FLEETWOOD MAC : DRAGONFLY : SAN BERNARDINO 1971 .

Fleetwood Mac (with Peter Green),performing at the Swing Auditorium
San Bernardino. February 19th 1971 .Dragonfly .

This is something I have always wanted to find, for one thing it's a live performance of Dragonfly which is in itself a rareity,
but along with this is the fact that Danny and Peter Green are playing together on this beautiful song.

To put things into some sort of a context, in May 1970 Peter left Fleetwood Mac, followed almost a year later without warning by Jeremy Spencer in February 1971 at the beginning of their American tour.

The band were in trouble, they needed somebody to step in to take Jeremys place so they could complete the US tour, and a short UK winter tour that was to follow.The answer came in the form of Peter, who played his first gig with the band on March 24th, this gig .

The info for this recording was that it was San Bernardino 1971, the band actually played San Bernardino twice during 1971, the second time being on November 13th.
Listening to this whole gig,gives you an impression of a " getting to know you" feel. Most songs were not known to Peter,he plays very faintly in the background,Danny is the lead man,there are no solo feature spots by Pete, he lets the star shine on the rest of the band.

Another reason I believe it to be the first time they had played together formally is an excited yelp by Christine McVie when the final song turns into a burning jam during which Danny tries to coax Pete into letting go, Pete still keeps away from taking lead solo from Danny, but the result of the jams climax is still enough for Christine to know,seemingly for the first time just what it is like to be in the middle of a stage when the old Mac starts to cook.

Date given on video is incorrect, credit for new info goes to BluesBlaster ) .

In the modern world, it is so easy to despair at the human race, so many acts of greed,violence,cruelty and selfishness. For me,it has always been the case that just to know that such a song as this could be found within a human heart,is enough to restore my faith in our own flawed, but sometimes, beautiful species. Enjoy. :-)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• fleetwood
• mac
• live
• 1971
• dragonfly
• san
• bernardino
• danny
• kirwan
• peter
• green
• christine
• mcvie

[MusicalTree3]

@hetjaar - When Jeremy Spencer left in Feb '71 Peter joined them on some tour dates to help the band out. If this gig was 24th March '71 as stated on the vid Bob Welch could not have been there, as he did not join the band until summer '71. The quality of the guitar playing next to Danny's 'smacks of' Peter Green.

[hetjaar]

i say that is bob welch playing with the remains of mac. not peter green.

[MusicalTree3]

@steveuk17 - Thanks for such a great upload. I think it's a bit of treasure on YouTube. Your video is beautiful. It's exciting when you can hear Danny and Peter 'clicking' again, although your right the playing is a bit tentative. I'm so glad they got to play this song together as Peter loved it. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment about the song. I also listened to the German concert which was great, but I got a bit tired of that girls bum in my face, lol. Thanks again.

[nearSeattle84]

Aw thanks so much Steveuk17, I LOVE this version and your video is really wonderful. I was lucky my mom had great taste so I heard Bare trees and Future Games when they came out.. Danny Kirwan has always been my favorite.

[Ukabumba]

thats some spiritual shiiiattt

[MsOndine]

Truly addictive version of one of my favourite Danny Kirwan songs. Peter Green does some nice dark rhythm playing beneath Danny's lush-sounding lead guitaring. And the exchangement between Danny's and Christine's vocals also have a very magical touch. Strange this song didn't charge much higher back then.

[Nimrod399]

@Nimrod399

My bad, Peter may have been there, this was right after Jeremy walked-out and they called Peter to come fill-in and help out until they figured out what to do with the band since Jeremy had disappeared...

[Nimrod399]

I must say I'm pretty sure Peter had already left the band by this time. This is their transition period without Peter. Danny sharing vocals with Christine. I'm not sure if Jeremy was still with the band at this time or not, but it was right around the time when Jeremy Spencer walked off their tour bus and into The Moonies Religious Cult, to disappear for more than a decade...

[the42voice]

I enjoyed the video. Well put together. Thanks for sharing this rare performance

[britbluesfan]

wonderful!