Mick Fleetwood on His Peter Green Tribute Show, Future Plans, and Lindsey Buckingham
 

“Lindsey’s legacy is alive and well, and as it should be." Mick Fleetwood talks to us about Lindsey Buckingham, his Peter Green tribute show, future plans and more https://t.co/bO8D6pLKUq pic.twitter.com/Kagjhsmor1

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) January 28, 2020

JANUARY 28, 2020 11:56AM ET

Mick Fleetwood on His Peter Green Tribute Show, Future Plans, and Lindsey Buckingham

“Lindsey’s legacy is alive and well, and as it should be,” says the drummer. “It will never be taken away, and never be down-spoken by any of us.”

By ANDY GREENE

Mick Fleetwood should be relaxing. He just wrapped up a 13-month world tour — Fleetwood Mac’s first since parting ways with Lindsey Buckingham and replacing him with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House frontman Neil Finn — but the 72-year-old drummer is already deep into planning his next project: a tribute concert to Peter Green, who co-founded Fleetwood Mac and wrote many of the group’s early classics before being sidelined by mental illness and addiction issues. The show is set for February 25th in London, with special guests David Gilmour, Christine McVie, John Mayall, and Steven Tyler. “I wanted people to know that I did not form this band — Peter Green did,” Fleetwood says. “And I wanted to celebrate those early years of Fleetwood Mac, which started this massive ball that went down the road over the last 50 years.”

Peter Green hasn’t been seen much in public over the past decade. When is the last time that you and he spoke?
It was about a year and a half ago. I went out with my girlfriend, and spent the day with him. He’s not the Peter that I knew, clearly. But he plays acoustic guitar. He loves painting, and fishing is his hobby. It’s no secret that he took a left turn and never came back, but he’s OK. He also has really little or no ego at all, which is unbelievable. You want to go, “Do you realize what you did?” “No, no. Yeah, I suppose so.” He has no ego about what he did.

Might he perform at the show?
No. But it seems he’s going to come. He wants to keep a very, very low profile, and that’s fine. This is about the journey Peter took into the music, and that music is still alive. Everyone that’s on this show has their own poignant story about being connected to that early band.

Will John McVie be there?
Not as of the moment. He’s in the middle of one of his sailing trips. But Christine [McVie] will be there.

I loved hearing you guys play “Man of the World” on this past tour.
Neil Finn did a really good job on that. It’s a very prophetic song. It wasn’t exactly the last song [Peter] made with us. That was “The Green Manalishi.” When he made those songs, we had no idea that he was suffering internally as much as he was. But if you listen to the words, it’s crucifyingly obvious what was going on. But a beautiful song. A poignant song.

Peter was one of about 10 guitarists who have left the band over the years. Why can’t you and John ever hold onto guitarists?
We don’t really know. It’s daunting when you look at all the great guitarists that have come through our ranks. But John and I have always just kept the band going. We can’t do this on our own. Every time [someone leaves] we go, “Well, what the **** are we going to do now? Find another guitar player!”

I’ve heard there’s talk of a Fleetwood Mac Broadway musical.
There’s always been talk about doing something like that. I hope it can happen at some point. A lot of people, understandably, would say, “Wow, that would make a really good musical.” It is an incredibly interesting story, especially the period around Rumours. But it’s not formed.

How do you feel physically, after wrapping up that recent marathon tour?
It’s actually coming off the road that’s the downer. You find yourself wondering why you start to get antsy around 8 p.m. It’s this military-type of stress where you just keep going and going, so you have to be careful with how you work your re-entry so you don’t beat yourself up too much.

What are the future plans for the group? I’ve read that Stevie Nicks is preparing a long solo tour.
We had a lovely get-together in L.A. about two weeks ago after the tour. We are all very open to that continuing in the band. There’s no breaking up of the band. We were like, “Give us a break. Give us a few weeks before we start wondering what to do.” In the New Year, we’ll touch on what the vision is.

What is your vision for what that might be?
We’re not going to do a [long] tour, I would say, ever again. But there’s loads of alternatives. People like Peter Gabriel have a lovely way of working where they go and just do four or five major festivals during the summer. That’s the sort of vision that I see for Fleetwood Mac. We’re able to cherry-pick things that have dignity, and are fun to do, and they’re historically interesting.

A lot of bands are doing farewell tours now. Can you ever see Fleetwood Mac doing one of those?
I suppose. It would be the right thing to do, to let people know you’re not wanting to play again. We are not at that point, but if we get there, it’s a pretty good, gracious thing to let people know they’ll never see the band play again.

