Last Thursday night I went to Staples Center to see Fleetwood Mac.<\/p>\n
I was truly excited.\u00c2\u00a0 Last time through, they killed.<\/p>\n
But this time…it was a dash for cash.\u00c2\u00a0 Lacking the balance of the pristine Christine McVie, we were left with guitar solos and Stevie Nicks’ desire to be twenty five forever.<\/p>\n
It’s a construct.\u00c2\u00a0 We won’t admit the band is over the hill if we don’t have to admit that we too are aged, that our bodies are sagging, that we’ve achieved only a fraction of our hopes and dreams.\u00c2\u00a0 We pay a fortune to be brought back to what once was.\u00c2\u00a0 But it can never be again.<\/p>\n
Last time through, Fleetwood Mac Hoovered up every last dollar.\u00c2\u00a0 Played some markets three times.\u00c2\u00a0 So, what was the incentive to go to the show this year?\u00c2\u00a0 This a case of mismanagement.\u00c2\u00a0 Give us a marketing hook, play along with us.\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t they be promoting SOMETHING?\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t there be a story?\u00c2\u00a0 Of course, no one cares about an entire new album.\u00c2\u00a0 But can’t you give us A SINGLE?\u00c2\u00a0 How hard would it be for this band to go into the studio and cut a track?\u00c2\u00a0 If it’s creatively bankrupt it could even do a cover.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, isn’t the best Stevie Nicks song ever a Tom Petty tune?<\/p>\n
And I saw TP backstage.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a cornucopia of stars.\u00c2\u00a0 But although Frasier Crane was very friendly, the brush with greatness that touched me most was my encounter with Perez Hilton.\u00c2\u00a0 He was coming right towards me, I’d seen that he’d recently signed up for my Twitter feed.\u00c2\u00a0 What the hell, I’ll introduce myself.<\/p>\n
And that’s when Perez said he’d signed up for my feed.\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S WHY I STOPPED YOU!<\/p>\n
But what stunned me was how NORMAL Mario Lavendeira was.\u00c2\u00a0 I expected a bit of flamboyance, a man detached from the everyday world.\u00c2\u00a0 But Perez had his feet firmly planted.\u00c2\u00a0 So we had a discussion.\u00c2\u00a0 I asked him about that ad he had on his blog last week, the one that was smack dab in the middle of the page, that was made to look like a story.\u00c2\u00a0 Perez told me he had no idea what I was talking about.\u00c2\u00a0 He had people who placed the ads for him!\u00c2\u00a0 And he’d whore himself out to ANYONE!<\/p>\n
That was insightful.\u00c2\u00a0 So different from the older generation.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s working for him.<\/p>\n
Anyway, our seats were PHENOMENAL!\u00c2\u00a0 I was so excited.\u00c2\u00a0 But Fleetwood Mac was a bit flat.\u00c2\u00a0 But the rhythm section was PHENOMENAL!\u00c2\u00a0 Fleetwood and McVie were rock solid, a thundering bottom sitting under Lindsey Buckingham’s exquisite leads.\u00c2\u00a0 If only they played Bonnaroo as a blues band instead of reprising these aged hits.\u00c2\u00a0 "Oh Well" was fantastic.\u00c2\u00a0 Made one yearn for the days of Peter Green.\u00c2\u00a0 Lindsey’s got the chops.\u00c2\u00a0 Why is he working out for these fans who are coming for nostalgia, not music?\u00c2\u00a0 The younger generation still cares.\u00c2\u00a0 Believe me, if these three, the core, Mick, McVie and Lindsey, played the blues at festivals across this great nation of ours, they’d be seen as vital again.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead, no one under the age of twenty five was in attendance. Unless dragged there by their parents.<\/p>\n
And that’s the ultimate question…\u00c2\u00a0 Are you a musician, or a star?<\/p>\n
I’ve wondered for eons why Stevie Nicks dances like Elaine on "Seinfeld".\u00c2\u00a0 Now I know.\u00c2\u00a0 Her goddamn heels are so high that if she moves like a normal person, instead of with that arm shrug thing, SHE’LL FALL OVER!<\/p>\n
It’s sad.\u00c2\u00a0 So she’s short.\u00c2\u00a0 SO FUCKING WHAT!\u00c2\u00a0 In a nation where we’ve got a black President, you’re still hiding your perceived shortcomings?\u00c2\u00a0 The future is about OWNING THEM!<\/p>\n
Truly, I’d love to tell you Fleetwood Mac were great.\u00c2\u00a0 But it ended up being creepy.\u00c2\u00a0 Like watching a classic movie.\u00c2\u00a0 Except for the instrumental passages, the show didn’t breathe, it lacked life.<\/p>\n
But the Refugees were FULL OF LIFE at the Getty Saturday night.<\/p>\n
