Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Gift of Screws Tour Stats

Based on only 7 dates reported so far, Lindsey's Gift of Screws Tour is shaping up to exceed his last tour in terms of averages.

On the 2006/2007 Under The Skin Tour the average attendance based on 35 dates reported was 884. Average capacity was 1,373. Average gross was $35,245. Attendance percentage was 64%.
Current tour stats posted below:









REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham’s rock ‘n’ roll heart shines in Northampton

Lindsey Buckingham: A Chip Off The Old Fleetwood Mac"
By SHERYL HUNTER
The Courant
October 16, 2008

But for now, as he tours in support of his latest solo effort, the rocking Gift of Screws, Buckingham is playing smaller, more intimate places like the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, Mass., where he performed Tuesday night.

But the size of the venue did not matter to the 60-year-old musician, who admitted during the show that his solo work, while bringing him great satisfaction, has been “more esoteric” than his Mac output and, as a result, has reached fewer ears.

Buckingham turned in a two-hour performance that touched on all stages of his career with an intensity and passion that cemented his status as one of rock’s enduring iconic figures. He and his tight three-piece band played loud and hard, tearing through old classics and also showcasing plenty of material off the new album.

They got the night off to a strong start with two new songs: “Great Day” and “Love Runs Deeper.” During the latter, Buckingham swapped harmonies with guitarist Neale Heywood and guitarist-keyboardist Brett Tuggle.

Two of his biggest solo hits, “Trouble” and “Go Insane,” followed. But it was “Tusk,” with Buckingham’s oddball shrieks and Walfredo Reyes Jr.’s drumming, that brought the first of the evening’s many standing ovations.

Buckingham performed more Fleetwood Mac hits during a three-song solo acoustic set that opened with “Never Going Back Again,” followed by an aggressive version of “Big Love.” He introduced that song by saying it was the last single he recorded with Fleetwood Mac before leaving to “regain my sanity.”

Buckingham frequently dazzled with his guitar technique, a self-taught, finger-picking style capable of unique sounds, whether taking an extended, wailing solo on “I’m So Afraid” or playing the catchy new single “Did You Miss Me.”

The crowd’s loudest cheers were saved for old favorites like the set-closer, “Go Your Own Way,” off the mega-selling “Rumours” album. Buckingham encored with a three-song set that ended with the lovely new “Treason.”

That was supposed to end the night, but Buckingham, acknowledging one fan’s constant pleading, returned to play “Bleed to Love Her.”

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Lindsey Buckingham’s rock ‘n’ roll heart shines in Northampton

The Republican Entertainment Desk
By Kevin O'Hare
October 14, 2008
Masslive.com

NORTHAMPTON - Lindsey Buckingham has got his rock ‘n’ roll heart pumping again.

The phenomenally talented guitarist from Fleetwood Mac, released a relatively quiet solo disc called “Under the Skin,” in 2006 and his subsequent tour was colored in some of those more subdued tones.

He’s back with the more rockin’ follow-up, “Gift of Screws” which brought renewed vigor to his performance before a crowd of approximately 800 fans at the Calvin Theatre Tuesday evening.

Prior to 2006, it had been 14 years since Buckingham’s last solo release and he appears to be enjoying the opportunity to do some artistic exploration with these shows before he embarks on a planned reunion with Fleetwood Mac next year.

Backed by a small but superb band which included Neale Heywood on guitar, Brett Tuggle on guitar, bass and keyboards and Walfredo Reyes, Jr. on percussion, Buckingham mixed songs from throughout his solo albums - with an obvious emphasis on the latter pair - as well as mixing in some Fleetwood Mac classics.

Dressed in a black leather jacket, he opened the night with the new album’s drum-thumping “Great Day,” which was co-written by his son Will a couple of years back when Will was all of eight-years-old.

With three guitars soaring and no bass, the band nevertheless delivered a huge sound on the harmony-filled “Love Runs Deeper,” before Buckingham stretched back to 1981 for “Trouble.”

An early highlight was a breathtaking blast through “Go Insane,” which found Tuggle switching between bass and keyboards, before blue lights washed the stage as a moody preamble to a dramatically re-worked version of one of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits, “Tusk.”

One of the oddest songs in the 20-song, two hour performance was the title cut from the new album. With its bizarre sound effects and Buckingham screaming a times, it was certainly hard to envision that the song actually can trace its roots back to an Emily Dickinson poem.

