Greeted with a standing ovation,
Lindsey Buckingham clearly appreciated the love and acclaim offered up by the Nashville audience (and at least two Tulsa
fans) on Saturday, October 7, 2006 in the historic Ryman Auditorium. Holding one hand over his heart and a clearly precious
guitar in the other, Buckingham entered the proscenium stage bravely alone with expressions of apology and insecurity about
missing band-mates. This was only the second public appearance on his first tour in ten years.
Buckingham’s generation-spanning
popularity as a chief influence on the style and sound of Fleetwood Mac has not translated directly to sales of his solo works,
and he seemed to fear that this audience would be expecting more than the genius of only one world-class guitarist, song-writer,
and vocalist.
He was quickly proven wrong. Opening
with “Not Too Late,” which also appears as the first song on his new CD release on Reprise records, “Under
the Skin,” Buckingham honestly seemed surprised at the warm reception and scattered recognition from the ecstatic crowd.
By the time he finally launched into a broadly recognized “Go Your Own Way,” the audience was enthusiastically
singing along with his unrestrained vocals. Other performances included “Big Love,” “Trouble,” and
the darkly thrilling “Red Rover.”
Though he began his performance
gloriously alone, Buckingham was gradually joined by his bass/keyboard player, a second guitarist, and a drummer. A spirited
drum-solo performance during “Tusk” was particularly effective at showing the range of a new electronic drum kit
as operated by Buckingham’s rhythm specialist. Since Buckingham originally produced “Tusk” in 1979 in the
first fully-digital recording studio in America;
such innovations are no real surprise; the fact that “Tusk” was released on a digital format CD for the first
time in 2004 indicates that it may be his recording label that misunderstands the Buckingham vision.
Buckingham’s set repeated
a general pattern: one song from the new release, one song from his older solo releases, and then one song (clearly signature)
from the Fleetwood Mac collection. By the middle of the second song, the spacious church pews used as seating on the main
floor of the Ryman were filled only with T-shirts, posters, and CD’s purchased in the lobby; the owners of the merchandise
were standing or dancing in the aisles.
Some women in the crowd may have
brought their grand-daughters. Middle-aged couples danced and embraced. The smaller group of lone males was more vocally expressive,
with hoots and whoops of appreciation for the intricate guitar arrangements. Buckingham’s themes of heartache, joyous
love, and emotional self-doubt were found universally cathartic by his fans.
The early stars of the show were
the guitars. A freshly-tuned selection from Buckingham’s museum-worthy collection of instruments was handed to him after
each performance. Variations in colors of wood tone, grain, and style of design were stroked, teased, and attacked to produce
essential and perfect companionship to Buckingham’s emotive and raw singing voice. The ultimate beauty of the guitars
lay not alone in their superb workmanship, but in the auteur who coaxed forth the perfect subtlety of voice from each instrument.
Two encores, including the never-released
“Holiday Road,” (from the movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation,”) were delightfully received by
fans waving posters and CD’s which Buckingham autographed in a random and scattered pattern. Apparently overwhelmed
by the expressions of fandom, Buckingham and his crew ended the song barking like dogs; he rose from a spectacular collapse
(once again clutching his heart and bowing) to perform one more single from his new release, the haunting and beautiful tune
“Show You How.”
Just reaching the barest length
for crowd satisfaction, the clean and perfect set left the faithful starved for missing solo-career favorites. Buckingham
notably omitted many of the best pieces from his previous solo effort, “Out of the Cradle.” Of course, we true
fans would have never heard enough.
