London - promises, promises...

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

I think it was discussed on her that 90000+ people saw them at the old Wembley Stadium for the Behind the Mask tour in 1990. It might have held more people back then as I'm sure the floor would have been general admission but now its all seated.


This chap's not very happy;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivLJhSYPcUg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glnPNQ7NQVE

Wow that is still an impressive gig.
The Mac is not a flashy band with stage technology. I understand some flaming them for not adding some flash to such a huge stadium gig.
90,000 are Rolling Stones kind of numbers

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Wow that is still an impressive gig.
The Mac is not a flashy band with stage technology. I understand some flaming them for not adding some flash to such a huge stadium gig.
90,000 are Rolling Stones kind of numbers

The only time I can say I was blown away by a stadium gig was Rolling Stones at Wembley on the Voodoo Lounge tour in the mid 90's. That was a real experience.
Difficult to comment on the recent Mac gig but it looks like a pretty poor atmosphere to me. Aside from the Tom Petty tribute are there any rear screens to add some extra aesthetic interest (other than band close-ups)?
That said, comments from attendees generally seem to be favourable aside from those with the sound issues.

[button-lip]

Review from The Times

So many things to highlight here!

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/r...dium-zj2zl30xl


Review: Fleetwood Mac at Wembley Stadium

With no Lindsey Buckingham, what should have been a celebration of a huge band’s enduring power felt like an empty spectacle.

The sound was muddy, Stevie Nicks’s vocals veered towards flatness and the band stomped when they should have swung
MARILYN KINGWILL

★★☆☆☆


And so the soap opera continues. The story of Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album Rumours is enshrined in soft-rock history: new recruits Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham inject California pizzazz into moribund British blues rockers, their relationship crumbles and the result is the divorce classic of the 1970s, with Buckingham lacerating his former lover on Second Hand News and Go Your Own Way and Nicks offering the gentler Dreams.

Forty million album sales certainly helped the band members to see past their emotional entanglements and keep the show on the road, but it all got too much last year when, according to their manager, Irving Azoff, Buckingham failed to suppress a smirk during a speech by Nicks at an awards ceremony. That was the last straw. After 43 years he got the boot. Now the band were carrying on regardless, with Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers hired to fill Buckingham’s shoes, and what should have been a celebration of a huge band’s enduring power felt like an empty spectacle.

Unsurprisingly at this Wembley gig there was no Tusk, Buckingham’s experimental masterwork from 1979, and no Never Going Back Again, his folky acoustic moment from Rumours, but also no mention of him at all.Had there been a Rumours-era photograph of Fleetwood Mac shown on the screen with Buckingham cut out and Finn stuck in his place, it wouldn’t have been surprising. Yet the inescapable fact is there was chemistry between Buckingham and Nicks, even if they disliked each other, and no amount of gushing about how wonderful this new line-up was could replace that.


On top of that the sound at Wembley was muddy, Nicks’s vocals veered towards flatness, the band stomped when they should have swung and there were some highly questionable musical interludes. A ten-minute drum solo from Mick Fleetwood is one thing. A drum solo with vocal commentary (“Nice and slow! Don’t be shy!”) proved close to unbearable. The sight of Finn spinning about with his guitar was not a welcome one, and did a Fleetwood Mac crowd really need a rendition of Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House? “This is a song of unity,” Finn claimed, apparently without irony.

At least we could sing along to the old favourites. The Chain remains one of the greatest songs about troubled affairs and Don’t Stop, the keyboardist/songwriter Christine McVie’s message to her bassist husband John McVie as they split up, never fails to lift the spirits.

There were creative moments too. Nicks, a hippy vision in black gown and gold shawl, offered interpretive dancing and some expert moaning for her cocaine lament Gold Dust Woman. And Oh Well, a stop-start blues-buster from Fleetwood Mac’s late-1960s, Peter Green-led era, brought searing guitar from Campbell. In the main, though, dealing with the loss of Buckingham by simply pretending he never existed made this plodding show feel like a glum reminder of departed joys.

[Macfan4life]

The last line sums it up "Pretending he never existed"

Touring for the money. Not the creativity. Not for the promotion of new or deeper tracks.
Play Don't Stop and Dreams and you can still fill a stadium apparently

[MikeInNV]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

The last line sums it up "Pretending he never existed"

I'm curious what people actually want to happen when they say this. I mean, I know they want him to have not been fired in the first place, but that's a done deal. To really pretend he never existed, you would have to cut his songs out of the set, but his contributions to the band's legacy are still represented by GYOW, SHN, etc. You can't fire someone and then spend every night talking about him. Once you've made the decision that you can't continue with someone, what more is there to do?

[button-lip]

Originally Posted by MikeInNV

I'm curious what people actually want to happen when they say this. I mean, I know they want him to have not been fired in the first place, but that's a done deal. To really pretend he never existed, you would have to cut his songs out of the set, but his contributions to the band's legacy are still represented by GYOW, SHN, etc. You can't fire someone and then spend every night talking about him. Once you've made the decision that you can't continue with someone, what more is there to do?

They never admitted he was fired. And they never will.

They spend every night talking and showing pics of someone that was never part of the band.

[Storms123]

Originally Posted by button-lip

They never admitted he was fired. And they never will.

