Mick Sighting. Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood shopping at Toronto's Hazelton Men

Mick Fleetwood shopping in Toronto at Hazelton Men, Saturday April 6th.

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FLEETWOOD MAC POSTPONED PHILADELPHIA SHOW

PHILADELPHIA SHOW POSTPONED

Due to a band member illness, the Fleetwood Mac show scheduled for Friday, April 5th, in Philadelphia will be rescheduled. The band apologizes for the inconvenience to their fans. Ticket holders should retain their ticket for the new date, alternately refunds are available at point of purchase. Please note that rescheduled Fleetwood Mac show dates will be announced shortly pending forthcoming sports Playoff schedules in both Boston and Philadelphia. We will provide updates as soon as possible.

Fleetwood Mac Added To New Orleans Jazz Festival May 2nd

Fleetwood Mac to Replace the Rolling Stones at New Orleans Jazz Fest

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JUST ANNOUNCED! Fleetwood Mac added to the 50th Anniversary New Orleans Jazz Fest lineup on Thursday, May 2! More info at nojazzfest.com — Tickets on sale now through Ticketmaster #fleetwoodmac #jazzfest50

A post shared by FLEETWOOD MAC NEWS (@fleetwoodmacnews) on Apr 4, 2019 at 10:52am PDT

Fleetwood Mac have been added to the musical lineup for the historic 50th anniversary New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will play Thursday, May 2.

The band will be replace The Rolling Stones, who were forced to postpone touring due to singer Mick Jagger’s health.

Mac collectively have sold more than 100 million records worldwide with countless hits. The band's current lineup includes Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie, along with newcomers Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.

Jazz Fest will also feature Tom Jones, Ziggy Marley, Mavis Staples and Regina Carter's Southern Comfort, along with local Louisiana artists.

A day-specific ticket is required for admission on May 2. General admission and VIP tickets are available at NOjazzfest.com and Ticketmaster. Tickets can also be purchased in-person at the Smoothie King Center box office. - Billboard

Fleetwood Mac's North American Tour On Track to Sell 1 Million Tickets

by Dave Brooks | Billboard

The absence of Lindsey Buckingham has not hurt the band's latest tour, which has at least 10 shows with grosses over $2 million.

Fleetwood Mac is on track to gross more than $100 million on the North American leg of their 2018/2019 tour with venues across the country reporting grosses between $1.5 to $2 million per show powered by a new generation of fans who have embraced the legendary group and its deep catalog of No. 1 hits.

Couple their success in North America with a fall international run for the band in the U.K., Germany, Australia and New Zealand, and the Mac's 75-plus date tour is shaping up to be one of the top tours on Billboard's year-end Boxscore chart. Not bad for a group that is touring without key member Lindsey Buckingham, who left the band (he told Rolling Stone he was "fired") last year over disagreements about its touring plans -- Buckingham reportedly wanted to spend most of 2019 on a solo tour, while the band wanted to get back on the road together sooner).

After a brief impasse, the group announced they were going on tour without Buckingham, but with Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Crowded House‘s Neil Finn standing in for the guitarist and singer.

"When Lindsey left the band, none of us had any expectations good or bad -- it was more about continuing Fleetwood Mac," the group's co-manager Carl Stubner tells Billboard. "We had about a month to put the tour together and get it on sale, without any assets or pictures of the new lineup. Thankfully, it started doing well from the beginning."

Positive press from the band's first show on the tour at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma followed by a monster show at the United Center in Chicago that grossed more than $2.2 million, giving the tour the momentum it needed. More than ten dates on the tour have passed the $2 million mark in ticket sales, including the band's Dallas show at American Airlines Center (Feb. 7) and their Tacoma Dome (Nov. 17) concert, which each grossed $2.34 million in sales in front of 18,828 fans in Washington and 14,357 fans in Dallas.

The band's tour stops at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Nov. 30), Capitol One Arena in Washington (March 5), Amalie Arena in Tampa (Feb 18) and Golden 1 Center in Sacramento (Nov. 23) all grossed more than $2 million in ticket sales, as did shows in Toronto, Nashville and Charlotte.

"The tour is playing to sold out arenas every night and I love walking thru the crowds, seeing generations of longtime fans dancing and singing along to their favorite songs," the band's co-manager Sheryl Louis told Billboard in a statement. "What I’ve noticed on this tour specifically is so many younger fans, who are equally as enthusiastic, seeing the band live for the first time and loving it," adding that Campbell and Finn's work in the band has "brought tremendous energy to the shows that both the band and the audience can feel. In the long history of Fleetwood Mac, these are honestly some of their best shows yet."

