Lindsey Buckingham Live!

Lindsey Buckingham
House Of Blues, Chicago
Monday, April 9, 2007

There aren’t many folks in the music biz like Lindsey Buckingham. Nor are there as many as polarizing. To some, he’s a musical genius — an alchemist — who pushes the boundaries of studio technique and craft to new heights. To others, he’s a studio hack — a knob-tweaker — throwing anything and everything into the mix including the bells and whistles. What is undeniable is he’s one of the most underrated guitarists in the game.

That virtuosity was on display at the House Of Blues Monday night in support of his recent release, Under The Skin. The crowd however, seemed not to care about the solo stuff — a notable drawback to being in one of the top selling bands of all time — and greeted his introduction to Skin‘s ” Castaway Dreams” with applause that fit the textbook definition of “smattering.”

Undaunted, Buckingham gave the room a decent mix of Fleetwood Mac and solo work, relying a little too much on Skin, but throwing in a few Mac curves. While his first two solo efforts were scarcely represented (“Trouble” off Law And Order, and his beautiful, funereal reworking of the title track from his experimental tour de force, Go Insane) he did manage a nice surprise by including the shimmering “Red Rover” off Mac’s last release, Say You Will.

The night was marred, however, by Buckingham’s penchant for between-song chats. Admitting he’s used to playing large arenas instead of the intimate H.O.B setting, he seemed to take that as a cue to go on long, rambling tangents about the origins of the songs. After a time, even he realized the stories were going nowhere, wrapping up a thought about Skin‘s title track with a pause and a “Whatever.”

When he did get around to playing, Buckingham had the ability to amaze, such as with his jaw-dropping guitar gymnastics on “Big Love” and “Never Going Back Again.” Yet even when the songs would start to stretch out and breathe, he would shoot himself in the foot again, most notably when his country-honk reading of “World Turning” was interrupted for a useless drum solo. The sight of Buckingham sitting cross-legged on the stage waiting for the solo to be over mirrored the crowd looking at their watches and trying to psychically will him to get on with it.

All in all, the evening was a bit of a push. Perhaps next time he plays the smaller venues, he’ll treat it like a stadium and keep the small talk to a minimum.

Or at least make it cohesive.

— Timothy Hiatt

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly