Christine McVie is back: Five reasons Fleetwood Mac is better with her

Edmonton fans can check out old favourites next November

By Tom Murray
Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - It’s official: Christine McVie is back with Fleetwood Mac and they’re heading out on tour, including a stop in Edmonton.

After a 16-year absence, McVie will rejoin Fleetwood Mac on their On With The Show Tour, which will stop at Rexall Place Saturday, Nov. 15.

So what does this mean for Fleetwood Mac fans? The band was just here last May, so is it worth paying big bucks to see them again?

In a word, yes.

If there was ever one band that simply couldn’t work as well without the original component members, it’s Fleetwood Mac.

By original, that means the version that came together in 1976, when the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John and Christine McVie were joined by guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks. The 10 years previous had seen the band defined by blues and hard rock guitarist figureheads, but the new Fleetwood Mac moved from strength to strength, and each member was as important as the other.

When Nicks and Buckingham moved the focus to a more California pop sound, Christine McVie began bringing in songs that were equally impressive. They had three talented, distinctive singers and songwriters, and a seemingly unending supply of perfect pop miracle songs. For just over a decade, they were able to parlay that into huge commercial success, until internal pressures caused the first ruptures, and eventual breakup.

Christine McVie’s departure from the band in 1998 brought into focus just how special that lineup really was.
While their reunion tours have been fun affairs, the band really does miss those smoky vocals and it’s impossible to ignore the gap left by the absence of many of McVie’s songs.

Now that Fleetwood Mac has announced her return, we’ll finally get to hear some of Christine McVie’s songs again, live in concert.

(Tickets go on sale Monday, April 7 through Ticketmaster and livenation.com. Prices range from $69.50 to $199.50.)

The reunion of the classic Fleetwood Mac lineup is "profound," says Lindsey Buckingham.

McVie missed Fleetwood Mac's 'tight chemistry'
Edna Gundersen

USA Today

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Looking back on her 1998 exit from Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie recalls how considerate and obliging her bandmates were, particularly Stevie Nicks.

A few years later, "Stevie offered me $5 million to come back," McVie says. "She was begging me, 'Don't leave me in this wilderness.' "

As it turned out, McVie's 15-year exile left her feeling a bit lost in the wilderness, leading to this year's surprise reunion of the classic lineup that lit up the charts with Rhiannon, Say You Love Me, Go Your Own Way, Dreams, Think About Me, You Make Loving Fun, Don't Stop, Tusk and Hold Me.

A tour is booked, new songs are being recorded, and "we all have great affection for each other," McVie says.

Bad blood played no role in McVie's departure. She was road weary after 28 years of "being one of the guys, raised in taverns and pubs with smoking, beer-drinking men."

"It was purely that, nothing personal," she says. "I was tired of living out of a suitcase. I wanted to be settled. I had decided to move from L.A. to England in 1990 but didn't go there until after the earthquake in 1994. I basically wanted to be the country lady in the Range Rover baking cookies for the local charity. But I was missing something. I idealized a life that didn't exist."

She gardened at her 17th-century mansion in Kent and recorded 2004's In the Meantime in a converted barn with her nephew.

"My solo records never felt the same," she says. "It just wasn't Fleetwood Mac and that tight chemistry."

In early 2013, she bumped into drummer Mick Fleetwood and "scratched at the door," he says.

Grounded for 15 years by her fear of flying, McVie agreed to fly with Fleetwood to Maui, where he lives, and perform in his blues band with John McVie. In September, she played Don't Stop with Fleetwood Mac at two shows in London.

"It became more than 'What if?' and we were all thrilled about the possibility," says Fleetwood.

Conference calls confirmed unanimous approval of her return, though concerns bubbled up.

"She burned a bridge by leaving, and we redefined what we were doing and carried on in a pretty effective way," says Lindsey Buckingham. "My main concern was that she understand that she had to stay. You can't do a one-off lark and head back to England and leave us hanging.

"Once there was clarity that she was in a good place and understood what coming back meant for the delegation of her time and energy, we all felt this was something poetic and profound.

"There's such a back story around the five of us," he says. "In many ways, the last 15 years have been the best of my life. In the early days of Fleetwood Mac, as successful and exciting as they were, we were not particularly stable, clear-headed or emotionally fulfilled."

Fleetwood and McVie have rented a 1932 Mediterranean-style grand estate built on the slope of Santa Monica Canyon. Its glorious gardens, beamed ceilings, art deco tiles and antique gates reflect a fabled history of wealth, drama, notoriety and romance, an apt metaphor for the Mac story.

