Lindsey on Conans podcast

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by jmn3

I think Lindsey would have 100% been on board with broadening the setlist for a 2018 tour, he just would push for the 75-87, 97+ stuff that they did together.

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.

Look no further than the BuckVie tour where they did unearthed Wish You Were Here for its live debut 35 years after it was released and never played the most obvious LB/CM song: Don’t Stop (and World Turning for that matter).

Putting the stale setlist on Lindsey is laughable.

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.

[BigAl84]

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.

[SteveMacD]

Boxed sets like that aren’t just thrown together. They take months, if not years to plan out, especially with a band with numerous stake holders.

[UnwindedDreams]

I found it weird that they didn’t sell it at merch stands at the shows that I went to on the 2019 legs. Stevie sold Crystal Visions on her 2007 Tour.

[soul_drifter333]

I didn't even buy the 50th anniversary collection so I probably shouldn't comment, but I guess I will anyway. I wouldn't even call this a box set. It's just another greatest hits collection, hastily thrown together. I bet the band didn't even have much or anything to do with it. My impression was that Rhino used the same masters that they already had, and threw some songs together. I don't think it even had a booklet with it, and the cover was pure crap. I guess Sad Angell made it's cd debut, but almost everything has been rehashed over and over - rinse and repeat. Cash grab it isn't finest.

[BigAl84]

Originally Posted by soul_drifter333

I didn't even buy the 50th anniversary collection so I probably shouldn't comment, but I guess I will anyway. I wouldn't even call this a box set. It's just another greatest hits collection, hastily thrown together. I bet the band didn't even have much or anything to do with it. My impression was that Rhino used the same masters that they already had, and threw some songs together. I don't think it even had a booklet with it, and the cover was pure crap. I guess Sad Angell made it's cd debut, but almost everything has been rehashed over and over - rinse and repeat. Cash grab it isn't finest.

Bingo. Exactly. These things do not take months or years and are relatively easy for labels to throw together if they own the rights to the material. If they can keep the cost of packaging/manufacturing down, they're an easy money maker.

[soul_drifter333]

I think that the deluxe editions took longer because someone had to research the tapes and find content. I also think one of the reasons for the deluxe editions was to preserve the tapes by baking and digitizing them, and I think they were hoping to recoup the cost of that process by releasing them commercially. It's a shame they're now out of print, but I guess they were only suppose to have a limited appeal. As for the 50th collection all that should have already been done. A CD booklet would have been nice for the 50th, but how many times can the same story be told?

Originally Posted by BigAl84

Bingo. Exactly. These things do not take months or years and are relatively easy for labels to throw together if they own the rights to the material. If they can keep the cost of packaging/manufacturing down, they're an easy money maker.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by BigAl84

Bingo. Exactly. These things do not take months or years and are relatively easy for labels to throw together if they own the rights to the material. If they can keep the cost of packaging/manufacturing down, they're an easy money maker.

For most bands, yes.

Fleetwood Mac is a different story. I don’t know if WBR owns the rights to the Blue Horizon material and I think Cliff has to sign off on anything from pre-1974. Plus, with all of the publishing/catalog sales, it could be a difficult and lengthy process.

[BigAl84]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Boxed sets like that aren’t just thrown together. They take months, if not years to plan out, especially with a band with numerous stake holders.

Actually, Lindsey is on record for saying that even the Rumours deluxe box set from 2011/2012 was largely put together by the label and had very minimal involvement from the band. Stevie later admitted that she hadn't heard much of it either. Christine admitted that she hadn't heard the Mirage Box set in recent years.