Most of the acrimony between the two sides has been settled, Stubner said, and the band wished Buckingham a speedy recovery following heart surgery in February.

"And it was a hard divorce and emotional because we love Lindsey, but we made the best out of a bad situation," Stubner tells Billboard. "The show has done well in the big markets and the smaller markets like Sacramento and Birmingham, Alabama. And not just selling tickets, but merchandise -- t-shirt sales have increased considerably from any other tour we've done."

Stubner said the uptick is being fueled by a younger demographic of fans, including teenagers attending the tour with their parents and older millennials enjoying a night out with friends. 

"They learned about the band from their parents, and then they dug a little deeper" Stubner says. "There's a hunger for bands with deep catalogs and I see a lot of young people coming to the shows in search of this music they've built a deep connection with. And maybe that's why we have been able to do so well without Lindsey, because it's really about the collective and the show itself. They're coming out for the band."

Mick Fleetwood “It just wasn’t a happy situation anymore, really for everyone.”

Fleetwood Mac on booting Buckingham: ‘We weren’t happy’
By Chuck Arnold March 7, 2019 | NY Post

“It gets lonely in these hotels,” says Mick Fleetwood with a laugh when he gets on the line. So he’s more than happy to do a phone interview from Atlanta on a day off during Fleetwood Mac’s tour.

Co-founded by its namesake drummer in 1967, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band — which will bring its “An Evening With Fleetwood Mac” show to Madison Square Garden on Monday and March 18, and the Prudential Center on Wednesday — will take a rest day here and there, but after 52 years, there are absolutely no plans to retire from the road.

“This is what we do,” Fleetwood, 71, tells The Post. “That really is where we’re at … In the past, when we literally never stopped, we never even thought of smelling the roses and going on a holiday or something. It was always straight in the studio, straight on the road.”

Fleetwood Mac hasn't stopped thinking about tomorrow

With two new members, the band brings its 50th anniversary tour to Madison Square Garden for two shows.

By Glenn Gamboa | Newsday
Photograph by Randee St Nicholas

Mick Fleetwood remembers sitting backstage with Elton John, hearing about his plans for retiring from touring.

“He said, ‘No one believes me — not even my band,’ but as soon as my children are old enough to go to a proper school, I’m going to hang it up and be that parent that’s available for them,’ ” recalls Fleetwood Mac’s drummer and co-founder. “He’s keeping to his promise.”

It’s a question that a lot of Fleetwood’s contemporaries wrestle with. “For a while, the question was always: ‘Is this the Stones' last tour?’ But here they are going out again in grand style,” he says. “We have our own version of that in this band.”

And Fleetwood, 71, says there was a point last year when the members of Fleetwood Mac were battling about a tour that coincided with its 50th anniversary and wondering if it was time to hang it up as well.

“It was a huge deal that the band should change its dynamic this far down the road,” Fleetwood says. “We thought long and hard — though not too, too long because we knew we had to make our minds up. But we did some serious thinking about whether this was going to be end of the band really. We decided, the four of us, that was not going to be the case.”

Instead, Fleetwood, singer Stevie Nicks, singer-keyboardist Christine McVie and bassist John McVie decided to fire longtime guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who joined the band in 1974 with Nicks, and replace him with Crowded House frontman Neil Finn and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell.

Even that surprising announcement last April didn’t end the band’s worries. “Then the joyride and the not-knowing ride of ‘this has to be the right decision’ begins,” Fleetwood says. “And it only becomes the right decision with the right chemistry and the right players.”

RECORD STORE DAY 2019 Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac Alternate

Record Store Day April 13, 2019

Format: 180g Black Vinyl LP
Label: Rhino

Originally released in 1975, Fleetwood Mac' s self-titled release marked the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks into the band' s line-up. Earlier this year it was reissued deluxe edition, featuring previously unreleased alternate recordings. Following the format of previous Fleetwood Mac RSD releases (for Tusk, Mirage and Tango In The Night), this RSD we will release a 1LP album of alternate takes mirroring the original album, from the "Fleetwood Mac" deluxe edition. Alternate takes include early versions of "Monday Morning", "Landslide", "Rhiannon" and "World Turning". On vinyl for the very first time. 

