Lindsey Buckingham leaves Fleetwood Mac

[Scott Bails]

Link

Rolling Stone is reporting that he was fired over disagreements about touring, but I can't get the link to work. Neil Finn and Mike Campbell are set to replace Lindsey.

[bill g]

Neil Finn?? Interesting. I like Lindsey, but not nearly as much as Bob, Danny or Peter, although he certainly is a good player. Wonder if they'd do a new album with Neil? Don't know a whole lot about the Buckingham/Nicks era. Prior incarnations I love.

[Obscured]

No Lindsey, no Yes...err, Fleetwood Mac.

[MrXindeed]

Thought he left more than a decade ago

[Gruno]

No Lindsey, no Yes...err, Fleetwood Mac.

Yep. I saw what Fleetwood Mac had to offer after Lindsey's departure in the late 80s -- no thanks! On that note, bring on the Buck! This paves way for more solo releases and tours. I'd rather see Lindsey in smaller venues (such as House Of Blues) rather than in large arenas!

[SteveSly]

Yep. I saw what Fleetwood Mac had to offer after Lindsey's departure in the late 80s -- no thanks! On that note, bring on the Buck! This paves way for more solo releases and tours. I'd rather see Lindsey in smaller venues (such as House Of Blues) rather than in large arenas!

Exactly what I was thinking. Without Lindsey I have much less interest in the upcoming tour (which I had planned to try to attend). Here's hoping he does more solo tours, but this kind of sucks all the way around.

[The Dark Elf]

Somehow, Lindsey Buckingham in or out of Fleetwood Mac for yet another "Geezers Farting Dust" tour and charging $300 per seat leaves me unsurprisingly non-enthusiastic. Now, if Mick Fleetwood and John McVie hooked up with Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer again -- now, that would be something to see.

[pb2015]

Thought he left more than a decade ago

Left 1988, came back 1997 or thereabouts.

[DocProgger]

So does this mean him and Stevie Nicks are breaking up too?....

[moecurlythanu]

Somehow, Lindsey Buckingham in or out of Fleetwood Mac for yet another "Geezers Farting Dust" tour and charging $300 per seat

Gives a whole new meaning to "Gold Dust Woman."

[GuitarGeek]

Left 1988, came back 1997 or thereabouts.

It was earlier than that, more like 94. As I recall, Bill Clinton used Don't Stop as his campaign theme, which sort of revamped Fleetwood Mac's "commercial viability", or whatever, and the led to the reunion of the Rumours/Tusk/Mirage/Tango In The Night era lineup. If I remember correctly, Stevie had also left the band too, but she also came back for the reunion.

When Lindsay first left the band in 88, I believe ont hat occasion they also got two guitarists to replace him. Id on't know why I know this, but it was Rick Vito and Billy Burnette. Vito was a studio guitarist who played on a lot of people's records (that's him playing that great slide solo on Bob Seger's Like A Rock) and Burnette was a vocalist/guitarist whose father and uncle recorded the original version of Train Kept A'Rollin'. I think it's Billy's guitar that bursts into flames and lands on the piano in Christine's Love Will Show Us How video, from her mid 80's solo album (the video hilariously lampooned all the stupid stuff you see in music videos, with character actor Paul Bartel playing a pretentious music video director who tells Christine to "trust his vision", and of course every mishap that can happen during the making of a music video, manages to happen).

I remember at the time, a big deal was made of the fact that they overhauled the setlist for that tour, bringing back songs that hadn't been played since before Lindsay and Stevie originally joined the band. But I gather that went away pretty quickly. Eventually, there was an early 90's configuration that had Becka Bramlett and Dave Mason, I think, that I thikn sort of represented the nadir of the band's existence.

Edit: I guess the full on reunion didn't really happen until more like 97. They played at Clinton's inaugural ball in 93, but they said "We're not doing that again", until 96 or 97, when they did that big concert video, and went on tour for like 3 years, then made an album (accompanied by a documentary full of Lindsay and Stevie arguing wtih each other), etc, etc.

I always meant to get Lindsay's first two solo albums. I remember liking the songs Trouble and Go Insane (heard the latter at a restaurant recently).

[DocProgger]

I've seen Buckingham twice in smallish clubs where you can really see his amazing guitar work up close. In addition to hearing his solo stuff as well as his classic FM tunes, the highlight of his solo shows is seeing him play the amazing solo in Big Love.

[SteveSly]

I've seen Buckingham twice in smallish clubs where you can really see his amazing guitar work up close. In addition to hearing his solo stuff as well as his classic FM tunes, the highlight of his solo shows is seeing him play the amazing solo in Big Love.

I have posted this before, but a few years ago I got to see him solo in a 400 seat theater. It was amazing and probably ranks up with my best shows of all time. It was just him, his guitars, and some backing tracks (no band) in kind of a "storytellers" type of format. It was really something special.

[Dan Roth]

When Lindsay first left the band in 88, I believe ont hat occasion they also got two guitarists to replace him. Id on't know why I know this, but it was Rick Vito and Billy Burnette. Vito was a studio guitarist who played on a lot of people's records (that's him playing that great slide solo on Bob Seger's Like A Rock) and Burnette was a vocalist/guitarist whose father and uncle recorded the original version of Train Kept A'Rollin'.

