via Billboard Fleetwood Mac Revives Chemistry In Studio: 'We Get Chills,' Says Christine McVie

Fleetwood Mac Revives Chemistry In Studio: 'We Get Chills,' Says Christine McVie

By Gary Graff

Source: Billboard

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie talk about collaborating ahead of the band's upcoming tour. "We've been working very closely together, so there is a freshness"

It appears that Christine McVie will be returning to Fleetwood Mac to do more than play some old songs in concert. The group -- sans Stevie Nicks, who was busy with "some other commitments," according to Lindsey Buckingham -- has just finished a nearly two-month run in Studio D at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles, where Fleetwood Mac made 1979's "Tusk" album, working on a batch of new songs by McVie and Buckingham.

"This has kind of been a project in slow motion, that's the only way I can put it," Buckingham tells Billboard. "We got in the studio not knowing what to expect, and the chemistry was just unbelievable... We got eight tracks very far along, like, 75 percent done. It just played out really organically in a way that seemed appropriate." Buckingham says the new songs came from ideas McVie brought into the band, and coupled with material he worked on previously with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, the group has "about 14 or 15 things, and some other things we want to get to down the line" even before Nicks begins making contributions. 

"We're all very excited about it. Knowing me, I'm going to be pushing for a double album," Buckingham says with a laugh.

Describing the new songs -- which include "Carnival Begin," "Red Sun" and "Too Far Gone" -- McVie says, "There's a wide variety, starting from sort of blues-based songs to very commercial songs. It's very, very exciting. We get chills when we hear them. They sound really fresh. There's an element, I guess, that hasn't really existed so much in the past although it has been there in the fact Lindsey and I have been collaborating more. We've been working very closely together, so there is a freshness and obviously there are parts for Stevie to sing on all of these songs, which she will do eventually."

When the rest of the world hears them remains up in the air, however. Fleetwood Mac released a four-song digital EP in April of 2013, and Buckingham and McVie say they don't expect to have a new album ready before the group's upcoming tour starts September 30 in Minneapolis.

"We haven't finished what we've done here," McVie explains. "these are just tracks with some overdubs, and they're certainly not finished. I go back to England now until the beginning of rehearsals, which is the end of July, and then we're rehearsing and then we're touring, so we won't really have time to (finish the songs). There's some talk about some time next year. Fleetwood Mac always take a long time to make a record -- you know what."

Buckingham concurs, though he acknowledges that there may be a bit of clamor for the new music once word of the sessions leaks out, which may effect the timetable for the material's release. "We want to plant some seeds of awareness about what we're doing," he says. "We won't want to pretend it doesn't exist. We're very proud of it, and we do want to get the word out. But we'll have to see how much clamor there is by the time we get into rehearsal and we have some time to let these seeds grow and see what kind of interest there is. That may inform our decisions one way or the other."

Buckingham, meanwhile, says he's particularly stoked that making new music is part of McVie's return after a 16-year absence. "It just took on a life of its own for sure," he says. "For years I was telling everybody, 'Y'know, she'll never be in the band again. She's gone.' I really believed that. But right now the whole thing has really got such a circular feel to it. And if you're talking about one more act for this play or whatever you want to call it, I can't think of a better way to do it." 

Fleetwood Mac formally announced McVie's return in January after she joined the group on stage in London last September. McVie -- who released one solo album, 2004's "In the Meantime," during the interim but mostly spent her time as "a retired lady of leisure with the Range Rover and the Dogs" in rural England -- has gone through therapy to overcome a fear of flying that was one of the reasons he left the group. And she promises that she's back in Fleetwood Mac "for perpetuity, yeah. For as long as I'm around. I'm here. I'm committed." And she adds that returning to the studio with the group was like getting back on the proverbial bike.  

"I thought I was going to get nervous coming in the studio, but it's felt very easy and natural," she says. "Before I got to L.A. Lindsey and I had been ping-ponging ideas on computers and that; I'd send him my very, very rough, funky demos and he made some kind of sense out of them and sent them back to me with him playing guitar and they started to turn into really lovely ideas. I really missed playing with them and the chemistry of it all and started to really, really desire to start doing something again, and the only people I could think of that I would have any desire to do anything with would be them, Fleetwood Mac."

INTERVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham talks about Village Recordings w/ Christine McVie for NEW Fleetwood Mac Album

FLEETWOOD MAC RECORDING FIRST NEW STUDIO ALBUM IN OVER A DECADE

Lindsey Buckingham revealed that Fleetwood Mac is currently in the studio recording its first studio album in over a decade -- with the full classic lineup teaming up for the first time since 1987. Buckingham explained that a substantial amount of the material came from the group's 2012 sessions for their Extended Play EP, released last year: 

"There was a bunch of material that I cut with John (McVie) and Mick (Fleetwood), about a year-and-a-half ago, before we hit the road last time. And a couple of those made it into the show and we put out this little EP from that -- but there were quite a few other things. So, y’know, we had that as a starting point for an album."

"We were here at the Village for I think 4 weeks, then we took a week off, and then we were here for another 4 weeks. And this is our last few days.  And we got 8 tracks, very far along... You know like 75% done in that amount of time. And all of those except for 1 are Christine, or co-writes between Christine and myself. Because it seemed like the priority was to work on her stuff then to get her feeling comfortable and feeling far along with this process and we managed that very well".

Listen to the Audio of Lindsey explaining their time at The Village:

Part 1 Basic Tracks | Part 2 Eight New Tracks

Source: 100.9 The Mix

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac are collaborating on their first new material in 15 years

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac are collaborating on their first new material in 15 years. The band is hitting the road, including sold-out shows at the Forum in Inglewood, this year with McVie rejoining the storied group.

LA Times

Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez Los Angeles Times

 

 

Her fear gone, Christine McVie's muse soars with Fleetwood Mac reunion

 

Christine McVie eases comfortably into the corner of a leather sofa, about a foot between her and Lindsey Buckingham. He leans forward and side by side, they listen to the playback of "Too Far Gone," a danceable new Fleetwood Mac song they've written together over the last few weeks at a West Los Angeles recording studio.

 

"This was a great collaboration," Buckingham said. "I had a track without any singing on it, and she wrote the song over it."

 

"We've been doing that quite a bit lately, haven't we?" McVie said.

 

Helping McVie write songs, Buckingham said to her, "is something you always wanted me to do for you, which was not necessarily the case with Stevie. She's a little more complicated in her needs."

It's a scene that would have been pure rock 'n' roll fantasy barely two years ago.