Tracklisting:
1. MONDAY MORNING (Early Take),
2. WARM WAYS (Early Take),
3. BLUE LETTER (Early Take),
4. RHIANNON (Early Take),
5. OVER MY HEAD (Early Take),
6. CRYSTAL (Early Version),
7. SAY YOU LOVE ME (Early Version),
8. LANDSLIDE (Early Version),
9. WORLD TURNING (Early Version),
10. SUGAR DADDY (Early Take),
11. I' M SO AFRAID (Early Version)

INTERVIEW Christine McVie Attitude Magazine

FLEETWOOD MAC'S CHRISTINE MCVIE ON 'AMERICAN HORROR STORY', PLAYING WEMBLEY, AND POTENTIAL NEW MUSIC
"I don't see any reason why we can't do another tour and make another record."

With a 50-year legacy of friendship, fallouts and iconic folk-rock hits, the Fleetwood Mac story is as epic as they come in music.

Over the years band members Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have married, divorced, made up, fallen out, and continued to release some of the most defining pop hits of the last century - and the drama hasn't waned now most of them are in their seventies.

Disagreements over current world tour 'An Evening with Fleetwood Mac' led to Buckingham's sacking from the group in April last year, with the guitarist and vocalist settling a lawsuit against his former bandmates in December.

Talk of that lawsuit is strictly off-limits as Attitude meets Christine McVie ahead of Fleetwood Mac's two planned dates at Wembley Stadium this June, but the British-born singer is a characteristically open book when it comes to discussing the legacy of a band that has defined her life since 1970.

Despite standing as the (relative) calm at the centre of the Fleetwood Mac storm, McVie has had plenty her own ups and downs during the course of her career, most notably retiring from the group in 1998 for 16 long years after developing a debilitating phobia of flying.

Since rejoining the group onstage at Wembley in 2014 McVie hasn't looked back however, and as the 75-year-old songstrees discusses eveything from Fleetwood Mac's unlikely inclusion in American Horror Story to why the popularity of her signature track 'Songbird' has been both a blessing and a curse, it's clear she's having the time of her life...

You've had a bit of a break from touring over the last few weeks - do you feel fully rested and recuperated?

Don't Stop: 50 years on, Fleetwood Mac are still rising from the ashes of their own self-destruction

The storied band have found a home for themselves teetering on the brink of implosion – unwilling, or perhaps unable, to let each other go. Their new anniversary album, '50 Years – Don't Stop', could hardly be more aptly titled, writes Alexandra Pollard.

1CD | 3CD | 5LP Versions Available November 16th at Amazon

Affairs, breakups, terrifying brawls between lovers, damage to instruments (and skulls), divorce, drug abuse, alcoholism, rows about money, musical differences, and lots and lots and lots of hit records: Fleetwood Mac might have sounded mellow at times, but off stage they were anything but.

“We’re a group of people who, you could make the argument, don’t belong in the same band together,” Lindsey Buckingham once said of his fractious group. “It’s the synergy of that that makes it work.”

Whether they’ve triumphed because of their famously volatile relationship, or in spite of it, Fleetwood Mac have risen from the ashes of their own self-destruction more times than seemed possible. In the past 50 years, they have found a home for themselves teetering on the brink of implosion – unwilling, or perhaps unable, to let each other go. Their new anniversary album, 50

Years – Don’t Stop, could hardly be more aptly titled.

Not that the current members haven’t tried to stop. Stevie Nicks left the band in 1990 over a dispute with Mick Fleetwood, but rejoined a few years later. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham quit in 1987, just before the band’s world tour, to “get on with the next phase of my creative growth” – only to spearhead a reunion a decade later. When Christine McVie packed the whole thing in 1998, she even went as far as moving to a sleepy village in Kent. “There’s no more chance of [McVie returning],” said Stevie Nicks in 2012, “than an asteroid hitting the earth.” A little over a year later, McVie was back in the band, no asteroid in sight.

FLEETWOOD MAC ANNOUNCE 2ND WEMBLEY DATE + PRETENDERS AS OPENING ACT

Fleetwood Mac add a second Wembley date to European Tour and announce that the Pretenders will be opening for them on the Euro dates. 

Tickets for the new show, June 18th, go onsale Friday, November 16th, with the Live Nation presale beginning November 15th, sign up at LIVE NATION

Fleetwood Mac Postponed both Edmonton and Calgary Shows

The Edmonton and Calgary shows scheduled for November 10th and 12th were postponed until April 13th and 15th, 2019 due to an illness in the band, which turned out to be Stevie not feeling well.... I hope she feels better with a few days off.... The next scheduled date is Vancouver November 14th.

FLEETWOOD MAC STILL GOING THEIR OWN WAY, 51 YEARS ON...

