My buffalo review

BigAl84 · #1 05-17-2003, 12:13 AM

Okay here it goes....This is a total babble fest..bare with me. Im sure there are a ton of grammatical errors, i didn't have time for spell check lolololol. Anyways, i hope you enjoy.

Fleetwood Mac
HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY, May 15th

I was really amazed at how great my seat was in the 20th row! it was FANTASTIC! the band really was right there, i didn't feel for a moment that they were "wayyy up there". As the place filled up i could tell it was going to be a GREAT crowd. I saw several women with their stevie garb, many many people on the floor with flowers for stevie as well. Around 8:00 pm the place starting yelling, clapping, cheering for Fleetwood Mac. Finally a guy came on over the speaker and gave the whole "no recording or flash photography stuff" and the place erupted in cheer. Finally the lights dimmed...the crowd stood up and remained up for almost the entire night!

One other note, i was so impressed with the lighting. It added so much more to the show. I thought the lighting for the Dance Tour really stunk...it was just blah and boring. This tour has that old 1970's old school rock concert appeal. The cool lights are back...all that good stuff. It truely was like seeing the old concert footage that we all thought would be part of yesterday.

Some of the highlights...

Durring one of the songs, Lindsey was leaning against Stevie's back and shoulder. It was almost like the moment on the mirage tour concert video durring sisters of the moon. I was like...wowow.

The Chain - This was great..the entire place was into it. Everyone around me was clapping for the downbeats etc. Stevie had her tambourine all over the place and rocked out with John on his bass solo.It was so clear that the song hadn't lost an ounce of energy since 1997, i think it had more spunk this time!

Dreams - Pretty much just like the dance tour..although Stevie sounded much better this time around. To me, she sounded much better tonight than their stop on the dance tour. The screens behind the stage had these really cool moving clouds and ocean/water like images.

Peacekeeper - The crowd was into it from the minute he introduced it! I was amazed at what a great reception the song got! Great guitar solo by Lindsey. Stevie had a bunch of fun with her tambourine. Several times she put it right up to the mic. It was clear she was having a blast.

Eyes Of The World - The crowd liked this one just as much as any of the other big hits. Mick and his back up drummer did a fine job. The lighting was just awesome...It was just plain out awesome to hear this live! Deffinitely a gem that was just waiting to be dusted off.

Rhiannon - I already went on and on about this but i will say it again, STEVIE CUT LOOSE LIKE A MAD WOMAN! She hasn't done Rhiannon on this level in a loooong time. Again...much more vocal effort than the dance tour or the TISL/Enchanted tours. At the end..she kept going..and going...and going. Never once going into a lower register (only for one or two lines "your dreams unwind etc" was she in a lower voice).The screen behind the stage had images of Stevies drawings, although you can never really see the entire drawing, only bits and pieces are shown.

Come - the technical trouble maker of the night. Lindsey restarted the song atleast two times, maybe a third time. Lindsey became pretty frustrated, tossed his guitar over his shoulder, nervously rubbing his hands on his neck and nearly walked off stage.He almost had an attitude like "what the hell guys..lets get this fixed..now!" Once they fixed the guitar glitch, he totally rocked out and he had the audience in the palm of his hands. He did the classic lindsey "doggy paddle" guitar solo flip out...the crowd went nuts. Deffinitely a performance which stands out in my mind.

Gypsy - This was great fun to hear live. It was done just slightly differently from the dance tour. I think there's a bit more accoustic guitar on this version. The images from the music video were great.

Landslide - as expected, the whole crowd sung along with Stevie. Many times Stevie and Lindsey passed each other these very sweet sweet looks. At one point near the end when she goes "welllllll............take this love" right after "weeeell" the crowd went nuts...and she got this goofy look on her face and went cross eyed for a second. She looked as if she just wanted to crack up because the crowd was just right there.

Say Goodbye - Great Stevie and Lindsey moment. Right at the start of the song he said that the song was about hope and even forgiveness. He looked right at stevie when he said forgiveness and Stevie gave him this sweet look right back.