 

At that point, McVie was securely ensconced in her 17th century mansion in rural northern England, having retired from touring and recording with a band she'd been part of for a quarter century. Crippled by a fear of flying that made the idea of a trip to Los Angeles — or anywhere else — unthinkable, the '70s rock goddess stopped touring in 1998 and spent much of her time cooking and gardening.

 

But last week, the woman who wrote and sang many of the group's cornerstone songs, including "Don't Stop," "You Make Loving Fun," and "Little Lies," traded banter cheerfully with Buckingham, who expressed sheer delight at resuming the creative relationship they'd once enjoyed, both saying they've not only picked up where they left off, but agreeing that "it's better than ever."

 

In fact, it's the same studio they built 35 years ago when the British-American band was starting work on one of the most ambitious projects of the group's storied career, the two-disc "Tusk" album, which followed blockbuster "Rumours," one of the 10 bestselling albums of all time.

 

After a smiling McVie flashes double thumbs-up to engineer Mark Needham, Mick Fleetwood squeezes his unmistakable 6-foot-5 inch frame through the control room door and starts munching a forkful of salad out of a green plastic container. He grabs a digital camera off a coffee table and points it at his bandmates. McVie obliges him by twisting her mouth into a goofy grimace as he snaps the shot.

 

"There was some worry about whether it was a good idea to come back here," said Fleetwood, 66. "Maybe it would be better to go someplace new, someplace we hadn't worked before. But since we started working here, it couldn't be more fantastic."

F. Scott Fitzgerald's observation that "there are no second acts in American lives" notwithstanding, it appears that the Grammy-winning quintet is positioning itself for precisely that.

 

Of the band's five members, only Stevie Nicks isn't on the premises, busy attending to other commitments, they say. While Christine McVie and Buckingham signed off on the latest tweaks to "Too Far Gone," John McVie and Fleetwood worked on other facets of the new material.

 

McVie's return to the fold for an upcoming full-band reunion tour, announced in January, was surprise enough to music fans who'd been assured for a decade and a half that McVie had checked out of Fleetwood Mac and wasn't coming back. But things began to change a couple of years ago, when she began to reassess her decision.

 

She continued to write in her self-imposed retirement, and put out an appealing solo album in 2004, "In the Meantime." It was that project that helped plant the seed for her eventual return.

 

"It had some good songs on it, but I went about it all wrong, " said McVie, 70, still looking the part of the quintessential rock 'n' roll singer and songwriter in her brown leather jacket, over a white tank top and tight black jeans. "I did it the wrong way, with the wrong people, I didn't want to fly, I didn't want to promote it. I just did it in my garage and nothing happened with it. That caused a certain amount of angst, and then I just stopped."

 

Then a couple of years ago, she sought out a therapist to help her with the fear of flying. "He asked me, 'If you were to go anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?' I thought about it for a little bit, and I said 'Hawaii.'

 

"He said, 'Buy your ticket.' Then he said, 'You don't have to use it. Just buy it'," she said. Buckingham laughs at her revelation, saying, "I didn't know that part."

 

After a period of being gradually desensitized to the idea of flying, she said Fleetwood drove to her home to meet her, and together they got on a plane to Maui. There she joined him and her ex-husband, John McVie, at a performance by their blues band.

 

"I did a couple of songs there, it felt good onstage, and then I thought, I'm really missing out on something—something that's mine, that I've just given up, and I'm not paying respect to my own gift," she said. "I saw that if I want to start to play again, there's only one band I want to play with, and that's Fleetwood Mac."

 

That led to her first appearance in 15 years with Buckingham, Nicks, McVie and Fleetwood when the 80% edition of the group performed at the O2 Arena in London last year, a one-night reunion that set the stage for her return to the band.

 

That would have been reason enough for Fleetwood Mac fans to celebrate, but as McVie put it, her return wasn't simply for the full-group reunion tour now scheduled to start in the fall.

 

"I committed to join the band hook, line and sinker — recording, everything," she said.

 

Having overcome her flying fears, a new sense of liberation is manifesting in McVie through an outpouring of songwriting, much of it with Buckingham. Over the last eight weeks, Buckingham said they've written and recorded eight new songs, which will help populate a new Fleetwood Mac album along with seven or eight more the band recorded about 18 months ago while gearing up for a 2013 tour.

 

Another McVie-Buckingham collaboration they previewed, "How I Feel," is a buoyant number with all the markings of a hit.

"There's a lot of pop in what we've been doing," Buckingham, 64, says with a giddy smile, his signature shock of kinky hair still shooting skyward even as it has morphed over the years from dark brown to salt-and-pepper shades.

 

Following this round of recording, the album will be shelved while they gear up for the new tour, which opens Sept. 30 in Minneapolis and includes three nights at the Forum in Inglewood.

 

"I think we both came in with a certain level of ... not anxiety, but acknowledging that there were certain unknowns as to how this was going to go, or where it was going to go, or whether it would only get so far and then hit the wall," Buckingham said. "It's almost like the whole being greater than the sum of the parts, which was always a way to describe Fleetwood Mac.

 

"When someone takes such a long hiatus, you don't know if that was a moment in time; if that [working relationship] is still there," he said. "You know the potential is still there, but are the tools for getting in touch with it still there? But actually, it's better than ever, wouldn't you say?"

 

"Absolutely," McVie said instantaneously. "You've heard what the tour is called?" she asks, as if to underscore the theme of rejuvenation for the new chapter in the continuing story that is Fleetwood Mac. "On With the Show," she said, answering her own question.

 

Working together again, Buckingham said, "has been a really profound couple of months. I can't think of anything better for the next act for this band."

 

by Randy Lewis

Los Angeles Times

Talk on the town says she might go solo: Stevie Nicks recording new album with @DaveStewart in Nashville

Here she is... In Nashville!  Couple of facebook postings today from Dave Stewart in Nashville with Stevie recording... What they are recording hasn't been officially announced from either Stevie or Dave or made clear from the little information that's been gathered, nor for what project, whether it be solo or Fleetwood Mac... All we have to go on is what Mick indicated at a recent book signing with Jenny Boyd in L.A. on April 26th.  It's feeling like we'll be seeing a new solo album from Stevie before long!  And if they've been recording since Easter Sunday, and Mick believes they've got about 2 weeks to hammer it out, then they've got the rest of this week to get'r done!

Post by Dave Stewart.

Post by Dave Stewart.