With its steep rise in the '70s, the band lapsed into drug use and faced personal crises: Buckingham and Nicks split, the McVies divorced, Fleetwood's marriage ended.

"Having taken this story line, there's a lot to be grateful for now," says Fleetwood, sipping coffee in a sun-filled parlor of the 9,000-square-foot mansion. "Our conversations are all about this being a celebration. That's the mantra."

Topping his wish list is "new music coming out of these hugely talented songwriters," he says. "Me and John (Mac's non-writers) can't do much without other people. Our song is the band, and I want to keep writing that song."

McVie, lean with shoulder-length blond hair, sits nearby (scandal interception: the living arrangements are platonic).

"Everybody was so warm and friendly and welcoming," she says of the re-entry. "Lindsey said, 'Be sure it's what you really want.' The fear of starting up again went away."

McVie's chief worry? Finding proper caretakers for her house and two 15-year-old dogs. Once tour prep starts in July, she won't see them until 2015. She may Skype, "but then I'll be even more broken up."

The upcoming world tour, with multiple stops in some markets, won't be as grueling as past outings that drove McVie to an early retirement.

"We're being sensible about not overcooking the tour schedule," Fleetwood says. "I'm not comfortable doing five gigs a week. You get burned out. It would be stupid."

And the band's healthier habits should ease road stress, too.

"I don't drink like a fish anymore," Fleetwood says. "At 7 every morning, Chris and I are out on the lawn working out."

McVie says, "I need to be fit for this tour. I've never worked out in my life. This is the first time I've had a trainer or gone to the gym. I'm 70 and I need to be 45 again."

Fleetwood feigns shock and blurts, "You're 70, Chris? Oh, I've got to rethink this!"

Turning serious, he addresses Mac's future. "We're not drawing a 15-year blueprint," he says. "We're in real time. We've spoken about the next couple of years."

He adds brightly, "We are playing better than ever. It's just a fact. So there you go."

Buckingham sees cause for optimism.

"We're behaving ourselves a lot more," he says. "We're not doing the intense schedules we used to do. The lifestyle can be rigorous and even lonely. But Christine realized there may have been equivalent rigors to not being connected to a sense of purpose.

"I have yet to forget why I got into this in the first place," Buckingham says. "You see people who do. Unlike some times in the past, I'm appreciative of being in Fleetwood Mac and the whole road we've been down together."

Christine McVie Returns to Fleetwood Mac After a Long Hiatus

It's a Fleetwood Mac lovefest!
By K.C. BAKER
People.com

After leaving one of the most successful rock bands of all time 16 years ago, Christine McVie is back – and her band mates couldn't be happier.

 

"We're thrilled," the band's co-founder and drummer, Mick Fleetwood, tells PEOPLE exclusively. "She's just the dearest of friends and we've remained that way always. We've always missed Chris. To have a key, key member return to the fold is huge. It's really not happened, to my knowledge in any shape or form, on this level."

 

McVie, 70, whose songs "Little Lies" and "Say You Love Me" were among Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits, tells PEOPLE exclusively, "I honestly could never in my wildest dreams have thought I could return to the band. It's just a dream come true. I go to bed going, 'This is so great. This is what I've been yearning for all these years and I didn't know it.' We're family. We're very lucky."

Full article at People.com

"Being back is really a time warp," Christine McVie tells Rolling Stone #FleetwoodMac

Fleetwood Mac Announce Reunion Tour Dates With Christine McVie
By ANDY GREENE
Rollingstone

A little over a year ago, Stevie Nicks told Rolling Stone there was "more of a chance of an asteroid hitting the Earth" than Christine McVie returning to Fleetwood Mac. Well, it might be time to prepare for armageddon because the Mac's keyboardist and singer - who quit the band in 1998 after a three-decade stint in the group - is returning for a world tour beginning this September and a possible new album. 

The tour, entitled On With the Show, will kick off on Tuesday, Sept. 30 in Minneapolis, Minn. at the Target Center, with the band performing 34 shows in 33 cities across North America. American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Monday, March 31 at 10 a.m. through Sunday, April 6 at 10 p.m. Tickets go on sale beginning Monday, April 7 through the Live Nation mobile app and Live Nation's at website.

McVie says that her decision to leave the band was very simple. "I had some deluded idea that I wanted to live the 'country lady' life," she tells Rolling Stone. "But I went through a divorce and I felt isolated in the country. I grew quite ill and depressed." McVie realized the best way to fix her life was to rejoin Fleewood Mac, though Lindsey Buckingham admits he had some reservations when he first heard she wanted back in. "I wanted to make sure she grasped the weight of would it would entail," he says. "She also had to understand that if she was coming back that, basically, she has to stay. She wants to do it."

