Fleetwood Mac has toured off and on again over the years, but for the latest tour, the band has replaced Lindsey Buckingham with longtime Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Neil Finn. Earlier in April, the band made the announcement about Buckingham, at the time noting that the band wished Buckingham "the best" but that the group would be moving forward without him. At the time, no word was given about why Fleetwood Mac was moving forward without Lindsey Buckingham, but now Mick Fleetwood has explained why the decision was made:
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.
This won't be the first time Fleetwood Mac has toured without Lindsay Buckingham. The band didn't feature Lindsay Buckingham for a time in the eighties and early nineties, and Buckingham went off to do solo work for some time. The difference this time is that the tour was being planned with Buckingham, and he was asked to leave partway through planning.
In the statement, Mick Fleetwood also mentioned that the word "fired" is an "ugly reference," but clearly whatever the band had hoped to accomplish during the upcoming tour was not working. In a previous interview with Rolling Stone, Fleetwood had talked about how he had hoped the tour would encompass a variety of stuff, including possibly incorporating Buckingham Nicks songs into the lineup. Here's what he said previously about a conversation he had with Stevie Nicks:
I was in Italy recently and met Stevie out there. She said to me, 'Let's sit down and really listen to some stuff that sort of almost got forgotten.' So I know she's already thinking she wants to do some things we haven't done in years. I always think that Stevie and Lindsey should do a Buckingham Nicks song in the set. And have Christine do a blues song. I hope it certainly won't be the same show as we did before. We always played nearly three hours, and we cut it back a little bit for the wear and tear, but we do over two hours.
Now, from what Mick Fleetwood has told Rolling Stone, that sort of set list will be all but impossible, although perhaps Fleetwood Mac might throw in a Tom Petty cover or two. We'll have to wait and see how it all pans out, and it is unclear what Lindsay Buckingham's next move will be in the musical world. Tickets for the upcoming Fleetwood Mac tour officially go on sale on Friday, May 4 at 10 a.m., with pre-sales starting on April 30 for the big event.
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