Mick Fleetwood signing books at Barnes & Noble in Los Angeles yesterday (April 26, 2014) had the opportunity to speak with fans for a moment or two while he was signing books.... During one exchange with a Fleetwood Mac fan known on the ledge as HelloMonster, Mick dropped a few tidbits of info about what Stevie is doing in Nashville... Actually, more than a tidbit... it's more of a bombshell.

Photo: The Sound LA

Here's the conversation transcribed from an audio recording after the initial greeting and takes off where the Nashville topic was brought up:

HelloMonster
"What's going on in Nashville?"

Mick
"Ah, she's making ah, Stevie's making an album."

HelloMonster
"her own, or not"

Mick
" I think it's going to be a first for her where's she's doing that Nashville thing where they go in and just all the musicians just play the songs and they get it all done really quickly... we're hoping."

HelloMonster
"I heard that she is there with Dave, and Christine was seen in Nashville too, are they all doing something together".

Mick
"Dave's producing it.. Stewart. Ah, and she's using the wrecking crew down there, to my knowledge, where they all just come in and jam out the songs in like two weeks and tell you to go home.

HelloMonster
"but it's not for your new album" (meaning Fleetwood Mac)

Mick
"If she doesn't, she's not going to finish her album."

And that was all the audio that was captured...  So.  Here we have Stevie in Nashville working on a new album, with Christine and Dave while Lindsey, Mick, Christine and presumably John have or had space rented at The Village working on new Fleetwood Mac tunes, or demos or something... This is kind of confusing.  It's cool if Stevie's working on a new album, and I suppose if you are looking for a way to make that happen in a short period of time, then Dave Stewart, his crew of musicians in Nashville and Blackbird Studios is the way to go... given that Dave was able to knock out his last two albums with the same crew in Nashville spending very little time recording.  Let's see where this all leads.  I'd prefer new Fleetwood Mac music with the 5 back together given that we've had solo albums recently from Lindsey and Stevie and haven't heard anything from Christine in years... But if Christine is involved with Stevie's new project, then this is cool... It just seemed to make a little more sense to have a full on Fleetwood Mac project on the go, to go along with the tour, given the reuniting of the famous 5.  But at this stage in the game... I'll gladly take new music from any of them in any form.  As long as they are creating and moving forward, that's the main thing.

Thanks to HelloMonster for the audio recording.

Created a new page for these new albums "A Tale of Two Recording Sessions"

Here's your chance to ask Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie a question. Deadline 4/25

Photo Mark Allan

If you could ask Christine McVie just one question about her songwriting career, what would it be?

Darren Haynes, Editor of "The Works" magazine published by The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), has secured an interview with Christine McVie to be published in the magazine this June.  He's offering Fleetwood Mac fans, in particular, Christine McVie fans, the opportunity to ask Christine a question. 

With such a lengthy career crafting some of Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits, and a few solo hits of her own, I'm sure you've often wondered what certain songs she's written are really all about. Maybe your question is about some of the more obscure tracks on albums that weren't necessarily hit singles? What situation or person inspired her at the time she wrote a certain track, or maybe you are curious about her songwriting process. Does the music come first, or the lyrics? Does she keep a journal? After being away from the spotlight for a number of years, and with new music written, maybe you would like to know what the new songs are about and how she found writing again after so many years away from it. Wow... There are so many possible questions to ask... So much to learn.

So take a minute, think about it and submit your question.  

Remember, your question should focus on Christine's songwriting skills or the meaning behind certain songs/lyrics. 

The deadline for submissions is this Friday, April 25, 2014, so you only have a couple of days.  

All questions should be submitted by email to Darren Haynes.

Your subject line should read "Christine McVie Question".

Good luck... and ask away!

[Update: Saturday, April 26th:]

Thanks everyone who took the time to send in questions... Had a massive response!

Video: Check this out "Melody Maker Awards (1969)" Christine McVie, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood & Peter Green

Footage of Christine McVie accepting her award for Top Girl Singer at the 1969 Melody Maker Awards.  John McVie, Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green are shown talking at the reception... Cool to see!

Christine McVie spotted on flight to Nashville

According to sunshine_dusted (Brittany) on instagram, Christine was on the same flight to Nashville as her father yesterday where he met and got an autograph from her for his daughter. 

"my dad was flying back from Oklahoma with a stop In Dallas to come home to Nashville and she was on the Nashville flight" 

Also... This could be related... Dave Stewart and Waddy Wachtel are on their way to Nashville.  Dave posted on Facebook yesterday that he and Waddy were headed there Saturday.  Hmmm... Wonder if there is a connection.

Update:

"On way to Nashville, Tennessee this morning with Stevie Nicks and Waddy Wachtel" - Dave Stewart (his post has since been deleted from his Facebook page).

Fleetwood Mac Goes On With The Show

Christine McVie back in the band for concert dates
The Gazette

It’s official: Christine McVie is back in the Mac.

After a 16-year absence, keyboardist/vocalist McVie will rejoin Fleetwood Mac bandmates Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks on their On With The Show tour.

The 33-city, 34-date tour kicks off Sept. 30 in Minneapolis, Minn. and will make seven Canadian stops: Toronto (Oct. 18), Ottawa (Oct. 26), Winnipeg (Nov. 10), Saskatoon (Nov. 12), Calgary (Nov. 14), Edmonton (Nov. 15) and Vancouver (Nov. 18).

The reunion of one of rock’s most iconic bands has been rumoured for months but was officially announced during an interview from Los Angeles with Carson Daly on NBC’s Today Show on Thursday.

“She had us all seriously convinced that she would never come back,” Nicks said on Today.

During Fleetwood Mac’s 2013 tour, the four members welcomed McVie back on the stage during their Sept. 25 and 27 shows at London’s O2 Arena, where she performed their classic Don’t Stop to wild ovations.

“It was so comfortable being back onstage with them as if no time had passed, and then we all started talking and it feels like the time is right,” McVie said.

McVie, known for her smoky singing style, is the voice behind some of Fleetwood Mac’s most popular songs. Besides Don’t Stop, McVie is known for her lead vocals on You Make Loving Fun and Songbird, other songs on the legendary Rumours album — one of the biggest-selling records of all time. Other McVie-sung Fleetwood Mac classics include Say You Love Me, Hold Me, Little Lies and Everywhere.

“As far as we’re concerned, she’s never really left. We are overjoyed to have Christine back onstage with us,” the other Fleetwood Mac members said in a joint statement.

