Dance Tour Opening Night - Hartford '97
 

For its time, it's a pretty good recording. A little distant at times. This show also has the only '97 performance of Eyes Of The World.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QtK...usp=drive_link


“This is the first time we’ve been on stage together since ’83,” Stevie Nicks told a cheering Hartford crowd during the inaugural date in Fleetwood Mac’s reunion tour Wednesday night at the Meadows Music Theatre.

Then the singer, 49, in her diaphanous veils, launched into a hushed version of “Landslide,” her 20-year-old song that has recently been re- recordced by such modern rock idols as Smashing Pumpkins. Its verses seem to underscore the reunion of the most popular lineup of the 30-year-old band: “Times make you bolder, children get older, I’m getting older too.”

On a pleasant evening that brought a huge, traffic-tying crowd to the Hartford amphitheater in the middle of the week, a large walk-up crowd helped boost attendance past 20,000, making it the third-biggest show of the Meadows season, behind sellouts by the Dave Matthews Band and Jimmy Buffett.

“This is something we were not originally planning to do,” Lindsey Buckingham, 49, told the crowd of the reunion. It was his leaving the band 10 years ago that was the first crack in the platinum lineup that included Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, which produced one of the best-selling rock albums in history, “Rumours” in 1977. The two women stayed on until 1990; leaving John McVie and Fleetwood to try the least successful lineup of the band, which never recorded, but did play the Meadows two years ago on a nostalgia bill between Styx and Pat Benatar.

“This was a chance thing, an organic thing,” Buckingham said of the reunion. Even so, it followed the blueprint of the successful 1994 Eagles reunion — with a televised concert, released as No. 1 album, followed by a sellout tour. Like that tour, the original quintet is matched by the number of augmenting musicians and backup singers. But unlike the Eagles, all the important vocals and instrumentation come from the group.

Months of rehearsals, including the last two days in Hartford, have paid off. From the opening thump of “The Chain” to the panorama of hits, to the handful of new offerings, the band sounded splendid and seemed genuinely touched by the reception.

It was Buckingham’s departure that led to the fissure of the group once, so in many ways it was his party Wednesday. Certainly, he had one of the early highlights, with a dazzling guitar solo on “I’m So Afraid” that brought thunderous acclaim. Though his vocal delivery may rely too much on barks and primal screeches, it was up to him to deliver the high notes in “Dreams” and choruses in “Gypsy.”

Nicks, whose voice is in gorgeous shape, has tailored her songs to her more mature sound, while at the same time injecting more meaning into songs such as “Silver Springs” and “Gold Dust Woman.” She even did her solo hit, “Stand Back.”

She’s lost a lot of weight since the last time she played Hartford, but it was hard to tell under the layers of fabric and veils upon veils. Potential twirls were diminished for her insistence on those platform Minnie Mouse shoes she still wears. But she’s still the star of the group, the one the audience adores most.

Christine McVie, at 54, seemed the consummate professional, bringing her familiar tones to the Mac’s best pop tunes and ballads, such as “Songbird,” which was saved for the encore.

The rhythm section of John McVie, 51, and Fleetwood, 50, looked like randy pirates ably steering the ship into its fourth decade.

The 26-song, two-hour performance was rich in “Rumours” era material, but it had room for surprise, from an acoustic, cathartic, version of Buckingham’s “Big Love” to the show-ending cover of an obscure Beach Boys song, “The Farmer’s Daughter.” Caution and holding back seemed the essence of the show, but the reward came in general technical excellence.

Of the new songs, Buckingham’s “My Little Demon,” was a welcome rocker; Nicks’ “Sweet Girl” provided some timely introspection. Just about the only thing that really didn’t work was “Tusk,” toothless with its big brass part subbed by an accordion.

Most of the new arrangements introduced for the widely viewed MTV concert special “The Dance,” held up live, with a banjo-picking version of “Go Your Own Way” and a nice piano intro to “Rhiannon.” But the concert demonstrated how much better things are live than on TV.

I can't remember all details of the GYOW performance I saw in NYC (Thanksgiving 1997), but I don't remember thinking in banjo sounds at that moment.

This was 3 days after the concert I went. In NYC he did get crazy as in minute 5:00 of this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwLcdsAzZT0

I don't know if it was considerably different from the opening night.

I saw the Buffalo NY show just a few days prior on 11/23/97 - definitely not any Banjo on GYOW!

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

That was such a fun time to be a fan, though. I was so excited for the MTV broadcast and basically had a little watch party for myself. And I know so many others who became fans during that period.

Definitely! I remember all those threads in the old Ledge. Actually it was all those show comments that make decide to fly on november 1997 just to see Fleetwood Mac. Fortunately I have family in NJ so I didn't spend in hotel.

Most comments were positive at that time. But there were some fake news too. I remember somebody posted that they broke up during the tour, probably around october and cancelled all remaining shows. Many of us were worried for a few minutes, cause a quick check at networks confirmed there were no reliable sources about it.

The Ledge and Lis were full of joy back then. I remember it vividly.

Thanks Big Al. I'm not sure whether I've heard this version of EOTW before but either way it's been a long while. The review article is also well written. Banjo GYOW must be an error for banjo SYLM.

OMG I was full of joy at that time!! :laugh: It was so amazing to see them actually back together...to see the Dance on all the TVs in walmart, and trade for tons of new videos/audios...and see new interviews in magazines etc. It was unbelievable to me, like a friggin dream. thanks for the reminder!! xoxo :woohoo:

-Lis

Also...they were so young! Stevie and Lindsey were 48/49, Christine in her early 50s.

You and Marty were posting like goats at seventeen!!

It was an amazing time. Silver Springs finally made it to the masses. Since I heard that song on the b side of GYOW in 1977 it became one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs. To hear and see the song perform live was not something I ever thought would happen. I never left being a fan even in the early 90’s when they “weren’t cool”.So when the Dance hit all of sudden many “ closet “ fans appeared once again.

I remember getting to hear little snippets of the songs on Amazon. I was going a bit out of my mind in anticipation.

I only got into the online fanship a couple of years after the fact, but wasn't there also an official Fleetwood Mac website around that time that played a snippet of Big Love from The Dance in an endless wav loop?

I'd also tried downloading Rhiannon from the The Dance off Napster, but with my bad dialup connection it took a day or so just to get the first one minute of piano, and then the download cut out right around when the song properly starts.:laugh:

Wow. I looked for this back in 1997 at bootleg stores. The internet was kind of new back then so never found it. Stevie sounded great this night. The Westwood Irvine last concert of the tour she sounded worn down. Lindsey sounds great too. Wish I could have been there! Some parents of kids at my high school went to that night. I managed to get front row seats for the opening night of Enchanted at the same venue the following year.

The reviewer writes as if the accordion subbing in for the brass section (on Tusk) was new.

Christine was responsible for the high harmonies, not Lindsey.

Was there really a critique of Stevie’s twirls?!