Fleetwood Mac cheats live

Is this version of Fleetwood Mac worth seeing live?

*** Eddie Trunk reads my story live. Update below at bottom ****

I wrote about this a couple years ago, that music you see on TV is NEVER live.   
Artists are just now being called out for lip syncing live shows. Specifically, the band being
called out rhymes with KISS. On their epic joke a farewell tour, Kiss has been lip syncing.
I call it an epic joke of a tour because its the same band they have traveled with for years,
with only half the original members.  Nikki Sixx wrote about it yesterday. You may think of Nikki
as one of the wasted idiot behind Motley Crue. Didn’t he fall off the stage once because he was
so wasted? Didn’t he died once overdosing, and then write a book about his heroin addiction?  YUP.


He is also the Svengali behind Motley Crue.  He is the brains of the band. It is HIS band.
 He formed it, owns the name and trademarks. He wrote all the songs.  And he did while wasted.


I tell you all that to tell you this.  I saw a band play live that used a backing BAND.
This was one of the biggest bands of all time (technically by record sales,
the second biggest band ever… behind the Eagles.)  It was Fleetwood Mac. This was near peak Mac,
it was their epic reunion tour ‘the Dance’.  The show was sold out, and I showed up before the show
hoping to score last minute tix.  I got in, but bad seats. We were behind the stage. Sorry… we are
getting to the point:

There was an entire band offstage/backstage doubling the music.  

Maybe you could call it supplementing. I have been to hundreds of national shows,
so I can give you specifics (I am also a musician).  It is not that the band everyone watched
wasn’t playing their instruments.  I am confident they were. BUT, they almost all had backups.
Behind the stage (this was the Denver, CO show.  They played our basketball venue… same
venue as they tour now, and same venue as your city has). From where I was, I could see
onstage and backstage.  There was singers, a drummer, and a guitarist. The guitarist was the
most surprising. I think Lindsey Buckingham is one of the greatest and most underrated guitarists
at his level.


The concert was amazing, and sounded great.  The band was gracious, and all of them made great
efforts to acknowledge us.  I also want to be fair to John McVie. He was the ONLY band member
that wasn’t using a secret double.


I googled, and can find NO information on this.  I have to wonder… was this the case on the
(very excellent) DVD?  Do they still travel with a secret band in the wings? How long has this been
going on?  Again, I want to note… this is not a story a heard, or something from a ‘friend of a friend’
who was there.  I was there, I saw this. I have read that Ozzy uses a backup singer/double for a
long time. As I mentioned at the top, bands using backing tracks is WAY more common than we
want to know (thank you Eddie Trunk for staying on this topic).

But an entire extra live band playing offstage?  WTF?

*** editors note to self. Concert date was Oct 29th, 1997. It was at the McNichols Sports Arena
in Denver, CO
here is the amazing setlist... and an amazing concert. The 'cheat' band was not a distraction to me (sitting
behind the stage, they were tough to him). It did indeed help the sound and performance.

update 2 days later - Feb 22nd, 2019

Because it was Eddie Trunk who brought this to mind (and I am a superfan of his) I wrote him with this.  I didn't expect an answer.   BUT... he wrote back same day briefly.  THEN... I find this clip today (this is only 2 days later) where he tells my story and it becomes a whole segment.  Initially, Eddie was a bit skeptical, which makes sense.  It is a pretty outrageous claim.  Lucky for me, though, a called popped in and said he saw the exact same thing.  THEN... his producer finds an old grainy video clip that further validates my story.  I am beyond flattered and honored to be featured.  The clip in question is right here.  I am, as you can imagine, 'Kevin in Denver'"

** another note on this trend, I have read in many places that offstage Ozzy uses another singer to double his vocals.  Makes sense, really.  He has been doing this for at least 20 years.

Comments

Unknown said…
I also saw this secret back-up band for Fleetwood Mac! It was in Dallas, November 1997. Thank you for validating MY memory!!!! It was a great concert though.

-Tina
Anonymous said…
I also saw the secret back-up band on the same Fleetwood Mac tour in Dallas on November 4, 1997. I'm glad someone validated MY memory! It definitely was a great concert, though.

Popular Posts