Mid-set standouts included “Never Going Back Again,” which found Buckingham playing with the phrasing and the melody; “Big Love,” one of the last songs Buckingham did with Fleetwood Mac before taking a break from the group in the late 1980s “to get my sanity back;” the shimmering “Under the Skin;” and the hook-filled “Did You Miss Me,” which his label has been promoting as the single from the current disc.

While the band was definitely tight, that did not stop the troupe from opening up into some improvisational splendor as during the richly atmospheric “I’m So Afraid,” which started slow and built to a loud, extended, frenzied guitar blast at the end.

As the night wore down, Buckingham and company delivered such familiar fare as Fleetwood Mac’s mega-hit “Go Your Own Way,” from the “Rumours” album, and encores highlighted by “Second Hand News;” the beautiful ballad which closes the new album, “Treason;” and a final, audience request “Bleed to Love Her,” which he played solo acoustic.

Blues legend Mick Fleetwood comes to Croydon's Fairfield

This Is Surrey Today

Star interview:
Blues legend Mick Fleetwood comes to Croydon's Fairfield with his new band
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Blues legend Mick Fleetwood is best known as one the founders of Fleetwood Mac. He talks to Mark Hill before playing Croydon's Fairfield with his new band.

"Once a blues man, always a blues man," Mick Fleetwood says, calling from the sprawling home in Hawaii he shares with wife Lynn and their twin daughters.

Now one of the world's most iconic musicians, Fleetwood left school at 15 and in 1963 moved to London to pursue a career as a drummer, playing with The Cheynes and John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers.

It was in 1967 with Jeremy Spencer, Bob Brunning, and former Bluesbreakers members John McVie and Peter Green that there became the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac – the band that went on to sell well over 100 million records. Now he's going back to his blues roots on a tour with his new group The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band and a new live album, Blue Again!

Fleetwood explains how his Blue Band came about. "I put this band together with Rick Vito and two great players, Lenny Castellanos and Mark Johnstone, and it's really a focus of my relationship with Rick Vito who used to stand in the audience looking at Fleetwood Mac playing in Philadelphia where he lived.

"Many years later I met him and totally appreciated his guitar playing and he'd played with all the great players and then I asked him to join Fleetwood Mac. About three years ago, me and Rick struck up our friendship again and got connected with rock and roll gigs here in America, just for fun, and out of that came this."

Fleetwood, 61, says this tour is about going back to where he started with blues-based Fleetwood Mac and will feature some very early Fleetwood Mac songs but not the hits they are best known for.

They had hits such as Albatross, Go Your Own Way, Don't Stop, Dreams, and Everywhere, and Grammy Award-winning album Rumours is one of the biggest-selling albums of all time at more than 30 million copies. The band has seen various members come and go and Fleetwood is the only one to have stayed with the band consistently throughout the years.

Fans can catch Fleetwood Mac touring in 2009 on a greatest hits tour.

"We're still all friends and in contact – absolutely. We're a strange old bunch - we are alive and well and we are going into rehearsals in the new year after I've done this tour with The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. Fleetwood Mac is going to be going out on the road in the United States in late March of next year.

"I think we've been very open about our personal lives and probably a little foolishly, but it's really because we were in control of our own faculty - we managed ourselves. I managed Fleetwood Mac for a long time, which meant we were all pitching in, controlling our own destiny, and we didn't have some Svengali pumping us up and making us believe what didn't exist. But out of all the trappings of success our music brought to us, it was always about the music and just doing what we wanted to do."

Fleetwood battled with alcohol and cocaine addiction, but has now been clean for many years.

"Everyone takes responsibility for everything they do, but it may not be different from going down your local pub and realising the local car dealer, who's doing really well, is drinking a little much and buying too many drinks for everyone else in the pub. It's pervasive.

"We became aggrandised in this almost mythological storytelling thing that described a generation. I'm not excusing it, I'm just saying what was going on sociologically. The fact we survived is lovely, and a miracle to some extent."

In 1984 he was forced to declare himself bankrupt but denies it was a result of the rock star lifestyle, simply a result of bad business decisions. "I was very entrepreneurial and yes, I lost and made my fortune in real estate and it had relatively little to do with drug addiction. However, I will never live that down.

