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| In loving Memory... Peter Green (1946-2020) |
I learned the sad news this afternoon that Peter Green,
the founder of Fleetwood Mac had passed this morning. He was 73 years old. Not many people seem to be aware, but
Fleetwood Mac began in the ‘60s as a Blues band. I tell that story in a blog post back in
2011, found here: Fleetwood Mac.
Since tomorrow night is the last Sunday of the month and
I usually play a concert, I thought it would be a fitting tribute to do a
Fleetwood Mac concert. The only one I
have featuring Peter Green was the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California,
on 25 January 1969. The picture of Peter
Green above was taken at that show. Peter
Green would leave Fleetwood Mac in 1970.
The problem using that concert for my set tomorrow is
that the performance is only 43 minutes long, far short of the two hours I need
to fill. I looked at other Mac concerts
and I soon noticed that I had one that filled the space close to
perfectly. It also happened to be my
favorite Fleetwood Mac concert. It was
the last concert ever played by the classic lineup of the late ‘70s, Mick
Fleetwood, John McVie, Christie McVie, Lindsay Buckingham, and Stevie
Nicks. I add this concert to the set and
I now have just over 2 hours and should only go less than 5 minutes over.
This concert was actually a reunion, ten years after they
went their separate ways. They got
together for a single live performance on 23 May 1997, in Burbank,
California. What made this show
remarkable was the encore.
After finishing Go Your Own Way, each band member
says good night and exits the stage. The
house lights stay down and the crowd roars for an encore. Then in the darkness, drumming can be heard. Mick Fleetwood had returned to the drums and
was playing the opening beats of Tusk.
The rest of the band comes back on stage and joins in.
The crowd is so mesmerized that no one noticed what was
happening behind them. The USC Marching
Band had lined up at the top of each of the aisles. The USC Marching band had made a guest
appearance on the studio record of this song back in 1979. As Fleetwood went into a drum solo, the band descended
down all of the aisles, marching double-time, amid the spectators. Most were startled or taken by surprise. First the USC drumline joined in with
Fleetwood’s drumming. Then the rest of
the band joined in, reprising their part of 18 years earlier.
It was one of those moments in Rock history where if you
witnessed it, every hair on your body stood on end. The entire auditorium was charged with
electricity and Fleetwood Mac and the USC Marching Band played on stage
together. But they were not done!
After Tusk ends, Christie McVie can be heard to
say, “I’ve never done this one with a brass section before.” They then went into Don’t Stop, one of
their biggest hits ever. The USC Band
stayed on stage and did it with them, playing and dancing along. Halfway through the song, the members of
Fleetwood Mac began to put down their instruments, one-by-one, and slowly leave
the stage, eventually leaving the USC Marching Band to finish the song without
them. Mick Fleetwood was the last to
exit the stage and the classic lineup of Fleetwood Mac had played their final
notes together.
We will relive those moments at the end of tomorrow’s
concert.
Join us tomorrow at AWT, 7-9 PM, as I first Play a
Fleetwood Mac concert from 1969 as a tribute to the late Peter Green, and then
a second Fleetwood Mac concert, one of their best, ever. Hope to see you there.
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| Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham on Stage with the USC Marching Band |
