Fleetwood Mac might be done, according to Christine McVie.
The singer/songwriter/keyboardist touched on the current state of the band in a new interview with Rolling Stone. When talking about Crowded House’s Neil Finn and Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell joining the band following the split with Lindsey Buckingham, McVie said, “Those guys were great. We have a great time with them, but we’ve kind of broke up now, so I hardly ever see them.”
She added, “I don’t communicate with Stevie [Nicks] very much either. When we were on the last tour, we did a lot. We always sat next to each other on the plane and we got on really well. But since the band broke up, I’ve not been speaking to her at all.”
When pressed on whether Fleetwood Mac is done for good, McVie said, “Well, not as we know it. I don’t know. It’s impossible to say. We might get back together, but I just couldn’t say for sure.”
Of course, even if the band was still together, there are other factors that may play into the band heading out on the road again.
“I don’t feel physically up for it. I’m in quite bad health,” said McVie. “I’ve got a chronic back problem which debilitates me. I stand up to play the piano, so I don’t know if I could actually physically do it. What’s that saying? The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak…I couldn’t sit at the rig I play. You have to stand up to play the piano and the Hammond Organ is beneath that, so it’s a bit difficult to think about sitting down and doing it. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to do that.”
On top of that, she says of bassist/ex-husband John McVie, “I don’t think John’s up for another tour. He’s got health issues, so I don’t know if he would be up for it. You’d have to ask him.”
These new comments are, perhaps, news to Mick Fleetwood, who in March 2021 told the Los Angeles Times that he wants “everyone who’s ever played in Fleetwood Mac” on their next tour, whenever that could be. That could include the ousted Buckingham. Buckingham, in August 2021, told Entertainment Weekly, “There have been intimations from Mick [Fleetwood], who I’ve talked to several times, that he wants to try to get the five of us back together. I did not see their last tour. I’m sure it was fine, but I think it was probably very mellow by comparison.”
Then again, Christine McVie told BBC Radio 2 back in February 2021 that she thought the band would never tour again only to walk back her comments in a subsequent interview with Rolling Stone.
So, what do we really know for sure? That even in 2022, Fleetwood Mac remains one of rock’s most drama-filled bands. May they never change!
