During a new chat with Rolling Stone, Mick Fleetwood underscored the fact that Fleetwood Mac and ousted guitarist Lindsey Buckingham are done for good. Fleetwood is promoting a February 25th tribute concert to the — still living — co-founding Mac guitarist Peter Green, which will be held at the London Palladium. Among the high profile guests set to appear are Christine McVie, Bill Wyman, Steven Tyler, David Gilmour, Billy Gibbons, Zak Starkey, John Mayall, and others.
Fleetwood was asked if he could see any scenario where he'd ever play with Lindsey Buckingham again, to which he responded: “No. Fleetwood Mac is a strange creature. We’re very, very committed to Neil (Finn) and Mike (Campbell), and that passed away a time ago, when Lindsey left. And it’s not a point of conversation, so I have to say no. It’s a full drama of Fleetwood Mac, no doubt. His legacy is alive and well, and as it should be. A major, major part that will never be taken away, and never be down-spoken by any of us. Neil and Mike have tremendous respect for Lindsey. The situation was no secret. We were not happy. It was not working, and we parted company. And that really is the all of it.”
When pressed as to whether he had spoken to Buckingham since (his open heart surgery), Fleetwood simply stated, “No.”
Fleetwood was asked about a possible Broadway show based on the Mac: “There’s always been talk about doing something like that. I hope it can happen at some point. A lot of people, understandably, would say, 'Wow, that would make a really good musical.' It is an incredibly interesting story, especially the period around Rumours. But it’s not formed.”
Regarding the future road plans for Fleetwood Mac, the drummer revealed, “We’re not going to do a (long) tour, I would say, ever again. But there’s loads of alternatives. People like Peter Gabriel have a lovely way of working where they go and just do four or five major festivals during the summer. That’s the sort of vision that I see for Fleetwood Mac. We’re able to cherry-pick things that have dignity, and are fun to do, and they’re historically interesting.”
Mick Fleetwood recently told us that unlike most band's fans, Fleetwood Mac's legion of followers learned to embrace all the band's various lineup changes throughout the years: “If you're aware of our history, it's pretty much unique in terms of the people who have come through the ranks of this band. But the band somehow, even with very large musical changes, has been accepted, and, y'know, there's been slight ups and downs, but we've never gone away, and somewhat unbelievably, have held an audience during that journey.”