McVie to hit the roadwith FleetwoodMac in reunion tour
by Jane Stevenson
Toronto Sun

Say you love her. Singer-keyboardist Christine McVie is rejoining Fleetwood Mac for the first time in 16 years for a massive North American fall tour coined On With The Show that hits seven Canadian cities.

Tickets for the following dates are on sale April 7 at LiveNation. com: Oct. 18, Toronto, Air Canada Centre; Oct. 26, Ottawa, Canadian Tire Centre; Nov. 10, Winnipeg, MTS Centre; Nov. 12, Saskatoon, Credit Union Centre; Nov. 14, Calgary, Scotiabank, Saddledome, Nov. 15 Edmonton, AB; Rexall Place, Nov. 18, Vancouver, BC, Rogers Arena.

McVie hasn’t toured with the band since 1998’s The Dance Tour but rejoined the four members — Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood during their 2013 tour at London’s O2 Arena, for their classic Don’t Stop.

“It was so comfortable being back onstage with them as if no time had passed,” said Christine in a statement.“and then we all started talking and it feels like the time is right. I’m really happy.”

“As far as we’re concerned, she’s never really left. We are overjoyed to have Christine back on stage with us,” said the other members of Fleetwood Mac in a joint statement.

Going back again
Sun Sentinel Broward Edition
By Ben Crandell

'Rumors’- era FleetwoodMac lineup to play Sunrise

The most popular lineup of FleetwoodMac, the iconic “Rumors”- era quintet, is reuniting after 16 years, and Thursday morning announced a fall- winter tour that will stop Dec. 19 at the BB& T Center in Sunrise.

Tickets for LiveNation’s On With the Show tour cost $ 45.25-$ 175.25, and go on sale 10 a. m. April 7. Various presales, including a VIP package, will begin 10 a. m. March 31 at Ticketmaster.com.

The reunion was revealed during a taped Carson Daly “Today” interview with the long- estranged Christine McVie joining Fleetwood Mac bandmates Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Amid much handholding among the band, Christine McVie told Daly the reason she stopped performing with her fellow Rock and RollHall of Famers after 1998’ s the Dance Tour: Shewas afraid to fly.

During FleetwoodMac’s 2013 tour, the four members welcomed Christine McVie onstage at London’s O2 Arena, where she lent her sturdy and much- missed vocal to the classic “Don’t Stop” and received a wild ovation.

“Itwas so comfortable being back onstage with them, as if no time had passed, and then we all started talking, and it feels like the time is right. I’m really happy,” she says.

That tour was the last time Fleetwood Mac was scheduled to play the BB& T Center, but the June 2013 performance was canceled due to a “scheduling conflict.” A June show in Montreal alsowas canceled. That fall, the band canceled all 14 tour dates in Australia and NewZealand, as John McVie was being treated for cancer.

John McVie, looking well-tanned but delicate, told Daly on Thursday that his health now is “good.”

All of Mac back for tour
Columbus Dispatch
March 28, 2014

With singer announcing her reunion with Fleetwood Mac after 16 years, the rock band with a tumultuous history is thinking about tomorrow — as in a 34-show North American tour with a stop in Columbus and perhaps a new album. McVie “had us all seriously convinced that she would never come back,” singer Stevie Nicks said yesterday on the NBC morning show Today. A brief autumn reunion to sing Don’t Stop in London, however, became a turning point for McVie. “Walking out in London was sensational,” she said. The “On With the Show” tour will kick off on Sept. 30 in Minneapolis, with a stop on Oct. 19 at Nationwide Arena. (Tickets will go on sale April 7 through the Live Nation mobile application and at www.livenation.com.) Meanwhile, McVie is working with Nicks, and her ex Lindsey Buckingham on their first album together since Tango in the Night (1987). “We’ve only been in the studio a week, and it’s been really beautiful,” Buckingham said. “I have very high hopes for all of this.”

Christine McVie is back: Five reasons Fleetwood Mac is better with her

Edmonton fans can check out old favourites next November

By Tom Murray
Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - It’s official: Christine McVie is back with Fleetwood Mac and they’re heading out on tour, including a stop in Edmonton.

After a 16-year absence, McVie will rejoin Fleetwood Mac on their On With The Show Tour, which will stop at Rexall Place Saturday, Nov. 15.

So what does this mean for Fleetwood Mac fans? The band was just here last May, so is it worth paying big bucks to see them again?

In a word, yes.

If there was ever one band that simply couldn’t work as well without the original component members, it’s Fleetwood Mac.

By original, that means the version that came together in 1976, when the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John and Christine McVie were joined by guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks. The 10 years previous had seen the band defined by blues and hard rock guitarist figureheads, but the new Fleetwood Mac moved from strength to strength, and each member was as important as the other.

When Nicks and Buckingham moved the focus to a more California pop sound, Christine McVie began bringing in songs that were equally impressive. They had three talented, distinctive singers and songwriters, and a seemingly unending supply of perfect pop miracle songs. For just over a decade, they were able to parlay that into huge commercial success, until internal pressures caused the first ruptures, and eventual breakup.

Christine McVie’s departure from the band in 1998 brought into focus just how special that lineup really was.
While their reunion tours have been fun affairs, the band really does miss those smoky vocals and it’s impossible to ignore the gap left by the absence of many of McVie’s songs.

Now that Fleetwood Mac has announced her return, we’ll finally get to hear some of Christine McVie’s songs again, live in concert.

(Tickets go on sale Monday, April 7 through Ticketmaster and livenation.com. Prices range from $69.50 to $199.50.)

The reunion of the classic Fleetwood Mac lineup is "profound," says Lindsey Buckingham.

McVie missed Fleetwood Mac's 'tight chemistry'
Edna Gundersen

USA Today

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Looking back on her 1998 exit from Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie recalls how considerate and obliging her bandmates were, particularly Stevie Nicks.

A few years later, "Stevie offered me $5 million to come back," McVie says. "She was begging me, 'Don't leave me in this wilderness.' "

As it turned out, McVie's 15-year exile left her feeling a bit lost in the wilderness, leading to this year's surprise reunion of the classic lineup that lit up the charts with Rhiannon, Say You Love Me, Go Your Own Way, Dreams, Think About Me, You Make Loving Fun, Don't Stop, Tusk and Hold Me.

A tour is booked, new songs are being recorded, and "we all have great affection for each other," McVie says.

Bad blood played no role in McVie's departure. She was road weary after 28 years of "being one of the guys, raised in taverns and pubs with smoking, beer-drinking men."

