Welcome, everyone. We are so thrilled to have
you joining us today for this deep dive. Yeah,
thanks so much for hanging out with us. Today,
we are looking at something truly monumental.
I mean, we are talking about Fleetwood Mac's
2014 to 2015 On With The Show World Tour. Oh,
the big one. The massive one. And to do this,
we are drawing from a meticulously detailed Wikipedia
article. It chronicles the tours, dates, the
shifting set lists, the staggering box office
numbers and the complete personnel roster. Right.
Basically, the master spreadsheet of the whole
era. Exactly. But our mission today isn't just
to, you know, read you a spreadsheet of dates
and ticket sales. We want to look right past
those dry statistics and really understand the
logistical marvel. And the historical weight,
too. Yes. The profound historical weight of a
legendary rock band reuniting for one last massive
global trek. And I think it's important to frame
right up front why you, the listener, should
care about a concert tour that wrapped up about
a decade ago. Right. Why does it matter now?
Because this specific tour perfectly encapsulates
the fleeting, deeply unpredictable nature of
creative partnerships. I mean, they are famously
unpredictable. Famously. We often think of legendary
bands as these immortal institutions, almost
like statues. Yeah. But they're made up of flesh
and blood people. Yeah, very complicated people.
And what we are going to see today is that this
wasn't just some nostalgic victory lap. It was
the ultimate, entirely unforeseen curtain call
for one of rock's most successful and, let's
face it, most famously complicated lineups. It
really is wild when you look at it through that
lens. I mean, just the sheer scale of what they
attempted here is amazing to me. 120 shows. That's
an absolute marathon. To help you visualize the
sheer scale of this operation, just use the theater
of your mind for a second. Imagine a sprawling
world map covered in 120 pushpins. Just a sea
of pins. With tangled, chaotic flight paths crossing
from North America over to Europe all the way
down to Oceania and back again. It really sets
the stage for the massive globe -spanning undertaking
we are about to explore. That is the perfect
way to picture it. I've been reviewing the historical
data from our source material, synthesizing the
timelines, the venue capacities, and those box
office reports. And the numbers are huge. Oh,
absolutely. And I am very ready to break down
exactly how this massive endeavor came together
piece by piece. Okay, let's unpack this. We have
to start with the catalyst for the entire tour.
The big announcement. Right, because the genesis
of On With The Show actually begins with a massive
announcement. On January 13, 2014, the band...
publicist Liz Rosenberg released a statement
that sent absolute shockwaves through the music
world. I remember when that dropped. She announced
that Christine McPhee was officially rejoining
Fleetwood Mac. Now, to put that into perspective,
Christine had left the group back in 1998. Which
is a lifetime in music. That is a 16 -year absence.
In the music industry, 16 years might as well
be a century. Entire musical eras come and go
in that time. What's fascinating here is the
strategic restraint the band showed following
that incredible announcement. Restraint? How
so? Well, the article notes that Rosenberg initially
stated a new album and a tour were planned. And
indeed, the band actually got together and spent
time in March of 2014 working on new material.
Oh, I didn't know they actually went to the studio.
They did. But then they made a highly capitulated
creative choice. They confirmed that absolutely
no new releases would be issued until after the
tour was over. Wait, really? Was that actually
a smart move? It really was. i mean usually legacy
bands rely heavily on a new album to generate
pr get themselves booked on late night shows
and draft ticket sales wasn't it a massive financial
and promotional risk to go out on the road completely
empty -handed on the surface it seems counterintuitive
i'll give you that but it was actually a stroke
of genius by holding back the new music they
entirely avoided the trap of the standard album
promotional cycle okay i think i see where you're
going think about it from the audience's perspective
When you go see a legacy rock band, the energy
in the stadium always dips when the lead singer
says, here's a new one from our latest record.
Oh, definitely. That's when everyone goes to
buy a t -shirt. Exactly. Fans tolerate the new
stuff to get to the classics. By putting the
album on ice, they didn't have to convince fans
to sit through half a dozen unfamiliar songs.
That makes a lot of sense. Instead, they focused
the world's attention entirely on the live reunion
experience itself. They made the return of the
missing piece. Christine McVie, the sole focal
point of the event. It's pure nostalgia in the
best way. Yes. The tour dates were announced
on March 27, 2014, and by April 7, tickets were
already on general sale. Here's where it gets
really interesting because the demand for those
tickets was just explosive. Unprecedented, really.