"Would I change some things in retrospect, in terms of being less selfish, less driven? Yes. I hope I would still do what I needed to do and have a little bit more time for other things and other people including my older daughters. I'm also blessed with two young daughters. I am by no means saying I was an irresponsible parent, because I truly believe I was not. But could I have been better? Absolutely."

So what motivates Fleetwood to keep touring and recording into his 60s?

"I'm a musician, and it's like asking BB King or Eric Clapton or Elton John and you go, 'My God, they're still playing', but it's because we like what we do. We started this to do what we're doing now – which is playing. There's a sense of commitment to being an artist and you're driven to do that and you're not really complete unless you do it.

"Having said that, there are people that are quite happy to be famous, retire and start planting potatoes, and that's fine too.

"There's a reason why Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey are still playing - we all love to play, and God knows all of us could have retired 20 lives over. It's not about money - it's about what we do and how much we love it."

The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band comes to Fairfield, Croydon on Sunday November 2 at 8pm.

For tickets, priced from £22.50, call 020 8688 9291 or log on to www.fairfield.co.uk

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Stevie Tapes TV Show in LA

Stevie Nicks was in LA on Saturday October 11th where she supposedly taped a tv show she's appearing on. The show is rumoured to be Chris Isaak's new talk show on The Bio Channel called "The Chris Isaak Hour". From what I gather they are taping shows now to start airing later this fall or early winter.

Mick Appears on "The One Show"

Mick Fleetwood along with Art Garfunkel were interviewed on "the ONE show" a UK TV show broadcast on the BBC. Mick is out promoting his upcoming live dates in Europe this fall along with his new live blues album "Blue Again".

Monday, October 13, 2008

Mick Fleetwood Blues Band hitting the road

To celebrate the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band hitting the road, the man himself picks his crop of the finest blues tunes harvested straight from the Mississippi delta

Mick Fleetwood is about to hit the road with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, returning to the music he made during 1967-1970. "It's the first time I've revisited this period," he says. "It's my boot camp, my training ground really. But the blues has always been part of me whatever I've done - I've never walked away from the blues."

So what better way for him to show off his knowledge than an exclusive
playlist made up entirely of techno-ragga tracks. Only joking, here's
five tracks that have really got the blues ...

Bobby Bland - Turn on Your Love Light
Van Morrison turned me on to this track. I remember him telling me to
listen to this and it blew me away instantly. Bobby Bland's still around and I find this track so inspiring. My template for most songs is "Is this inspiring?" and with the blues it so often is. To me, the blues is an infection. I don't think it's necessarily a melancholy thing, the blues can be really positive and I think I think anyone and everyone can have a place for the blues. It need not always a woeful, sorrowful thing. It's more reflective, it reminds you to feel. And that feeling could be anything, from sadness to joy and inspiration. So long as it triggers a passion, a feeling.

John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom
I listened to this track a lot in the early days of Fleetwood Mac. It was really overplayed in all the blues clubs, all the places on Eel Pie Island. Even clubs not playing the blues would play this track. John Lee Hooker became a friend of mine and I love all of his work. He was truly an icon. He lived the life. I miss him.

Howlin' Wolf - Back Door Man
This song totally became a major influence on my music, and a major influence on a huge number of British bands. In fact, Howlin' Wolf was a real leader among British bands, as proved by the fact Led Zeppelin had a huge hit with a mutant version of this song (Whole Lotta Love).

Otis Rush - Double Trouble
It's a haunting track, and I think Otis had one of the greatest voices on earth. He was a really great guitar player as well. I know he had a huge influence on Peter Green, so he must have had a huge influence on me too. I've actually re-recorded two of Peter Green's instrumentals on a new EP. We've done Supernatural and Albatross, which were pivotal in our career at the time. I think instrumentals are really a lost art nowadays, so it was great to do that.

Bo Diddley - Hey Bo Diddley
Between Buddy Holly and him, they've both had a big influence on my
drumming. It was all about the Bo Diddley beat.