"It was purely that, nothing personal," she says. "I was tired of living out of a suitcase. I wanted to be settled. I had decided to move from L.A. to England in 1990 but didn't go there until after the earthquake in 1994. I basically wanted to be the country lady in the Range Rover baking cookies for the local charity. But I was missing something. I idealized a life that didn't exist."

She gardened at her 17th-century mansion in Kent and recorded 2004's In the Meantime in a converted barn with her nephew.

"My solo records never felt the same," she says. "It just wasn't Fleetwood Mac and that tight chemistry."

In early 2013, she bumped into drummer Mick Fleetwood and "scratched at the door," he says.

Grounded for 15 years by her fear of flying, McVie agreed to fly with Fleetwood to Maui, where he lives, and perform in his blues band with John McVie. In September, she played Don't Stop with Fleetwood Mac at two shows in London.

"It became more than 'What if?' and we were all thrilled about the possibility," says Fleetwood.

Conference calls confirmed unanimous approval of her return, though concerns bubbled up.

"She burned a bridge by leaving, and we redefined what we were doing and carried on in a pretty effective way," says Lindsey Buckingham. "My main concern was that she understand that she had to stay. You can't do a one-off lark and head back to England and leave us hanging.

"Once there was clarity that she was in a good place and understood what coming back meant for the delegation of her time and energy, we all felt this was something poetic and profound.

"There's such a back story around the five of us," he says. "In many ways, the last 15 years have been the best of my life. In the early days of Fleetwood Mac, as successful and exciting as they were, we were not particularly stable, clear-headed or emotionally fulfilled."

Fleetwood and McVie have rented a 1932 Mediterranean-style grand estate built on the slope of Santa Monica Canyon. Its glorious gardens, beamed ceilings, art deco tiles and antique gates reflect a fabled history of wealth, drama, notoriety and romance, an apt metaphor for the Mac story.

With its steep rise in the '70s, the band lapsed into drug use and faced personal crises: Buckingham and Nicks split, the McVies divorced, Fleetwood's marriage ended.

"Having taken this story line, there's a lot to be grateful for now," says Fleetwood, sipping coffee in a sun-filled parlor of the 9,000-square-foot mansion. "Our conversations are all about this being a celebration. That's the mantra."

Topping his wish list is "new music coming out of these hugely talented songwriters," he says. "Me and John (Mac's non-writers) can't do much without other people. Our song is the band, and I want to keep writing that song."

McVie, lean with shoulder-length blond hair, sits nearby (scandal interception: the living arrangements are platonic).

"Everybody was so warm and friendly and welcoming," she says of the re-entry. "Lindsey said, 'Be sure it's what you really want.' The fear of starting up again went away."

McVie's chief worry? Finding proper caretakers for her house and two 15-year-old dogs. Once tour prep starts in July, she won't see them until 2015. She may Skype, "but then I'll be even more broken up."

The upcoming world tour, with multiple stops in some markets, won't be as grueling as past outings that drove McVie to an early retirement.

"We're being sensible about not overcooking the tour schedule," Fleetwood says. "I'm not comfortable doing five gigs a week. You get burned out. It would be stupid."

And the band's healthier habits should ease road stress, too.

"I don't drink like a fish anymore," Fleetwood says. "At 7 every morning, Chris and I are out on the lawn working out."

McVie says, "I need to be fit for this tour. I've never worked out in my life. This is the first time I've had a trainer or gone to the gym. I'm 70 and I need to be 45 again."

Fleetwood feigns shock and blurts, "You're 70, Chris? Oh, I've got to rethink this!"

Turning serious, he addresses Mac's future. "We're not drawing a 15-year blueprint," he says. "We're in real time. We've spoken about the next couple of years."

He adds brightly, "We are playing better than ever. It's just a fact. So there you go."

Buckingham sees cause for optimism.

"We're behaving ourselves a lot more," he says. "We're not doing the intense schedules we used to do. The lifestyle can be rigorous and even lonely. But Christine realized there may have been equivalent rigors to not being connected to a sense of purpose.

"I have yet to forget why I got into this in the first place," Buckingham says. "You see people who do. Unlike some times in the past, I'm appreciative of being in Fleetwood Mac and the whole road we've been down together."

Christine McVie Returns to Fleetwood Mac After a Long Hiatus

It's a Fleetwood Mac lovefest!
By K.C. BAKER
People.com

After leaving one of the most successful rock bands of all time 16 years ago, Christine McVie is back – and her band mates couldn't be happier.

 

"We're thrilled," the band's co-founder and drummer, Mick Fleetwood, tells PEOPLE exclusively. "She's just the dearest of friends and we've remained that way always. We've always missed Chris. To have a key, key member return to the fold is huge. It's really not happened, to my knowledge in any shape or form, on this level."

 

McVie, 70, whose songs "Little Lies" and "Say You Love Me" were among Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits, tells PEOPLE exclusively, "I honestly could never in my wildest dreams have thought I could return to the band. It's just a dream come true. I go to bed going, 'This is so great. This is what I've been yearning for all these years and I didn't know it.' We're family. We're very lucky."

Full article at People.com

"Being back is really a time warp," Christine McVie tells Rolling Stone #FleetwoodMac

Fleetwood Mac Announce Reunion Tour Dates With Christine McVie
By ANDY GREENE
Rollingstone

A little over a year ago, Stevie Nicks told Rolling Stone there was "more of a chance of an asteroid hitting the Earth" than Christine McVie returning to Fleetwood Mac. Well, it might be time to prepare for armageddon because the Mac's keyboardist and singer - who quit the band in 1998 after a three-decade stint in the group - is returning for a world tour beginning this September and a possible new album. 

The tour, entitled On With the Show, will kick off on Tuesday, Sept. 30 in Minneapolis, Minn. at the Target Center, with the band performing 34 shows in 33 cities across North America. American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Monday, March 31 at 10 a.m. through Sunday, April 6 at 10 p.m. Tickets go on sale beginning Monday, April 7 through the Live Nation mobile app and Live Nation's at website.

McVie says that her decision to leave the band was very simple. "I had some deluded idea that I wanted to live the 'country lady' life," she tells Rolling Stone. "But I went through a divorce and I felt isolated in the country. I grew quite ill and depressed." McVie realized the best way to fix her life was to rejoin Fleewood Mac, though Lindsey Buckingham admits he had some reservations when he first heard she wanted back in. "I wanted to make sure she grasped the weight of would it would entail," he says. "She also had to understand that if she was coming back that, basically, she has to stay. She wants to do it."

