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  #1  
Old 05-11-2021, 12:55 PM
RockyRaccoon RockyRaccoon is offline
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Default "In the Back of My Mind" as a set opener

I was looking at some old setlists and was really surprised that by the end of the 1990 tour, the band would open with "In the Back of My Mind". Really odd and bold choice, it was a new song and not really a hit, it had Billy (still a relative newcomer to the band) as the primary vocalist, and it's a slower number too, much different in tone from previous openers like "Say You Love Me", "The Chain", "Second Hand News", or "Monday Morning". I'm wondering, if you were at any of those shows, how did that go down with the audience? Did it work as an opening number?
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Old 05-11-2021, 02:16 PM
jbrownsjr jbrownsjr is online now
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Originally Posted by RockyRaccoon View Post
I was looking at some old setlists and was really surprised that by the end of the 1990 tour, the band would open with "In the Back of My Mind". Really odd and bold choice, it was a new song and not really a hit, it had Billy (still a relative newcomer to the band) as the primary vocalist, and it's a slower number too, much different in tone from previous openers like "Say You Love Me", "The Chain", "Second Hand News", or "Monday Morning". I'm wondering, if you were at any of those shows, how did that go down with the audience? Did it work as an opening number?
For me, it was spectacular. The build up was fantastic as the crowd kept getting louder and louder. There was mask that lifted as the intro played.

The crowd roared.
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Old 05-11-2021, 03:53 PM
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Everything you said about In the Back of My Mind is pretty accurate- it was a slower song, new, and spotlighted Billy. Still, as jbrownjr said, it really was a spectacular opening! The stage was obscured by a steel curtain, and as the long intro played, it helped to build up the excitement and had the crowd on their feet, trying to see through the curtain. Then as the vocals started, the curtain rose and everyone was already in place singing. It really was great. And Stevie and Christine were singing almost as much as Billy, just like on the Chain, so that probably helped. So even though it was a new song that most of the audience may not have been familiar with, it was dramatic enough that it certainly kept the audience engaged, that was for sure. And the segue into the Chain was seamless and just so natural. Man, I wish a live recording would be released as a Deluxe Edition!
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Old 05-11-2021, 04:13 PM
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It was the PERFECT opener. The giant masks on the stage went up and slowly revealed the band. The song features 3 of the singers and its got everyone interested since its the opening number and then it goes into the Chain.
It also set the moment that its a new band with new members.
Back in 1990 there was no internet so when you went to a concert you had no idea of the setlist. This song was one of my favorites from the album and I was floored and excited they opened the show it.

The opening number gets everyone's attention. I have always believed a lesser known song should be the opener for that reason. Too many bands rely on their standard opener or hit for the first song. Fleetwood Mac is not known for change so this change was pretty cool IMHO.

During this last tour, the band was rehearsing old Mac songs. I firmly believed the band should have come out and opened with the Green Manalishi and blew everyone out of their seat. That would have been so freaking cool. They could have played it like Judas Priest too. But we got the Chain (again) without Lindsey
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Last edited by Macfan4life; 05-11-2021 at 04:17 PM..
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Old 05-11-2021, 05:37 PM
jmn3 jmn3 is offline
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As a song, I almost feel like it was intentionally designed to be a set opener. Especially given that they abbreviated it a bit and segued it into The Chain, it really always sounded like it was perfectly placed in that slot. Unlike the middle of the set, you aren’t going to lose a lot of the audience to the bathrooms or beer line by placing an unknown new song at the top of the order.
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Old 05-11-2021, 05:43 PM
jmn3 jmn3 is offline
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Originally Posted by Macfan4life View Post
It was the PERFECT opener. The giant masks on the stage went up and slowly revealed the band. The song features 3 of the singers and its got everyone interested since its the opening number and then it goes into the Chain.
It also set the moment that its a new band with new members.
Back in 1990 there was no internet so when you went to a concert you had no idea of the setlist. This song was one of my favorites from the album and I was floored and excited they opened the show it.

The opening number gets everyone's attention. I have always believed a lesser known song should be the opener for that reason. Too many bands rely on their standard opener or hit for the first song. Fleetwood Mac is not known for change so this change was pretty cool IMHO.