With McVie back in the band, the group will be able to perform songs like "Little Lies," "You Make Loving Fun," "Everywhere" and many other songs they haven't been able to play in nearly 20 years. "Being back is really a time warp," she says. "The tour is going to be great fun. I feel like a pig in poo right now."

Fleetwood Mac toured last year without Christine, though they had to stop short after bassist John McVie's cancer diagnosis. "His health is on the up," says Christine. "He's still doing chemotherapy. He just came in to do his bass parts, so everyone is real excited about that. He gets tired quickly, but he's definitely been on the mend. He's been such a man about this whole thing. I have renewed respect and love for him." McVie reunited with the band last year to perform "Don't Stop" in London.

The group spent time in mid-March working on new songs, though they don't plan on releasing anything until after the world tour. They have yet to sketch out an exact setlist, though Buckingham has a good idea of what they'll play. "It won't be too hard to figure out," he says. "Stevie and I both have songs we pretty much have to play. When you add in Christine's hits, you pretty much have a set, though that's not to say there won't be a few little surprises around the edges."

Q&A: Christine McVie Can't Wait for Fleetwood Mac World Tour

Photo: Matt Mindlin

"I had some deluded idea that I wanted to hang out with my dogs and bake cookies. I don’t know what I was thinking"

By ANDY GREENE
Rollingstone

The return of Christine McVie to Fleetwood Mac has been a poorly kept secret over the past few months, but it's still shocking to hear her voice on the phone for an interview about the group's upcoming reunion tour. She's the songwriter and vocalist on some of Fleetwood Mac's most enduring hits - including "Don't Stop," "Little Lies," "Everywhere" and "You Make Loving Fun" - but she quit the group in 1998 and disappeared completely from the scene. The remaining members said over and over again that she'd never return. 

Rolling Stone spoke with her about leaving the band, what she's been up to during the past two decades and what the future holds for Fleetwood Mac.

Let's go back to 1998. Why did you quit the band?
Well, I initially developed a great fear of flying. It was a real phobia. I also bought a house in England and decided, to a degree, I was really tired of the road. I wasn't just burned out, but I was tired of traveling and living out of a suitcase. I’m quite a domestic person by nature and the nomad thing had got a bit stale on me, really.

It was never anything personal between the five of us.  It was just that I felt my time had come and I just thought that I really wanted to leave Los Angeles and make a home in England. That was the root of it, really. And the earthquakes—I was terrified of the earthquakes. So I came back at the right time because we just had one [laughs]. Good timing.

Leaving when you did must have been a hard decision since the group had just wrapped up such a hugely successful tour and you'd stuck around through some pretty lean years.
It was a hard choice, but I made the choice a few months prior to that. Like I said, I had already bought the house in England and I was having it restored. I had planned to move at some point back there, but I hadn't because of the band touring. I did say to them at the beginning of the last tour we did that this would be my last one.

When you left, did you think there was even a tiny chance that you'd return?
Not as I left, no. But as the years went on, I had some deluded idea that I wanted to live the "Country Lady" life — basically hang out with my Range Rover and my dogs and bake cookies or something. I don’t know what I was thinking, really. I just wanted to live a normal, domestic life with roots.

What filled up your days during all those years?
Looking back at it now, I guess there was an awful lot of restoring going on, a lot of building work, a lot of making the house just as I wanted it, which took a couple of years. There wasn't really a lot of writing involved at that time — I didn't really do much playing.

Did you ever sing, even just for fun? 
Well, music left my life for a while, to be honest. It wasn't that I didn't like it, but you know, I’m not really a solo player. I have always needed other musicians to bounce off. And of course, the ultimate band being the band that I have just rejoined, so, I couldn't imagine doing anything with anyone else.

I did make a solo album in my house when I was there. And because I was just afraid of flying, I wouldn't promote it and I wouldn't tour. Actually, it wasn't a very good album anyway — it got buried underneath the pits of Hell, I suppose [laughs].

Were you talking to your bandmates during this time?
Well, when they came to England, I did. John and myself have stayed in touch. Mick and I have stayed in constant touch over the years. I had also gone through a divorce and got very isolated and hardly ever went to London. I found that I was spending a lot of time in the country on my own and it started to play tricks on me and made me quite ill and depressed. This had all happened about five years ago, really. I’ve gravitated back to the piano and started diddling around. I don’t think talent or the gift ever goes away. I just think that it had got so buried.

Did you watch Fleetwood Mac play during this time?
Yeah, quite a few times.

That must have been weird for you.
It was weird, but it was fantastic at the same time to be a fly on the wall watching them without me. I went down to the soundboard and watched with the sound guy. They just sounded fantastic; as good as they ever were.