With McVie back in the band, the group will be able to perform songs like "Little Lies," "You Make Loving Fun," "Everywhere" and many other songs they haven't been able to play in nearly 20 years. "Being back is really a time warp," she says. "The tour is going to be great fun. I feel like a pig in poo right now."

Fleetwood Mac toured last year without Christine, though they had to stop short after bassist John McVie's cancer diagnosis. "His health is on the up," says Christine. "He's still doing chemotherapy. He just came in to do his bass parts, so everyone is real excited about that. He gets tired quickly, but he's definitely been on the mend. He's been such a man about this whole thing. I have renewed respect and love for him." McVie reunited with the band last year to perform "Don't Stop" in London.

The group spent time in mid-March working on new songs, though they don't plan on releasing anything until after the world tour. They have yet to sketch out an exact setlist, though Buckingham has a good idea of what they'll play. "It won't be too hard to figure out," he says. "Stevie and I both have songs we pretty much have to play. When you add in Christine's hits, you pretty much have a set, though that's not to say there won't be a few little surprises around the edges."

Q&A: Christine McVie Can't Wait for Fleetwood Mac World Tour

Photo: Matt Mindlin

"I had some deluded idea that I wanted to hang out with my dogs and bake cookies. I don’t know what I was thinking"

By ANDY GREENE
Rollingstone

The return of Christine McVie to Fleetwood Mac has been a poorly kept secret over the past few months, but it's still shocking to hear her voice on the phone for an interview about the group's upcoming reunion tour. She's the songwriter and vocalist on some of Fleetwood Mac's most enduring hits - including "Don't Stop," "Little Lies," "Everywhere" and "You Make Loving Fun" - but she quit the group in 1998 and disappeared completely from the scene. The remaining members said over and over again that she'd never return. 

Rolling Stone spoke with her about leaving the band, what she's been up to during the past two decades and what the future holds for Fleetwood Mac.

Let's go back to 1998. Why did you quit the band?
Well, I initially developed a great fear of flying. It was a real phobia. I also bought a house in England and decided, to a degree, I was really tired of the road. I wasn't just burned out, but I was tired of traveling and living out of a suitcase. I’m quite a domestic person by nature and the nomad thing had got a bit stale on me, really.

It was never anything personal between the five of us.  It was just that I felt my time had come and I just thought that I really wanted to leave Los Angeles and make a home in England. That was the root of it, really. And the earthquakes—I was terrified of the earthquakes. So I came back at the right time because we just had one [laughs]. Good timing.

Leaving when you did must have been a hard decision since the group had just wrapped up such a hugely successful tour and you'd stuck around through some pretty lean years.
It was a hard choice, but I made the choice a few months prior to that. Like I said, I had already bought the house in England and I was having it restored. I had planned to move at some point back there, but I hadn't because of the band touring. I did say to them at the beginning of the last tour we did that this would be my last one.

When you left, did you think there was even a tiny chance that you'd return?
Not as I left, no. But as the years went on, I had some deluded idea that I wanted to live the "Country Lady" life — basically hang out with my Range Rover and my dogs and bake cookies or something. I don’t know what I was thinking, really. I just wanted to live a normal, domestic life with roots.

What filled up your days during all those years?
Looking back at it now, I guess there was an awful lot of restoring going on, a lot of building work, a lot of making the house just as I wanted it, which took a couple of years. There wasn't really a lot of writing involved at that time — I didn't really do much playing.

Did you ever sing, even just for fun? 
Well, music left my life for a while, to be honest. It wasn't that I didn't like it, but you know, I’m not really a solo player. I have always needed other musicians to bounce off. And of course, the ultimate band being the band that I have just rejoined, so, I couldn't imagine doing anything with anyone else.

I did make a solo album in my house when I was there. And because I was just afraid of flying, I wouldn't promote it and I wouldn't tour. Actually, it wasn't a very good album anyway — it got buried underneath the pits of Hell, I suppose [laughs].

Were you talking to your bandmates during this time?
Well, when they came to England, I did. John and myself have stayed in touch. Mick and I have stayed in constant touch over the years. I had also gone through a divorce and got very isolated and hardly ever went to London. I found that I was spending a lot of time in the country on my own and it started to play tricks on me and made me quite ill and depressed. This had all happened about five years ago, really. I’ve gravitated back to the piano and started diddling around. I don’t think talent or the gift ever goes away. I just think that it had got so buried.

Did you watch Fleetwood Mac play during this time?
Yeah, quite a few times.

That must have been weird for you.
It was weird, but it was fantastic at the same time to be a fly on the wall watching them without me. I went down to the soundboard and watched with the sound guy. They just sounded fantastic; as good as they ever were.

How long ago did you start feeling the first inklings that you might want to come back?
About two years ago. I started to think, "What am I doing? I really miss that camaraderie with those four people. I miss everything about it." I missed the music, to be able to create again. I couldn't imagine doing it with anyone besides Fleetwood Mac. I knew that they were my musical family.

How did you get the ball rolling to come back?
It was an epiphany because I suddenly knew I wanted to join the band again. Obviously, my muscle memory was a bit challenged, but I just thought, "I got to go for it. I can’t just sit here in the country rotting away. I have to do something, and something special."

I’d finally went to a therapist to talk about my fear of flying—and as serendipity would have it, Mick was happening to be coming to London to promote the upcoming Fleetwood Mac tour in Europe. He lives in Maui. The therapist said, "Where would you like to go most of all, if you could get on a plane now? Where would you go?" And I said, "Maui." So I got on the phone to Mick and said, "Hey Mick, I’m going to come to Maui, I’m going to get on a plane." And he said, "Fantastic, fantastic. But listen—I’m coming to England, blah blah blah, so why don’t we just go back together?"

I played in Mick’s little blues group on the island and the ball just started rolling, one way or another. Neither of us can remember just quite how it happened, but it eased into the situation where Mick spoke for the rest of the band and we had conference calls with Lindsey and Mick. I called Stevie, spoke to John, and they obviously were saying, "If she does rejoin, she has to commit and understand and remember how hard the work is. Can she physically do it?". I just said with a big capital "Y," "Yes—I’m going to challenge myself and I want to do it more than anything in the world." It’s just such a joy. It’s an affirmation of something so magical, there’s just a chemistry between us that’s just phenomenal.

Going back a bit, how was the flight from England to Hawaii? That's a long time on a plane.
Well, it was with Mick, and I don’t mind jumbo jets [laughs]. I did, but I had this sort of therapy and I knew how to breathe and what to think when there were bumps, and la-dee-da-dee-da. But I was with Mick so we chatted the whole way there. It took all the pain out of sitting on my own. Since then, I went to Africa, and flown around in 12-seaters in safaris, of all things.  I don’t even think about it now.

