Village Voice (Not So Kind) Review of MSG

MacMan · #1 03-20-2009, 02:13 PM

Fleetwood Mac
Madison Square Garden
March 19

VillageVoice

It was sometime during Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's delicate duet performance of the lullabye-like "Never Going Back Again" at last night's Madison Square Garden Fleetwood Mac show when someone behind me opined, "They shouldn't even be allowed to ****ing play these hallowed ****in' halls."

This self-appointed curator of Madison Square Garden, a man who could be best described as what would've happened to Turtle from Entourage had he never gotten out of Queens, was dismayed at the similarity of last night's set to previous Mac gigs he had seen. And while I wouldn't exactly put it the same way, you could empathize with his frustration.

Tonight's most recent incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, a Stevie-John-Mick-Lindsey-and-five-dudes-playing-backup-in-the-shadows set-up, was, according to ticket stubs, on the Unleashed: The Hits 2009 Tour. But despite a set list of nothing but straight-'70s-FM-God-Body-Heat-Rocks this wasn't easy listening.

Fleetwood Mac's well-known extra-musical narrative is about the strong personalities, big demons and contentious conflicts that haunted the band. And their records, especially the classic run from Fleetwood Mac through Tango In The Night, are testaments to the band members' collective ability to overcome their egos and all the upheaval in their lives and make a seamless, often beautiful, sound together. They really were a collective; imbuing any song--be it a Stevie, Lindsey, or Christine--with a sound only the group could produce.

So it was kind of sad watching them balkanize their set in such a decided way: making their performances celebrations of individual achievement rather than group harmony, pummeling the real trophywives of the NYC in the audience with drum and guitar solos, and badly misjudging the pacing and momentum of the set.

The early part of the night peaked with the band's most unselfconscious performance: a blinding take on "I Know I'm Not Wrong" from Tusk that had motorik and sounded more like The Clean than anything else. After a marching-band-free "Tusk," the band went all an-intimate-evening-with... and played a sleepy stretch of quiet jams: "Sara," "Landslide," and the rarely-played-out "Storms."

After a punishing Turkish prison sentence of the Peter-Green-era blues explosion, "Oh Well," and some Mick Fleetwood drum-solo/scream therapy (enlivened only by a great version of Nicks' solo new-wave classic "Stand Back"), the group came into the home stretch: "Go Your Own Way," then break, then "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow." As people started to file out, Turtle piped up, "They got one more; they're gonna do 'Silver Springs.'" And, like clockwork, the band filed out to play the gorgeous mid-tempo break-up song, originally left off Rumors. On this very last song, Fleetwood Mac, playing a tune about tearing yourself apart, actually sounded the most together they had all evening. And despite knowing what was coming all night long, even the self-appointed guardians of these hallowed halls--as they tipped back their white Yankees hats and teared up a little--seemed to finally feel like they got what they paid for.--Chris Ryan

TrueFaith77 · #2 03-20-2009, 02:23 PM

The Village Voice is always wrong.

DigYourGrave · #3 03-20-2009, 02:47 PM

Wouldnt be absolutely hilarious if Turtle was a Ledgie?

HejiraNYC · #4 03-20-2009, 02:52 PM

See, I don't see this review as particularly negative at all. I think the overall theme of the review was that, despite the predictability of the setlist and the reliance on ancient material and ancient drama to carry the show, FM managed to coalesce and redeem themselves by the time "Silver Springs" played. And admittedly, any kind of faint praise in the Village Voice is actually a lot of praise, considering that they fetishize pretty much only the most obscure three-chord playing hipster groups du jour.

macpai · #5 03-20-2009, 02:58 PM

Oh yeah, the hallowed halls of the sucky Knicks. Do not tarnish the suckitude!

wheart · #6 03-20-2009, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

See, I don't see this review as particularly negative at all. I think the overall theme of the review was that, despite the predictability of the setlist and the reliance on ancient material and ancient drama to carry the show, FM managed to coalesce and redeem themselves by the time "Silver Springs" played. And admittedly, any kind of faint praise in the Village Voice is actually a lot of praise, considering that they fetishize pretty much only the most obscure three-chord playing hipster groups du jour.

The review did end on a positive note but it was rather harsh. That's interesting that the "momentum and pacing of the setlist" was mentioned. I hadn't heard that yet in any of the reviews. I think The Mac, at times, has made some poor decisions regarding the running order of the set, especially on The Dance tour. It didn't seem to flow as well as it could. SYW was better.

GODDESS6 · #7 03-20-2009, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macpai

Oh yeah, the hallowed halls of the sucky Knicks. Do not tarnish the suckitude!

omg, that was so funny!!!~

shackin'up · #8 03-20-2009, 04:06 PM

If i didn't miss any, this seem be the first "negativish" officially published review. (apart from those acidfilled-ledgie-reviews) They have had quite some positive response, isn't it MacMan?

Regina · #9 03-20-2009, 04:32 PM

My first reaction?
Hallowed halls???
Since when? It's just a venue. There are lots that are nicer.

(I went to a smaller theater in Boston once. Everyone was yammering about how historic it was and how many fabulous performers played there. I kid you not, two minutes after sitting down, I see a lady in the next section over, sit on her chair and land on the floor. A maintenance worker came out with a drill--rebunged the screw in the chair and told her to sit. Then, in the ladies room, there was a hole behind the women's toilet the size of a small giraffe. I expected wildlife to leap on my lap. Yeah, beware the hallowed halls. They usually are ready for the bulldozers. Although, MSG isn't quite that bad yet)

MacMan · #10 03-20-2009, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shackin'up

If i didn't miss any, this seem be the first "negativish" officially published review. (apart from those acidfilled-ledgie-reviews) They have had quite some positive response, isn't it MacMan?

Yes, everything I've read in the press has been positive so far...

Moz · #11 03-20-2009, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacMan

Stevie-John-Mick-Lindsey-and-five-dudes-playing-backup-in-the-shadows set-up

What? I thought there was only Brett and a rhythm guitarist.

Peestie · #12 03-20-2009, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moz

What? I thought there was only Brett and a rhythm guitarist.

Yeah, Brett and Neal are the only backing musicians. There are the three backing singers (are they Stevie's solo backup?) as well so I guess there are five in total. Sort of.