INTERVIEW: MICK FLEETWOOD on ZZ Top, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and what's delaying Fleetwood Mac

In Stores October 11th - iTunes

SHARP DRESSED MEN: MICK FLEETWOOD ON THE NEW ZZ TOP TRIBUTE ALBUM 

Mick Fleetwood interviewed by Jeb Wright for Classic Rock Revisted... Mick speaks extensively about the recording of the ZZ Top Tribute album who the band the M.O.B. is and why they formed to record “Sharp Dressed Man.” Fleetwood also reveals his passion for the blues and his desire to get back on the road with his band, Fleetwood Mac in 2012.

The full interview can be found at Classicrockrevisted

(interesting Fleetwood Mac exerpt from the interview)

Is Fleetwood Mac going to tour again? Are you just talking a break?

Mick: We are definitely taking a break and it’s a longer break than any of us anticipated. When we last came off the road we were planning to take 18 months off and get back and do it again.

We knew Stevie was going to make an album, which got delayed. We are really waiting on Stevie, to tell you the truth. We were supposed to go out this year and now we are hovering around what is going to take place next year. The reason I said, “hovering around” is because about six months ago I would have said that we are going out next year, but the truth of the matter is that Stevie is still out on the road promoting her album, which I played on, I might add, as did Lindsey.

I really don’t know what is going to happen because we’re in a holding pattern. We keep thinking her tour is ending and we can’t really talk about Fleetwood Mac until her tour actually does stop. We are somewhat beholden to Stevie. The need, desire and want to do it is definitely there.

Fleetwood Mac is a funny old machine. It’s certainly not about not going out because of fear and loathing and complete disfuntionality. At this point in our careers, and life, knowing that there are so many components, makes it difficult. I would imagine when Keith Richards and Mick Jagger want to go out as the Stones then they go, “Okay, we are going out” and Charlie and the rest just tag along. Our two front people, Stevie and Lindsey, both have albums out and are touring. Lindsey probably wouldn’t have done that if Stevie hadn’t been doing what she is doing. You get that three steps forward and four steps back sort of thing happening. We are used to it.

So we will see Fleetwood Mac again.

Mick: I can tell you that I don’t think you’ve seen the last of Fleetwood Mac. There were days when I would say we all loathed each other and that Stevie and Lindsey won’t talk to each other, but it is nothing to with that now. It is just circumstance, really. We are keeping the flag flying of what I call the worst run rock n’ roll franchise in the business. We certainly can’t be accused of greed because of how we have done it. We could have probably made thirty thousand times more money than we have, but that’s Fleetwood Mac. We do what we do, how we do it and I suppose that has a certain amount of class to it.

In the past, I’ve interviewed the man who produced your breakthrough self-titled album, Keith Olsen…

Mick: I made the decision, but if he hadn’t played the tape of the album that he made with Buckingham Nicks for me when I wandered into Sound City... Keith happened to be in the room and he said, “Let me play something for you that I made right here in this room.” I said, “Okay, I’ll check it out.” That is how Stevie and Lindsey joined the band.

Last one: You used Olsen on the self-titled album and it was a huge hit, so I have always wondered why you didn’t use him for Rumours?

Mick: Actually, it was something that I had no idea about. It was really a Lindsey and Stevie dynamic. When I met Keith, and I saw the vision of Lindsey and Stevie being in Fleetwood Mac, and then it all came to be, I thought the natural fit would be Keith. I figured they knew Keith and that they must really work well together – and they did but not to the extent that I thought. In truth, Stevie and Lindsey were going to move on. I do not believe that Keith was going to make the next Buckingham Nicks album.

It worked out great, and what came out of it was the desire not to go that route again. Richard Dashut, who worked with Stevie and Lindsey, and then made countless albums, producing andengineering us, became part of the team.  Richard was, I believe, with Lindsey, and Lindsey wanted to be more in control. He is so talented, and creatively overpowering, that I think his vision was to make a Buckingham Nicks album with Richard producing it.  When they joined the band, it all just melted away. Keith went on to have huge success, and I mean huge success, in the industry. He probably made a lot more money than he would have with Fleetwood Mac.