The band toured last year. At what point was it firmly decided that you were coming back?
I went over to Dublin and it was decided that I would go on stage and do "Don’t Stop" with them at the O2. We rehearsed it in Dublin and everyone was looking over at each other smiling thinking this was fantastic. For me, I was looking over at my family again and it was effortless. I don’t know. It felt comfortable. It felt right.

What's the plan now?
Well, the plan is we’re going to start rehearsing in July and go on the road in September. The tour starts in Chicago and we head west and come back east again, finish at Christmas and pick up end of January and complete America and we can do the world, really. And there’s a studio album somewhere in the mix too. We’re playing around in studios now.

How has John's health been since his cancer diagnosis?
John’s health is on the up. He’s still doing chemotherapy and gets tired quickly, but he’s definitely been on the mend. He’s been such a man about this whole thing. I have renewed respect and love for him.

What music are you recording now?
We’re really running through some demos that I sent Lindsey. My demos are rough, [but] we’re just trying to construct some proper tracks from them and the chemistry is magic.

Is the whole band there right now?
Yes, we’re all here. We’re doing some photo shoots and everything for the tour and getting on with the show really.

It must feel like a time warp for you to be back with them after all these years.
It is a time warp; it is very, very happy. None of the nonsense with the drink and the nasty stuff. We’re all grown up, of course. One thing that we definitely have is chemistry and respect for each other's music, and Lindsey and I play well off each other. We have great rapport; he loves working on my songs and I love what he does with my songs, not to mention the fabulous rhythm section. So I’m a pig in a pile of poo really.

Have you guys plotted out a setlist?
We haven’t actually sat down and written a list. We just know we have so much to choose from. All my hits haven’t been aired for years live, so you have all that chunk. Then you have a whole other chunk of Stevie and Lindsey’s stuff, maybe some more obscure tracks from well-known albums. It's mind-boggling.

Any chance you'll do Rumours straight though at some point?
That’s a concept. I think we probably did think about doing it for a special gig somewhere. Who knows? That's something certainly to think about.

How's your singing voice? Have you been doing any exercises to get it in shape for the tour? 
Yeah, [we have] a guy who’s been on the road for years that does vocal exercises and I’m sure he’ll come with us this time. My voice is hanging on pretty well. I’m not doing lead vocals right now,  but rough vocals and I’m happy with it. My pitching is really on, so I feel no worries about that either.

How long is this tour going to last?
Who knows? This tour will be a world tour. Then we just have to see what will happen after that. A year is a long time. The thing is that we’re all committed to keep on going until one of us says stop it.

The fans are so happy that you're back. This is just so clearly where you belong.
Yeah, I belong here. Not to mention the peripheral people: the managers, the crew, have welcomed me back so warmly. I feel I am in a big family again, it's fantastic. I really had no question that they would want me back. I don’t think I ever worried about it too much. I had e-mails from Stevie offering me money to come back. She said, "Just don’t leave me in this wilderness!" And I know I said to Mick when I left, “Mick, don’t ask me back." And I did mean it then.

Do you regret leaving now?
I don’t think you can spend your time regretting what you did in the past, but you can look to the future and try and glean the very best, sweetest time one has left.

Are you worried the strain of the road is going to drain you?
No, because myself and Mick are on a fitness campaign. We’re working out and doing rigorous training. I need to get my body in shape. I’m doing yoga and breathing exercises—I’m fit as I’ve ever been, so I’m not worried about that.

You mentioned earlier that you had suffered from depression. It's hard to think of a better cure for that than old friends and music.
Music and old friends, and the music happens to be really special in my view. Really lovely songs. As a final note, I'd just like to say, this is unprecedented—band members leave and other people take their place—but there was always that space where the piano should be. I had all my keyboards in storage in Los Angeles. I never shipped them to England. About two years ago, my manager said, "Oh, we should just sell them or give them to the band members." And Stevie said, "I'll take them!" And yesterday, we went to her house for a photo session and went to a room where she kept them safe. She didn't know I was going to come back, but she left them in great shape.

A reminder to ourselves of what an integral strand Christine McVie is to Fleetwood Mac's superstar DNA

FLEETWOOD MAC: 
CHRISTINE MCVIE’S TOP 15 CONTRIBUTIONS 
by Mark Pursell
Glide Magazine

Even die-hard Fleetwood Mac fans forget (or never knew) that English-born Christine McVie was part of the band’s first incarnation as a British blues act whose intermittent success and ever-changing lineup prevented them from widespread success.  The Fleetwood Mac that people (especially Americans) tend to think of is the band’s California reinvention of the mid-‘70s, a reinvention that brought Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks on board and eventually resulted in the band’s permanent pop canonization.  The chemistry between Buckingham and Nicks, both on-record and off as writers, performers, and lovers, tended to throw a long shadow over the decades, perhaps unfairly obscuring the very real, very substantial contributions that Christine McVie made to the group’s success.

It’s usually obvious when a Fleetwood Mac track that belongs to McVie begins playing.  Her upbeat grooves are deceptively lighthearted, painting a contrast with the plainspoken but often emotionally raw content of her lyrics.  Said contrast seemed to speak to listeners; if you look at any breakdown of Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits, nearly half are written and sung by McVie. Her songs showcase a sunny exuberance that, taken in context of a full Fleetwood Mac record, build a perfect contrast to the band’s darker tracks.  She’s also underrated as a vocalist; her deep, bluesy voice works wonders in a pop-rock context, bringing a gravitas to her own straightforward but heartfelt songs and giving them cunning little dimensions that aren’t always immediately apparent.

In early 2014, Fleetwood Mac announced that McVie would be rejoining the band after a long hiatus.  There are plans to tour; some are even hoping for a new record.  In the spirit of McVie’s return, let’s revisit fifteen of her most accomplished, most enduring contributions to Fleetwood Mac, and remind ourselves of what an integral strand she is in the band’s superstar DNA.

Click through for Glide Magazine's Top 15

Great grouping of songs... Some omissions that could have made the lists... But it's all subjective.

Fleetwood Mac Begin Recording with Christine McVie in March! New Tour This Fall

According to an interview Jon Woodhouse of Maui News had with Mick Fleetwood right after the Willie K BBQ Blues Festival on Maui on January 11th, Mick again confirmed Christine's return to the band but also added that she's composed new songs and that Christine will begin recording with most of the rest of Fleetwood Mac beginning in March.  Mick also indicated to Jon that the new Fleetwood Mac tour with all five members will begin this fall.  He didn't indicate where the tour would start.