During this last tour, the band was rehearsing old Mac songs. I firmly believed the band should have come out and opened with the Green Manalishi and blew everyone out of their seat. That would have been so freaking cool. They could have played it like Judas Priest too. But we got the Chain (again) without Lindsey
I don’t care what they did in the middle of the set, that they did the standard The Chain opening with Go Your Own Way as the main set closer was unimaginative and did nothing to set this new iteration apart from just being a continuation of the same band with Lindsey replaced by Neil and Mike. They should have been far more creative with the set and that includes shifting some songs around.
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Old 05-11-2021, 06:09 PM
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I think they did perform some surprises on their 2 tours- the first tour had Brown Eyes, Oh Well, Tear It Up, Stand Back, Has Anyone Ever Written Anything, Seven Wonders, Everywhere, Isn’t It Midnight, I Loved Another Woman, and Little Lies. Those were 10 songs that were either new, deep cuts, or never performed by the band before. I think for both tours, FM was trying to straddle the line- they had a new lineup that they wanted to spotlight, but yet still keep the fans they had who came to hear certain songs. This last tour had a lot of surprises initially, but audience reaction to the deeper cuts resulted in swapping out those songs for hits. As a fan of those deep cuts, I was bummed, but I understood.
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Old 05-11-2021, 06:48 PM
On Ice On Ice is offline
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In the Back of Mind was amazing as an opener with the visual effects the song was tight, concise and featured enough of the vocalists that they pulled it off to great affect. I was in the front row at the Toronto (then Skydome) show and had chills. I played the song loud on my vinyl copy on my stereo too. Great memories.
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Old 05-11-2021, 07:54 PM
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Originally Posted by On Ice View Post
In the Back of Mind was amazing as an opener with the visual effects the song was tight, concise and featured enough of the vocalists that they pulled it off to great affect. I was in the front row at the Toronto (then Skydome) show and had chills. I played the song loud on my vinyl copy on my stereo too. Great memories.
I was at that same Toronto show. The start with ITBOMM was epic indeed.
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Old 05-12-2021, 05:24 AM
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Originally Posted by jmn3 View Post
I don’t care what they did in the middle of the set, that they did the standard The Chain opening with Go Your Own Way as the main set closer was unimaginative and did nothing to set this new iteration apart from just being a continuation of the same band with Lindsey replaced by Neil and Mike. They should have been far more creative with the set and that includes shifting some songs around.
I'm the last one that would be sticking up for this new line up. But they did do Black Magic Woman, Hypnotized, Storms, and Isn't it Midnight. Sadly because there are way more causal Mac fans and mostly Stevie fans, the band dropped 3 of the songs because of the blank stares from the audience. They were forced to open with the Chain, close with GYOW and even perform Second Hand News (sacrilegious IMHO).

They even had to make Stevie sing a Crowded House song and Black Magic Woman to prevent people from running to the bathroom
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Old 05-12-2021, 06:46 AM
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They even had to make Stevie sing a Crowded House song and Black Magic Woman to prevent people from running to the bathroom
Neil started off singing Don’t Dream It’s Over solo- it was only after the first chorus that Stevie returned to the stage joined him. People didn’t suffer through the song just because Stevie sang it; the audience seemed to enjoy it right from the start, and having Stevie join in just made it even better.
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Old 05-12-2021, 07:01 AM
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Neil started off singing Don’t Dream It’s Over solo- it was only after the first chorus that Stevie returned to the stage joined him. People didn’t suffer through the song just because Stevie sang it; the audience seemed to enjoy it right from the start, and having Stevie join in just made it even better.
Of course Neil started off singing. I hope I did not imply that. You are smarter than this. Why did Stevie sing Black Magic Woman instead of one of the new guys?
The answer is the same reason Stevie came out to sing Don't Dream Its Over.
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Old 05-12-2021, 08:56 AM
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Originally Posted by On Ice View Post
In the Back of Mind was amazing as an opener with the visual effects the song was tight, concise and featured enough of the vocalists that they pulled it off to great affect. I was in the front row at the Toronto (then Skydome) show and had chills. I played the song loud on my vinyl copy on my stereo too. Great memories.
I was at that show too, about 5th row on the side.

They did 'Love is Dangerous' from what I recall.
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Old 05-12-2021, 09:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Macfan4life View Post
Of course Neil started off singing. I hope I did not imply that. You are smarter than this. Why did Stevie sing Black Magic Woman instead of one of the new guys?
The answer is the same reason Stevie came out to sing Don't Dream Its Over.
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Old 05-12-2021, 10:21 AM
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Of course Neil started off singing. I hope I did not imply that. You are smarter than this. Why did Stevie sing Black Magic Woman instead of one of the new guys?
The answer is the same reason Stevie came out to sing Don't Dream Its Over.
I reread your post and I guess I don't get what you were saying. I took your post literally, which was that people would have gone to the bathroom during DDIO, except that since Stevie was singing on it, so they didn’t. In this case, Stevie was completely off the stage when Neil started singing, and came on in the middle of the song. You make it sound like that’s typical, or that the audience knew she was going to come out and start singing. I knew, because I read reviews here, but the friends I went with had no clue, because they didn’t look up reviews or the song list. I would say most folks there had no idea when the song began that Stevie was going to join Neil, and they were genuinely surprised. Honestly, besides all that, DDIO got a huge response, especially when the music started and people recognized it.

Also, as you pointed out yourself, Storms was dropped because of the lackluster audience response, and Stevie sang that song. So people probably went to the bathroom then as well. Yet people responded enthusiastically to Black Magic Woman, which Stevie sang. You make it a point to say that’s why Stevie sang it and not one of the new guys- but if the audience didn’t respond well to Storms, that shows none of the band members were immune to the ‘bathroom break syndrome’ as I call it lol. Isn’t It Midnight also got a tepid response when I saw them, which was insane because the band sounded great and it was a really uptempo song. Storms and Hypnotized, 2 of my favorite FM songs that I would have loved to have seen performed, were maybe too slow for the crowd, I don't know. My point is, there wasn’t a mass exodus for the bathroom whenever Neil took the lead... it really just depended on the song rather than who was singing it. At least that was my experience when I saw them live.
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