It led to logistics that are almost hard to wrap
your head around. Let's break down the actual
physical footprint of this tour. As I mentioned,
we are talking about 120 shows. Spread across
three massive legs. Exactly. They played 81 shows
in North America, 23 in Europe, and 16 in Oceania.
A true global run. The whole thing kicked off
in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Target Center
on September 30, 2014, and it did not conclude
until over a full year later. When was the final
date? November 22, 2015, at Matt Smart Stadium
in Auckland, New Zealand. And we have to remember,
that grueling schedule wasn't even the original
plan. No. No, the demand was so overwhelming
right out of the gate that they had to keep expanding
the map. On October 9, 2014... Just a little
over a week after the tour started, they were
forced to announce a second North American leg.
Just a week in. Right. They added 28 additional
shows running from January 16, 2015 in St. Paul,
Minnesota, all the way to March 31 in Wichita,
Kansas. They just couldn't stop. And the snowball
just kept rolling. In November 2014, Mick Fleetwood
went on BBC Radio 2 to announce British tour
dates for May and June of 2015. But I'm guessing
those sold out instantly, too. Of course. Due
to incredibly high ticket demand, they had to
add even more dates, which extended that British
leg well into July. I want you to really try
and picture what it takes to pull that off. It
is essentially like moving a small, highly functional
city across the globe every two or three days.
It's a massive military operation at that point.
You have the core band, the supporting musicians,
the massive crew you are dealing with. Delicate
instruments, towering lighting rigs, incredibly
complex stadium sound systems, the wardrobe.
Packing it all up into convoys. Convoys of trucks
and chartered planes, setting it up in a brand
new arena, performing for tens of thousands of
screaming people, tearing it all down before
midnight and doing it all over again in the next
time zone. And doing that 120 times. The physical
toll must have been monumental. It absolutely
was. But the financial return on that level of
grueling work was... Frankly, staggering. Let's
hear the numbers. When we look at the data provided
by Polestar, which, for those who might not know,
is essentially the Wall Street Journal of the
live concert industry, tracking every ticket
sold globally, the numbers are massive. Okay.
In their 2014 year -end report, Polestar ranked
the tour 13th on its top 100 worldwide tours,
reporting earnings of $79 .2 million from just
those first 40 shows in North America. Just the
first 40 shows. Just the first 40. Then, in the
2015 year -end rankings, the tour jumped all
the way up to sixth place worldwide, with a retorted
gross of $125 .1 million from 78 shows that year.
So if they're clearing nearly $80 million on
just a fraction of the shows in the first year,
the final tally for the entire 14 -month run
must be astronomical. It brings the cumulative
gross to a phenomenal $199 .2 million. $200 million.
Just shy of it, yeah. And to really bring those
numbers out of the spreadsheet and into reality,
we can look at some specific box office highlights.
Like specific venues. Exactly. For example, when
they hit Europe, they played a massive six -show
run at the O2 Arena in London. Six nights at
the O2. That's huge. Across those six nights
in May and June of 2015, they brought in 96 ,564
attendees and grossed over $12 .3 million at
that one single venue. That is just from London.
Right. or Look at the Oceania Leg in October
2015. They played three nights at the Alphonse
Arena in Sydney, Australia, drawing almost 40
,000 fans and hauling in over $5 .4 million.
That level of sustained commercial success is
incredible. But of course, you don't generate
a multimillion dollar gross night after night
unless the actual product on the stage is phenomenal.
Exactly. People won't pay those prices if the
show doesn't deliver. And that brings us to the
stage itself and the sound they brought to these
massive arenas. And looking at the historical
record gives us a great window into how they
constructed the live experience. The text details
a representative 24 -song set list from their
October 6, 2014 show at Madison Square Garden.
24 songs is a solid set. It is. And when you
analyze this set list, it really is a master
class in how to pace a legacy rock show to maximize
the emotional impact on the audience. I noticed
they opened that Madison Square Garden show and
many others with the song The Chain. Oh, yes.