Tour Dates for The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band
  • 10/14/08 Bonn, GER Bruckenforum
  • 10/15/08 Zurich, SWI Kaufleuten
  • 10/17/08 Zoetermeer, NET Boerderij
  • 10/18/08 Krefeld, GER Kulturfabrik Krefeld e.V.
  • 10/19/08 Greve, DEN Portalen
  • 10/21/08 Bremen, GER Glocke
  • 10/22/08 Hannover, GER Capitol
  • 10/24/08 Peterborough, UK The Broadway
  • 10/25/08 Canterbury, UK Marlowe Theatre
  • 10/26/08 Southampton, UK The Mayflower
  • 10/28/08 Liverpool, UK Philharmonic Hall
  • 10/31/08 Holmfirth, UK Picturedrome
  • 11/01/08 Ipswich, UK Ipswich Regent Theatre
  • 11/02/08 Croydon, UK Fairfield
  • 11/03/08 Saint Albans, UK The Arena

Runnin' Down a Dream (2 DVD Disc Set)

"Runnin' Down a Dream: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers" Critically Acclaimed Peter Bogdanovich Film Available as a Two DVD Disc Set with New Bonus Features on Oct 28th.

BURBANK, Calif., Oct 13, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Warner Bros. Records will release cinema legend Peter Bogdanovich's film Runnin' Down A Dream: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers as a two-disc DVD, complete with previously unreleased bonus performances, on October 28th. Formally sold as a four-disc package exclusively at Best Buy, this newly released two-disc package of the film will be available everywhere in the U.S. and Canada.

Premiered to unanimous praise at the 2007 New York Film Festival, Runnin' Down A Dream brings Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers full circle, from their humble Gainesville, Florida beginnings to their emotional hometown 30th Anniversary Concert. The film is a vivid portrait of a band that has created a body of work considered one of the richest catalogs in American musical history.
Upon its original release in October 2007, the Houston Chronicle said Runnin' Down A Dream is "destined to be a classic" and the New York Daily News described the film as "a godsend for music lovers." Rolling Stone called the film "rock and roll purity with poetic gravitas."

The two-disc set will contain the entire four-hour film plus three bonus performances.

The Bonus Performances:
  1. Too Much Ain't Enough, recorded Live At The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, December 31, 1978- Santa Monica, CA. Directed by Michael K. Mannes.

  2. The Waiting (featuring Eddie Vedder), recorded Live At Pepsi Center, July 3, 2006- Denver, CO. Directed by Michael Drumm and edited by Martyn Atkins and William Bullen.

  3. Mystic Eyes (Van Morrison), recorded Live At The Greek Theatre, October 27, 2006- Berkeley, CA. Directed by Adria Petty.

The film, two years in the making, features extensive interviews with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and the band's fellow musicians, friends, and collaborators past and present. Among the participants are Stevie Nicks, Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Jackson Browne, Roger McGuinn, Dave Stewart, Jeff Lynne, Rick Rubin, Jimmy Lovine, and Johnny Depp. The film includes rare archival footage, much of which has never been seen before. In addition, Runnin' Down A Dream captures Tom Petty with his Traveling Wilburys bandmates, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison.

The 4 DVD Disc version that Stevie also appears on is also. This version includes the "30th Anniversary Concert" Tackslist: Listen To Her Heart, Mary Jane's Last Dance, I Won't Back Down, Free Fallin', Saving Grace, I'm A Man, Oh Well, Handle With Care, Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (with Stevie Nicks), I Need To Know (with Stevie Nicks), It's Good To Be King, Down South, Southern Accents, Insider (with Stevie Nicks), Learning To Fly, Don't Come Around Here No More, Runnin' Down A Dream, You Wreck Me, Mystic Eyes, American Girl.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

REVIEW: On his own, Lindsey Buckingham’s style still evolving

CONCERT REVIEW:
By Jon Fassnacht
Reading Eagle

For two hours Friday night, the Sovereign Performing Arts Center could have been called Buckingham’s Palace.

Lindsey Buckingham, best known as Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and male voice, shared a love fest with a fiesty crowd in Reading.

There were standing ovations following nearly every song. Many were moved to stand up and dance in front of their seats. And there was one gentleman who bellowed “We love yoooooooouu!” about 50 times during the evening.

Buckingham recently celebrated his 60th birthday, but he doesn’t look or sound anywhere near that old. His guitar playing continues to evolve, a unique style that melds delicate finger-picking with the amplification and noisy chords of electric guitars.

He and his three-piece backing band are promoting his new album, “Gift of Screws,” a title that Buckingham said isn’t as nasty as it sounds, coming from an Emily Dickinson poem.

