Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Aside from Stevie Nicks whose fan base is loyal and huge (but whose last album In Your Dreams was patchy to the point of being often awful), few people these days would care much for what former members of Fleetwood Mac might be up to.
But with Lindsey Buckingham you would always make an exception and tune in.
He helmed some of Mac's most interesting material (notably pushing them from stasis and complacency for Tusk) and his solo career has always been interesting. His Gift of Screws album in 2008 found him in fine, dark form -- and the more recent Seeds We Sow forms the backbone to this two hour-plus live DVD filmed at the Saban Theatre in Beverley Hills early in 2011 which finds him opening solo on acoustic guitar then bringing on a small backing band.
Beautifully filmed (allowing his high forehead and halo of Art Garfunkel-like hair to be captured in their glory) and crisply recorded, this cleverly constructed set goes back to a brittle and angry version of Go Insane (from '91) and Trouble (his first solo hit back in '81) before spotting in a quiet version of Never Going Back Again (from Mac's Rumours) classic Mac Material with the band (Secondhand News, a tough call on Tusk though) then heading in to the new material.
With the band he swerves Macwards again for Go Your Own Way before returning to his solo material like Turn It On and Treason (written with George W Bush in mind).
Buckingham gets into a little wishy washy LA-speak in places when introducing songs (much appreciated by his audience however) but this is a concert you wish you'd been there, and not just for the music but because the theatre looks gorgeous.
The accompanying CD drops three of the tracks (among them Go Insane, Turn It On and Treason) for space reasons.
There are still Buckingham fans out there and this is mostly for them, but his songcraft is undiminished and much more grounded and tougher emotionally than what you might think if you only heard Fleetwood Mac as a smoothly oiled FM radio pop machine.
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