Review: Clearwater, FL "For all the smallness of the show, Lindsey Buckingham wasn't afraid to go arena-style"

Lindsey Buckingham fills small Capitol Theatre with huge tunes and guitar-picking talent 

CLEARWATER — There was a moment Wednesday, during Fleetwood Mac's sour-patch Big Love, when it looked as if Lindsey Buckingham had 13 fingers. So fast, so passionate was his picking, the fretboard was covered in digits, like a blurry special effect from the Six Million Dollar Man.

But alas, like any mortal dude — or, for that matter, rock god — the 62-year-old sports 10 fingers, and such was the intimacy of the venue, every one of the 437 fans in the sold-out crowd were close enough to count for themselves...

Continue to the full review at TambaBay.com
By Sean Daly, Times Pop Music Critic

Review: Lindsey Buckingham Jackson, FL + Upcoming Phoenix & Houston Shows

The complete Lindsey Buckingham concert experience: 
Jacksonville, FL. October 3rd

Monday evening found the talented guitarist in fine form and voice throughout the one hour and 45 minute near-capacity concert.  He performed 19 songs in a setlist that has remained virtually unchanged since his debut show last month. 

Wearing his customary black leather jacket, black T-shirt, and dark blue-jeans, Buckingham entered the stage alone to much applause.  Perhaps taking him aback, the audience swiftly began singing “Happy Birthday” to the singer, as Monday (October 3rd) was his 62nd birthday.  He didn’t say anything, instead placing his hands together in a thankful gesture.

Embracing his inner indie self, Buckingham courageously played six of the 11 songs off Seeds We Sow.  For artists from his generation, that is virtually unheard of, unless you’re Bob Dylan.  Although a few fans took bathroom breaks, the majority seemed to enjoy hearing these songs.

He also played one from 2008’s Gift of Screws, two from Under the Skin, two from Out of the Cradle, the title cut from Go Insane, and “Trouble” from his first solo record. 

Continue to the full review by Jeremy Roberts at Examiner

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Lindsey Buckingham Live in Durham, NC October 1, 2011

Photos by Melissa Loflin

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Lindsey Buckingham is scheduled to perform Sunday, October 9th, at Verizon Wireless Theater, Houston.

Fleetwood Mac's Buckingham began his solo career with 1981's Law and Order, led by the gorgeous single "Trouble" and full of the sort of candied eccentricity that marked his rococo triumphs on the Mac's Tusk. Another highlight is 1992's Out Of the Cradle, whose prodigious melodies and harmonies largely overcome some of L.A.'s blandest tones. Buckingham's new album, Seeds We Sow, displays some of his questionable tendencies — vocals that can rival Darth Vader for breathiness, drum programming that makes one pine for Mick Fleetwood, some overwrought lyrics — but comes through with lovely Beach Man choruses like that on "When She Comes Down," a cool cover of the Stones' "She Smiled Sweetly" and lots of impressive finger-picked guitar. The emphasis will very much be on solo material, but quite likely you'll hear "Go Your Own Way," "Tusk" and a few other Fleetwood Mac favorites.

By Dylan Hicks
Houstonpress

Lindsey Buckingham is scheduled to perform Wednesday, October 12, at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix.

Lindsey Buckingham was always the most punk of the soft-rockers. Never mind his following up Fleetwood Mac's Rumours with the weird-as-hell Tusk, recording vocals in the bathroom and trying to get Talking Heads with a marching band on the title track; even his Fleetwood hits are models of stripped-down intensity. "Go Your Own Way" is a driving rocker at its core, and "The Chain" achieves a creeping tension early Cure records would kill for. Buckingham's latest, Seeds We Sow, follows two late-career triumphs, 2006's Under the Skin and 2008's Gift of Screws. Like those records, the album features Buckingham's dexterous guitar work in the forefront, but never sacrifices soul in the face of showiness. Nothing is quite as paranoid or thrilling as his first solo outings, Law and Order and Go Insane, but the songs are warm and immediate, suggesting that Buckingham has balanced the unease that has defined so much of his work with a little hard-earned contentment.