STILL GOING THEIR OWN WAY, 
The Mail On Sunday (Nov 11, 2018)
Toronto Review 11.05.18

After 51 years, Fleetwood Mac are still pop’s biggest soap opera. The latest episode finds one of the main characters, Lindsey Buckingham, being sacked by the others (among them an ex of his). He responds by suing them for $14 million, the amount he says he would have made from this tour, which I caught in Canada (it arrives at Wembley Stadium on June 16 next year).

On stage, Buckingham isn’t mentioned, but he does receive a compliment: two men are required to replace him. His role as the band’s only male singer goes to Neil Finn from Crowded House. In a blatant bid to add some youthful energy, Fleetwood Mac have sent for a 60-year-old.

Finn might be the oldest new recruit ever to join a great group, were it not for Buckingham’s other successor – Mike Campbell, ace guitarist with Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, at 68. The $14 million question is whether all this makes Fleetwood Mac a different band. The answer is yes and no.

They still play almost all the hits you’re hoping for, though personally I miss the beautiful shimmer of Sara. They still have Stevie Nicks (now 70) dancing with her scarf, Christine McVie (75) relishing her comeback from retirement in rural Kent, and John McVie hiding under a white cap. They still find room for a drum solo by Mick Fleetwood that is so reliably awful that everyone else abandons the stage.

But some things have changed. Tusk Finn brings an airier voice than Buckingham, and a far warmer presence: he looks thrilled to be there. Campbell nails the solos without hogging the limelight, as Buckingham tended to do. The one song he brings from the Heartbreakers, Free Fallin’, slots right in, with Nicks lending a woozy sadness to her friend Tom Petty’s lines. The song Finn brings from Crowded House, Don’t Dream It’s Over, is less of a fit but more of a treat. ‘This is a song of unity,’ Finn says, and he shows it with a meltingly simple rendition, just him and his acoustic guitar and 18,000 people singing ‘Hey now, hey now’. It’s the highlight of the night, which is saying something. Just behind are several tracks from Rumours, Fleetwood Mac’s masterpiece, currently spending its 756th week in the UK album chart. Dreams, Go Your Own Way and Don’t Stop can make you swoon while also impressing you all over again with their meticulous carpentry. ‘Yesterday’s gone,’ we all yell. Not yet it hasn’t.

Stevie Nicks GOES HER Own Way

Stevie Nicks GOES HER Own Way

CLOSER Weekly #54 November 5, 2018

"Let’s stop before it’s too late, and leave it all up to the fates,” Stevie Nicks sang in a duet on stage in Des Moines, Iowa, on Oct. 14. The performance was the sixth night of Fleetwood Mac’s new tour, but the group looked slightly different than usual: Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, 69 — Stevie’s onetime boyfriend — was fired in January. Like so much in the band’s volatile history, the parting was acrimonious — Lindsey is suing for breach of contract and has blamed Stevie for his exit. So in Des Moines, after running through their hits, the band closed with the poignant “All Over Again.” Said Stevie, “It’s a song about surviving change. It’s a song about the future.” 

GOLD DUST WOMAN

Stevie knows a lot about both, but she’s focused only on her future. Just as the new tour kicked off, Stevie, 70, got nominated as a solo artist for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and made a buzzed-about appearance on American Horror Story: Apocalypse. “She’s one empowered lady,” a friend tells Closer. As a star whose success spans five decades, “she knows she’s earned the respect, trust and adoration,” that’s giving her this moment, adds the insider. “As she often says, ‘I’m still kicking a--!’ ”

And while Lindsey feels bruised, Stevie is taking their fight in stride. “Our relationship has always been volatile,” she says. She’s ready to move on and “is relieved,” the friend says.

For now, Stevie is adopting “the band’s ability to put the music first,” the friend explains. “She’s very rock ’n’ roll hippie in her thinking. Whatever comes up in her path… she goes with the flow.” In other words, she’s leaving what comes next up to the fates.

— Lisa Chambers

FLEETWOOD MAC ADD 6 NEW DATES TO NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

NEW SHOWS ADDED‼️

Due to overwhelming fan demand, Fleetwood Mac has added 6 dates to their North American tour:

Jan 31 - Denver, CO,
Mar 1 - Chicago, IL,
Mar 18 - New York, NY,
Mar 22 - Philadelphia, PA,
Apr 2 - Boston, MA and
Apr 4 - Toronto, ON.
.
Sale Dates and Times:
Public Onsale : Mon, 12 Nov 2018 at 10:00 AM local time
.
American Express Presale : Mon, 5 Nov 2018 at 10AM
.
Live Nation Mobile App Presale : Fri, 9 Nov 2018 at 10AM
.
Live Nation / Venue Presale : Fri, 9 Nov 2018 at 10AM
.
A limited number of LaneOne VIP Packages will also be available, including amazing seats with premium benefits such as transportation, preferred entrance and more. LaneOne here: http://smarturl.it/FMLaneOne

