Fleetwood Mack – “I Thought Those Guys Retired…”
It seems as though there has been a recurring theme subtly (or perhaps not so subtly) surrounding me these days. Are people reacting to artistic intention or financial need? Is it possible to genuinely desire both, simultaneously? Sure, it’s a little deep for casual conversation, and it is indeed slippery, because unless you hear a statement straight from the horse’s mouth, you can’t really be sure; and even if you do, you probably can’t ever be completely sure, because people can be liars. Times be tough, my friends, and I think we are recognizing need over want and vice versa… or possibly cutting back on both. Perhaps the supremely wealthy are feeling it a bit too, else these thoughts wouldn’t be circulating and the super groups of yore wouldn’t necessarily be hitting the road?
Fleetwood Mac is ‘reuniting’ (if we can even call it that, seeing as though Christine McVie is hanging out at home in England, presumably planting a rose garden and not boarding the bus(es)) this spring for a tour hitting stadiums and hockey arenas around the United States and Canada. It was accurately pointed out to me that the Mac did not bother taking new press pictures for the tour; they are using the same shots from 2003’s outing. Considering that ‘Landslide,’ ‘Dreams,’ ‘Don’t Stop,’ and ‘Rhiannon’ are played daily on radio stations worldwide, and Hollywood cannot seem to stop licensing their songs for use in film, you can’t tell me that these guys aren’t still cashing in off of their hits of the 1970s. (Or at least, the principal songwriters are doing so, in all fairness). Nice work if you can get it. However, could Fleetwood Mac not be bothered to meet for an hour in a park, or in a non-descript office building, or in a Starbucks, for crying out loud, and take some new photos? We are living in the age of Photoshop airbrushing; a publicist is not going to approve a photo in which you look like something the cat drug through the yard, I promise. To the remaining four: Lindsey, Stevie, Mick and John, yes I am talking to YOU….could you not pick up the phone and call your old pal Annie Leibovitz? Or ANYONE really, who can focus a lens and deal with your egos? I guess we should not expect much, seeing as though in 2003-2004 they were touring behind a (very solid, I might add) new album: Say You Will. In 2009, the tour is called “Unleashed: The Hits.”
Call me a hypocritical jerkface, (because let’s face it, we all wear that hat at one time or another) but I’m, like, totally going to the Madison Square Garden show whether it’s a money grab or not, because my gay boyfriend and I may not have another chance to twirl together during ‘Gypsy.’ The band may have had a lot of work done, and rehab completed, but they’re still in their sixties and not everyone can be as lucky as Mick, Keith and Tina. I’m not taking chances that this could possibly be it, but I did roll my eyes as I paid my AmEx bill, thinking of the gold pashmina shawl I probably bought Miss Nicks. Whatever. My choice.
Moving on.
In 2004, Phish announced that they were to be finished as a band. They had an illustrious career playing by their own rules. They organized their famous Halloween shows, covered classic albums by The Who and The Beatles among others, unannounced, from start to finish at selected shows, not to mention the success of the festivals created by them, for them and for their devoted phans. In building over twenty years, a cult-like following in the jamband scene, they were able to carve a niche, culturally speaking, continuing where earlier bands, like the Grateful Dead, had left off. Phish were voluntarily finished. This was not a hiatus, nor a time out. This was not a joke. This was it. Phish threw one last hurrah as a collective in Coventry, Vermont over two days for their legions of die-hards. I’m sure there were laughter and tears, and rainbow of other emotions for all parties involved.
