For the past several months I’ve been closely following the reviews and clips of Fleetwood Mac’s concerts across North America.
The music sounds great and the energy seems positive, but I cant’t help but wonder if this will ultimately make it even harder for Neil to get the kind of widespread artistic respect and recognition he has earned, and so much deserves.
Most reviews of the shows so far, summarize Neil’s contributions as ‘the guy from Crowded House, who sings their one-hit from 1986, Don’t Dream Its Over’. Night after night critics agree that his performance of the Crowded House classic is a highlight at each show. But they leave out any mention of his 40+ year career and his incomparable body of work.
In 2018 American media, Neil is being reduced to the singer of an 80’s band that had that great song everyone heard in the radio 32 years ago, who got a lucky break and was called up to the big leagues, to be 1/2 of Lindsey Buckingham’s fill-in replacements.
The highest praise he’s been getting is how competent he is as a singer, singing Lindsey’s songs. Which brings me back to the subject and the question I ask:
will Neil’s legacy be reduced to being the guy who sang Don’t Dream Its Over and sang Lindsey Buckingham’s parts during the 2018 tour after Lindsey was fired, and before they did their reunion in 2020?
Neil doesn’t need the critics to acknowledge his genius, but he deserves it.
He should be compaired to Paul McCartney, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel... not Arnel Pineda (sorry Arnie, no hard feelings).
