Silver Springs Performance: Fleetwood Mac Reunion Concert 1997 Burbank California.

By, Sophie Santos 

 Silver Springs Performance: Fleetwood Mac Reunion Concert 1997 Burbank California.

I spend many spolom drives home from work listening to live recordings of Fleetwood Mac. The way that almost all of their songs have a swelling rise and fall melodic pattern has always enamored me. I love the way in which a story is told, not only through their lyrics but in the motion and sound of their songs. Silver Springs has always been a favorite song of mine, solely because of the emotional connection and strain listeners can feel in the voices of Stevie as she pleads with Lindsay. 

The reunion concert held in 1997 in Burbank California, gave way to a performance so moving that it echoed across the country. Stevie walked on stage in one of her signature beaded shawls, and wrapped her now-aged sun-spotted hands around the mic. Following her Lindsay, her famous ex-lover and bandmate, made his way to the left of Stevie on stage. Both of them breathe and smile softly at each other with their now wrinkled eyes. Their prolonged gaze encases the knowledge of their past love, memories, and regrets. They begin to sing the song Silver Springs in a slow and intimate manner. Yet, as McVie and Fleetwood slowly tapered upwards to the climax of the song tensions between Stevie and Lindsay swell. Before Stevie sang in a low-toned groan, using words of nostalgia and longing. Now as she reaches the peak of the ballad, she turns away from the crowd and towards Lindsay.

Her hair floats over her right shoulder as she darts her head in his direction. She begins to sing not to him but at him. She repeats the mantra “You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you.” As she has directed her focus towards him he remains forward facing to the audience. The tension is evident. He tries not to look at her as he repeats the chant. Finally, he caves and locks eyes with her from across the stage. For the remainder of the song he joins her in singing the mantra repeatedly, a song she wrote many years ago for him. 

Staring into each other’s eyes Stevie begins to adlib the words “never get away, never get away” as Lindsay carries on singing. The suspense between the two gives way to a sense of nostalgia, longing, and regret. In this moment all the world slips into disregard as the past, previous, and future relationship of the two buckles beneath the pressure of one song. In one instant the experience of unrequited love, turned regret surfaces, and boils over onto the performance of a lifetime. Nearing the ends of the song Stevie breaks her gaze simultaneously as that it seems Lindsay hesitates to reach out towards her. He is left standing with the whisper of a chance touch her as she recedes from his grasp. She turns and stands strong, finishing the song directed towards the crowd. He is left there, just as she was many years ago, an aimless soul chanting “You never get away, never get away” 

This performance, though according before I was even born, has always had an immense effect on my perception and digestion of the bands music. By watching the visual interpretation of the song, gave me, and many other viewers, a life theatrical interaction of what the songs purpose resounds. Yet the valence of mystery and the toil of emotion has left me with an urge to dive deeper into the meaning and emotion behind their songs. I, an avid Fleetwood Mac lover, will always remember what magic occurred on that stage in Burbank in 1997 and will “never get away, from the sound” of the bands music in my head.

https://youtu.be/eDwi-8n054s?si=-fzuqjy3BKZJkt70