He played a healthy selections of songs from the new album, and all of them were very well-received. It was clear that those who attended weren’t there to just to hear some Fleetwood Mac songs.

But Buckingham was more than happy to delve into his more-popular and lucrative gig as one-fifth of one of the most popular bands in history.

About half of the set’s 19 selections were songs Buckingham wrote for and performed with Fleetwood Mac. Save for acoustic renditions of “Never Going Back Again” and “Big Love,” the songs were aggressive, loud and fresh, climaxing during the final three songs of the main set.

“World Turning” started slowly before building to its forceful conclusion, which led to an Alfredo Reyes drum solo, during which he did his best John Bonham/Animal impersonation, playing everything with his hands. “I’m So Afraid” followed, featuring a mammoth Buckingham solo, leading into “Go Your Own Way.”

Buckingham said the group of musicians has been touring together for only a few years.

“As we keep touring, things keep evolving and it just keeps getting better and better for me,” Buckingham said.

The guitarist clearly was enjoying his time here, frequently mugging for the crowd and saying multiple times that he’ll be back.

“We should set up a residency here,” Buckingham said. “The Reading tour.”

PHOTOS: Lindsey Buckingham Birds Eye View of Salt Lake City Show

Seriously, these photos are up there with some of the best live shots taken of Lindsey Buckingham on this tour that I've seen - and quite possibly the last tour as well! Well done!!
View tons more here: Neeta Lind

Friday, October 10, 2008

Stevie Live in Detroit - October 25th - MotorCity Casino

SOUND BOARD Continues Blockbuster Entertainment Lineup with Stevie Nicks on Saturday, October 25th

DETROIT, Oct 10, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- SOUND BOARD, an intimate live entertainment venue at MotorCity Casino Hotel, proudly welcomes legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Stevie Nicks, to complete its opening lineup with a one night only performance on Saturday October 25, 2008 at 8pm.


Ms. Nicks, who is ranked #14 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, is known for her ethereal visual style and symbolic lyrics. Her enchanting stage presence and signature intensity will undoubtedly provide an unforgettable event as the continuation of the official SOUND BOARD opening weekend.

SOUND BOARD is conveniently located inside the MotorCity Casino Hotel conference center. Unique to the area, the theater was designed as a working musician's theater and is equipped with state-of-the-art digital video and light distribution systems, which include a d&b line array speaker system; DiGiDesign consoles; Hog Lighting Controls and over 40 moving lights. It also features four bars and several private suites that are available to create an unforgettable entertainment event.

Tickets ($125, $100 and $80) go on sale Saturday, October 11th at 10:00 a.m., and may be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations. To charge tickets by phone, call (248) 645-6666.

For more information about MotorCity Casino Hotel or to make a hotel reservation please call 1-866-STAY-MCC or visit http://www.motorcitycasino.com/ .


SOURCE MotorCity Casino Hotel http://www.motorcitycasino.com/

Thursday, October 09, 2008

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham once again affirmed his guitar hero status - Live in Chicago

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM LIVE 
CHICAGO - OCTOBER 2, 2008 - HOUSE OF BLUES

Paste MagazineBy Joshua Klein
Photos by Laura G

Gift Of Screws is Lindsey Buckingham's second solo album in two years following a nearly 15-year gap, and he didn't shy away from showcasing the new material at the House Of Blues on Thursday night, even if most of the attendees were likely expecting his Fleetwood Mac hits (and even if many minds were perhaps preoccupied by the concurrent Cubs playoff game and VP debates, no doubt to blame for the less-than-capacity crowd).

As leader of Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham sold millions of records, but has seen less commercial success on his own. Artistically, though, his solo work has never really struck a wrong note, and all of his records have been exceedingly adventurous. Still, at this point one must assume his cult solo status comes largely by choice: He could easily fit most of his solo tracks to suit Fleetwood Mac, and has in the past. Indeed, much of Gift Of Screws dates back to the time when Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will convinced Buckingham to sideline his solo career and cannibalize several works in progress for the sake of the group.