Ticket links www.fleetwoodmac.com

Fleetwood Mac Announce 3 New Dates - London, Dublin and Berlin

Fleetwood Mac Announce 3 New Dates:

Legendary, GRAMMY-award winning band Fleetwood Mac announce a European tour, set to kick off in June with three exclusive performances currently announced in London, Dublin and Berlin. Produced by Live Nation, the tour will feature the newly announced line-up of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Christine McVie along with newcomers Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.

Tickets for the tour will go on-sale to the general public starting on Friday, October 26th at 9am local time. A complete Fleetwood Mac itinerary listing all tour dates follows this release. For further information, please visit www.fleetwoodmac.com.

A limited number of LaneOne VIP Packages will also be available, including amazing seats with premium benefits such as transportation, preferred entrance and more. LaneOne premium VIP packages are available here: LaneOne

Fleetwood Mac Strongly Disputes Lindsey Buckingham's Allegations in Lawsuit

Fleetwood Mac issued a new statement today, saying,

"Fleetwood Mac strongly disputes the allegations presented in Mr. Buckingham’s complaint and looks forward to their day in court.  The band has retained Dan Petrocelli to handle the case."

Read the 28 page court filing at Rollingstone

Fleetwood Mac Spokesperson Responds to Lindsey Buckingham Lawsuit

A spokesperson for Fleetwood Mac provided Rolling Stone with a statement on the lawsuit: “It’s

impossible for the band to offer comment on a legal complaint they have not seen. It’s fairly standard legal procedure to service the complaint to the parties involved, something that neither Mr. Buckingham nor his legal counsel have done. Which makes one wonder what the true motivations are when servicing press first with a legal complaint before the parties in dispute.”

- Rollingstone

Lindsey Buckingham has filed a lawsuit against Fleetwood Mac

Lindsey Buckingham Sues Fleetwood Mac Over Dismissal From Band
Musician alleges breach of fiduciary duty and breach of oral contract, among other charges, after firing earlier this year
By ANDY GREENE
Rollingstone

Photo: Ryan Pfluger for Rolling Stone

Lindsey Buckingham has filed a lawsuit against Fleetwood Mac for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of oral contract and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, among other charges, according to legal documents obtained by Rolling Stone. The group parted ways with Buckingham in January and replaced him with Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Neil Finn of Crowded House. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, states that he asked the group to postpone their tour three months so he could play shows with his solo band. He says plans were in place for the Rumours-era lineup to play 60 shows across North America when he was let go without warning.

“This action is necessary to enforce Buckingham’s right to share in the economic opportunities he is entitled to as a member of the partnership created to operate the business of Fleetwood Mac,” the complaint states.

The complaint offers a detailed look at the buildup to Buckingham’s departure from the band, going back to late 2017 when the group began plotting a 2018/19 world tour. It claims that Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Christine McVie wanted it to begin in August of this year, but Buckingham wanted it to start in November so he could tour behind his new solo release. When the others refused to delay the plans, the suit claims, he reluctantly agreed to postpone his album for a year to accommodate their wishes.

The suit alleges that a deal was made with Live Nation that would earn each member of the group an estimated $12 million to $14 million for 60 concerts. When Buckingham learned the group only wanted to play three shows a week, he asked permission to book his own shows during off-days. The band played the MusiCares benefit on January 26th, 2018 and two days later Buckingham learned they were carrying on without him.

Read the 28 page court filing at Rollingstone

Lindsey Buckingham Reveals The Truth Behind Being Fired From Fleetwood Mac

Lindsey Buckingham: Life After Fleetwood Mac
The singer-guitarist on his new anthology, solo tour and getting fired from the band he helped make famous

By DAVID FRICKE
Rollingstone

Lindsey Buckingham and his wife, Kristen, were at home in Los Angeles on January 28th, watching the Grammy Awards ceremony on television, when the phone rang. Fleetwood Mac’s manager Irving Azoff was calling with a message for Buckingham from Stevie Nicks. The gist of it, Buckingham says, quoting Azoff: “Stevie never wants to be on a stage with you again.”

Two nights earlier, the most popular and enduring lineup of Fleetwood Mac — Nicks, Buckingham, singer-keyboard player Christine McVie, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood — performed in New York at a MusiCares benefit show honoring the group. “We rehearsed for two days, and everything was great,” Buckingham claims. “We were getting along great.”

