The commercial success of the Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks version of Fleetwood Mac was so massive and meteoric that within just seven years, they became a greatest hits act. Yes, they produced new material. But they had amassed a group of songs they were expected to play each night, songs audiences expected to hear—enough to fill up a setlist. Even their album tracks were hits.
Sure, at “only” a few million, sales for Tusk (1979) were relatively demure compared to its two world-beating predecessors, Fleetwood Mac (1975) and Rumours (1977). But Mirage (1982) got the band back on track with pop radio, and they had no problem filling large auditoriums. Doing what it says on the cover, Mirage Tour ’82 captures the quintet over a two-night homecoming stand at the Forum in Los Angeles in October 1982, at the tail end of the Mirage tour.
This triple record has been assembled from various releases and reissues, from the original Mirage Tour long-form video, released in 1983, to the “deluxe” version of Mirage in 2016. The full setlist includes six never-before-released tracks that have been placed in the correct running order. Make no mistake, from the generic title to the thrown-together artwork, Mirage Tour ’82 is a pure, cynical record company Product, which makes it challenging to take the music within any other way. With a setlist, talent, and legacy like this, the album can’t help but provide some enjoyment and listening value. But it is purely a snapshot, a moment in time that offers only a few surprises, insights, or revelations about what these songs or Fleetwood Mac were about.
The Mirage tour was short, just 33 dates and confined to the US, a setup reflecting increasing tensions within the ever-tenuous band dynamic. Nicks now had a thriving solo career, with a smash LP, Bella Donna (1981), that had outsold Tusk. Buckingham also released a solo album with some commercial success. From then on, Fleetwood Mac would be more of a diversion for its two biggest stars—albeit one so lucrative it was impossible to leave behind altogether.
Accordingly, the setlist for Mirage Tour ’82 is packed with hits and favorites. “Say You Love Me” fans will be disappointed, but everything else, from “Dreams” and “Rhiannon” to “Don’t Stop” and the Mirage duo of “Hold Me” and “Gypsy”, is given a spirited rundown. Nearly every one of the 22 songs was or would become a concert staple. The exception is Mirage’s opening track, “Love in Store”, a typically jaunty but unremarkable Christine McVie love song that was a minor hit.
With Buckingham as a driving force, Fleetwood Mac of this era extensively used studio effects and overdubs. Therefore, it is unsurprising that these live versions, with the five-piece unaugmented by outside musicians, are slightly more gritty and less disciplined than their studio counterparts. This phenomenon adds some visceral power to the more rocking numbers like the proto-metal Fleetwood Mac Mark I gem “Oh Well” and Buckingham stompers “Second Hand News” and “Love in Store”. Conversely, ethereal Nicks songs like “Sara” and “Gypsy” lose some of their enchanting magic. McVie’s mid-tempo “Hold Me” also suffers from a lack of overdubs.
It wouldn’t be a Fleetwood Mac album without a degree of psychological intrigue. Indeed, throughout Mirage Tour ’82, you can hear Nicks and Buckingham jockeying for position—in their vocal ad-libs, exhortations to the crowd, and their unique types of scenery chewing. The musical virtuoso Buckingham dazzles with his guitar solos and lightning-fast fingerpicking, but he overindulges. For her part, Nicks, who was dealing with the untimely death of a close friend, caterwauls some lines and mumbles others, as if she is trying to invent poetry slam. If this all seems old hat as far as Fleetwood Mac is concerned, you can always sit back and simply enjoy the artistry of the John McVie-Mick Fleetwood rhythm section, one of the greatest, most solid in the history of rock.
In retrospect, there is one bit of historical significance to Mirage Tour ’82: It was one of Buckingham’s final performances with Fleetwood Mac for the next 15 years. By the time the tour for Mirage‘s follow-up Tango in the Night rolled around in 1987, he had left the group under acrimonious circumstances. The classic quintet would reconvene, though, in 1997, for more touring. They never made another album again, and Christine McVie died in November 2022, almost exactly 40 years after Mirage Tour ’82 was recorded. If nothing else, it is a reminder of a time when they seemed invincible.