Lindsey Buckingham – Songs from the Small Machine Live in LA DVD review
I very much enjoyed seeing Lindsey Buckingham live at the Carolina Theatre back in October. The man’s got charisma, amazingly fast fingers and a dynamic singing voice to boot. I’m definitely going to catch him again when he comes back around here but in the mean time, I’ve got the newly released DVD of his latest tour titled Songs from the Small Machine: Live in LA to keep on-hand whenever I’m jonesin’ for some Lindsey.

The concert was filmed in April at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills which was well before the release of the new album Seeds We Sow. So the audience at the show got the special treat of hearing the new tunes before they were even released.
Even though this particular show was put on months before the full-fledged tour, it’s essentially the same exact show – the same setlist and even the same stories shared by Lindsey on stage. Yes, we all knew Lindsey was a perfectionist in the studio but he’s obviously the same way with his live shows at least in terms of mapping out all the details.
As I’ve mentioned in my previous concert review, Buckingham starts out the show alone on stage with just his acoustic guitar. The rest of the band comes in after the initial five songs. It’s always a treat to see him do his thing alone on guitar. His performances are mesmerizing. When he’s joined with the band, they get to tackle the new stuff. And I like the new album and all but honestly, the live versions are so much better than the studio versions. Lindsey just belts out the vocals with so much more passion than on the studio recordings. The album simply sound like “demos” in comparison to how they are performed live. I’d definitely recommend getting the DVD/CD combo so that you can have the live versions on CD.

One of things you’ll notice about this concert DVD is that the director included many close-up shots of Lindsey’s guitar solos. Obviously the director understood the need for us fans to see Lindsey’s fingerpickin’ up close so kudos to the editor and director for including those shots.
The audio on the DVD stays true to the live dynamics from the show. Lindsey typically likes to contrast the quiet and loud sections of his songs so thankfully the audio engineers didn’t choose the squash the dynamic range which would have lessened the impact when Lindsey goes for the jugular on songs like “Big Love” and “Go Insane”.
Lindsey Buckingham is simply a marvel on stage. He truly puts his heart and soul into his music while performing live. I mean, just watch toward the end of “I’m So Afraid” to see Lindsey dripping with sweat!!

This DVD does a nice job in capturing all the great moments of Buckingham’s live show. And as a fan, it’s great to view the concert from different angles that we weren’t able to see while actually in attendance of one of Lindsey’s shows.
retroGrade: A
Lindsey Buckingham – Songs from the Small Machine: Live in LA
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Region: Region 1
Studio: Eagle Rock Entertainment
DVD Release Date: November 1, 2011
Run Time: 125 minutes
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I love the uncertainty in the lyrics to “Underground” which is a dig at his record company (They heard fifteen seconds and that was enough, the idea was new but the business was tough, I think I might wander underground). And it’s interesting to point out that he didn’t end up going “underground” and is still with Reprise Records. The album ends strong with a nice strum-along tune titled “Treason” about moving forward from all the lies and deceit. Like most of Buckingham’s lyrics, the song is wide open for interpretation – it could be about a destructive relationship or the dynamics within Fleetwood Mac or a jab at George W. Bush. But with a title like “Treason”, I suppose it’s Buckingham’s take on Bush. In any case, the song works on all levels and a good strong finish to a solid effort.
