Review: Lindsey Buckingham

The line can get fine between surprise and mystery; there was some of both Sunday night at the Uptown Theater. The surprise: The size of the crowd -- about 600 -- which was about half the size of the crowd that showed up the last time Lindsey Buckingham was in town.

Photo by Fred Blocher/The Star

The mystery: why this guy isn't regularly included in discussions of great rock guitarists.

He and his three-piece band played for two hours Sunday night. By all measures it was a good show. Sound was great. Nice light show. Great set list. Very entertaining.

I love the Uptown (which will be rocking tonight), but they could have slipped this show into Liberty Hall or the VooDoo and cut out some of the emptiness. The vibe is always a little off when the place is less than half-full.

Buckingham made the most of it. So did his fans, most of whom came as much for the solo material as they did for the Fleetwood Mac nuggets.

He started with two from his new album, "Gift of Screws," then three tracks that were encore-worthy: "Trouble," "Go Insane" and "Tusk," the evening's first Mac song.

He followed that with another "Tusk" track -- a rollicking, amped-up version of "I Know I'm Not Wrong."

He sent the band off stage towards the middle of the show for a solo/acoustic set that included one of three "Rumors" tracks, "Never Going Back Again," and one of Fleetwood Mac's last hits, "Big Love."  He pulled a couple tracks off the "Fleetwood Mac," too: "I'm So Afraid" and "World Turning."

The setlist blended plenty of new material with the old. Some of it dovetailed nicely with those Fleetwood Mac songs, especially "Did You Miss Me" and the "Screws" title track, both of which would have fit in perfectly on "Tusk."

A lot of folks were familiar with those new cuts, but two tracks off "Rumours" got the biggest response: "Go Your Own Way," which finished the set, and "Second Hand News," which opened the encore. "News" sounded particularly sweet.

No matter what album or era he visited, Buckingham showed off his inimitable guitar style -- plectrum-free -- and prowess all night. His fingers are so quick and nimble, he can play rhythm and lead at the same time. During some of his more elaborate instrumentals, it sounded like two people were playing. He makes it look effortless --like a guy who still spends hours a day practicing. At the end of several numbers, he pulled his guitar to his chest and embraced it, as if it were one of his children.

His "smoke-and-mirrors" light show deserves  mention for its simplicity and effectiveness: spotlights bouncing off mirrors, often with heavy wisps of fog drifting by in the background. The sound was as good as I've heard in the Uptown recently, even with the place about two-thirds empty. This was a show with a big-name, designed and equipped for a big theater. Too bad it didn't get the kind of crowd it deserved.

|Timothy Finn, The Star   

Setlist: Great Day, Underground, Love Runs Deeper, Trouble, Go Insane, Tusk, I Know I'm Not Wrong, Gift of Screws, Never Going Back Again, Big Love, Shut Us Down, Under the Skin, Did You Miss Me, Come, World Turning, I'm So Afraid, Go Your Own Way. Encore: Second Hand News, Don't Look Down, Treason, Time Precious Time.

Comments

[smartman]

Too many shows in KC for all of them to do well. Tough economy doesn't help either. It's great for concert go-ers...not so great for promoters.

[Tim Finn]

Yep. Especially for this crowd: Neil Young, Eagles, Tina Turner, Jackson Browne ...

[Northlander]

With my tickets I got a copy of Gift of Screws. Great way to be sure your audience has heard your new stuff before the show. This was a great show and the new music fit in well with the older solo and Fleetwood Mac stuff. I'm baffled that more people weren't there.

[what up]

Another problem is poor/NO promotion.

If not for Tim and his this great blog, and perusing for tickets on CL, I would NOT hear about any of the shows coming to KC.

KC Radio is so splintered these days, and the times of Chris Fritz and his BIG concert anoouncements are long gone.

I try to keep track, but it is hard to keep track of who is playing when and where. I NEVER heard one word about Chris Rock or the Dropkick Murphys August show. Heck, if not for their website, I never would heve known they were in KC. I expected an empty venue that night, but it was packed, and fun fun fun:)

[Smart Alex]

I love nearly all incarnations of Fleetood Mac and love Buckingham, especially for the sheen he provided to "Tusk" (the album)-- The guy's a genius in the studio. I had no idea he was in town.

[Matt]

To: What Up.

I agree totally about Tim's blog. Thank you Tim.

To keep up on concerts that are in town I check www.pollstar.com everymorning when I get to work.

It's very handy for concert goers.

Have a good week everyone!

[Gary Dean]

Did anyone take pictures last night

I have an audio of the show for trade, email me

Gary
[email protected]

[Tim Finn]

I didn't see any cameras and someone was posted at the door to specifically warn people they'd confiscate them, which seemed odd given how close he let our photograher get. Maybe it was videos he was worried about.

[Gary Dean]

Can you post a few more Pictures then Tim.

Review was right on, I just love his Manic style on the guitar on some numbers. and he let the crowd strum it too, Van McLain of Shooting Star does this as well.

Can't wait for the Mac in 09

[Gary Dean]

Tim,
The Setlist says the second song was Love Runs Deeper ?

[Tim Finn]

That seems right. I didn't see any set list but I know he sang "Deeper" early. (I wrote notes for "Trouble" over notes to the second song.

