lindsey buckingham

A few years ago an essay in The New Yorker described picking your favorite Beatle as a Rorschach test. Selecting your favorite Fleetwood Mac member is a similar exercise, and the same weakness I have for strong pop hooks that leads me to pick Paul causes me to select Christine McVie as well. However, I have always admired Lindsey Buckingham’s gifts as a musician and composer, talents that were on display tonight on PBS.

KQED re-aired a 2005 Soundstage performance that features Lindsey in concert (DVD). He plays a mix of old hits and newer songs from his solo albums and the 2003 Say You Will. Born in Palo Alto and raised in Atherton, Buckingham dropped out of San Jose State in 1971 to focus on music with Menlo-Atherton high school classmate, girlfriend and bandmate Stevie Nicks. In 1974, Mick Fleetwood recruited the duo to join his band, and the rest is well-documented history. Famous Mac songs penned by Buckingham include: Second Hand News, Never Going Back Again, Go Your Own Way, Tusk and Big Love.

Lindsey Buckingham is currently on tour supporting a just-released solo album Under the Skin, and he will be performing at the Palace of Fine Arts Monday night. For a sample, check out this video of Buckingham performing Never Going Back Again two weeks ago in Chicago, and for tickets Monday night visit Ticketmaster.

Bonus link: Lindsey Buckingham trying his best new wave impression in the 1982 music video for Holiday Road.