How long ago did you start feeling the first inklings that you might want to come back?
About two years ago. I started to think, "What am I doing? I really miss that camaraderie with those four people. I miss everything about it." I missed the music, to be able to create again. I couldn't imagine doing it with anyone besides Fleetwood Mac. I knew that they were my musical family.

How did you get the ball rolling to come back?
It was an epiphany because I suddenly knew I wanted to join the band again. Obviously, my muscle memory was a bit challenged, but I just thought, "I got to go for it. I can’t just sit here in the country rotting away. I have to do something, and something special."

I’d finally went to a therapist to talk about my fear of flying—and as serendipity would have it, Mick was happening to be coming to London to promote the upcoming Fleetwood Mac tour in Europe. He lives in Maui. The therapist said, "Where would you like to go most of all, if you could get on a plane now? Where would you go?" And I said, "Maui." So I got on the phone to Mick and said, "Hey Mick, I’m going to come to Maui, I’m going to get on a plane." And he said, "Fantastic, fantastic. But listen—I’m coming to England, blah blah blah, so why don’t we just go back together?"

I played in Mick’s little blues group on the island and the ball just started rolling, one way or another. Neither of us can remember just quite how it happened, but it eased into the situation where Mick spoke for the rest of the band and we had conference calls with Lindsey and Mick. I called Stevie, spoke to John, and they obviously were saying, "If she does rejoin, she has to commit and understand and remember how hard the work is. Can she physically do it?". I just said with a big capital "Y," "Yes—I’m going to challenge myself and I want to do it more than anything in the world." It’s just such a joy. It’s an affirmation of something so magical, there’s just a chemistry between us that’s just phenomenal.

Going back a bit, how was the flight from England to Hawaii? That's a long time on a plane.
Well, it was with Mick, and I don’t mind jumbo jets [laughs]. I did, but I had this sort of therapy and I knew how to breathe and what to think when there were bumps, and la-dee-da-dee-da. But I was with Mick so we chatted the whole way there. It took all the pain out of sitting on my own. Since then, I went to Africa, and flown around in 12-seaters in safaris, of all things.  I don’t even think about it now.

The band toured last year. At what point was it firmly decided that you were coming back?
I went over to Dublin and it was decided that I would go on stage and do "Don’t Stop" with them at the O2. We rehearsed it in Dublin and everyone was looking over at each other smiling thinking this was fantastic. For me, I was looking over at my family again and it was effortless. I don’t know. It felt comfortable. It felt right.

What's the plan now?
Well, the plan is we’re going to start rehearsing in July and go on the road in September. The tour starts in Chicago and we head west and come back east again, finish at Christmas and pick up end of January and complete America and we can do the world, really. And there’s a studio album somewhere in the mix too. We’re playing around in studios now.

How has John's health been since his cancer diagnosis?
John’s health is on the up. He’s still doing chemotherapy and gets tired quickly, but he’s definitely been on the mend. He’s been such a man about this whole thing. I have renewed respect and love for him.

What music are you recording now?
We’re really running through some demos that I sent Lindsey. My demos are rough, [but] we’re just trying to construct some proper tracks from them and the chemistry is magic.

Is the whole band there right now?
Yes, we’re all here. We’re doing some photo shoots and everything for the tour and getting on with the show really.

It must feel like a time warp for you to be back with them after all these years.
It is a time warp; it is very, very happy. None of the nonsense with the drink and the nasty stuff. We’re all grown up, of course. One thing that we definitely have is chemistry and respect for each other's music, and Lindsey and I play well off each other. We have great rapport; he loves working on my songs and I love what he does with my songs, not to mention the fabulous rhythm section. So I’m a pig in a pile of poo really.

Have you guys plotted out a setlist?
We haven’t actually sat down and written a list. We just know we have so much to choose from. All my hits haven’t been aired for years live, so you have all that chunk. Then you have a whole other chunk of Stevie and Lindsey’s stuff, maybe some more obscure tracks from well-known albums. It's mind-boggling.

Any chance you'll do Rumours straight though at some point?
That’s a concept. I think we probably did think about doing it for a special gig somewhere. Who knows? That's something certainly to think about.

How's your singing voice? Have you been doing any exercises to get it in shape for the tour? 
Yeah, [we have] a guy who’s been on the road for years that does vocal exercises and I’m sure he’ll come with us this time. My voice is hanging on pretty well. I’m not doing lead vocals right now,  but rough vocals and I’m happy with it. My pitching is really on, so I feel no worries about that either.

How long is this tour going to last?
Who knows? This tour will be a world tour. Then we just have to see what will happen after that. A year is a long time. The thing is that we’re all committed to keep on going until one of us says stop it.

