Hearing The Same Songs For The First Time – An Evening With Fleetwood Mac

Last night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA may have been my first Fleetwood Mac concert.  I am pretty certain it was, but I stopped keeping track a while ago… big mistake… and now my memory is a bit… fuzzy.

I promise to write them all down from now on… but I am almost certain it was my first show.

I saw Lindsey Buckingham last year on his solo tour… amazing… and once before that… but never the band… and while Christine McVie is definitely missed, the show was a stunner.

The crowd was ecstatic and totally into the concert from the moment the lights went down… What looked like a half empty arena at 8 pm, almost totally filled up by around 8:20 pm.  Odd.  But you could feel the pulsating energy and I am sure the band did as well, as, unless they are the best actors in the world, they seemed genuinely moved and energized.  I mean come on… Lindsey actually ran around and pounded his foot on the ground after one of his solos, and looked like a little kid celebrating some amazing accomplishment for the first time… It was a beautiful thing to see.  It was like, “Yeah I nailed it!”

And after their last song, it really seemed like they did not want to leave.  Lindsey came out and said something… a very sincere and heartfelt thanks… then Stevie Nicks… and then, in perhaps a last word is mine kind of thing, out came Mick Fleetwood with two of his very young kids!  His short pants, clog like shoes and top hat did give the air of a ringmaster at a circus.

One of the things that Stevie said stood out… and helped shaped the title of this post.  She thanked the crowd for coming out for the last 35 years… and listening… really listening… to the same songs we love and hearing them as if it is always for the very first time.

But hey… with live music, it is.  This is part of what makes these nights so special and vital.

And while their set list has not changed at all, I don’t think, from show to show… and I am always curious about the banter and stories, etc… it really felt like they were playing just for us… We were giving them love and applause… they were feeding off of it, and giving their souls back to us.  I do not get with this all bands… I don’t… but for this show on this night, it really felt like it was a one-of-a-kind experience.  I may have to see them again in July when they come back to Staples, just to see if it is the same or different.

Sadly, I do find, for the most part, that LA crowds are still a bit staid and laid back… They have gotten better, but it does seem to be the norm.  The crowd last night in Anaheim… and I can say the same for when we saw Bruce there… was electric… totally plugged in to each and every moment.

They came out at 8:23 and played for over two hours, covering almost every song you could want to hear… but we all know how deep their catalog runs, so it would take quite a while to hit EVERYTHING.  The band was like a bunch of kids… so happy… so joyous… We sat about a third of the way back, but up in the 400 level seats, and while I always like to be closer, these were good… and gave us the unfair advantage of seeing the secret drummer/percussionist hiding behind the wall of amps.  Any time Mic had a particularly aggressive drum part… or when they wanted to double the drum sound… there was the drum tech pounding away… I was intrigued and hypnotized by it.

The sound in the Honda Center is also so much better than Staples… and though the band travels with their own sound reflecting boards dangling over the stage… and move them up or down according to the song… Staples should take note!

So here is the set list and a few pics… Long live The Mac!!!

Fleetwood Mac – Honda Center – Tuesday, May 28, 2013

1. Second Hand News
2. The Chain
3. Dreams
4. Sad Angel
5. Rhiannon
6. Not That Funny
7. Tusk
8. Sisters of the Moon
9. Sara
10. Big Love
11. Landslide
12. Never Going Back Again
13. Without You
14. Gypsy
15. Eyes of the World
16. Gold Dust Woman
17. I’m So Afraid
18. Stand Back 
(Stevie Nicks song)
19. Go Your Own Way

Encore:

1. World Turning
2. Don’t Stop

Encore 2:

1. Silver Springs
2. Say Goodbye

Thanks to Amanda and Tati for a fun night!  Great finally meeting Paulette!  Howdy to newbie Jon.  Long live our Sound Family.