It’s a supergroup of never-beens.\u00c2\u00a0 Wendy Waldman, Cindy Bullens and Deborah Holland.\u00c2\u00a0 All with notches in their belts, but none of them household words.\u00c2\u00a0 But they decided to form a band.\u00c2\u00a0 To join forces to create something NEW!<\/p>\n
They’re not trading on the old days, they’ve written new songs, THEY’RE STILL TRYING!\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the problem with so many of the has-beens, they’ve given up.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t want to come down off their perch, they don’t want to take a risk.<\/p>\n
It was a free show.\u00c2\u00a0 But that didn’t mean the Refugees didn’t fill the hall, didn’t get a standing ovation.\u00c2\u00a0 The major labels said the Internet would KILL music.\u00c2\u00a0 Just the opposite, technology allows everyone to make music.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s extremely hard to break through.\u00c2\u00a0 And being musicians, I’m not sure the Refugees will.\u00c2\u00a0 They need a business mind.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone to get them a gig on Lifetime.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, as they desire, the cover of the AARP magazine.\u00c2\u00a0 Because if the boomers just experienced the Refugees, they could become the female Jimmy Buffett.<\/p>\n
Sure, it’s about the songs.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s also about the vibe.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about the SHOW!<\/p>\n
A show isn’t just standing up there playing calcified hits.\u00c2\u00a0 A show is its own entity, something BEYOND the record.\u00c2\u00a0 None of the Refugees songs will become hits.\u00c2\u00a0 Where would anybody play them?\u00c2\u00a0 But they service the act well.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet the glue that seals the deal is the stories in between.\u00c2\u00a0 About hot flashes, about post-menopausal Barbies, Ken with a combover.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s humor, but there’s also truth.<\/p>\n
That’s what’s lacking in Fleetwood Mac, truth.\u00c2\u00a0 Stevie Nicks covers up her avoirdupois.\u00c2\u00a0 The act is opaque, there’s no penetration.\u00c2\u00a0 These are stars.\u00c2\u00a0 You get no access.\u00c2\u00a0 In an era where Perez reveals every facet of his personality and uncovers your warts too.<\/p>\n
How about Stevie and Lindsey speaking about their animosity?\u00c2\u00a0 How about Christine McVie beamed in via satellite?\u00c2\u00a0 How about the texting on the side screens featured at a Taylor Swift show?<\/p>\n
Image is no longer everything.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the truth outs.<\/p>\n
The truth is Fleetwood Mac is creatively bankrupt, and won’t take a chance for fear of alienating their paying fans.<\/p>\n
The truth is musicians even less well-known than the Refugees are packing up their gear in vans, starting at the grass roots level.\u00c2\u00a0 Will they and the Refugees break through?\u00c2\u00a0 I DON’T KNOW!\u00c2\u00a0 But is that really what it’s about?\u00c2\u00a0 Or is it about playing, the experience of being on the road, the band sharing one hotel room.<\/p>\n
The apex has collapsed.\u00c2\u00a0 No one sells ten million records anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 The superstars are so worried, they’re just protecting what they once had and will never have again.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re starting over.\u00c2\u00a0 There are no rules.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t need a hit, because your audience will probably never hear it on the outlets that make it so.\u00c2\u00a0 You need to win hearts and minds.\u00c2\u00a0 Middlemen are irrelevant.<\/p>\n
Everybody’s reunited so many times that we’ve got no desire to see almost anybody get on stage and play their hits.\u00c2\u00a0 This business has been propped up by the so-called superstars for far too long.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it’s imploding.\u00c2\u00a0 THANK GOD!<\/p>\n
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Last Thursday night I went to Staples Center to see Fleetwood Mac. I was truly excited.\u00c2\u00a0 Last time through, they killed. But this time…it was a dash for cash.\u00c2\u00a0 Lacking the balance of the pristine Christine McVie, we were left with guitar solos and Stevie Nicks’ desire to be twenty five forever. It’s a construct.\u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-w3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1988,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions\/1988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}