But on the phone, Azoff had a list of things that, as Buckingham puts it, “Stevie took issue with” that evening, including the guitarist’s outburst just before the band’s set over the intro music — the studio recording of Nicks’ “Rhiannon” — and the way he “smirked” during Nicks’ thank-you speech. Buckingham concedes the first point. “It wasn’t about it being ‘Rhiannon,’ ” he says. “It just undermined the impact of our entrance. That’s me being very specific about the right and wrong way to do something.”

As for smirking, “The irony is that we have this standing joke that Stevie, when she talks, goes on a long time,” Buckingham says. “I may or may not have smirked. But I look over and Christine and Mick are doing the waltz behind her as a joke.”

At the end of that call, Buckingham assumed Nicks was quitting Fleetwood Mac. He wrote an e-mail to Fleetwood assuring the drummer that the group could continue. There was no reply. A couple of days later, Buckingham says, “I called Irving and said, ‘This feels funny. Is Stevie leaving the band, or am I getting kicked out?’ ” Azoff told the guitarist he was “getting ousted” and that Nicks gave the rest of the band “an ultimatum: Either you go or she’s gonna go.”

Asked if those were Azoff’s exact words, Buckingham responds, “Pretty much. I don’t remember his exact words, but that was the message.” In April, Fleetwood Mac announced a major North American tour with two new guitarists: Neil Finn, formerly of Crowded House, and Mike Campbell, from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Azoff and the other members of Fleetwood Mac declined to comment for this story on Buckingham’s account of his dismissal. But in April, Fleetwood — who co-founded the group in 1967 with original guitarist Peter Green — told Rolling Stone that the band hit an “impasse” with Buckingham. “This was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a functioning band.” The drummer did not elaborate but said, “We made a decision that we could not go on with him.”

Nicks — Buckingham’s romantic and musical partner when the two joined the Mac in 1975 — cited a disagreement over tour plans, saying Buckingham wanted too much time off for solo work. But, she added, “Our relationship has always been volatile. We were never married, but we might as well have been. Some couples get divorced after 40 years. They break their kids’ hearts and destroy everyone around them because it’s just hard.”

Buckingham confirms that, at a band meeting in late 2017 — shortly after a series of shows with McVie to promote their project, Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie — he asked for “three or four months extra” to do solo dates. There was “stonewalling,” he claims. “I left the meeting because there was nothing else to talk about.”

But he insists that Fleetwood Mac always “came first. And I don’t think there was ever anything that was just cause to be fired. We have all done things that were not constructive. All of us have worn on each other’s psyches at times. That’s the history of the group.”

It is a warm late-summer morning, and Buckingham, who turned 69 on October 3rd, is sitting on the patio behind his house in a hilly neighborhood in West Los Angeles, giving his version — on the record for the first time — of his exit from Fleetwood Mac. Later in the day, he will rehearse with his own band for a fall tour to promote Solo Anthology: The Best of Lindsey Buckingham, a compilation drawn from records he has made outside the Mac since the early Eighties. The guitarist had completed a new solo album, tentatively called Blue Light, when he was cut loose. It will come out next year.

“Am I heartbroken about not doing another tour with Fleetwood Mac? No,” Buckingham says, “because I can see that there are many other areas to look into.” But, he goes on, “The one thing that does bother me and breaks my heart is we spent 43 years always finding a way to rise above our personal differences and our difficulties to pursue and articulate a higher truth. That is our legacy. That is what the songs are about. This is not the way you end something like this.”

Buckingham says he tried to contact Nicks, without success. On February 28th, a month after first writing to Fleetwood, Buckingham sent the drummer another e-mail expressing those sentiments and his frustration with the band’s “radio silence.” There was no response. Since their last show together, at MusiCares, Buckingham has not spoken to any of his former bandmates.

On September 5th, Fleetwood Mac’s new lineup made its television debut on Ellen. Buckingham did not watch it. His wife did. “I was just sad,” Kristen says. “I was thinking, ‘How did they get here?’ ” Kristen and Lindsey met in 1996, not long before the guitarist — who quit Fleetwood Mac in 1987 — rejoined, leading to the 1997 live reunion album, The Dance. “Even though we didn’t see them very often,” Kristen says of the other members, “it was still a family of sorts.” The Buckinghams’ three children “called them aunts and uncles.”