Out of their massive hit -filled catalog, Why
do you think they chose to start with that specific
track? Because it's the ultimate musical statement
about the unbreakable bonds of the band. Think
about the lyrics. And if you don't love me now,
you will never love me again. Right. And I can
still hear you saying you would never break the
chain. Coming right out of the gate with that
song, especially with Christine McVie finally
back on stage after 16 years, sets an incredibly
potent, unifying tone immediately. It's a statement
of purpose. Exactly. From there, they expertly
weave through their massive catalog, carefully
balancing the vocal leads between Lindsey Buckingham,
Stevie Nicks, and Christine McVie. But what I
find really compelling is how they structured
the end of the show. They utilized two separate
encores. Which is a very deliberate choice. Encores
are tricky. You want to leave them wanting more,
but you also want to give them closure. How did
they handle it? The first encore was designed
to keep the arena energy high, featuring world
turning and don't stop. Makes sense. Get everyone
dancing. But the second encore brought the energy
all the way down to a highly emotional, intimate
close. They ended with Stevie Nicks' haunting
song Silver Springs and then often Christine
McVie's beautiful solitary ballad Songbird. Though
it is worth noting that a tour of this length
isn't a rigid and flexible thing. It's a living,
breathing entity. Exactly. It evolved over those
14 months. For instance, the song Seven Wonders
was actually dropped from the setlist entirely
after the North American leg. That happens. And
even that beautiful closer we just mentioned,
Songbird, wasn't performed on certain selected
dates in 2015. That kind of setlist evolution
is entirely natural and necessary for a tour
of this length. You have to adjust to the physical
toll on the singer's vocal cords, the changing
acoustics of different venues, and just the overall
flow of the performance as the months go on.
And as the band figures out what is resonating
most with the crowds. Precisely. And speaking
of the performance, I love the granular details
we have about the actual instrumentation on stage.
Because it wasn't just them standing statically
at microphones. Far from it. The documentation
specifically points out Christine McPhee playing
the accordion on the song Tusk and getting on
the maracas for Everywhere and World Turning.
Which is actually a massive logistical and sound
engineering challenge in its own right. Oh, so.
Playing an acoustic instrument like an accordion.
Or shaking maracas on a stadium stage, surrounded
by massive amplifiers and echoing concrete walls,
requires incredibly precise live mixing. To make
sure they can actually be heard. Right. To ensure
those subtle sounds aren't drowned out or cause
screeching audio feedback, it shows a real dedication
to the texture of the music. It really does paint
a vivid picture of the live energy. But creating
that massive, iconic Fleetwood Mac sound live
requires more than just the five core members.
You can't do it alone. Recreating the complex,
layered studio magic of albums like Rumors or
Tusk in a hockey arena is not easy. It requires
unsung heroes. Absolutely. The personnel list
highlights the incredibly important additional
musicians who were brought on the road. You can't
replicate a 1970s studio masterpiece live without
some help. For instance, you had Brett Tuggle,
who provided keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing
vocals, and notably... Samples. Let's pause on
that for a second. When people hear the word
samples, they might think of modern hip hop or
electronic music. Why is a 1970s legacy rock
band using digital samples? That's a great question.
In the context of a legacy rock show, samples
are often used to trigger specific iconic studio
sounds that are impossible to recreate organically
live. Like what? Maybe it's a specific synthesizer
tone from the 1980s or a layered vocal harmony
from the original recording sessions. Tuggle
was triggering these essential audio textures
to make sure the live sound matched the fans'
memories. That's fascinating. Along with Tuggle,
you had Neil Haywood on rhythm guitar and backing
vocals. There was a dedicated team of backing
vocalists to flesh out those famous Fleetwood
Mac harmonies. We have their names here too.
Sharon Solani, Lori Nix, and Stevi Alexander.
Yes, vital to the sound. And here is perhaps
the most fascinating personnel detail of all.
They also had a musician named Steve Rinkoff
playing drums and percussion, but he was actually
unannounced from the stage. A secret drummer.
Why would you have a secret drummer? It comes
down to the sheer physical reality of the tour.
Steve Rinkoff was there to support Mick Fleetwood's
drumming. Okay, that makes sense. Mick Fleetwood
is a phenomenal, deeply expressive drummer. But
playing a relentless three -hour rock show night
after night in your late 60s is an unbelievable
physical exertion. I can't even imagine. Having
a secondary unannounced percussionist helps thicken
the rhythm section, keeps the tempo locked in
during complex transitions, and provides a necessary
sonic safety net. Letting Mick be Mick. Exactly.
It allows Fleetwood to focus on his iconic flourishes
without exhausting himself carrying the entire
rhythmic weight of the stadium alone. So what
does this all mean? We have this massive logistical
triumph. We have 120 shows crisscrossing the
globe. We have nearly $200 million in revenue.
Huge numbers. We have perfectly crafted, emotionally
resonant set lists and the triumphant 16 years
in the making return of Christine McVie. It sounds
like the absolute perfect victory lap for a legendary
band. If we connect this to the bigger picture.
