Fleetwood Mac have revealed that former guitarist Lindsey Buckingham was indeed sacked from the band – as well as announcing US tour dates with their new line-up.
Earlier this month, the veteran rockers announced that Lindsey would no longer be playing with the band – with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House’s Neil Finn added to the line-up.
Now, the band have spoken to Rolling Stone to reveal that he was asked to part ways due to scheduling conflicts.
“Words like ‘fired’ are ugly references as far as I’m concerned,” said drummer Mick Fleetwood. “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.”
As for their falling out due to scheduling issues, Stevie Nicks revealed: “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.”
Nicks went on to describe her relationship with Buckingham as ‘volatile’, and compared it to a marriage.
“Some couples get divorced after 40 years,” she continued. “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.’”
Finn and Campbell discussed how honoured they were to be asked to be join Fleetwood Mac on their upcoming tour – which will see them perform tracks from throughout their entire career, rather than just the original Buckingham andNicks era from 1975 to 1987.
“We were never able to do that since 1975 because certain people in the band weren’t interested in doing that,” Nicks added. “Now we’re able to open the set with a lot; a raucous version of [1969’s] ‘Rattlesnake Shake’ or something. I’d also like to do [1970’s] ‘Station Man,’ which has always been one of may favourites. We’re definitely doing [1970’s] ‘Oh Well.’”
She added: “There are 10 hits we have to do. That leaves another 13 songs if you want to do a three-hour show. Then you crochet them all together and you make a great sequence and you have something that nobody has seen before except all the things they want to see are there. At rehearsal, we’re going to put up a board of 60 songs. Then we start with number one and we go through and we play everything. Slowly you start taking songs off and you start to see your set come together.”
Fleetwood Mac tour dates and tickets
The band’s upcoming ‘An Evening With Fleetwood Mac’ tour dates are below. Tickets are on sale from Friday 4 May and available here.
October 3 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
October 6 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
October 10 – Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
October 12 – Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena
October 14 – Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena
October 16 – Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse
October 18 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
October 20 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
October 22 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
October 26 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
October 28 – Milwaukee, WI @ Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center
October 30 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
November 1 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
November 3 – Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre
November 5 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
November 7 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
November 10 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
November 12 – Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome
November 14 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
November 17 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
November 19 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center
November 21 – San Jose, CA @ SAP Center at San Jose
November 23 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
November 25 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
November 28 – Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Arena
November 30 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
December 3 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
December 6 – Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center
December 8 – San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena
December 11 – Inglewood, CA @ The Forum
December 13 – Inglewood, CA @ The Forum
February 5, 2019 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
February 7 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
February 9 – Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center
February 13 – Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at The BJCC
February 16 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
February 18 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
February 20 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ BB&T Center
February 22 – Columbia, SC @ Colonial Life Arena
February 24 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
February 27 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
March 3 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
March 5 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
March 9 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Boardwalk Hall
March 11 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
March 13 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
March 15 – Hartford, CT @ XL CENTER
March 20 – Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
March 24 – Baltimore, MD @ Royal Farms Arena
March 26 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
March 31 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
April 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center