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Though a key member of Fleetwood Mac's classic line-up has passed on and two others don't communicate, the group lives on in countless catalogue titles. All of their studio albums from 1975 to 1987 have been given the box set treatment, as has their 1980 live album - and last year, a collection of Rumours-era live recordings was released on its own. Now, the same is being done for their tour in support of 1982's Mirage.
Recorded over two nights at The Forum just outside Los Angeles - the same venue where Rumours Live was taped - Mirage Tour '82 now presents a fuller picture of those shows over two CDs or three LPs (with an Amazon-exclusive clear vinyl variant also available). Singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, singer Stevie Nicks, singer/keyboardist Christine McVie, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood took attendees through a 22-song set that may have been light on material from their then-newest album ("Eyes of the World," "Gypsy," "Love in Store" and "Hold Me") but still infused the power of that latest album into renditions of songs from their previous three albums, both hits ("Rhiannon," "Go Your Own Way," "You Make Loving Fun," "Tusk") and deeper cuts ("Blue Letter," "Songbird," "Sisters of the Moon").
It's not the first time some of this material has been heard: a 1983 video release featured highlights from these two shows, and upgraded audio matching that program was in Rhino's Mirage box set (with several more from the same dates ending up as bonus material on the recent expansion of 1980's Live). Still, six tracks make their debuts here: the Rumours hits and favorites "Don't Stop," "Dreams" and "Never Going Back Again"; the Stevie Nicks-fronted "Landslide" (from the self-titled album) and "Sara" (from Tusk); and "Oh Well," the sole standard from the earliest incarnations of the band with frontman Peter Green at the helm. ("Don't Stop" is streaming now.) Journalist/songwriter Bill DeMain contributes the set's liner notes.
All versions of Mirage Tour '82 hit stores September 20. Full details and pre-order links are below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)
Mirage Tour '82 (Warner/Rhino, 2024)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
* previously unreleased
Disc 1
- Second Hand News
- The Chain
- Don't Stop *
- Dreams *
- Oh Well *
- Rhiannon
- Brown Eyes
- Eyes of the World
- Gypsy
- Love in Store
- Not That Funny
Disc 2
- Never Going Back Again *
- Landslide *
- Tusk
- Sara *
- Hold Me
- You Make Loving Fun
- I'm So Afraid
- Go Your Own Way
- Blue Letter
- Sisters of the Moon
- Songbird
All tracks recorded live at The Forum, Inglewood, CA - 10/20-21/1982
Disc 1, Tracks 1 and 7 and Disc 2, Track 5 released on Live (Super Deluxe Edition) - Warner R2 599176, 2021
Disc 1, Tracks 2, 6 and 8-11 and Disc 2, Tracks 3 and 6-11 released on In Concert: Mirage Tour '82 video - Spectrum 790 649-2 (U.K.)/RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video VH10202 (U.S.), 1983 and Mirage (Super Deluxe Edition) - Warner Bros. R2 554816, 2016
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There are some great moments in this show, but it's hard to justify a purchase when this new release only has six previously unreleased tracks. Surely they must have some other 1982 concerts in the vault? And how about reissuing the old VHS concert on a blu-ray? Usually I'm always up for liberating some old concert tapes from the vault, but this seems like a bit of a missed opportunity.
It's good that we're finally getting the full setlist from the Mirage Tour. But it's kind of annoying that they couldn't be bothered to get it right in time for the SDE box set.
By the way, for those who are wondering, it looks like this was the standard setlist for the entire tour. As far as I can tell, the only song performed on the tour and not featured on this set was a one-off performance of Leather and Lace with Don Henley.
All tracks recorded live at The Forum, Inglewood, CA - 10/21-22/1982 (not 10/20-21/1982).