In April of 2018, I was (and still am) stunned by the news that Fleetwood Mac fired Lindsey Buckingham. Why? Over the timing of the tour, according to most sources. Pretty lame if you ask me, and I do believe there is a lot more to the story. Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, John and Christine McVie wanted to go out right away to tour, with no album to support, right away. Meanwhile, Lindsey wanted to wait near the end of the year- only by a couple of months. But, in particular, Mick and Stevie got their panties in a bunch and Lindsey got fired. I have so many problems with this. I could have written about this sooner when it happened but I wanted to see if anything came to light and see if my opinion changed from then to now. So far, my opinion then is the same as now. Here's what kills me: Fleetwood Mac KNOWS that Lindsey is one of their best players. He is very much a talented guitarist with a very unique style that no other guitar player has; sadly, Lindsey is underrated with the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Slash, and Jimmy Page floating around. Not to mention having Stevie around with her popularity eclipsing the rest of the group. Now, for the record, I will be very harsh on Stevie and Mick in this post but I do not hate them. In fact, I am very sad about this. My respect for them has dwindled since April. Like they did in 1987 by replacing Lindsey with two guitar players: Rick Vito (who handled the vocals) and Billy Burnette. Now, again, Lindsey got replaced by two guitar players: Mike Campbell and Neil Finn (who will handle the vocals).
“Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour. The band wishes Lindsey all the best … Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution. We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour.” Fleetwood Mac
Later in the month of April, the newly renovated band spoke a little bit on Lindsey's leave… well, they kinda had to because the press certainly won't ignore it!
“We were supposed to go into rehearsal in June and he wanted to put it off until November [2019]. That’s a long time. I just did 70 shows [on a solo tour]. As soon as I finish one thing, I dive back into another. Why would we stop? We don’t want to stop playing music. We don’t have anything else to do. This is what we do.” Stevie
“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. This is sad for me, but I want the next 10 years of my life to be really fun and happy. I want to get up every day and dance around my apartment and smile and say, ‘Thank God for this amazing life.’” Stevie
Oh Stevie… I will save my piece of mind on her a little later. But seriously, what's wrong with waiting another year? Are they afraid to die when they don't tour? Mick, John, Christine, and Stevie are all in their 70s; Lindsey isn't far behind (in his late 60s). Surely they could use the year to take a break: spend time with families, travel, write new songs, sleep in till noon. All I can think of for this urgency to tour is that somebody in the band it broke, and touring makes money. Anyway, apparently the band is uncomfortable with the word “fired”.
“Words like ‘fired’ are ugly references as far as I’m concerned. Not to hedge around, but we arrived at the impasse of hitting a brick wall. This was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a functioning band. To that purpose, we made a decision that we could not go on with him. Majority rules in term of what we need to do as a band and go forward.” Mick
A month after being fired, Lindsey did a solo performance and spoke publicly about his departure:
"I have sadly taken leave of my band of 43 years, Fleetwood Mac. This was not something that was really my doing or my choice. I think what you would say is that there were factions within the band that had lost their perspective. It harmed the 43-year legacy that we had worked so hard to build and that legacy was really about rising above difficulties in order to fulfill one’s higher truth and one’s higher destiny.”
“I was surprised to hear the news because it happened after I went back to London that the decision was made. But life moves on and I wanted to carry on with these guys.” Christine
“Please don’t blame Christine McVie for what happened to Lindsey. After texting with Chris I am convinced that whatever went down between Stevie & Lindsey was to personal, complex, hurtful & deep for her to have affected the outcome in any meaningful way. She has a heavy heart…” Richard Dashut, Fleetwood Mac producer and friend
I am not angry nor do I cast blame on John and Christine McVie. In recent years, John underwent cancer treatments and if you put John on a sailing boat, he will be happy. I don't believe in any shape or form that John and Christine had anything to do with Lindsey's firing.