Billy is also the cousin of Rocky Burnette, he of that big 1980 hit “Tired of toein the line”.

Turns out it was actually Billy who broke this news that Buckingham was let go when he posted an April 4th tweet that has since been deleted, saying: "Breaking news: Lindsey Buckingham is out but I'm not in. “

[GuitarGeek]

Billy is also the cousin of Rocky Burnette, he of that big 1980 hit “Tired of toein the line”.

I forgot about Rocky. I remember MTV used to play Tired Of Toein' The Line on Closet Classics, towards the end of it's existence. Goofy video, with models dressed in lycra jumpsuits pretending to play instruments they obviously didn't actually play (this was how many years before Addicted To Love), and Rocky himself dressed as a fireman who gets hosed, literally.

[Kevin Caffrey]

Buckingham is a genius, but what a coup for Mick Fleetwood to tap Neil Finn (as well as Mike Campbell) as his replacement. As a longtime Finn fan who believes he's arguably the best songwriter ever, really excited that more audiences here in the US will be exposed to him. It's interesting listening to hosts and callers on SiriusXM Volume station kinda dismiss Finn a bit. Feel like they are in for a huge surprise when they finally get to hear him sing, play guitar and perform. Will be a real treat to hear him singing with McVie and Stevie Nicks.

Kevin

[Scott Bails]

Buckingham is a genius, but what a coup for Mick Fleetwood to tap Neil Finn (as well as Mike Campbell) as his replacement. As a longtime Finn fan who believes he's arguably the best songwriter ever, really excited that more audiences here in the US will be exposed to him. It's interesting listening to hosts and callers on SiriusXM Volume station kinda dismiss Finn a bit. Feel like they are in for a huge surprise when they finally get to hear him sing, play guitar and perform. Will be a real treat to hear him singing with McVie and Stevie Nicks.

Kevin

Definitely a great get, but they're really alienating fans over this, from what I've seen. It will be interesting to see how ticket sales go.

[Kevin Caffrey]

Definitely a great get, but they're really alienating fans over this, from what I've seen. It will be interesting to see how ticket sales go.

That's true, but FM -- like some other band I know -- has been through so many line up changes...I would assume most of their fans will at the very least give this a shot. Especially since Campbell has a pretty strong connection to Nicks. You can't replace Buckingham -- but adding Finn & Campbell in a way just makes this a very different version that undoubtedly is going to sound great.

Kevin

[Scott Bails]

That's true, but FM -- like some other band I know -- has been through so many line up changes...I would assume most of their fans will at the very least give this a shot. Especially since Campbell has a pretty strong connection to Nicks. You can't replace Buckingham -- but adding Finn & Campbell in a way just makes this a very different version that undoubtedly is going to sound great.

Kevin

I completely agree, but I'm only a casual fan. As we've seen from that other band that we both know, the die-hards are often very irrational.

[Jerjo]

A good article on the perpetual dysfunction that is Fleetwood Mac:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...ingham-w518935

I contend Yes is just as fucked up, but with less cocaine.

[Gruno]

I completely agree, but I'm only a casual fan. As we've seen from that other band that we both know, the die-hards are often very irrational.

I wouldn't call myself a die-hard Mac fan, but I am a huge Buckingham fan. This lineup that is announced has no interest to me because I would be attending a Fleetwood Mac show to see the classic lineup together, and that must have Buckingham for me. As I said previously, this is better news to me because I will get Buckingham in smaller venues with a solo album sooner than later. However, this opens up the question about what approach Buckingham & FM will take with regards to future live shows. Buckingham's backing band contains performers of bass/keys/guitar that are also part of the FM touring entourage. Lindsey could go out as a one-man show as he has done at times before. Fleetwood Mac could fire the musicians who do double duty with both artists. Who knows...

[Zaragon]

The ironic thing about Neil Finn replacing Buckingham is that 41 years ago, just as Rumours was coming out, Finn replaced Phil Judd — a songwriter/mandolinist with a similarly warped cleverness as Buckingham — in Split Enz. Compare the Judd-era Enz work (Mental Notes, Second Thoughts) to the Go Insane album, or the Swingers work to Buckingham's Tusk contributions, to hear some of the similarities.

Double irony: In the Split Enz bio Stranger Than Fiction by ex-bassist Mike Chunn, it's recalled that Stevie Nicks didn't take kindly to Neil Finn when Split Enz toured the states with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in 1981. She appeared at some of the dates on that tour to sing her duet with Petty. Apparently, Finn had been walking around with a video camera backstage and Nicks ordered her guards to keep him away from her, or something to that effect.

[Rune Blackwings]

Thought he left more than a decade ago

he did. he's been in and out of the band so frequently that his name is in pencil on the liner notes...

[Gruno]

he did. he's been in and out of the band so frequently that his name is in pencil on the liner notes...

Lindsey left Fleetwood Mac in 1988. When were the other times that you are referring to?

[BravadoNJ]

let's face it, Fleetwood Mac's most successful years were with Lindsey Buckingham!