It is still a small world. But it has become awkward. The husband of Lindsey’s niece is a drum technician on Fleetwood Mac’s road crew. Buckingham’s advice to him: “Mick is still a great guy. Don’t be anything other than a centered, grounded person for him. Do your job well.” Also, John McVie and the Buckinghams are neighbors. The bassist’s home is “literally 300 yards from here,” the guitarist says, pointing through his house to the other side of the street.

Kristen recently ran into John’s wife, Julie, at a local nail salon. “My heart sank a bit,” Kristen says. “She said hello. I asked about her daughter — it was neutral ground.” But when Julie mentioned the tour, “She must have seen my face: ‘Oh, how is Lindsey doing?’ I didn’t want to sugarcoat it. I just said, ‘You know, not great.’ ”

“I had a visceral reaction to it for a long time,” Buckingham says, “completely hurt. I’d be fine for a while, and then it would come back.” He was also “disappointed” in what he calls “the disproportion in what happened and anything you can put on me in terms of behavior and the scale of what went on.”

Buckingham is not the first member of Fleetwood Mac to be fired. Guitarist Danny Kirwan was canned by Fleetwood in 1972 for alcoholism and violent behavior. (Kirwan died in June.) In 1973, singer Bob Weston got his pink slip after he had an affair with Fleetwood’s then-wife. Buckingham, in turn, has a long-standing reputation as a hard case, uncompromising and quick to ignite. He took over Fleetwood Mac’s musical direction after the megaplatinum sales of the group’s 1977 album, Rumours, pushing for the New Wave risk of 1979’s Tusk. After that record’s muted success, the guitarist made his first solo album, 1981’s Law and Order, because, he says, “I was pissed off” at what he saw as the band’s creative retreat. “Was I biting the hand that fed me? Oh, yeah.”

Kristen acknowledges that Lindsey was “definitely edgier when I met him,” adding that marriage and fatherhood “softened” that. Still, she admits, “He’s always been a prickly guy. That’s the truth.”

Practicing for his solo tour at a studio in Burbank, Buckingham is relaxed and chatty as he runs down the opening numbers in a 23-song set list with two members of his band, keyboard player Brett Tuggle and bassist Federico Pol. (Drummer Jimmy Paxson will arrive in a few days.) Buckingham is also focused on the details in the music, singing with his eyes shut tight in concentration and looking intently at his guitar as he picks the Bach-like introduction of “Don’t Look Down,” from 1992’s Out of the Cradle.

Buckingham is literally a solo artist in that he records mostly at home, singing and playing virtually all of the parts, and he is an obvious perfectionist in rehearsal as he stops songs to resolve the timing of a part or the volume in his monitors. It is easy to see how, in a historically dysfunctional setting like Fleetwood Mac, that kind of intensity could spill over into dissension and stalemate.

Ironically, when Buckingham starts his solo tour in early October, in Portland, Oregon, it is within days of the new Fleetwood Mac’s opening night, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The latter are playing arenas into next spring. Buckingham is appearing in theaters such as New York’s Town Hall. “That’s the story of my solo work: You lose nine-tenths of the listeners,” Buckingham concedes. The set list he rehearses in Burbank includes songs that he could be playing with Fleetwood Mac right now: “Big Love,” “Tusk,” “Go Your Own Way.” But the encores are from solo albums. One, from 2008’s Gift of Screws, is called “Treason.”

“It is not my place or intent to open that door,” Buckingham says of his former band. “I’ve done my best to reach out to them.” He has not “technically closed the book on anything. Nor would I. But I am not planning that anything will change from what it is now.”

Buckingham knows there will be moments on his solo tour, backstage, when well-meaning fans will hand him a copy of Rumours to sign. And “that’s OK,” he says. “Somebody handing me Rumours has no effect on anything more than it ever would have. It is just an affirmation that we’ve done our job right.”

Fleetwood Mac 50 Years – Don't Stop CD & LP Collections Available November 16

Fleetwood Mac 50 Years – Don't Stop CD & LP Collection

Release Date
Fri, 11/16/2018

Pre-Order from Amazon

3CD | 1CD | 5LP

FLEETWOOD MAC 50 YEARS - DON'T STOP
3-CD And 5-LP Collections Celebrate The Legendary Band's 50th Anniversary
With 50 Songs Spanning Their Entire Career Available From Warner Bros. Records On November 16.

LOS ANGELES - Fleetwood Mac will celebrate a half century of music this fall with a new 50-song collection that is the first to explore the group's entire career, from its early days playing the blues, to its global success as one of the most-enduring and best-selling bands in rock history. 50 YEARS-DON'T STOP will be available as both a 50-track, 3-CD set ($34.98) and 5-LP vinyl set ($99.98) on November 16. A 20-track single CD version ($18.98) will also be available on the same day. Both versions will be available on digital download and streaming services as well.

