Headline Act: Fleetwood Mac (transcription)

[SpyNote]

Headline Act: Fleetwood Mac
VH1 Classic :: 30 minutes

On her ambitions:

I wanted to affect people. I wanted to be a singer/songwriter/entertainer that actually affected the audience with my music, with what I did with my body, with my mind, with my clothes, with my songs, with my words. I wanted to affect people. And that was my goal from the very, very beginning.

On Janis Joplin:

When I saw Janis Joplin, I was very taken with the power that she had. I was already in Lindsey's band (Fritz) and she was playing at Stanford Frost Amphitheater, which is an outdoor amphitheater up at Stanford University, and we opened for her. And Janis was not a real attractive girl. She was not pretty. But there was something about her that was so charming and so real that she was absolutely, stunningly beautiful. And when she took that microphone and started singing, it was like she had that whole audience right in the palm of her little hand. And I was stunned. And I just sat there all through it, you know, going, I don't wanna to be her, but I wanna have her power. And so I only saw her that one time. And I sponged in every little thing she did. And in my own Stevie way tried to take what I learned from her in that hour and a half and put it into what I did from that day onward.

Cue: "Landslide" from "Live in Boston"

On stage fright:

I felt like I could have that thing. I felt like it was there for me. If I could like get you know through the nervousness and through the fear. If I could calm down enough to enjoy and appreciate what was happening, and not let my nerves completely ruin everything, I'd be ok. You know, I have terrible stage fright, so. And I still have really bad stage fright, so that never goes away. I think that that's probably one of the things that makes people great is the fact that they're so terrified before they walk on stage. That they really have all that pent up energy that starts from the second you wake up until the second you walk on stage. As soon as they go, "lights, camera, action...ladies and gentlemen, Fleetwood Mac," it's gone. The nervousness is gone, and then you just feel great. But the twenty-two hours leading up to that two hours is hard.

Cue: "Big Love" from LIVE IN BOSTON

On the story of "Stand Back":

Well, I had just gotten married and I was in the car with my husband (Kim Anderson) driving to Santa Barbara for our honeymoon night. And "Little Red Corvette" came on the radio. And I was like, "who is that?," you know. "Who-is-that?" And I happened to be married to somebody that was in the record business. He goes, "That's Prince and this song is 'Little Red Corvette.' And I'm like, "ok!" And all of the sudden, I start singing along to this song, another poem that I had written. And when we got to the hotel he, again being a very nice man in the record business, had a cassette with him so he set it all up for me. And we had actually brought a little keyboard, and I just sat there and wrote "Stand Back," that night.

Cue: "Stand Back" from LIVE IN BOSTON

On performing on stage:

It makes you much more honest and vulnerable and innocent when you walk on stage because you don't take it for granted, ever. I don't ever take it for granted when I walk on the stage. I don't ever say, "I'm gonna be great because I AM great because I've been great for so long." I don't ever say that. I go like, "Oh, please dear God, "let me be great tonight."

Cue: "Say You Will" from LIVE IN BOSTON

On the recording of RUMOURS:

It started in Sausalito at the Record Plant. We went like October, November, December and got all the tracks. Did all the tracks. And then went back to Los Angeles at the beginning of January and started working on it, working on all the tracks, which really, we didn't really need to. The tracks were done, they were great. We could've just put the vocals on and put it out, and it still would have been RUMOURS. Then we worked for another like 8 or 9 months in all the studios in Los Angeles. By then, we were rich and famous and crazy. And it was a riot, you know. It was riot. Everybody was breaking up. And everybody, you know, likes to say about how horrible it was and everything. But you know what? It was really fun, also. Everybody had a great time. Yes, we were breaking up. Yes, there was tragedy. But we were recording a huge album at the Record Plant in Sausalito. We were able to go and you know have Irish coffees and little tea sandwiches everyday on our way to our fabulous job. How bad can it get?

Cue: "Go Your Own Way" from LIVE IN BOSTON

More on the recording of RUMOURS:

The fact that we had stuff to write about, terrific. You know, we were breaking up. We had tragedy? Yes, we did. But were there just incredible moments? Yes, every single day. When we left the Record Plant and went back to Los Angeles, it became more serious because then we were REALLY breaking up. And then it was starting to get a little bit more ugly. We got through it.

[Johnny Stew]

Thanks for posting that, Daniel! I don't get VH1-Classic (much to my disappointment), so I really appreciate you transcribing that for us.

[bikerchic]

I wonder if Lindsey gets stage fright?

[sodascouts]

Thanks for typing this up Daniel. I know it must have taken some time. I don't get VH1 Classic either, so it's great to be able to read it.

[Hawkeye]

Only our Stevie would write a song on her wedding night

[wondergirl9847]

Tonight on VH1 Classic, they had FM on Classic/Current. They played Sara and SYW from LIB. BTW, am I the only person in the world who only tonight noticed the mic change?

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by wondergirl9847

BTW, am I the only person in the world who only tonight noticed the mic change?

Mic change?

[tynan88]

Please tell me how they managed to show Sara from LIB?

Tynan

[estranged4life]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

Thanks for typing this up Daniel. I know it must have taken some time. I don't get VH1 Classic either, so it's great to be able to read it.

VH1 Classic either, But thanks to Neil (nodmod) I was able to trade for the copy of "Headline Act" on DVD...

Wasnt a bad show, Actually I found that Stevie admitting her brief marriage to be a shock though

Brian j.

[wondergirl9847]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Mic change?

Yeah, during most of the song, Stevie sings into one of those rectangular mics, then, at the very end, it's the usual, round mic. Two different performances?

[DownOnRodeo]

Originally Posted by wondergirl9847

Yeah, during most of the song, Stevie sings into one of those rectangular mics, then, at the very end, it's the usual, round mic. Two different performances?

No, no... she just squeezes it out of shape when she grasps it during Stand Back!

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by wondergirl9847

Yeah, during most of the song, Stevie sings into one of those rectangular mics, then, at the very end, it's the usual, round mic. Two different performances?

Ohh... you're talking about "Sara," right (I thought you meant "Say You Will")?
Do you have it on tape somewhere? Watch it again, if you do: she walks over to Lindsey's mic to sing "all I ever wanted...."

[wondergirl9847]

No, I meant the old Tusk era video of Sara, not LIB. They showed the old video, then the LIB version of SYW on Classic/Current.

Did she go over to Lindsey's mic back then too?

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by wondergirl9847

No, I meant the old Tusk era video of Sara, not LIB. They showed the old video, then the LIB version of SYW on Classic/Current.

Did she go over to Lindsey's mic back then too?

When you mentioned not noticing a mic change before, I thought maybe it was in the "Say You Will" clip, and that I hadn't noticed it before either... but when it dawned on me that it was "Sara" you were referring to, then I just automatically assumed you meant the old 'Tusk Doc' clip (I haven't heard of any official footage of "Sara" from the 2004 tour... which is unfortunate).

But, yeah, she used to walk over to Lindsey's mic back then, too.

"All I ever wanted, was to know...."

[wondergirl9847]

Thanks, JS! I was confused, as usual. LOL