FANS ARE NOW RATING THE SHOWS AS WELL

1-5

5 BEING THE BEST

Rated "5" by Michael Conklin

Remember, the 5 rating is not necessarily unbiased. Lindsey Buckingham is one of the few artists whose produces song after song that appeal to mine ear and I can't say adrenaline did not bump up the concert score. That said, the Under the Skin tour show soared above both Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will stadium performance and 1993's Out of the Cradle tour stop in the Valley of the Sun.

A bit of backgound, the guitarist-singer was not happy in 93 with ample crowd noise during his softer songs (the show was held in a nightclub!) and a spotlight operator who shut down right in the middle of one of the man's 17-minute solos. This time the crowd of a few-thousand showered their man with unrelenting love and he responded with similar affection and a tight show that, to this ear, rocked even more than the "Town Hall" concert graciously posted online.

With a stripped down stage (compared both with the bloated FM group and even-more-stuffed Out of the Cradle band) Lindsey's quartet were quite tight and very emotive. The love fest even included Mr. Buckingham crowning tour thumper Taku Hirano his favorite drummer (!).

Hirano Mac's set list is a dream for an obsessive fan (reportedly put together by Brett Tuggle) including popular favorites (such as Trouble and his acoustic Big Love) and lesser known gems (like Save Me a Place and the shimmering I Know I'm Not Wrong). Can't say I get too excited about listening to Tusk and I'm So Afraid much these days, but the band performed even these workhorses with vim and vigor. Only lacking were some of the best tracks off Under the Skin (eg. Down on Rodeo, Someone's Gotta..., etc.) in favor of the newer ones.

But these minor observations do not detract from what was my favorite, live, Mac-related performance personally attended.

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