sure their stage interaction is staged, they know everyone will eat it up, and even though i can say this, I eat it up each time too!
They put on a hell of a show, Mick, John, Stevie and Lindsey are Fleetwood Mac as it stands today...I respect them all equally, and I am so thankful there are still here playing

Chris