That is exactly where the story takes a deeply
poignant, almost melancholy turn. Why melancholy?
Because while they were standing on that stage
in 2014 and 2015, soaking in the applause, neither
the band nor the millions of people in the audience
knew the historical finality of what they were
experiencing. It's true. Following the departure
of Lindsey Buckingham in 2018 and the tragic
passing of Christine McVie in 2022, On With The
Show retroactively became Fleetwood Mac's final
tour, featuring the band's most successful, most
iconic lineup. Wow. Lindsey Buckingham, Mick
Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie
Nicks. The Rumors 5, this was it. That was the
end. This is the last time they would ever tour
the world together. It was an accidental farewell
tour. And even during the tour itself, if you
look closely at the timelines, there were subtle
reminders that behind this unstoppable, multi
-million dollar touring machine, there was real
human frailty. That's right. It wasn't entirely
smooth sailing the whole way through. When you
look at the schedule for the European leg in
the summer of 2015, you see cracks in the armor
starting to form. You really do. A concert scheduled
for June 12, 2015 at the Manchester Arena had
to be completely canceled. The stated reason
was illness within the band. And it wasn't just
a single isolated night. A show in Birmingham
at the Genting Arena, which was originally supposed
to happen on June 9, also had to be rescheduled
to July 7. Again, due to illness. Yes. When you
are pushing a touring apparatus of this size,
with hundreds of crew members relying on the
core talent, and you're doing it with musicians
who have been in this grueling industry for decades,
the physical reality of the human body eventually
asserts itself. It always catches up. You can't
outrun biology, even with $100 million gross.
These cancellations serve as a stark reminder
of just how physically demanding the On With
The Show tour really was. I want you to just
imagine for a second being in the audience on
that very last night. November 22, 2015. The
final show. You are standing in MetSmart Stadium
in Auckland, New Zealand. The stadium lights
are blazing. You are watching them play the chain.
You are watching Christine McVie shake the maracas
during everywhere. Are these in harmonies? Yes.
Hearing those incredible layered harmonies from
the backing vocalists echoing into the night
sky. And you are entirely... blissfully unaware
that you are witnessing the absolute end of an
era. Nobody knew. You are watching the final
bow of the ultimate Fleetwood Mac lineup and
nobody in the stadium, not even the people on
the stage, knows it yet. It completely changes
how you view the entire tour in retrospect. It
transforms the On With The Show tour from a highly
successful, highly lucrative reunion run into
a priceless historical document. A time capsule.
It was the final hours of one of the greatest
creative partnerships of the 20th century. It
really does give you chills to think about it.
To quickly summarize the incredible journey we've
taken on this deep dive today, we started with
that shock announcement in January 2014. That
brought Christine McVie back into the fold. After
an agonizing 16 years away, we unpacked the band's
brilliant, counterintuitive, strategic choice
to withhold their new music and focus entirely
on the pure, live nostalgia of the reunion. A
smart move. We track their grueling, globetrotting
schedule across 120 shows, marveling at the nearly
$200 million in revenue they generated and the
massive logistics required to move that show
from city to city. Truly staggering logistics.
We explored the meticulous construction of their
set lists, the intense audio engineering, and
the unsung musicians like Brett Tuggle and Steve
Rinkoff who helped recreate their iconic sound.
The hidden heroes. And finally, we confronted
the poignant reality that this massive undertaking
was, completely by accident, their final bow
as that iconic quintet. This raises an important
question, one that I hope you'll continue to
mull over long after we wrap up today. What's
that? Think about the hundreds of thousands of
people at those Fleetwood Mac shows, holding
up their smartphones, recording every single
song. In our current era, every single second
of a major stadium tour is digitally preserved
from a thousand different angles, uploaded, and
immortalized online before the band even leaves
the venue. That's true. You can find the whole
tool online. So does the concept of an unrepeatable
fleeting moment even exist anymore? How does
knowing that a concert will be online forever
perfectly preserved change the way you actually
experience the live energy in the room? It's
a very different vibe now. Do we lose some of
the magic of the moment when we know we can just
watch the video tomorrow? That is a deeply fascinating
angle to consider next time you are standing
in a crowd with the lights going down. Thank
you so much for joining us and exploring the
triumphant, logistically staggering, and ultimately
bittersweet story of the On With The Show Tour.
It's been a great ride. We hope you enjoyed diving
into the history as much as we did. Keep exploring,
stay insanely curious, and we will catch you
next time.