FANS ARE NOW RATING THE SHOWS AS WELL

1-5

5 BEING THE BEST

Rated "5" by Jonathan Perez

I traveled from Houston, TX to see Lindsey perform in Santa Barbara. I cannot put into words how amazing his performance was. To hear him play so many great songs as Big Love, Cast Away Dreams, Never Going Back Again, and Red Rover was beyond exceptional, though seeing him play these songs (really, all of them) was truly watching a genius and artist at work. Go Insane, Trouble, Holiday Road, Under the Skin, Tusk, Not To Late, Show You How, and Go Your Own Way were among the other great songs he performed. A true master and all around "guitar God," to see him perform and play the guitar is to see an unappreciated master skillfully play for no other reason than to express his talent and love of music. This shows in his songs, performance and music. LB is beyond the greatest!

Rated "5" by Michele Jackson aka mjackson866

Just returned from the Santa Barbara show.

Outside the Arlington Theater the marquee headline proclaimed that [i]Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham[/i] would be appearing. Hmmm. Are there a lot of people out there who had no interest in buying tickets, but when they found out the guy was in Fleetwood Mac they suddenly swarmed the box office, even though they still didn't recognize his name?

The words "Fleetwood Mac" were in smaller letters stacked on top of each other and Lindsey Buckingham was splayed out wide across the billboard. Even though his name was still the headline, I still saw shades of Clifford Davis.

The lights go down at 8:20 p.m. and Lindsey takes the stage so fast that he's performing before I even recognize it's him.

He's in much better voice than he was Friday.

He always credits Brett for putting together the setlist, but he controls the sequencing mood with his attitude as well. For the first two songs, Not Too Late and Trouble, he is quiet. He plays softly, sings softly, but his mood is closed too. Somber. He's not interacting much -- How he takes my breath away, pretending he's not there -- His emotion is withheld and expressions guarded. Never Going Back Again is mostly the same way, but then things change towards the end.

Suddenly, for the last verse, Never Going Back Again is not just a song, but a proclamation! He begins hopping with his body and strumming the guitar ferociously, loudly. Then he begins laughing, smirking, and making those quirky faces and comments that are so innately his. It seems that it's at that moment, 3 quarters into the 3rd song, that Lindsey Buckingham really takes the stage. The rest was a warm up, luring the audience in, making them think they're going to get something conservative and then springing the surprise. Suddenly you know that it's not a museum tour, but a party!

That's when the band comes out of the wings, making the newly celebratory mood complete.

As Lindsey introduces Castaway Dreams, he says it was written when he was on Tour with Fleetwood Mac. The audience applauds the name and Lindsey nods his head matter-of-factly and says, "Yeah, that's a good band." Brett shrugs and shakes his head and Lindsey questions him, "You don't think it's a good band?"

Lindsey goes on to say that he resisted growing up for a long time. Someone in the audience yells, "Why start now?" Lindsey laughs and says "good point." He says that his wife is in the audience tonight, adding, "I love you, darling."

I'm So Afraid follows the same pattern as the opening of the show. Sedate at first, but building into a frenzy. It begins quietly. Lindsey does the lyrics with whimsy. It's rather light and glossy, not really reflecting the feeling of agony tearing at one's heart too long. So the mood is casual, the vocals almost sing-songy, but suddenly the guitar playing becomes intense, passionate. Lindsey's eyes are closed as if he's in a zone. His playing ascends to another level, but he remains earthbound. Man and spirit separate.

With both GYOW and ISA I think Lindsey concentrates more on playing than on showing off (as he reports that Will thought he was doing during the SYW tour). Sure he continues to swing the guitar and doing the dog paddle strummng at the end, but it lasts only briefly and doesn't upstage a true display of talent, as it may have done at times in 2003-2004.

Kate and Curran had mentioned that Lindsey's band had a "uniform" of sorts: jeans and black shirts. It wasn't just a coincidence. That's what all the men wore Friday as well. Tonight, Brett was standing in the auditorium before the show and he had a green shirt on, but for the show he changed to a black one, with the words "Triumph" emblazoned across the chest.

When Lindsey introduces Neale, he says he met him 17 years ago, going back to those Malibu days when they were all hurting themselves. Friday he said that only in California does everyone understand that comment. When he was in the midwest, no one got what he meant by "hurting ourselves."

When Lindsey introduces Taku he comments, "we may have to kidnap him next year." Then he adds "oops" as if he said something he should not have. That reminds me of the posts on the board today saying that Stevie would be touring in 2007. Was Lindsey talking about kidnapping Taku from Stevie or was he referring to some other gig Taku has?

When Lindsey finishes the band intros, Brett mentions what pure joy it is to work with Lindsey. Brett calls him the one and only Lindsey Buckingham.

The encores are Save Me A Place and Bleed to Love Her.

Back to the Lindsey Tour Page

Back to The LegBoard

Send Us Your Own Review