I had the good fortune to see Fleetwood Mac last night at Jones Beach, an excellent outdoor venue for seeing what is otherwise generally an arena band. Despite my unabashed love and hero worship of Lindsey Buckingham, I found that the show managed to exceed my expectations. In part this was because I had lowered my expectations in anticipation that the loss of Christine McVie would be more sorely felt; on most of the vintage Lindsey-era Mac, many of the best moments involve collaborations between the two of them (e.g., "Hold Me"). But the band managed to realign itself around who was there, as opposed to keeping a space for someone who wasn't, and so for the most part she wasn't missed (although her presence would still have been a welcome thing). Indeed they only played one McVie song all night, the last encore ("Don't Stop"), which after Clinton '92 is probably mandated for inclusion in the setlist by law. Speaking of setlists: The Chain Dreams Eyes of the World Peacekeeper Second Hand News Say You Will Never Going Back Again Rhiannon Come Gypsy Big Love Landslide Say Goodbye What's the World Coming To Beautiful Child Gold Dust Woman So Afraid Silver Spring Tusk Stand Back Go Your Own Way World Turning > self-indulgent drum solo Don't Stop There were many, many musicians augmenting the core foursome-- two guitarists, a keyboard player who doubled on guitar, a percussionist, and two background singers (most of the backing instrumentalists also sang). However for the most part the backing musicians were quite low in the mix, providing underlying texture; the four band members were all quite high in the mix, so the majority of what you actually heard (or perceived at any rate) was them. The only exceptions were the keyboardist on the songs with a pronounced keyboard part; and the percussionist on numbers with that twinkly, fairy-dust wind chime sound they sprinkle quite liberally over a lot of songs. Lindsey Buckingham remains a true rock star, a monster, a force of nature. So much music pours out of him, sometimes its hard to believe. Nicks, about whom I generally gripe, was quite impressive, although now in her 50s and with a lower-register, smoky voice she may well be becoming the Lauren Bacall of rock. The band used vocal arrangements that featured the two voices to good advantage, recasting 3-part harmonies as 2-part; Lindsey and Stevie did a lot of singing together, the vast array of backing vocalists adding color. And with 13 Lindsey songs (I'm counting "The Chain") and 9 Nicks songs, the Nicks selections really stuck to her strongest material, seldom wading over into twittishness. (Still, no one is going to stop her from twirling around in scarf-draped circles on songs like "Gold Dust Woman.") Indeed, the chemistry between Lindsey and Stevie-- both musical and personal-- was palpable. It would be easy to say that all the hugging and dancing and affection was contrived (and I'm sure that they probably repeat a good deal of it at the same spots every night). But too, if they genuinely disliked each other, you have to figure they wouldn't bother. Musically, especially on some of the Lindsey songs off of the new record Say You Will ("Come", "Say Goodbye", "What's the World Coming To"), the band seems to have found more space for Stevie to occupy. This is notable because each of those tracks originally comes from Lindsey's aborted solo album Gift of Screws, essentially intact; for Say You Will they simply layered in a Stevie vocal track over the top (Fleetwood and John McVie were already on the original Screws sessions.) Her greater presence live-- no doubt the result of several months of road work-- makes the songs stronger. Buckingham played a ton of guitar, at times violently attacking the strings, at times delicately, expertly picking. I thought some of the highlights were the opening "Chain" (full-band whomp); "Eyes of the World" (an underrated Mirage song); "Never Goin' Back Again" (basically Lindsey and John McVie; great picking); "Say You Will" (Stevie's best song off the new one); the new Lindsey tunes "Say Goodbye" and "What's the World Coming To"; and the surprising Nicks Tusk choice "Beautiful Child." I could have done with far less of Mick Fleetwood's annoying mugging. At least I thought it was Mick Fleetwood; it could have been Marty Feldman. Nevertheless, he and John McVie provide one of the most solid, distinctive, poppy rhythm sections in rock. On the whole, it would have been easy to criticize these dinosaurs of rock for still rolling out the circus 26 years after Rumors (represented by 7, count 'em 7, songs.) Except for the fact that they delivered the goods.