Lindsey Buckingham quits Fleetwood Mac

Well this'll put the nail in the coffin for them, at least until he gets talked back into the band (which he always seems to).

This actually could be a good thing for their sound. Although I know a lot of people love Lindsey, he has steered them in a less than great direction on their last couple of studio albums (which were ages ago, of course). Beginning with the Mirage album and coming to a head on Tango In The Night, I thought he gave them too much of a tinkered-with, overproduced sound. That same thing was the only thing I didn't like about his recent album with Christine McVie. Great songs, but sometimes came off a little too processed-sounding.

Between him and Stevie Nicks' ego-tripping and continuously putting her own career ahead of the band that handed her her stardom.... I wish Mick, John and Chris would find some cool unknown guitarist and make one more old fashioned Fleetwood Mac album.
 
Don't know who to believe on this--some sources say "left the band," others say "fired." Heard about it a couple of days ago. I never considered Fleetwood Mac to be a "unit" for the past couple of decades anyway (since this lineup split originally), so it's kind of a non-news event. :shrug: The "core" has always been Mick, John and Christine and they have remained throughout; the rest have come and gone.

Buck's better off on his own--he's more eclectic than the others and does well on his own.

Fleetwood Mac should get Peter Green back in the group, just for kicks. Fans of the early days would really dig that.
 
I'm not surprised I thought Fleetwood Mac disbanded for Good long ago but this has happened before nothing new under the sun
 
A story on Rolling Stone.com says 'fired,' but of course no fine details.

Whoever decided it, they probably cost the group about a third of its ticket sales for their 'farewell' tour. It'll probably never come near here anyway, so I'll wait for the inevitable BluRay (I'm amazed they didn't do one of their last tour, unless they weren't happy with the recordings for some reason).
 
Buck's better off on his own--he's more eclectic than the others and does well on his own.

I think it's been endlessly frustrating for him that he's only really had one big hit single ("Trouble") under his own name. But even he has admitted that Fleetwood Mac is "more than the sum of its parts."

I personally don't care for his onstage theatrics sometimes. He'll take a fine song like "I'm So Afraid" and ruin it by oversinging it. Just listen to the studio version and compare to any of the live versions of that song... of course you could say the "pain" in the lyrics comes out in the more passionate onstage version, but I like to think of it as a "silent suffering" kind of song. Of course this is just my own view... a lot of people love his passion onstage.
 
I’m shocked at this but not really surprised. His ego always seems to get the better of him. I heard this song a few years ago and was rooted to the spot when it played - very reminiscent of the Rumours era ballads. Lindsey killed the album version by playing it at virtually double the speed of the live version, but this is beautiful. And, hearing this news, very fitting.

 
After seeing this story bounce around the media for a while, I'm now convinced that his leaving is not necessarily a "final" thing. For one thing, you know that big tour they just announced? A few months ago it was being billed as a "Farewell Tour" but now, it's called "An Evening with Fleetwood Mac." No "farewell" anywhere in sight.

So I figure they decided they wanted to go on tour, they had announced the tour, had booked the dates for the tour, got the fans all hyped up for it, Stevie got her schedule cleared, etc., but now suddenly Lindsey decided he doesn't wanna go. So rather than scrap all those plans, they're going on this tour without him, but leaving the door open for the REAL farewell tour in a few years.

The other thing that could happen is, this tour is a massive success, they go on to release some new music with the new guys, and life goes on that way.

But it could still all be followed-up by a classic-lineup-farewell-tour, down the road a ways.
 
Well, the VIP meet & greet is $3,300 in Louisville. Guess I won't be doing that! Us common scum can get into the upper level for about $120 give or take. I'd like to go, but geez the prices! :baah:

Some venues are selling parking passes and meet & greet passes separately, but you have to purchase a separate ticket to the event. These places really like to bilk the fans.
 
Being in the movie business, it really bugs me how people are constantly whining about the cost of going to a movie, when concerts have inflated FAR more. I saw Fleetwood Mac in 1977 in Billings for $7. A movie ticket here cost $2.00 at that time. So now a movie ticket is $7.75, and Fleetwood is getting $100 or more, for the crappiest seats in the house. And we've made just as many techological "leaps" in the movie business as the concert biz has.

Then venues start tacking on the ridiculous service charges, "convenience fees" and such. Our area concert venue usually charges $14 per ticket for "convenience," and then a $2 "internet fee" and so on. It's become a real turnoff to concert-going.
 
Not to mention parking fees when you get there...
 
For those who have access to SiriusXM Radio, they just put up a limited-time Fleetwood Mac station. Thankfully, it's not just rotating the hits over and over -- in fact I've been listening to it on my daily short commutes and have heard lots of outtakes, alternate versions, and most thankfully, a lot of excellent older songs from their pre-Buckingham-Nicks days. They're also playing stuff by bands that have influenced Mac over the years, along with interviews and short soundbites from the (current) band members.

#30 on your Sirius/XM dial.
 
That article says Lindsey was "kicked out of the band he founded." Uh no, he joined almost a decade AFTER the band was founded. In the accompanying video, he compares himself being out of the band to "what's happening in Washington D.C.," which is really kind of ridiculous -- he was let go (or quit) because he didn't want to work when the band was scheduled to work. Whatever your feelings about the current government, those two situations couldn't be more different.

I guess I'm over it anyway - if I am honest with myself, I haven't enjoyed the live versions of any of Lindsey's songs for a long time. I know a lot of people think he's the greatest guitarist since Hendrix, and he IS a great guitarist, but he's too egotistical and somewhat of a control freak, I think, when it comes to FM's music - that's just my take. After all, it's supposed to be a BAND, it's not "Lindsey Buckingham, featuring Fleetwood Mac." They haven't really sounded like a "band" for a whole album since Rumours.
 
That article bears out what was stated in a recent article in Rolling Stone, in which he said that Stevie gave the band an ultimatum: If Lindsey stays, she goes. However, there's been no comment from the rest of the band, which is currently on tour and apparently doing just fine.

In the article linked above, he says:

- Christine emailed him and said she had nothing to do with his leaving, and hints she'd like him to come back
- He says he'd be open to coming back, although he doesn't expect it to happen
- He thinks Stevie may have gotten over whatever it is she was mad about

So I think, as I stated above, it's only a matter of time until there's another grand reunion and LB will be back in the fold. Then the Farewell Tour will be booked. Remember you read it here first on A&M Corner!
 
Back
Top Bottom