[SidTripp]

The show was great. Loved the enthusiasm put forth by Lindsey. You can tell he really takes his musical personal and has a love for it. Would recommend anyone to go see the show. And the sound was incredible.

They were warning at the door that cameras weren't allowed so being a good person, I took my camera to my car but once you went in no one checked. Did see a few cameras around in the crowd, but I am just stuck with my crappy cell phone pics.

[TK]

Excellent show last night, but I was really hoping to hear "The Right Place To Fade," which is a rocking sweet tune on the new cd that is very Fleetwood Mac-ish. Great song, and would have been a great live one...

Superb show, nonetheless!

[Gary Dean]

I purchased the Live CD/DVD for 30 bucks last night at the show
and autographed too, all his CD's were autographed and a good price too, on the DVD I believe he is wearing the same leather jacket as last night and played 10 of the songs last night that are on the DVD...Very nice indeed
I wish more artist would do this.

[Tim Finn]

I'll see if our photog will cough up some more. He was there through two or three songs.

PS: The sound was very crisp.

[Gary Dean]

WOW this DVD is very reminiscent of last night

Everyone should buy one

Gary

[Gary Dean]

Here is a review my buddy Mark did
another perspective....

By Mark Stitt:

Lindsey Buckingham, Sunday night at The Uptown Theater. Bit surprised at the turnout, maybe 600-700 fans. The Uptown is a really cool venue for a live music performance, very ornate, great acoustics, free parking. Lindsey came on at 8:15, wearing black jeans, a black shirt and wearing a black leather jacket. Backed by another guitar, drums and a bassist who also played keyboards. Started off with a couple of songs off his new album 'Gift Of Screws' (Lindsey later would explain that was not as rude as it sounded, it was actually a line from an Emily Dickinson poem) and they sounded really good! A few songs into their set a backdrop of murmuring was heard over the speakers, getting louder and more chaotic. Then the drummer started pounding out what can only be described as a jungle rhythm and they tore into a rocking version of the Fleetwood Mac classic 'Tusk'. Crowd went nuts!
The stage was backed by 4 mirrors on poles, and they would rotate around while spotlights were shining on them and throw off the reflections all over the theater, and the lights would pierce the smoke made by a fog machine, a pretty cool special effect for being very minimalist.
After that, the band left the stage for a bit while Lindsey did a solo acoustic set. The stage was dark and the crowd was quiet when he played the instantly recognizable opening guitar riffs from yet another Mac classic 'Never Going Back Again' the crowd erupted into cheers and stood as he sang a great version, and for one guy playing one guitar, he sure can get a lot of sound out of it! Another thing I noticed was that several times he quieted down to just a light strum of the strings and was barely whispering the lyrics, and the crowd stayed almost eerily silent, which was unusual for a 'rock concert' crowd. Speaking of, mainly middle aged folks in attendance, but I did see a fair share of younger fans as well.
The band rejoined Lindsey onstage as he explained the process he went thru on the album development. He said he had mailed the album to his label Warner Brothers and a week or so later he got an enthusiastic phone call from one of the reps. They said they loved the album and thought the next song 'Did You Miss Me' was a sure-fire single. Lindsey laughed when he said "I don't even know what that means anymore!"
They then played rocking versions of 'Come', which included some fanatical guitar styling's, 'World Turning' (ditto) and closed out the set with that classic Fleetwood Mac anthem 'Go Your Own Way'. Oh man, what a treat that was, just a great song played well, and the rock factor was tenfold over the album version, just smoking hot! Lindsey was running back and forth across the stage, crowd was on their feet going nuts, lights flashing all over the theater, hands in the air, everyone singing along while wind milling air guitar. How cool is that?
After a brief pause, the band came back out for their encores. Lindsey thanked everyone for coming out, all night long he had been nothing but warm and affable and very gracious towards the fans. They tore into yet another classic 'Second Hand News', crowd once again at a fever pitch. Whew. They played 2 more from the new album, then for the final song of the night Lindsey once again played solo, a sweet version of his new song 'Time Precious Time' and his voice soared, guitar notes rang out and he finished to a well deserved standing ovation. I am SO glad we went, a great night of live music by a legendary musician and guitarist extraordinaire!

[Eljay]

Pick up a Pitch Weekly, and you would have heard about all of the shows you were unaware of.

[Randall]

Didn't tickets for this show cost twice as much as the last time he was in town? I remember reading some complaints here about that. Twice the cost, half the audience--hmm.

[onthemark]

My tickets were $46 each, center of the floor under the balcony. I thought that was in line with current concert ticket prices, but after seeing Lindsey's performance I would have to say I got a bargain!

[pellboy]

Sorry I missed this one but outside of the new material, it doesn't sound like it was that much different from last year's show at the Uptown. I'nm guessing 2 shows so close together at the same venue for a guy who rarely tours might have been part of the reason for the sparse crowd. I know that factored in for me anyway. As for the ticket prices, I recall them being similar to the last time.

Surprised by not more mention of "I'm So Afraid". He just rips it up and that song...always a highlight for me.

[Tim Finn]

He did. But it's the fifth time I've seen him do it. I kind of wish he'd pick a new one.

[Gary Dean]

Tim Are you able to post some more pics ? thanks

[Gary Dean]

Looks like there are some live pics here

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=37571

Thanks to whoever took them
Gary