The fans are so happy that you're back. This is just so clearly where you belong.
Yeah, I belong here. Not to mention the peripheral people: the managers, the crew, have welcomed me back so warmly. I feel I am in a big family again, it's fantastic. I really had no question that they would want me back. I don’t think I ever worried about it too much. I had e-mails from Stevie offering me money to come back. She said, "Just don’t leave me in this wilderness!" And I know I said to Mick when I left, “Mick, don’t ask me back." And I did mean it then.

Do you regret leaving now?
I don’t think you can spend your time regretting what you did in the past, but you can look to the future and try and glean the very best, sweetest time one has left.

Are you worried the strain of the road is going to drain you?
No, because myself and Mick are on a fitness campaign. We’re working out and doing rigorous training. I need to get my body in shape. I’m doing yoga and breathing exercises—I’m fit as I’ve ever been, so I’m not worried about that.

You mentioned earlier that you had suffered from depression. It's hard to think of a better cure for that than old friends and music.
Music and old friends, and the music happens to be really special in my view. Really lovely songs. As a final note, I'd just like to say, this is unprecedented—band members leave and other people take their place—but there was always that space where the piano should be. I had all my keyboards in storage in Los Angeles. I never shipped them to England. About two years ago, my manager said, "Oh, we should just sell them or give them to the band members." And Stevie said, "I'll take them!" And yesterday, we went to her house for a photo session and went to a room where she kept them safe. She didn't know I was going to come back, but she left them in great shape.

New Fleetwood Mac Album in the works... Details here...

Christine McVie rejoins Fleetwood Mac

"It's like she never left," says guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — "It's like she never left," Lindsey Buckingham says about Christine McVie's return to Fleetwood Mac, the band that sold 45 million copies of 1977's Rumours and spawned almost that many rumors during its tumultuous 47-year run.

Here are the facts: After leaving the band in 1998, singer/keyboardist McVie has rejoined, completing Mac's most popular, successful and creative incarnation.

A world tour is in the works, with U.S. dates starting Sept. 29 in Minneapolis, 17 years after this lineup last hit the road. Tickets go on sale April 4. McVie and Buckingham have been crafting songs for a new album. The last studio release to feature full participation from all five Macsters was 1987's Tango in the Night.

"We've only been in the studio a week, and it's been really beautiful," says Buckingham, 64. "I have very high hopes for all of this. It took getting into the studio before we started to see things unfold in an effective and comfortable way. Christine was not sure how her voice was going to be. It will be a little bit of a slow process with her piano chops. But all the stuff inside her is still intact, and she's getting in touch with a process that's been lying dormant for a while."

During her 15-year retreat, "there were times I didn't touch a piano for months," says McVie, 70. "There were dry spells, but I'm not worried about it. The chemistry is great. Obviously, I've got to relearn all those songs to get my muscle memory working."

Drummer Mick Fleetwood, 66, says McVie's muse and skill required a simple kick-start.

"In the past, Chris would get into the creative mood when we were actually going to do something," he says. "It hasn't gone away. It was waiting to be accessed and just needed to be switched on.

"Chris has been in a very different world for years, but things that were daunting for her are going away," Fleetwood says. "We're recording at The Village (in Los Angeles), where we made Tusk, and it's like nothing ever changed."

The band has remained a formidable draw during McVie's absence, ranking 10th last year in Billboard's moneymakers tally with earnings of $19.1 million. Her homecoming is stoking Mac fever.

"I know it's huge and people are thrilled," Fleetwood says. "There's a whole litany of songs we haven't done live in 20 years. If I were a fan, which I am, I'd have a lot to look forward to."

That includes the return of bassist John McVie, whose cancer​ diagnosis in October forced the band to scrap dates on last year's world tour.

"He's threatening to come into the studio any day," says ex-wife Christine.

Fleetwood adds, "His prognosis is good. He's such a dude, so not like me, not a drama queen. 'I'm ready,' he says. So much grace and no huff and puff."

The timetable for new singles and an album depends in part on when Stevie Nicks rejoins her bandmates in the studio, Buckingham says.

"Stevie's been not sure how she wants to approach recording or when," he says. "Mick, John and I have cut great stuff with (producer) Mitchell Froom and now I'm producing Christine's stuff.

"The next album will be a mix of things. We've done some strange things with one of Christine's songs already. It's going to sound like Fleetwood Mac but not overly retro. It's not that we're making any bold effort to sound like somebody else. Some of what we've done in the past has reference points that have come back, and what might have seemed retro is more relevant in today's market."

USA TODAY