Ticket stub, tour book, and sheet music from Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk tour in Birmingham (Alabama) in 1980.
Stevie Nicks recently announced that Fleetwood Mac will do another reunion tour in 2013. Through the years, I saw Buckingham Nicks before Fleetwood Mac (Tuscaloosa), Fleetwood Mac with members Billy Burnette and Rick Vito and without Lindsey Buckingham (Houston), and Stevie Nicks solo a time or two (Houston), but to my mind, nothing can compare to the lineup that is Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham. That Tusk concert was one of the best I’ve ever seen in spite of all its growing pains involving relationships and drugs. We were all so young and foolish then.
It was a thrill to me when that version of the band reunited to perform for the U.S. presidential inauguration in 1993, and a few years later when they put together The Dance.
The Internet says Christine McVie retired from the music business in 1998, but she did put out a solo album in 2004, and she did some backup vocals on subsequent Fleetwood Mac albums. The times Fleetwood Mac toured without her after her “retirement,” she saw their London performances but didn’t join them onstage.
I’m just selfish enough to want at least one more chance to see my favorite five on stage together–if she’d ever come back, I’d pay the crazy ticket price. Unless I’d have to sell a kidney. I draw the line at giving up body parts for my favorite bands. I guess I’m not so young and foolish anymore.
The favorite band I saw “in the day” was the Eagles. I saw them at the Mobile Auditorium with my boyfriend at the time/later husband. The ticket price was $8.75 and the opening band was Linda Ronstadt. The Eagles came through Birmingham many years later for their Hell Freezes Over tour and were charging over $100 a ticket. I didn’t have the disposable income to see them without skipping on the mortgage. Yes, I have the Eagles records we bought and have the turntable to enjoy them.
I have an Eagles ticket stub and a story that I’ll be sharing in some future post. Isn’t it crazy how much tickets cost now?
I saw Linda Ronstadt open for Neil Young once. Later, I saw her when she was doing her own tour.