By Jason P. Woodbury
Phoenixnewtimes

Photos: Lindsey Buckingham at The Capitol Theatre Clearwater, FL Oct 5th

Photos by Mark Weaver

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"For What It's Worth" not lookin' too good on the charts!

Stevie's latest single "For What It's Worth" isn't looking too good at the moment on the AC Charts... In it's 3rd week on the chart (Billboard Magazine issue October 15th) the single has dropped to # 29 after debuting at # 25 and dropping to # 26 the second week.  This was to be expected as there have been virtually no radio stations in the US in the month of September picking up the track for play... Too bad, it's a great track!

I'd suggest getting another single out there to radio, but at this late stage in the fall and with AC radio's slow building pattern, by the time anything begins to gain some traction it'll be Christmas and the onslot of holiday tunes on radio will be relentless... Remember what happened in the fall of 2003 when Thrown Down and Steal Your Heart Away were released from Say You Will?... Not a lot!  Both radio singles were lost in the holiday shuffle... 

Will Fleetwood Mac Tour in 2012? Lindsey says no, Stevie Nicks is having too much fun!

 FLEETWOOD MAC MAY NOT TOUR IN 2012, SAYS LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM

Fleetwood Mac fans might want to hold off on plans to celebrate a 2012 tour and new album from the legendary band. Although various news reports have claimed the band mates will make music together in 2012, Lindsey Buckingham says now that may well not be the case.

“If I knew the real story, believe me, I would tell you. I wish I could. I would like to know what I’m doing next year,” the guitarist tells Ultimate Classic Rock. “If you had asked me two months ago, I would have said ‘Absolutely.’ Now I’m not sure.”

One reason, said Buckingham, is that vocalist Stevie Nicks is enjoying the success of her just-released solo album ‘In Your Dreams’ which has been critically lauded as her best music in a decade. In addition, Buckingham said his own schedule is uncertain. He is currently touring behind his just-released solo album ‘Seeds We Sow.’

“There may be another leg of [my solo tour] this year. That remains to be seen,” he said. “Stevie is doing a lot of different things. She is having fun [touring and supporting] this album. I don’t begrudge her that. She enjoyed the process of recording it, and I don’t she had a good process of [recording an] album in a long, long time…”

Yet Buckingham is clear that he expects to work with Fleetwood Mac again, even if it is not as soon as next year.

“Yes, Fleetwood Mac will do something in the future,” he said, adding he expects to work solely with Nicks again, too, although there are no concrete plans for that either. “There’s just nothing on the books right now…This is a time for me to take stock all of the things I’ve done in my life, all the people I’ve been down the road with, and all the things I’ve experienced…and just appreciate them. When you revisit them, you want all of these things to be in a place where they have dignity.”

Via Ultimate Classic Rock

Photos: Lindsey Buckingham performing live at the Sunrise Theatre 10/4/11

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Review: Lindsey Buckingham Town Hall NYC 9/27/11

Lindsey Buckingham
Town Hall
Sept. 27, 2011
Review by David Chiu

For fans of soaring guitar work as well as personal songs, the show at Town Hall didn’t disappoint.

When Lindsey Buckingham performed two songs from his brilliant 1992 album Out of the Cradle — “All My Sorrows” and “Turn It On”–it was a most welcomed aspect of his show at Town Hall Tuesday night. That is because five years ago during the Under the Skin tour, he performed a terrific set at the same venue-—but no songs from Out of the Cradle (not that I recalled). So it was really refreshing that a few songs from that excellent record became part of this current tour in support of his finest album yet, Seeds We Sow.

Buckingham’s performance at Town Hall of consisted of solo stuff and Fleetwood Mac The first part of the set was just him and his acoustic guitar as showcased his amazing fingerpicking technique on mainly reflective songs such as “Shut Us Down,” reworked versions of early solo hits “Trouble” and “Go Insane,” and the always-dazzling “Big Love.” For this mainly acoustic portion of the show, Buckingham sang with tremendous emotion and passion, especially on “Big Love.”

