Stevie Nicks has put the kibosh on Fleetwood Mac.
In an interview in England's Mojo magazine, she says, “Without Christine [McVie], no can do. There is no chance of putting Fleetwood Mac back together in any way. Without her, it just couldn’t work.”
Looking back on Christine's death in 2022, Stevie says, "It was all stunningly strange, because there wasn’t any lead-up to it. We got a call, and I was going to rent a plane and go see her, but her family said, ‘Don’t come, because she may not be here tomorrow.’ And the next day, she passed away. I wanted to go there and sit on her bed and sing to her — which definitely would have made her pass away faster. But I needed to be with her. And I didn’t get to do that. So that was very hard for me. I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
Of course, should Stevie ever see fit to work again with Lindsey Buckingham, anything is possible as she did record and tour with the Mac without Christine after she retired from the band in 1998.
But she has an answer for that scenario too. “Even if I thought I could work with Lindsey again, he’s had some health problems. It’s not for me to say, but I’m not sure if Lindsey could do the kind of touring that Fleetwood Mac does, where you go out for a year and a half. It’s so demanding.”
Buckingham underwent heart surgery in 2019, but has since recovered and has recorded and toured.
Fleetwood Mac's last tour in 2018 and '19 was without Buckingham, who was fired after Stevie gave Mick Fleetwood an ultimatum -- either he goes or she does. He was replaced by Neil Finn from Crowded House to cover the vocals, and Mike Campbell from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers to cover the guitar.
Buckingham and Fleetwood have since made peace, and Christine was never in favor of his being fired.
And it sounds like Stevie is OK if the Mac never reunites. “When I walk on stage, I couldn’t be prouder of my band. I mean, I would rather not be freed up from Fleetwood Mac, because of Christine. But I’m in a place where I can concentrate on my solo work. I can do anything I want now, and not have to worry about stopping and going back to Fleetwood Mac… [But] Fleetwood Mac is all over my set. Now that there is no more Fleetwood Mac, that opens the door for me to do other songs, like ‘The Chain,’ that I’ve never done [solo]. I will keep the music of Fleetwood Mac alive, for as long as I can.”
Stevie, who had to cancel her show Saturday in Hershey, Pennsylvania due to "illness in the band," is scheduled to perform this Tuesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.