Without warning beyond rumors and speculation, in the winter of 2008, Phish decided to play emotional roulette with their phans, and four-and-change-years later…like…dude…ohmygod…they are back together and doing three random nights in Hampton, Virginia in March of 2009, followed by a round of dates in June. This is the jamband holy grail, right? Do Trey, Mike, Jon and Page love what they create as a whole and love their fans SO MUCH that they cannot HELP but reunite? Or are the mortgages just too damned high on their Tribeca lofts, or Central Park West classic-six apartments…oh and the kids’ private school just jacked the price of tuition? The revenue associated with a live show, be it through tickets or merchandise, is what financially fuels this kind of music. The offers they surely have been fielding to play shows with one another are probably quite staggering. Phish does not make the kind of killing that, say, Bruce Springsteen makes on album sales and licensing to films and their soundtracks. I’m all for living the high life, however you want to interpret that phrase, pun intended, or not…but Coventry was supposed to be IT. Done. Finale. Other projects are in the works; no member is ceasing to be an artist, whatever that title may mean to the individual, just because Phish is no longer working as a collective.
Not entirely unfounded rumors circulated the internet in December of 2008 that they are to headline the last two nights of 2009’s Bonnaroo. I cannot blame the festivals’ promoters for throwing this possibility into the fire. Large-scale festivals are amazing experiences, and are amazingly expensive to throw. What company wouldn’t want a financial slam-dunk in a turbulent economy? Who wouldn’t want a sell out and a golden opportunity to recoup your investment? Here we go again with artistic intent; Phish’s members have played the festival in one form or another in just about every year since Bonnaroo’s inception in 2002. When I saw them in multiple forms in 2005 and 2006, they looked like they were having a hell of a good time. It makes me wonder what kind of paycheck would Phish be receiving for their hours upon hours long sets? Would it be enough to satiate their financial desires and would their fans look the other way, like I did when I clicked ‘send’ on my computer to buy tickets to Fleetwood Mac? Does this mean they’ll be cashing in on an infinite amount of tour revenue for the next while? And is it ok if it’s a purely financial move? Is it a purely financial move? I don’t know, and I doubt anyone beyond those four truly do know. What I do know is that SOMETHING had to be enormously motivational to prompt this kind of shift in the plan of Phish. And why would Fleetwood Mac just randomly decide to tour, without a new album? Am I a sucker to hope that it’s solely for the love of the music?
I recently saw a band virtually-unknown-in-America-unbelievably-huge-in-Ireland at a small venue. It was a record label showcase and the crowd was quite….odd. It was mostly John and Jane Doe Concertgoer; normal and refreshingly non-descript, (especially for New York’s hipper-than-thou Lower East Side) with Sony Music executives sprinkled in for requisite measure. For the added kick, there were very loud, very tart splashes of 20-something Irish ex-pat girls who had been following their career religiously, and were boisterous with their love for the band and for the beer, and their love for the taking of pictures with each other during the set. The vibe in the room did not know what it wanted to be. The band onstage did not know, either. Blessed with the curse of pop-star-worthy good looks and the pop harmonies to match, the four Irish lads could not decide whether they wanted to be a boy band or U2 crossed with The Police. Their songs vacillated greatly between Top 40-worthy radio love songs, and the attempt to be dark and moody; writing about the dodgy streets of Dublin.
After hearing the history of the band, and the plan for what the (major) label were looking to do with them, that pesky question of mine reared its ugly head once more. “Do these guys really want to play pop love songs and dodge girls who grew up on New Kids On The Block? Or do they want to be playing edgier, more rock and roll material and the suits at Sony are just not having it?” They are pretty damned attractive, but not in the Maroon 5 sensible pop-rock marketable way (I also doubt they were reared on Stevie Wonder.) They know how to turn knobs with effect in a recording studio, and they’re pretty cheap to keep on a roster, especially since they haven’t broke into the American mainstream as of yet. It’s interesting, really. They signed on the dotted line, and I doubt anyone held a handgun to their head while it was occurring. Artistic fulfillment? Time will tell. Or it won’t.
Stephen Sondheim, (aka God of Man for all you closeted musical theatre nerds…) brilliantly wrote the line “Art isn’t easy, even when you’re hot, advancing art is easy, financing it is not.” As true as this lyric can be, it also makes me wonder if ‘financing it’ could be easier than the actual advancement? Perchance it might be easier to endorse a check.