Beautiful Child - This was so cool because i heard parts of the crowd singing along to the chorus. From where i was sitting it sounded like a good chunk of the crowd was singing along.

Second Hand News - Stevie sang on the Ba ba ba's. The harmonies were tight, they sounded great!

Gold Dust Woman - WOWOWOWOW total highlight of the night. Stevie pulled out all the stops. Absolutely awesome "go hoooooommmmmeeee" plus a good "ahha hhha ahhh" tagged onto the end. She did a nice twirl and ended the song with the spider web fingers and her back to the audience, just like the dance.

I'm So Afraid - Lindsey rocked as usual. He did the doggy paddle whail yet again and broke some more strings lol The crowd loved it!

Silver Springs - This had the crowd singing along just like landslide. At the end Stevie said "Ahhhh you remembered!!!". A classic Stevie moment. She put allot of passion into the song and it didn't go unnoticed by the crowd.

Tusk - You gotta love the USC footage they played on the screen behind the stage. They pulled it off much better than the dance tour version. Stevie had her tambourine going and even put it up to the mic.

Stand Back - Stevie did atleast 6 consecutive twirls. I never realized that she had switched to her rebok boots (i never even noticed), i cringed when she twirled. I could just imagine what pain that could cause her hip. Luckily she was in her reboks and she rocked out completely!!! The crow went wild durring the song and especially durring her twirls. At the end of the last twirl she took hold of the mic for dear life and kinda jerked to her left in attempt to catch herself. She had a blast! the tambourine was flying and she had her dress hiked up showing some leg.

Go Your Own Way - this totally brought the crowd to a fever pitch as it usually does.Great guitar solo and organ playing!! I'm pretty sure more of that doggy paddle maddness came out durring the guitar solo as well.
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World Turning -> long drum solo -> World Turning - Boring? HECK NO! some people had started leaving, but the people still there were liking it alot. He had a blast with his little buttons in the crotch area. He kept yelling about the "ooohs" and "ahhhs". Great fun! Lindsey did a great job on the guitar playing and Stevie sounded GREAT.

Don't Stop - Stevie and Lindsey were tight vocally (as they were the entire night). I loved hearing Stevie doing Chris' normal part. Brett Tuggle did a great piano solo.
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Goodbye Baby - Stevie said "well this is for you Buffalo, thank you sooo very much" after she talked about the song being from the Tusk album..etc.

In conclusion this show kicked the dance tour's butt!!! Yeh i missed Christine but the band has gotten quite beefy now!! I guess the difference that was clear to me was, the dance tour had a very nastolgic attitude towards it and they played with quite a bit less spunk on that tour. This time, this show reminded me very much of the 70's and the early 80's. the energy that was in some of those shows was back in quite a few ways. The show was very refreshing. I agree with Jeff Meirs of the Buffalo News, it was a devine show.

Rainman · #2 05-17-2003, 09:14 AM

Great review, BigAl. Enjoyed all the detail.

Thanks for posting.

MacFan03 · #3 05-17-2003, 09:39 AM

How was attendance in New York? Was the place full?

BigAl84 · #4 05-17-2003, 10:39 AM

the place was pretty full, to my amazement. Ticket sales were kinda slow. Two weeks before the show 2,000 seats still remained. The nosebleeds looked full and the floor was packed. The 100 sections didnt have any big holes in them from what i could see. Great crowd!

Alex

BigAl84 · #5 05-17-2003, 12:32 PM

stevie didnt talk about goodbye baby being from the tusk album...i meant that for Beautifull child.

Cristian · #6 05-17-2003, 12:41 PM

Thanks for the great review... but I have a question:

Didn't they play "Say You Will"?

Song of the moment - Wish You Were Here

tamaraluvsFM · #7 05-17-2003, 01:02 PM

Great review! Sounds like you had a great time. From what it sounds it seems they just keep getting better and better with each show. I think I am going to have to do some traveling to see another show..

Tamara