Continue to the full review at Newsbeats

Review: Lindsey Buckingham Fort Pierce, FL 10/4/11

Lindsey Buckingham starts with the basics, builds momentum at Sunrise Theatre

FORT PIERCE — At 62, Lindsey Buckingham still strums his guitar with agility.

Alone on stage, the former Fleetwood Mac vocalist and guitarist opened his concert at the Sunrise Theatre on Tuesday with acoustic versions of some big hits, such as "Trouble" and "Never Going Back Again."

When his voice went from a melodic humming to shouting the chorus, "I think I'm in trouble," the audience followed with an ovation.

"I thought I would start tonight the way I started, just me and my guitar," Buckingham said, referring to how he learned to play the instrument — by listening to his older brother's rock albums. "One of the things I learned to appreciate is that a child still lives within me."

As his support band went on stage, he played more old songs before moving into his latest and self-released album, "Seeds We Sow," the sixth in his solo career.

Buckingham refers to his post-Fleetwood Mac work as a "small machine" compared to the success of the band that sold millions of albums worldwide.

"There are projects that allow you to follow your heart and inspire you," he said.

Continue to the full review at TCPalm.com

By Isadora Rangel
Photo by: Juan Dale

Review(s): Lindsey Buckingham Chicago 9/18/11

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but who says the dog has to learn anything new in the first place?
By Shannon Shriebak

Lindsey Buckingham, guitar legend of the famous ‘70s blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac, obviously has nothing left to learn.

Stopping by the Vic Theatre on the first leg of his "Seeds We Sow" solo tour last Sunday, Buckingham left a venue full of loyal followers in awe of both his impeccably preserved talent and his showman prowess.

Opening acts are unnecessary when it comes to Buckingham's caliber of classic rock royalty, and Sunday night was no exception. Patiently nodding along during his roaring three-minute welcome, Buckingham began the show with a song from his just-released album, "Seeds We Sow." While the song was catchy and rhythmic, the crowd begged for a familiar song to hum along to.

After plowing through a series of newly released songs, Buckingham began digging deep into the Fleetwood Mac catalogue. Dusting off a healthy selection of Fleetwood Mac classics, he constantly kept the audience engaged and singing along.

Redefining old classics by stripping them down to their most bare form to showcase his guitar expertise, Buckingham gave new meaning to singles including "Never Going Back Again" and "Secondhand News."

A highlight of his acoustic set was a long forgotten lo-fi version of pop smash "Go Insane," which was met with overwhelmingly deafening screams from the baby-boomer audience.

Buckingham marked the second half of the show with selections from his new album, supported by a four-man backing band.

Continue to DePaulia University Newspaper for the full review - The DePaulia

Concert Review: Lindsey Buckingham | September 18, 2011 | Vic Theatre | Chicago, IL
Review and photos by Alex Kluft

Fleetwood Mac's singer, songwriter and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham played an incredible show at the Vic Theater for nearly two hours, in support of his latest solo album, Seeds We Sow, which was released on September 6.

Whether Buckingham’s playing solo acoustic, with Fleetwood Mac, or his own band, he always brings his “A” game to a concert. Although the audience was seated, Lindsey kept bringing everyone to their feet for most of the performance. Even the rain and the Emmys couldn’t stop the concert from selling out.

Continue to the full review at Vintage Rock

Check out Alex Kluft Photography for a full gallery of shots from the night.

DATE CHANGE: Stevie Nicks Mountain Winery Show Moved To Oct 6th from Oct 5th - Inclement Weather

Stevie Nicks Concert Moved to October 6th from October 5th  

Concert moved due to inclement weather.  All tickets for October 5th honored at the door on October 6th.

Mountain Winery

Candid Photo of Lindsey Buckingham... Jacksonville, FL 10/3/11

Just prior to a late day soundcheck yesterday in Jacksonville, FL, Lindsey stopped to sign a few things before rushing into the theatre.

Photo by: elle llewellyn

Lindsey Live in Jacksonville, FL - October 3, 2011

Below Photos by Woody Huband

Check out the full gallery of shots