User:Makennam1995/sandbox

History of the tour
In 1979, Fleetwood Mac embarked on their 113 day-long world tour promoting their new album, Tusk. Beginning in Pocatello, Idaho on October 26, 1979 and ending September 1, 1980 at the Hollywood Bowl, this tour was a crazy roller-coaster that was nearly detrimental to the survival of the band. In order to provide a cheaper option after the million dollars of expenses blown on the tour itself, every one of their 400 shows performed were filmed and recorded to create a “Live” album.

Setbacks
On top of this tour being excessively expensive it was also physically and mentally exhausting for the band members. As Christine Mcvie, singer-songwriter and keyboardist in the band recalls, “I used to go onstage and drink a bottle of Dom Perignon, and drink one offstage afterwards. It’s not the kind of party I’d like to go to now. There was a lot of booze being drunk and there was blood floating around in the alcohol, which doesn’t make for a stable environment.” With all the substance abuse the band members endured atop all the stress, the tour was not only disadvantageous but also physically and mentally unhealthy.

The band members became less and less fond of each other as the tour progressed. As a result of this tension as well as the financial setbacks endured, the band nearly parted ways. As explained in Uncut’s Article, Fleetwood Mac: 'Everybody was pretty weirded out' – the story of Rumours, by the end of the tour the band members were “barely able to stand the sight of each other” Stevie Nicks, lead vocalist, touches on the subject, "It was the Tusk tour, 1980, Auckland, New Zealand. I was doing my thing with my shawl and Lindsey pulled his jacket up over his head and started mimicking me, behind my back. I thought, 'Well, that’s not working for me.' But I didn’t do anything. This must have infuriated him, because he came over and kicked me. And I’d never had anyone be physical with me in my life. Then he picked up a black Les Paul guitar and he just frisbee’d it at me. He missed, I ducked – but he could have killed me.” (Adrian devoy)

Financial Indulgence
In light of all the mayhem the tour caused within the band, the members felt the only way to persevere and keep the show going was to indulge themselves with drugs, alcohol, elaborate transportation, and a high, rock star-like lifestyle. As Phil Sutcliff publishes in Mojo Magazine on the issue, “In America, they chartered their own planes, latterly the Caesar’s Palace casino’s private Boeing 707. In Europe, wary of airport customs’ drug-seeking diligence, they hired their own luxurious train.”

The band ended up spending unreasonable amounts of money upon ridiculous requests. Stevie Nicks, for example, required that her hotel rooms be custom painted pink for her upon her arrival. The Men in the band enjoyed spending the money on impractical reasons as well. A favorite, mentioned in Sutcliff’s article in Mojo, was an incident where the men filled former manager John Courage’s room with 50 chickens along with bales of straw. They also spent what they called a “King’s Ransom” on supplying this celebration with large amounts of alcohol and cocaine. The and members’ accountants had all come to a general understanding: While the tour nearly sold out at every location to massive crowds it made virtually no money as a result of the band’s irresponsible spending.

In regards to the situation, Mick Fleetwood justifies their actions by explaining that that money was not the incentive. As he notes in the Tusk tour documentary, “I can really say and I think everyone in the band feels this way, that is not the reason we are doing this.”

Notable Quotes From "Fleetwood Mac Tusk: Documentary and Live Performance"
“We went through a really bad experience with- lets put it- our now ex-manager.. And it all got really really strange and there was a whole big mess up… the band was off the road and a fake band came out.. anyhow, after all that happened we never had another manager, and here it sits.” – Mick Fleetwood

“At the end of the day no matter how tiring traveling has been- which I enjoy- I get on the stage and I kick the shit out of my drums. And quite often instead of drum skins. If theres someone with whom I’ve had any distaste it will be there face sitting there.. it gets all that out!” – Mick Fleetwood

“What I am doing in the studio takes up so much of my energy really… that’s probably the main thing that I contribute to the band. Not as a guitar player or even necessarily as a writer but as someone who can take X amount of energy, you know, flowing through different people and somehow formulate how things should sound in the studio”- Lindsey Buckingham

"As far as the experience of working in the studio goes, its very subjective its different for everyone. John... he does his bass parts and spends a lot of time waiting, that’s not a lot of fun, because I’ve done that and its not fun.”- Lindsey Buckingham

“For me and John.. we’re a couple of old geeksters, really. I am really happy being on the road, that is the final thing.” – Mick Fleetwood

“I love being on the road, but I also like to be in the studio because you need a balance. You need to go from the live performing art of it back to the studio to work on it and that makes it really exciting to do both because you are constantly changing.” – Stevie Nicks

“[On the road]You do lose complete track of time because your days and your nights aren’t set up right”- Stevie Nicks.