It wasn’t a sold-out arena this time around for the Lindsey Buckingham, the Grammy-award winning and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. However, it was indeed a sold-out theater in historic downtown Boston, that drew in his fans that craved to see and hear him perform hits and deep cuts from both his tumultuous tenure in Fleetwood Mac and his impressive solo career. In support of his recently released box set Solo Anthology: The Best Of Lindsey Buckingham, Buckingham and his touring band let the music do the talking during the course of a twenty-one song-set in the intimate Wilbur Theater on December 5th.
Taking the stage in a simple pair of blue jeans, black T-shirt and fitted black sport coat, Buckingham greeted the audience with a genuine smile as he looked into his fans’ faces in the front row, to the balcony and all the way to the last row in the back of the room on the third floor – all while holding his hands together in praise and gratitude for the overwhelming support in the room. And, without wasting any time, Buckingham and company got down to business with “Don’t Look Down” and “Go Insane”. The band was tight from the start and continued to be through the remainder of the night. Buckingham was, for the most part, a man of few words – except for a well-placed monologue before kicking into the third song of the set. Buckingham graciously thanked the members of the audience for attending the show and supporting him and his music. He danced around the elephant in the room without specifics and as to why he was on a solo tour which concluded with subtly promoting his new box set.
“Rain” followed his monologue, as did a half-dozen more solo selections. Buckingham didn’t take long to find his groove and both his voice and finger-work on his various guitars were in fine-form early on – especially during “Trouble” and “Dreams”. It was hard to tell who was having more fun, Buckingham or his fans. Regardless, Buckingham raised the bar with a stellar “Never Going Back Again” which drew an overwhelming amount of noise from in front of the stage. Fans of his time with Fleetwood Mac rejoiced during “Back Again” and the jovial “Big Love”. Buckingham’s finger-picking and voice were spot on and captivating. Other highlights in the set included “Holiday Road”, which may be best known for its use in the motion picture, National Lampoon’s Vacation.
Buckingham, the seasoned musician and veteran of the stage, knew it was best to keep a few of the biggest hits for the end of the set. The tribal-influenced “Tusk” brought anyone who was left sitting, to their feet to shake their hips and groove with Buckingham and his band. “Tusk” brought musical-fireworks for the ears. The dramatic “Afraid” and the profound “Go Your Own Way” wrapped up the set. The latter proved to be the most-appreciated song of the night. Buckingham’s voice was almost drowned out by a thousand-strong singing each word of the anthem – right along with him.
For the encore, Buckingham chose three more solo cuts – the energetic “Turn It On” kicked it off with a combination of aggressiveness and optimism. The gorgeous “Down On Rodeo” mesmerized the audience as Buckingham finger-picked his acoustic and sang like an angel. The last song of the evening was just as beautiful as “Rodeo” however, its placement in the set might have been quite deliberate. Instead of performing the traditional radio-friendly, hit-single to cap off the night – Buckingham went with “Treason”. One might want to search for the song’s lyrics and decide if there was more to it than just blessing the audience with one more gem from such a glorious catalog. In the end, both Buckingham and his fans were smiling as they celebrated their respective love of music.
