Fleetwood Mac at the Fabulous Forum
Woman in the Middle | November 30, 2014Don’t be jealous, but Hubby, the girls and I went to see Fleetwood Mac last night. For people of a certain age (like me!) their hits were a big part of our youthful songbook. For me, who somehow always ended up with men who liked to go to concerts, the venue, the Forum in Inglewood, near LAX, is also a place brings back interesting memories.
First, the concert. Christine McVie has rejoined the group after a 16 year retirement. She sang lead on so many of their hits so it is great that she is back. That is why we decided to go, because we would get to see all five of them. All three lead singers, who aren’t spring chickens, sounded pretty darn good. The girls and I agreed that there might have been just a smidge too much Lindsey Buckingham. Mick Fleetwood pointed out that Lindsey never left the stage the whole concert, while the rest of them did at certain points. Well, when they left the stage it was all Lindsey. But, that being said, he is a great guitar player and he was playing his hits with the band.
Stevie Nicks was wearing black and dancing around the stage with her tambourine, just as you would expect and want. During the encore Mick Fleetwood had some fun and his moment center stage playing the drums like a madman and getting the audience all riled up. The only one that stayed in the background and never spoke to the audience was bass player John McVie.
The very first concert I ever went to was at the Forum. It was Billy Joel. I met the fellow who would become my boyfriend for the next 2 1/2 years. The group I was with sat at the very top, in the nosebleed seats. There weren’t hand rails (and there still aren’t) and climbing up to our seats almost felt like climbing a ladder. Getting back down with nothing to hold onto was terrifying.
Hubby and I went to an Elton John concert at the Forum when we were dating. We sat on the floor towards the back on some risers. Everyone started jumping up and down a one point and all of a sudden the riser dropped three or four inches. Scared the living daylights out of Hubby and I. Neither of us wanted to die in a crush of people while Elton John sang. Happily, everyone stopped jumping and the riser held for the rest of the concert.
More recently, we took the girls there to see the Rolling Stones. Hubby got us great seats and we were all thrilled to be there to see Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ron. Mick sang “The Girl with the Far Away Eyes” which he doesn’t do live very much. The stage extended out into the audience at one point and the Stones were so close, we could practically feel their sweat.
A word to anyone who lives in the Los Angeles area and might go to the Forum for an event – you will be walking up and down stairs. I presume they have provisions for people who are disabled, but everyone else will be using stairs to get to and from their seats and stairs to get into and out of the restrooms. Lots and lots of stairs. I think I took off quite a bit of the Thanksgiving pie I ate just getting from my seat, into the restroom and back to my seat last night.
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