Mick also said that the door to Christine's return all began on Maui in early 2013 when she appeared on stage for the first time in 15 years with him and his blues band at Castle Theater. You can read all about that night here and also here.

Photo by: Matthew Thayer

Christine McVie completes a line-up that millions of fans the world over thought that they’d never again see

Newsmaker: Christine McVie

by Kevin Hackett
The National

Not many of us can claim to have been born perfect, but Christine McVie – or Anne Christine Perfect on her birth certificate – definitely can. The 70-year old British singer-songwriter, famed for her work with the rock group Fleetwood Mac, was born “oop north” in Bouth, England, in July 1943, to Cyril and Beatrice Perfect, and has, of late, been rather quiet. But this past Tuesday morning, word started circulating that she would be rejoining her former bandmates and embarking on a world tour, completing a line-up that millions of fans the world over thought that they’d never again see sharing a stage.

No doubt this news will have gone straight over the heads of today’s youth, but those of a certain generation will know exactly why this is such a big deal. Because while today’s immaculate, manicured and coiffured young pop stars are groomed to perfection by armies of agents and publicists, the story of Fleetwood Mac reads like an epic, tragic blockbuster akin to Pride and Prejudice. They just don’t make them like that anymore, and Christine Perfect, once she became Mrs McVie, played a starring role in one of the great rock soap operas of our time.

Fleetwood Mac's original songbird is to rejoin the band, and will bring optimism, beauty and bittersweet melancholia

With Christine McVie back, Fleetwood Mac will return to their magical best
The Guardian
by Tim Jonze

When Mick Fleetwood announced to a Hawaii audience that Christine McVie would be rejoining Fleetwood Mac on a permanent basis, you couldn't really argue with his assertion that it was the "the worst kept secret there is". During an interview in December 2013, McVie surprised me by saying she would be "very delighted" to reclaim her place in the group she left in 1998. Not long after, Steve Nicks responded by telling Billboard that McVie "didn't need to ask". You hardly needed Hercule Poirot's mobile number to work out what "woman wanting to rejoin a band" plus "band happy to let woman rejoin band" might equal.

Still, the fact that McVie, who turned 70 last year, wants to renounce a hermetic life in a mansion in Kent, which seemed to consist largely of cooking, gardening and looking after dogs, in favour of stepping back on the road with one of the best and most dysfunctional bands of all time is cause for celebration.

It's pointless to talk about a "best" member of Fleetwood Mac, for without any of them the band are significantly depleted. But McVie was always my personal favourite. Compared to the other two songwriters – Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham – her songs had a simplicity and clarity to them. This was partly down to the fact her music stemmed from the blues she played growing up: Don't Stop and Say You Love Me, the band's first top 40 hit with the classic 1970s lineup, both get their momentum from what McVie terms "that left-hand boogie bass thing".

Continue at The Guardian

Welcome Back Christine McVie! Fleetwood Mac hope to make a tour announcement in 2014

Christine McVie is back with Fleetwood Mac officially.

The band's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, has confirmed to Billboard that McVie has rejoined the band after departing the group in 1998.

Rosenberg says that McVie "has indeed re-joined Fleetwood Mac and we are hoping to make an announcement about a possible tour for the full tilt Macsters some time in 2014."

Billboard

Welcome back Christine!!

Mick Fleetwood Announces Christine McVie's return to Fleetwood Mac

[updated 6:00pm Monday, Jan 13th]

It's Official: 
Christine McVie is back with Fleetwood Mac
The band's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, has confirmed to Billboard that McVie has rejoined the band after departing the group in 1998.

Rosenberg says that McVie "has indeed re-joined Fleetwood Mac and we are hoping to make an announcement about a possible tour for the full tilt Macsters some time in 2014."

Billboard

Original Post:
It's no secret that something has been brewing with Christine McVie and the possibility of her return to Fleetwood Mac. If you're a fan of the band and have been following along this past year, it's clear Christine underwent some sort of transformation and a big shift in terms of mindset. She's kind of been everywhere (no pun intended) when you consider Christine's basically been out of the spotlight since 2004 after her last solo album was released and hasn't performed with Fleetwood Mac since she retired from the group, sold her piano and her house, and packed her bags and moved back to England in 1998. Except for a couple of public appearances in London over the years at one or two award ceremonies, she's been completely under the radar.

Well this past year Christine put travel anxiety aside and returned to the stage for the first time in 15 years, visiting with Mick and John in Hawaii she performed with Mick and his blues band on Maui (Maui in February, 2013) and again appeared with Fleetwood Mac live in London in September, 2013), plus she traveled to Dublin for rehearsals and also to Amsterdam, although she did not perform. She also granted new interviews to the british press and BBC radio indicating that she's had a change of heart (and possibly some therapy) and would like to rejoin her band mates, if they'll have her. This news was huge and made headlines around the world and made fans extremely happy and hopeful! Subsequent interviews with Mick, Lindsey and Stevie haven't been so clear on the subject with all three hesitant in saying whether this was a definite go or not - only indicating it was Christine's decision and that she is more than welcome to return and that they were looking forward to the year ahead and what the possibilities could bring.

Both Stevie and Lindsey made it clear in Las Vegas in December that Fleetwood Mac will be going back out on the road in 2014 with Lindsey being a little more specific telling people in the front row they'll be touring this Summer. Prior to this, Rumours producer, Ken Caillat also indicated in a 2013 radio interview that it looked like Christine would be joining the band for more tour dates on the summer leg (2014).

From my point of view, if the band and more specifically Christine is going to go through all this effort of putting this type of information out there to begin with to a fan base that has largely been begging for her return, and with Fleetwood Mac adding more dates this year (yet to be announced), then it's basically going to happen and everything else from here on out is just formality.

MICK FLEETWOOD - January 11, 2014

During last nights Uncle Willie K's BBQ Blues Fest on Maui at the Maui Tropical Plantation, Mick Fleetwood and Willie K. performed an acoustic version of Christine's "Songbird".  Following the performance, Mick apparently let the audience, and essentially the world know, that Christine will be rejoining Fleetwood Mac! His exact phrase below, was from someone in attendance. Obviously something a little more official will eventually be provided... but this is probably the clearest sign the Rumours line-up has reformed:

"This is the worst kept secret there is, 
but Christine McVie will be rejoining Fleetwood Mac!"