“Obviously this is a huge change with the advent of Lindsey Buckingham not being a part of Fleetwood Mac. We all wish him well and all the rest of it. In truthful language, we just weren’t happy. And I’ll leave it at that in terms of the dynamic. And he’s going out on the road more or less the same time I think -- not in the same places, I hope.” Mick
So… Lindsey is planning his solo tour just as Fleetwood Mac are going out on tour… Well, that does not make any sense at all! If Lindsey wanted to wait until 2019 to tour, why is he going now? Hmmmm? Seriously, I think this disagreement could have found a solution, a compromise, and Lindsey would still be part of Fleetwood Mac. On social media, Lindsey's wife was not happy with Mick’s quote and used his initials MF a new meaning of Mother-Fucker.
Let's recap in gist: in 2015, Christine rejoined Fleetwood Mac after 16 years since her own departure (she quit) with a big tour of their greatest hits as a five piece band after the previous tour as a four-piece band performing greatest hits. In general, Fleetwood Mac hadn't had a record out since early 2000s. After the Christine reunion tour, the plan was for the members to go in the studio to work on a new album. But Stevie decided to go on her own tour, which she felt was overdue for her 24 Karat Gold album. Lindsey and Christine went in for a head start but instead of a Fleetwood Mac album, it turned into a Buckingham McVie album since Stevie was too busy handling her solo career. So, during 2017, Lindsey and Christine went on their own tour. Earlier this year, Fleetwood Mac reunited for their honor in MusiCares, which turned out to be Lindsey's last concert with the band.
Now, here's my problem with Stevie: why didn't Mick fired Stevie last year when she wanted to concentrate on her solo tour? To me, this is the same, and fair, deal. Stevie didn't want to enter the studio to contribute her own share of songs when Lindsey and Christine went in. Mick and John did appear in the Buckingham McVie album- it was intended to be a Fleetwood Mac album! Here is Christine, all fresh and ready to dive back in with new songs, and Stevie was the one out of the band that deeply missed Christine… but instead of going in the studio all excited to work with Christine on new songs, Stevie said no, time for solo stuff. Fast forward to this year in 2018 when Lindsey wants to hold off on touring, just as Stevie wanted to hold off on recording, and what happened? He got fired. What's up with that? In my mind, it's favoritism. Mick favors Stevie over Lindsey. Now, as much as Stevie does bring to the band with songwriting, vocals, allure, beauty, attention, etc., Lindsey contributes more to the band with songwriting, guitar, vocals, producing, mixing, a dedicated and loyal hands on approach. He has more recording attendance days than Stevie does! Stevie once described her relationship with Mick like best friends- able to hang out, watch a movie, and talk into the early hours of the morning discussing things under the sun while her relationship with Lindsey was anything but buddies. I should also add that Mick and Stevie once had an affair around 1977, 1978 that was passionate yet could have destroyed the band if it had continued on. Perhaps Mick thought that if he fired Stevie, not only would the fans freak out and create it into controversy, it would be poor ticket sales. Stevie did quit the band around 1990 and Fleetwood Mac tried to go on without her but with minimal success, like playing at fairgrounds. Firing Lindsey was a better choice for him. After all, Lindsey did quit the band in 1987, over, ironically, touring. Indeed, Fleetwood Mac is known to have revolving door- as long as it isn't Mick or John (as the band is named after their last names) then everybody is replaceable; Christine, Lindsey, and Stevie joined the already made band and have left it too. Christine from 1999 until 2015, Stevie from 1990 until 1997, Lindsey from 1987 until 1997 with the exception of both Lindsey and Stevie in 1994 to reunited for Clinton Presidential inauguration ball, and now Lindsey again in 2018. I highly doubtful that he will ever rejoin again. Fleetwood Mac is said to be on their last legs with this pending tour, maybe a new album with Mike and Neil. So if Fleetwood Mac could go without Lindsey then, they certainly can go out without him now. As for me… when Lindsey was in the band, I did consider going to the concert. But since he isn't, then my money will go elsewhere.