Still, in a live setting, the likes of "Love Runs Deeper" and the new album's title track proved to be energized rockers with the rough edges left thankfully intact (as much as the control-freak in Buckingham leaves any edges rough). The latter was deliriously unhinged and the former easily on par with past Buckingham pop nuggets such as "Go Insane" and "Trouble," performed that night back-to-back. When Buckingham did dip into the Mac catalog, he chose the unlikely avenue of "Tusk" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong" rather than the most obvious songs-- though he eventually did some of those, too, including "Never Going Back Again" through the crowd-pleasing "World Turning" and "Go Your Own Way."

Throughout the night, Buckingham once again affirmed his guitar hero status, his idiosyncratic finger-picking style one of the many things that set his go-for-broke solos apart from the usual suspects. Though he demonstrated flash to spare, watching him play was akin to watching someone weave, his fingers gracefully dancing across and around the strings with an ease sometimes at odds with the jagged sonic shrapnel coming from his instrument. Buckingham could likely afford to add an extra player or two to the tried-and-true trio that has been accompanying him as of late, but the quartet did remarkably well with his equally composed and crazy arrangements-- frenetic, fussy and just as often beautiful in one fell swoop.

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham Live in Chicago - Gift of Screws Tour

Lindsey Buckingham Live in Chicago October 2, 2008
by Vern Hester

Windy City Times

When Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974, nobody could expect much. Doe-eyed, fresh-faced and hippiefied Buckingham/Nicks had already released an album that went nowhere while the Mac—a British blues band— was seemingly on its last legs. The success of Nicks' witchy Rhiannon caught everyone by surprise but the sleeper 1975 smash Fleetwood Mac prepared no one for the monster 1977 album Rumours. The rest is history ( including breakups, diva attitudes, drugs, divorce, infidelities, booze, jealousy, and an unbroken string of sellout tours and multi-platinum albums ) , but a distinct history nonetheless. In retrospect, no one has had the legs that the Mac has had, and now that Nicks' charm has curdled into schtick it's as plain as day how much Buckingham brought to the table of L.A. rock. After one listen to ‘79's Tusk or his out-there rave-ups on ‘80's Live, it was obvious that the man was a demented wizard or possessed by aliens from another galaxy ... or both.

Part ferocious bluesman, part nutty professor and part post-summer Beach Boy, Buckingham was the wild card that gave the Mac its idyosyncratic flavor and bite. While Nicks kept a higher profile, Buckingham—the other dominant personality in the band and, by far, the most creative—released solo albums of such wayward personality and oddball charisma that he seemed at times, well, nutty. Granted, Go Insane had the clicking heart of Oz's tin man, but Buckingham's studio tinkering took years and could only be called obsessive. ( If the idea of a grown man, albeit a very rich one, tapping out the percussion for a song with two pencils on a box of Kleenex on his bathroom floor with a $20,000 mircrophone dosen't strike you as “obsessive,” I don't know what will. ) As a result, there's a certain closed-in quality on his projects that feels airtight and joyless. A decade of happy matrimony and a brood of his own kids seem to have put some rosiness back in his cheeks and opened up his music by degrees.

His new Gift of Screws, like his four previous solo efforts, is bullish on personality, shot through with a punchy eccentricity, but surprisingly quirk free and emotionally direct. The tone of Screws is a regret-free wistfulness that sounds almost nostalgic. The opener, Great Day, is equal parts syncopated percussion and clenched vocals spiked with jagged guitar blasts. Love Runs Deeper and Gift of Screws have an even bigger assault—there's no way that the Mac could contain this fury. The obvious gem here is Did You Miss Me?—a lilting valentine of such fragmented aching that it sounds like the oncoming of autumn.

Buckingham's packed Oct. 2 show at House of Blues put Screws and all of his music in a different context. Without the safe confines of a cushy studio, Trouble, Did You Miss Me? and Big Love were more plaintive and earthbound. Mac staples Never Going Back Again and World Turning got reworked and turned on their heads—the latter even flipped backwards and almost unrecognizable. A positively fierce Tusk shook the rafters in a way that the Mac never could muster but I'm So Afraid tipped the show in another direction. Buckingham sank into it with a steady conviction, but where the Live version was a weighed-down snarling affair of shrieking pain and fury, his guitar solo here was nimble, fleet and even transcendent. Shorn of its danger and pain, he turned it into something almost hallucinatory and light.

If Buckingham can live through the uber-fame of the Mac's ongoing existence, live a new life and do it without the bitterness and artistic slop that tends to cling to rock megastars, then I guess there's hope for all of us.