This past Saturday night, former Fleetwood Mac guitarist/singer/songwriter Lindsey Buckingham was in town for an intimate show at Hoyt Sherman Place. I would describe myself as someone who was familiar with Fleetwood Mac, but haven’t really followed Buckinghams solo career in recent years. Apparently, I was in the minority.

I was sort of expecting a laid back, standard acoustic show….but instead, Buckingham proceeded to let it rip, and the crowd was loving every second of it. No joke, I think he got a standing ovation after every song.

One of the refreshing things about Buckingham is that you can tell he is still really passionate about the tunes. So many times with older artists it becomes painfully obvious they are just doing it for the paycheck, but Buckingham still hangs on every note. While I am sure there were some in the audience who just wanted to hear Fleetwood Mac songs, it was refreshing that he doesn’t rely on those songs every show, and only sprinkles them in on occasion.

The cool thing about watching Buckingham is his stage presence. There were lots of songs played at the show that I had never heard before, but because he put on such a show (musically, and with his stage presence) he was able to keep my attention the whole time, and I even found myself tapping my foot once or twice. Being a guitar player myself, I really enjoyed his playing. Whether he was delicately finger picking on an acoustic tune, or wailing away on an electric guitar, Buckingham seemed to do it very well.

Overall, it was a great show. The only complaint I heard was that he didn’t play long enough (which is always better than playing too long). Once again, special thanks to Hoyt Sherman Place for bringing great music to Des Moines!