Fleetwood Mac, December 6, 2014 at the Forum

When I saw Fleetwood Mac in ‘03, I figured that was enough for me for the rest of my days.  For as much as that show exceeded my expectations, with the amount of songs they played, hits as well as deep cuts off their newest album, I figured there wasn’t need to want for a show that was any more.  I even saw Buckingham at a solo show, so that was covered as well.  Granted, Christine McVie wasn’t with them but there was only little hope that after being away for so long she would ever come back.  But as it is in hopes for rock group reunions anymore, as long as they’re not dead, chances are they’ll get back together again.  And so it was, that McVie came back, and there would be a massive tour, with multiple nights in L.A. (apparently a bigger deal to play a few nights at the Forum rather than one at Staples).  I’m not sure why I even hesitated to get tickets, since McVie being present would meant that they would get to the Tango in the Night songs that they largely left out of the shows when she wasn’t there.  It was actually Carla who get the tickets, as a holiday treat (and a story about how she traded for tickets to another night, and completely by coincidence got almost the same seats), even if she wasn’t as big a fan as me (even though it’s still baffling why I am, and to the degree that I am).  And so (after an aborted dinner at Red Lobster that became dinner at the Sizzler across the street (though I won’t complain)), we saw the band -- the whole band -- in their completed glory.  It wasn’t dissimilar to their regular touring show, as impressive that it was only the four or five of them on stage, largely without supplemental musicians, but with McVie contributing and Tango in the Nights songs shuffled in at regular intervals.  “Dreams” still came early and Buckingham still did a “Big Love” solo that was furious enough to belie his years.  Not that a McVie-less show was ever incomplete -- they actually did just fine with out her; her loss -- but to see all five of them on stage together in this day and age was a grand event.  And for me, for whom Tango in the Night was a soundtrack to the formative year of seventh grade, it was a singular experience.  Even if it was just another show, rolling through a set-list they’ve played for most of 40 years by muscle memory, making us sit through unnecessary band introductions and forcing appreciation for McVie coming back night after night before moving on through a relaxed touring schedule, those seasoned musicians at least made an argument for making it feel like this was the only night they were doing such a special show.  Even if one particular oldie, in a sea of oldies around us, told me to keep it down when I was talking to Carla during a clear lull in the show that surely even the band would admit to.  Hey, man, I’m at least as big a fan as you, even if I’m younger than you, and no one, including you and the band, was all that interested in that song.  But whatever.  Since they played so many hits, out of many hits, and now included songs that had been (voluntarily) off-limits for a while, even if McVie held up a complete show for so long, at least she came back within our lifetimes, so she could do whatever she wanted to the end.


Fleetwood Mac's set-list:
"The Chain"
"You Make Loving Fun"
"Dreams"
"Second Hand News"
"Rhiannon"
"Everywhere"
"I Know I'm Not Wrong"
"Tusk"
"Sisters of the Moon"
"Say You Love Me"
"Seven Wonders"
"Big Love"
"Landslide"
"Never Going Back Again"
"Over My Head"
"Gypsy"
"Little Lies"
"Gold Dust Woman"
"I'm So Afraid"
"Go Your Own Way"

"World Turning" (with drum solo)
"Don't Stop"
"Silver Springs"

"Songbird"