They spend every night talking and showing pics of someone that was never part of the band.

OUCH 2 out of 5 stars---that leaves a mark!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by button-lip

They never admitted he was fired. And they never will.

They spend every night talking and showing pics of someone that was never part of the band.

At least the press knows and is saying it: "mercilessly" fired. I laughed.

They can say whatever they want in interviews. The reporters don't buy it.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by MikeInNV

I'm curious what people actually want to happen when they say this. I mean, I know they want him to have not been fired in the first place, but that's a done deal. To really pretend he never existed, you would have to cut his songs out of the set, but his contributions to the band's legacy are still represented by GYOW, SHN, etc. You can't fire someone and then spend every night talking about him. Once you've made the decision that you can't continue with someone, what more is there to do?

By pretending he did not exist by stepping into his shoes and singing his songs. It sounds so cover band. And you know what many of the attendees (notice I did not use fan) may have not even noticed it was not Lindsey up there. I don't think they should ever mention his name. I was in the minority on this board but with Lindsey's wife's feelings that its horrific to mention him from the stage after what they did to him. You don't throw someone out the window and then 5 months later pretend to care with 2 statements from the stage. Now they have 2 new members. There are all kinds of older stuff they could do. This would never happen but imagine if Stevie got fired yet the band pretended the new female singer filled her shoes as she sang Stevie's songs. It would go over like a train wreck. I am consistent on both sides of this coin. Imagine if Keith Richards got fired from the Stones. Imagine his replacement coming on state to sing Little T&A. The entire crowd would booo and throw food.
The masses are there for all the hits. Look at the set list. If not from Rumours, they are all commercially released singles. The crowd does not care or notice that Lindsey has been replaced except for a few core fans and music reviewers in Europe.

[Nicks Fan]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

By pretending he did not exist by stepping into his shoes and singing his songs. It sounds so cover band. And you know what many of the attendees (notice I did not use fan) may have not even noticed it was not Lindsey up there. I don't think they should ever mention his name. I was in the minority on this board but with Lindsey's wife's feelings that its horrific to mention him from the stage after what they did to him. You don't throw someone out the window and then 5 months later pretend to care with 2 statements from the stage. Now they have 2 new members. There are all kinds of older stuff they could do. This would never happen but imagine if Stevie got fired yet the band pretended the new female singer filled her shoes as she sang Stevie's songs. It would go over like a train wreck. I am consistent on both sides of this coin. Imagine if Keith Richards got fired from the Stones. Imagine his replacement coming on state to sing Little T&A. The entire crowd would booo and throw food.
The masses are there for all the hits. Look at the set list. If not from Rumours, they are all commercially released singles. The crowd does not care or notice that Lindsey has been replaced except for a few core fans and music reviewers in Europe.

That is exactly how I feel. If Stevie had been fired and they brought in a new singer fans would be in an uproar. They could have gotten one of the best singers out there (Tina Turner, Grace Slick , Cyndi Lauper etc) and they still would have bitched and bitched that no one can sing Stevie's songs etc. The same can be said for Lindsey. If her songs are so scared why aren't his? He has a voice and a guitar playing style that isn't easily replicated.

The decade he was gone produced 3 tours a platinum GH album and a new studio album that went gold, a box set that I think went platinum and then a studio album that flopped.

The Tango tour was successful because they had the strength of the hit singles behind them before they hit the road. It wasn't like they toured right after the album's release. There was enough time for multiple hit singles to hit the airwaves.

The BTM tour was successful because they had the 87-88 success not too far behind and you still had SN and CM in the lineup. The album is mostly forgotten by all but the die hard FM fans. The Time era crashed and burned and is not fondly remembered.

When Lindsey returned they had their first number 1 album in 15 years and then SYW made top 5 in first week of sales.

I don't care how many tickets they sold this tour it doesn't change the fact that since 2009 we have had 4 GH tour and no NEW album to speak of. It would be different had this tour they threw out many of the staples and focused on lesser known tracks as well as some of the hits they haven't performed either at all or in a very long time ( As Long as You Follow, Love In Store, Save Me etc)

Look at last years Journey / Def Leppard / Peter Frampton tour. Very successful but none of them had anything new to promote and in Journey's case all they played was Steve Perry's hits but with the new singer doing them. Virtually anytime a classic rock act goes on tour they sell tickets regardless of how many original members or classic lineup members are in the band.

Every allegation they made about Lindsey can be thrown right back at them from tour delays , to stale set lists to not playing pre 75 material.

Anyone who thinks this current tour is anything more then a GH cash grab is deluding themselves. There is nothing new , fresh or exciting about hearing 70 somethings play songs they have played over and over for 40 plus years in the exact same way. You may have new members but if they aren't singing new material then what you have is almost like an expensive cover band. SN had a golden opportunity to shake up her FM set for this tour by dropping 2-3 of her hits and doing songs like Angel, That's Alright, Beautiful Child etc) but instead she chose to play the same songs she has done for years and then cover Peter Green on Black Magic Woman.

On one of the FB groups there have been reports that SN will be doing a 2020 tour?. So if you didn't get your fill of Landslide, GDW, Dreams etc then you may have a chance to hear all those songs again next year.