Lindsey Buckingham - Creative Genius

When I viewed this DVD, I was in tears due to the fact that I had not witnessed such a fabulous concert in so many years. Frankly, I was shocked at the greatness that was exhibited in an era when music is only about looks and the money.



Ådditionally, Fleetwood Mac is not nor ever has been my favorite band.



However, after viewing Lindsey Buckingham live I was floored. The guy is the closest thing to Jimi Henrix I have ever heard. Obviously, we all know he is grossly underrated.



I would advise anyone who loves music to watch this and see a real player in action. You will not be disappointed. His humility in today's society is a rarity which makes him even more awesome.



God bless all. The Music Goddess.

Forget Stevie for a moment and let's discuss Lindsey...

I love Stevie Nicks as much as the the next fan and she is an integral part of this band, but let's be honest here, without the musical genius of Lindsey, there would be no Stevie Nicks and she knows it so why doesn't everyone else? Actually, there would be no Fleetwood Mac. Period. If you don't think so, consider this: When he left the band in the 80s' they needed TWO guitarists to replace him - and they soon folded like a house of cards. Where are those guitarists now? Do you know? Do you care? Didn't think so. Lindsey is without question one of the most underappreciated musical geniuses in popular music in every conceivable way - and the fact that supposed "Fleetwood Mac fans" would write a review and not mention him is scandalously incompetent and insulting. His guitar work is nothing less than breathtaking, whether it's bluegrass finger-picking or screaming electrical chords - and you get all of that on this DVD. The live acoustic version of Big Love is one of the most amazing performances I have ever seen and I'm still picking my jaw up off the floor. On top of that, he's a gifted composer and vocalist. In every song, you hear nothing but exquisite melodies dripping from his guitar chords and he sings like it he means it - with unequivocal emotion. Even Stevie has said that Lindsey is the magic behind her best tunes. Listen to her solo music and then her Mac tunes and you really appreciate his subtle, but fluid guitar work. Christine's absence in this concert is bittersweet. Her smoky voice is indeed missed, but then it gives Lindsey the room he needs to really loosen up and expand. I do wish Stevie had performed more of her newer material like Silver Girl and Illume instead of Stand Back. Both are very haunting and sound like vintage Stevie. But her rare performance of Beautiful Child is a gem that can't be overlooked. I was hoping she too would loosen up more, but sometimes she seems uncomfortable on stage - like she doesn't know what to do with herself. But that's minor quibbling. I was fortunate to see this show in Worcester, MA and was blown away by it then. A year and half later, seeing the details and facial expressions that I couldn't see in person and the explosive chemistry between these two performers, I am still blown away. Say Goodbye is a sad and touching duet that will remind real music lovers that THIS is what great music and artistic integrity is supposed to sound like.

The DVD Shines - The CD Disappoints

At first, I was a little skeptical when I found out that Fleetwood Mac was releasing another live set - "Fleetwood Mac - Live in Boston". There were two reasons for my skeptism: 1) It was only back in 1997 that Fleetwood Mac had released "The Dance" on CD and Video. This was an incredible effort by the band and I thought this was going to be very difficult to top; 2) Christine McVie had departed the band and I just didn't know whether or not the remaining four members could pull things off or not. The good news is that Fleetwood Mac pulls through once again. They find a way to carry on without Christine McVie and produce a solid live performance. In fact, the level of showmanship comes very close to "The Dance".



Fleetwood Mac's "Live in Boston" is actually a 3 disc set. Two discs are DVDs and the third disc is a CD. The two DVDs are actually from a concert done at the Fleet Center in Boston. This performance was also broadcasted on PBS' "Soundstage" series. The DVDs present the full concert - in its entirety and in the order that it was performed. The PBS Broadcasts were 1 and 2 hour subsets - each of the subsets are reordered. You probably will still want this collection even if you have seen the PBS set. The DVD set provides the continuity and magic that Fleetwood Mac delivered that particular evening.



This would be a 5 star collection if it weren't for the CD. I found the CD to be a big disappointment. The CD contains only 10 of the 24 songs. In 2003, the progressive Rock band Rush released a DVD and CD of their 2002 Rio concert entitled "Rush in Rio". "Rush in Rio" was originally intended to be a DVD set, but since the band found some "magic" with the performance, they also decided to release the performance on audio CD - in the exact order and flow that was on the DVD. It would have been nice if Fleetwood Mac had done the same. They clearly have "magic" with the DVD set, but the CD is basically a bunch of live songs. The live songs have been somehwat reordered and you don't get a lot of the spoken words said by the band members. While Rush released the DVD and CD separately, the Fleetwood Mac package includes both. Another note on the CD - they could have clearly fit more than ten songs on the collection. If you get "Live in Boston", get this for the DVD and not the CD.



Since Christine McVie has departed - the playset doesn't include many of her songs that had her vocals. Therefore, much of the weight on falls on Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, and Mick Fleetwood to make the show go on. (John McVie as always, lays low in the background doing what he does best - playing Bass). Lindsey is going to provide some incredible guitar work on songs such as "Come", "Big Love", "I'm So Afraid", and Tusk. Stevie Nicks gets an opportunity to do one of her solo songs - "Stand Back". Mick Fleetwood even gets a chance to do some "ramblings" during a drum duet he performs on stage. The band also gets an opportunity to perform some songs that haven't been done in a long time live - "Eyes of the World", "Never Going Back Again", "Beautiful Child", and "World Turning". The band also performs several new songs from the "Say You Will" album. These include: "Peacekeeper", "Come" (definitely the best of the new work), "Say Goodbye", "What's the World Coming To", and "Goodbye Baby".



The highlight of "Live in Boston" is going to be the performance of "Stand Back". It was great to see Fleetwood Mac do this. The song starts out with a two minute percussion intro. During the concert, Fleetwood Mac brings in a great set of tour muscians. One of the musicians who really steals the show (especially in the second half of the show) is percussionist Taku Hirano. Hirano leads the two minute percussion which then explodes into the start of "Stand Back". Stevie delivers the song with lots of intensity and trademark twirls.



"Silver Springs" was the song on "The Dance" that stole the show. It's back on here. There was a lot of emotion during this song between Lindsey and Stevie on "The Dance". This time, "Silver Springs" has a slightly quicker tempo toward the end. It doesn't quite live up to what was done on "The Dance", but it is still something you'll want to play over and over. There isn't any loss of emotion between Stevie and Lindsey on "Landslide".



"Tusk" is back and better than ever. On "The Dance", Fleetwood Mac utilized the USC Marching Band and it gave the song a whole new twist. This time, Fleetwood Mac uses a Marching Band again, but this time uses a pre-recorded track. However the song has no loss in entertainment value. Lindsey is going to really steal the show when he goes into a bizarre kind of dance, then will go and do an embraced dance with Stevie.



One thing to note, Mick Fleetwood does an incredible drum duet with Hirano during "World Turning". It features some terrific rambling vocals and Fleetwood even gets out from behind the drum set. It's great stuff. Following that song, the band does "Don't Stop". This is the only Christine McVie vocals song included - Stevie Nicks steps in flawlessly and delivers Christine's vocals.



The collection includes some very thin liner notes. They do list the songs with songwriting credits. The stage and production credits are included as well. The packaging is kind of cheap (cardbox box as opposed to jewel case). Overall, it's another solid live set by Fleetwood Mac. As mentioned above, the CD is the disappointment - but the DVD set alone is worth the price of this collection.