Mac attack! Well, almost...

So after months of nagging by my Frank colleagues, I’m finally throwing my grungy ol’ Red Sox hat into the blogging ring. And what better to get the ol’ blog ball rolling than a blog about an AMAZING concert experience!

If you’re the type that likes a great rock n’ roll show, you have your mental list of the greatest concerts you’ve ever attended. I’m going to have to make some room on my list for the Lindsey Buckingham show I checked out this past Sunday night at the Lebanon Opera House in Lebanon, NH. (Sorry Foreigner, gonna have to bump your show last summer at Saddleback, Maine off my list, as fun as it was.)

I lived in Lebanon for nearly six years before coming to Portland, so I knew what a great venue the Opera House was, having seen Richie Havens and Roger McGuinn there in the past. I had never seen an electric show in this intimate hall, and knowing what a great musician Buckingham is, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Knowing Buckingham’s sometimes tenuous relationship with his band Fleetwood Mac, I wasn’t sure what to expect setlist-wise. We were treated to a generous amount of Mac favorites along with his solo hits and a few from his new album “Gift of Screws.” He actually started the show off with two from his new one, then a couple of solo favorites like “Trouble” and “Go Insane,” and as soon as the eerie tape effect that introduced “Tusk” emanated from the giant stack of amps, the crowd went absolutely NUTS.

Buckingham’s voice has held up well over the years, and his singing is much more intense live than on the studio recordings we’re so accustomed to hearing. That intensity redefined songs like “Tusk” and “Big Love,” the latter of which he did during a brief solo acoustic set. Most of the show was electric though, with a crack three piece backing group giving Buckingham’s tunes some muscle.

He acknowledged the crowd many a time, and called the colorful Granite State surroundings “transcendent.” (Imagine what he might have thought of the area had he visited on a sleety January day…) He even took the time to autograph a fan’s original “Buckingham Nicks” album while his guitar tech tuned up one of the many axes he employed that night.

My girlfriend and I had decent seats, but a few songs into the show, a small mob of fans headed to the front of the stage, just inches from Buckingham and his band. He didn’t seem to mind and neither did security, so we decided to mosey on up front ourselves. Perhaps the highlight of the show was watching Buckingham solo his heart out on Mac standards “I’m So Afraid” and “Go Your Own Way,” knowing full well that we were probably much closer to Buckingham than his own engineer was when he originally recorded the songs in the studio! Bottom line—the guy can play, and it was an amazing experience to see it up close.

You still have one more opportunity to see Buckingham’s solo show before he heads out of New England; he’ll be at Boston’s Berklee Performance Center this Friday night. If you can swing it, go to this show. I can’t promise you’ll get to be inches away from the stage, but I will promise you that you’re in for a couple of hours of great live music that you won’t soon forget.

Anyhow, great to be back in Maine after a brief weekend away, I’ll try and drop in on the Frank blog more often!

"Professor" Leif Erickson