Lindsey Buckingham nearly blocked last night’s onstage Fleetwood Mac reunion, reveals Stevie Nicks in MOJO

Fleetwood Mac: The Story Behind Christine’s Live Return
Lindsey Buckingham nearly blocked last night’s onstage reunion, reveals Stevie Nicks in MOJO

Mojo Magazine
By Andrew Male

Stevie Nicks has talked to MOJO about Christine McVie’s on-stage return to Fleetwood Mac last night at London’s O2 Arena.

Speaking in an interview to be published in MOJO 241 (UK shelf date October 29) the diminutive Mac singer confirmed that while McVie, who left the group in 1998, has “just returned to do one song” it could have been “a few songs” if it hadn’t been for one particular stumbling block.

“Lindsey [Buckingham] is very funny about that,” Nicks told MOJO’s James McNair. “I think his words were ‘She can’t just come and go’. That’s important to him, but it’s not quite so important to me. Much as Lindsey adores her; and he does – she’s the only one in Fleetwood Mac he was ever willing to listen to – he doesn’t want the first night reviews to be all about Christine’s one song, rather than the set we rehearsed for two months.”

McVie was met with rapturous applause last night when she joined her old band to play keyboards and sing Don’t Stop, and she will be appearing with the group again at their final O2 show tomorrow. But, while the route to the stage hasn’t necessarily been a smooth one, Nicks also added that “it will be wonderful to have her back up there with us. And from there who knows.”

In a candid, funny and emotional interview, Nicks goes on to discuss her childhood, her solo career (“Fleetwood Mac weren’t that impressed”) the “unresolved” aspects of her and Buckingham’s relationship, and the bizarre night she slept on the floor of Prince’s purple kitchen.

... I knew it!  I had a feeling there was something behind Chris only doing one song!  Wish I had of known this earlier today when I passed Lindsey outside of Harrods... I would have asked him about it. (That's him in the green jacket).

I like the way Stevie says "and from there.. who knows"  I think if we as a fan community could somehow make our voices heard - encouraging them to reunite to record again... It just may happen!

New Fleetwood Mac Album up to Stevie Nicks

In a just-published interview with M Music & Musicians, Lindsey Buckingham said, “The way we do things in Fleetwood Mac is always a political mine field. If it’s not Stevie, it’s me—someone is always causing trouble. [laughs] I know Warner Brothers is dying to get an album from us, even though we’re not signed to them anymore. Stevie needs to come to the table with some material. In order to contemplate a new album, she has to want to do it.”

Buckingham went on to say that Nicks’ positive experience making In Your Dreams, her 2012 solo album, complicates the prospects for a new Fleetwood Mac LP. “She had a wonderful experience making that album,” he says. “She hasn’t said this—this is just me—but knowing Stevie, she’s probably thinking, ‘If I have to write five new songs, do I want to give them to Fleetwood Mac?’ And that’s fair enough. I think she’s feeling a bit protective and territorial about the experience she had doing her solo project. And I can totally relate to that.”

Fleetwood Mac is currently on the European leg of their 2013 tour.

Gibson.com

Photos | Video: Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird" Christine McVie Returns

Fleetwood Mac Live in London

September 25, 2013 - O2 Arena

Photos by Erin Brown
View Gallery

Christine McVie... Back with The Mac!

You wouldn't think anything special was going to happen... But it did and I'm glad I was there to witness it. This is historical!  The show was great... No different then any other.  You wouldn't even know something big was about to happen.  Stevie dedicated Landslide to Peter Green who was in the audience saying some really nice words about him and thanking him for Fleetwood Mac.

The show progressed as per usual, and right at the end of Mick's intros to the band members they whisked Christine's keyboard up on stage from the side... and Lindsey, Mick and Stevie made some jokes about the commotion that was going on wondering what was up. Lindsey's saying it looks like a very familiar spot. Stevie going over to the keyboard to act as if she was going to play a little something.  The audience started to stir when Mick started his intro by saying "this lady's songs echo throughout Fleetwood Mac's history", calling her "our song bird" then said "without further adieu London, give it up for Miss Christine McVie".

The place went mad as you would expect.  It was so loud!  I was in the upper section and it seemed like in unison that everyone leaped to their feet when Mick said her name. Then they launched into "Don't Stop". Christine sounded great, looked great up there on stage and played the hell out of her keyboard.  In many ways, it looked so normal to see her there playing... but in reality, its been close to 16 years that she's been gone.. After the song they took her keyboard off the stage and all 5 stood in front of Mick's kit, took a bow and Christine left the stage down John's stairs.  She did emerge from the back of the stage for the final bows of the night with the rest of the band, then the show was over.

Amazing ending tonight Fleetwood Mac!!  And THANK YOU Christine for coming back... even if for just one song, it was so cool too see the 5 of them together again.

DON'T STOP

LANDSLIDE (Dedicated to Peter Green)

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live In London ★★★★/5 Stars - The Financial Times

A riveting evening belonged above all to Lindsey Buckingham and his eloquent guitar

Fleetwood Mac, 02 Arena, London – review

By Richard Clayton

Financial Times

After all these years, something still gets Lindsey Buckingham’s goat. Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and front man tore into “Second Hand News”, barking the words and spitting out the “bams” of the chorus’s vocalese like repeated slaps in the face. Rumours, the gazillion-selling “soft-rock” album that chronicles the band’s – and their generation’s – relationship traumas was given its 35th anniversary reissue in February. There was little soft about this near three-hour show, the first of three nights of controlled catharsis in London.

Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, his former girlfriend and the fans’ erstwhile hippie siren, held hands as they emerged. Their harmonies were on point for “The Chain”, the sound lent a doomy toll and twang like a gothic Creedence Clearwater Revival. When they turned to each other, you couldn’t tell if their deliveries were taunting or imploring. “You know what you lost,” sang Nicks on “Dreams”, the line hanging rueful and accusatory in the air, her voice deeper than in her prime and approaching a Patti Smith-like gravitas. In waistcoats and flat caps, the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie looked like upscale Wurzels, somewhat baffled by the continuing psychodrama unfolding before them, but grateful for its endlessly fascinating power.

For all their colossal self-importance, Buckingham was right to insist there were “still things to discover” about Fleetwood Mac. Not least how time does or doesn’t heal and, as Nicks would sing on the sore, regretful “Landslide”, “Can I handle the seasons of my life?” The woozy rites of “Rhiannon” seemed more curse than enchantment now. Four songs from Tusk, their “difficult” follow-up to Rumours, were prefaced by a self-justifying but apt lecture from Buckingham about the incompatibility of art and commerce. They were played with a kick-against-the-pricks intensity and when they were done, Nicks gave Buckingham a brief, battle-weary hug.

The mooted guest spot for Christine McVie didn’t materialise. Perhaps that’s for another night. This really was Buckingham’s gig. He doesn’t so much solo as argue his case with his guitar. And it’s a knotty, consuming one at that. Alone and acoustic, “Big Love” was haunted, almost hysterical, as spooked as a wild horse. This was the most extraordinary, and impassioned, part of an evening that was sometimes as arduous as it was enjoyable, if mostly riveting nonetheless. Many people took a comfort break during “Without You”, built up by Nicks as a “lost” classic but rather soppy in the event.

The finale, “Go Your Own Way”, felt like the first unfettered singalong. Yet even this was driven by a dark rhythmic energy that pushed the melody uneasily ahead. The honky-tonk gallop of “Don’t Stop” in the encore was preceded by a preposterous mugging of a drum solo from Fleetwood. When, at the last, someone made a request, he was chastised for “vibe corruption” by Nicks and Buckingham, who wanted to finish on the gentle “Say Goodbye”. In this soap opera, the principals write the script.

Photos by Rune Hellestad

RHIANNON

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live In London ★★★★/5 Stars - The Guardian

A blissful opening hour of punchy self-confidence is undermined by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's strange stage intimacy – they need Christine McVie to make it all gel
★★★★/5 Stars

Fleetwood Mac – review
O2 Arena, London

by Michael Hann
The Guardian

Those who have watched just a small selection of the many documentaries about Fleetwood Mac will know their two singer-songwriters, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, don't have a lot to do with each other. In one, Nicks said she'd never even been to her ex's house. But the narrative of the group insists they must forever be remembered as the tragic, star-crossed lovers, and so they are last on stage at the O2, strolling on hand in hand; during Sara they coo choruses to each other, then embrace and slow dance as the song comes to an end.

What makes this forced intimacy even odder is that without the third songwriter, Christine McVie – who seems likely to make a cameo appearance at their next two O2 shows – the dichotomy between the pair's writing is so stark. Buckingham's songs, for all their melodic beauty, are often harsh and angry, and his between-songs banter could have been scripted by a therapist; Nicks's are soft and pillowy, a Laurel Canyon prefiguring of goth, and her chat is rambling and charming.

Nevertheless, for the opening hour, it's blissful – an opening of trio of Second Hand News, The Chain and Dreams is jaw-dropping in its self-confidence. Nicks may no longer be able to reach the high notes of Rhiannon, but the song's construction is sturdy enough to survive the removal of its ornaments. And a one-two punch from the extraordinary 1979 album Tusk is simply jaw-dropping: Not That Funny echoes around the vast room like an invitation to step outside, and Tusk itself is eerie and uneasy and wonderful.

But there's a distinct and rather long sag as the main set winds down – looking down from the top tier, one can see mobile phones being checked on the floor as I'm So Afraid meanders on – and the relief that greets Don't Stop is palpable. It's a victory in the end, but it's a set that would be so much stronger at half an hour shorter.

Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in London "There are quite a few chapters left in the book of Fleetwood Mac,"

Fleetwood Mac, O2 Arena - music review
The Evening Standard
By David Smyth

The four ongoing members of Fleetwood Mac performed for the first time since 2009, with an epic set list drawn from the late Seventies. While Stevie Nicks still possessed a voice that bewitched, Lindsey Buckingham was a fiery leader, thumping his chest to celebrate every new solo accomplished

Though a rumoured reunion with the long-absent Christine McVie did not materialise last night, the four ongoing members of one of rock's most turbulent bands looked like firm friends as Fleetwood Mac played in London for the first time since 2009.

It was all gushing introductions, a long hug for Lindsey Buckingham from Stevie Nicks, much hand-kissing and warm saluting. Given that most of their finest songs come from a period when their various couples were splintering painfully, time really is the great healer.

Most of an epic set list was drawn from that peerless period of the late Seventies when the Americans Nicks and Buckingham arrived to turn the bluesy Brits into superstars — The Chain, Tusk and Go Your Own Way all had energy to burn.

Nicks still possessed a voice that bewitched, especially on the acoustic Landslide. While even the engine room of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie had the occasional break, Buckingham was a fiery leader, thumping his chest to celebrate every new solo accomplished.

"There are quite a few chapters left in the book of Fleetwood Mac," he claimed, airing one likeable new song and a long lost rarity. It's been a fascinating read so far.

SECOND HAND NEWS
THE CHAIN
DREAMS
SAD ANGEL
GO YOUR OWN WAY
BIG LOVE
More Video - Thanks to Kristianlw for the quick uploads Never Going Back Again | Landslide