I won tickets to see Lindsey Buckingham at the House of Blues so I took a nap after work and met Brian (after I begged him to go) . Lindsey and Fleetwood Mac were all I listened to during most of high school. Fleetwood Mac was BB (Before Blondie). Before any of that crazy music we would call ‘new wave’. My friends, Rick, John and Chuck would sit and listen to Fleetwood Mac, over, and over and over. We would make up new lyrics and analyze each song. Since Rick and I were Feature Editors of the high school newspaper we made up an award just so we could send it to Fleetwood Mac. We called them the ‘Golden Cup’ awards and spray painted an athletic cup gold and attached it to a plaque with stick on letters. Judy Wong, the woman at the Fleetwood Mac offices who we called 100 times a day assured us that she had indeed received the trophys and that yes, the band saw them. Too know that Stevie Nicks may have actually touched something that I had touched was thrilling.

When I got too cool for California rock I more or less ditched the big Mac and like Peter, denied I was a disciple. Cool new wavers did NOT listen to Stevie Nicks and all of that bloated 70’s Mac excess with its 10 minute guitar solos and feathered hair.

So it was with trepidation that I attended the Lindsey Buckingham show. I needn’t worry as Lindsey was fantastic. Sure, his song explanations were a bit winded and yes, his ‘I’m So Afraid’ was way too slow and too long (that was was his one 70’s guitar virtuoso indulgence), but he reminded me why I like Fleetwood Mac back then. His honestly and lack of pretension was amazing and the entire room was his. I’m not sure why there were so many old people there. Surely they were not my age… Balding guys with pot bellys- some wearing their Rumors t-shirts. Women with child bearing hips that sported modified 70’s cuts wearing their ‘nice’ jeans. Our favorite was the short woman we had dubbed ‘Rock Mom’. She, like a lot of the woman there bopped up and down to Go Your Own Way and Second Hand News just like Aunt Karen at the family wedding. There were many wedding dancers scattered throughout the audience. When he played Never Going Back Again I suddenly was transported back to Alpine Valley to 1977 and I thought here I am, 30 years later. I was amazed.

Filed under: My Way Of Life