The new compilation touches on every era in the band's rich history and offers a deep dive into Fleetwood Mac's expansive catalog by bringing together essential tracks released between 1968 and 2013. 50 YEARS-DON'T STOP also highlights the talented musicians who have recorded under the Fleetwood Mac banner over the years, including Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, Jeremey Spencer, John McVie, Danny Kirwan, Christine McVie, Bob Welch, Bob Weston, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Billy Burnette, Rick Vito, Dave Mason, and Bekka Bramlett. The collection also features rare photos from the band's career along with new liner notes by veteran music writer David Wild.

The first disc revisits Fleetwood Mac's early years as a blues-rock combo, a six-year period that began in 1968 with the band's self-titled debut and ended in 1974 with its ninth studio album, Heroes Are Hard To Find. Many of the songs featured here were Top Ten hits in the U.K., including "Man Of The World," "Oh Well - Pt. 1," "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)," and the #1 hit, "Albatross."

The second disc focuses on Fleetwood Mac's most commercially successful period with music from a trio of multi-platinum releases - Fleetwood Mac (1975), Rumours (1977), and Tusk (1979) - plus the acclaimed concert album Live (1980). Together they've sold millions of copies worldwide, with Rumours alone selling more than 40 million copies. Several of the band's most beloved tracks come from these albums including "Rhiannon," "Say You Love Me," "Go Your Own Way," "Don't Stop," "You Make Loving Fun," and the #1 single "Dreams."

The final disc explores songs the band released between 1982 and 2013, including major U.S. hits like, "Hold Me" (#4), "Gypsy" (#12), "Big Love" (#5), "Little Lies" (#4), and "Everywhere" (#14). Also featured are several rarities ("Paper Doll" and "As Long As You Follow"); a live version of "Silver Springs" from the multi-platinum concert album, The Dance (1997); and "Sad Angel" from the band's most recent release, Extended Play (2013).

Fleetwood Mac kicks off a North American tour in October that will travel through 50+ cities, ending in Spring of 2019. Produced by Live Nation, the tour will feature the line-up of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Christine McVie along with newcomers Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.
 

50 YEARS-DON'T STOP

3-CD Track Listing

Disc One
1. "Shake Your Moneymaker"
2. "Black Magic Woman"
3. "Need Your Love So Bad"
4. "Albatross"
5. "Man Of The World"
6. "Oh Well - Pt. I"
7. "Rattlesnake Shake"
8. "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)"
9. "Tell Me All The Things You Do"
10. "Station Man - Single Version
11. "Sands Of Time" - Single Version
12. "Spare Me A Little Of Your Love"
13. "Sentimental Lady" - Single Version
14. "Did You Ever Love Me"
15. "Emerald Eyes"
16. "Hypnotized"
17. "Heroes Are Hard To Find" - Single Version

Disc Two
1. "Monday Morning"
2. "Over My Head" - Single Version
3. "Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)" - Single Version
4. "Say You Love Me" - Single Version
5. "Landslide"
6. "Go Your Own Way"
7. "Dreams"
8. "Second Hand News"
9. "Don't Stop"
10. "The Chain"
11. "You Make Loving Fun"
12. "Tusk"
13. "Sara" - Single Version
14. "Think About Me" - Single Version
15. "Fireflies" - Single Version
16. "Never Going Back Again" - Live

Disc Three
1. "Hold Me"
2. "Gypsy"
3. "Love In Store"
4. "Oh Diane"
5. "Big Love"
6. "Seven Wonders"
7. "Little Lies"
8. "Everywhere"
9. "As Long As You Follow"
10. "Save Me" - Single Version
11. "Love Shines"
12. "Paper Doll"
13. "I Do" - Edit
14. "Silver Springs" - Live-Edit
15. "Peacekeeper"
16. "Say You Will"
17. "Sad Angel"

50 YEARS- DON'T STOP

1-CD Track Listing

1.    "Don't Stop"
2.    "Go Your Own Way"
3.    "Dreams"
4.    "The Chain"
5.    "Landslide"
6.    "Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)" - Single Version
7.    "Everywhere"
8.    "Little Lies"
9.    "Never Going Back Again" - Live
10.  "Tusk"
11.  "Sara" - Single Version
12.  "Gypsy"
13.  "Hold Me"
14.  "Big Love"
15.  "Seven Wonders"
16.  "Save Me"
17.  "Peacekeeper"
18.  "Albatross"
19.  "Man Of The World"
20.  "Oh Well - Pt. I"