Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveMacD
And that’s the problem. The main point of the 2018 tour, at least initially, was supporting the 50th Anniversary compilation. That’s what the tour was supposed to be about.
I get Lindsey doesn’t like playing the older material beyond “Oh Well,” but this was supposed to be a career-spanning retrospective tour.
Granted, anything interesting was gone by the end of the tour, at least some stuff got dusted off.
Okay, but Stevie also dusted off a lot of rarities (like “Crying In The Night”).
I’d never blame any single person for the stale setlists. There were very strong competing visions for the band. Stevie wanted to go vault, Lindsey wanted new. Neither especially wanted to do the stale setlists, but it was probably the easiest way for the band to get out on the road.
However, if Lindsey is going to pound his chest about being the band’s musical director and be firmly committed to using prerecords, then the buck stops with him and he should be prepared for the inevitable criticisms.
|
Music Cares happened in late January 2018. The Don't Stop 50 Years Box Set was announced 8 months later in September of 2018, with a release date of November 2018.
I've said this before, but I still think the entire box set project was dreamed up to serve a few purposes:
1. Make up for (expected) decreased touring revenue - They knew this tour was going to be a harder sell without Lindsey. Initial ticket sales turned out to be slow in a lot of markets.
2. Compensate for what they gave Lindsey - help get back the money they awarded Lindsey in the lawsuit.
3. Deliver a product that supports/demonstrates the "many lineups of Fleetwood Mac" in an effort to downplay Lindsey's departure.
I really don't believe for one minute this box set would have existed had Lindsey been part of the tour. This wasn't some sincere homage to Fleetwood Mac, they just used the history of Fleetwood Mac to try and make themselves look less terrible. It's a pretty blatant marketing ploy, IMO. It ultimately proved relatively unsuccessful with the focus of pre-75 material largely scrubbed from the tour only a few months into it.