Do you see any scenario where you’d ever play with Lindsey Buckingham again?
No. Fleetwood Mac is a strange creature. We’re very, very committed to Neil and Mike, and that passed away a time ago, when Lindsey left. And it’s not a point of conversation, so I have to say no. It’s a full drama of Fleetwood Mac, no doubt. His legacy is alive and well, and as it should be. A major, major part that will never be taken away, and never be down-spoken by any of us. Neil and Mike have tremendous respect for Lindsey. The situation was no secret. We were not happy. It was not working, and we parted company. And that really is the all of it.

Have you spoken to Lindsey since his heart attack?
I have not.

Sounds as if Mick were downplaying a Stevie Nicks solo tour year. Is it possible he talked Stevie into being available in 2020 for Fleetwood Mac?


Somebody is peeved that he was sued. :laugh:

mick is always very vague and nondescript when it comes to things that are completely out of his control (read: in stevie's control), but he wants to keep people engaged just in case. he was like that on the FM music that ended being BuckVie for years. and, just read all his responses in this interview - including one on LB which is full of circular nonsense and not saying anything except making it clear their initial "he didn't want to tour" was bs excuse and yet again lying about "he left" which was their original pr idea that got blown to pieces when what they did leaked.

also, apparently Campbell said something while promoting his current tour (full text is in UK's Uncut) which is parallel to what mick said here:

"Campbell also reveals that Fleetwood Mac are currently on hiatus after their recent mammoth world tour. “It was a year and a half! I’ve never toured that long in my life. It was really joyful. Great songs, and I love that rhythm section – I had so much fun playing with Mick and John. We ended the tour and we had a meeting. They are all even older than me, and I’m pretty old, and they were saying, I don’t think we’re up for doing any more long tours like this ever again. Stevie wants to do a solo show, she’s doing that right now, but in a year or so, if a handful of dates show up that made sense, everybody is open to doing those. So we’re on hiatus until things develop.”

all of this proves that it really probably is for the best that Lindsey sued their collective arses and moved on. Even with him out of the equation, pushing to make some new music etc, they are still persistent on showing up to play a greatest hits set and call it a day.

The behavior hasn't changed, they will break for Stevie to do a really stale solo tour paired with whatever boomer rock act they can find to pair her up with and Fleetwood Mac will pop up to play some festival dates here and there with Mike and Neil on a retainer agreement.

But the prospect of doing anything remotely interesting again has proven to be a mute point with him or without him in the band. Buckingham McVie was the last hurrah.

I look forward to what Lindsey may have planned in the coming year or so.

You are spot on!
Mick speaks politically and says stuff like "its possible" or other language but was firm with Lindsey ever playing again (even though Lindsey said he was open to it). He definitely is peeved.
So he has reduced the band for a few "important" gigs here or there or most importantly when Fin and Campbell are available LMAO.

Didn't ask the obvious question: "You and Stevie said this current lineup would be doing recording in the studio. Was that ever seriously in the cards?"

Coz Stevie told him no. You know Mick is a total 'never say never' person. Stevie is not, especially regards Lindsey. He's saying it's not possible because that's what he must say to keep Stevie onboard.:mad:

yup.

if he saw no chance of ever touring with Stevie again, he'd sing a different tune.

So you're not ever going to do a big tour again, just cherry picking festivals etc. But then if the band is ever "done" you'll do a farewell tour. How does that square up? A small, intimate farewell tour? :shrug:

And not speaking to LB... well, well. part of me thinks he wouldn't be able to keep it from Stevie and he's paranoid she'll get mad at him. You know if he spoke to LB Lindsey would let it be known. Mick can't risk it. But the other part of it is possibly what others have said.... he's pissed they got sued. Mick doesn't like giving money away. And he's cast his lot with Stevie and he's fine with that. ka-ching. Still a total dick move.

ugh..every time that this creepy grifter opens his mouth lately it makes my skin crawl.

They have already refused to do Glastonbury twice due to money, I don’t even quite understand how this odd reformation would be that big of a draw for festivals.

They truly are, as human beings, ungrateful pieces of garbage.

Integrity and love are two words that should never come out of their ignorant, collective mouths.

And Christine.....really?

So sad. Legacy is not enough. Not that way at least. Well, it was unlikely that I would go to a FMconcert after On with the show. Great gig but I didn't like how their voices sounded, I thought the time had come.

Now, with no chance of a Lindsey come back, I will definitely never see them again. I felt very sad for Christine, since I was so happy when she came back.

That last answer speaks volumes for the type of man Mick really is. He’s repulsive.

And why is John not doing this Peter thing? That is really weird.

Lindsey hasn’t been doing much talking (figuratively and literally) for a while now so I doubt that was the issue. Mick and all the rest of them just aren’t great people and likely never were. This says a lot in my opinion. There is a lot that can happen between coworkers and then there’s rational human behavior when someone you knew for decades nearly dies.

If you really look at this interview, the interviewer was able to make Mick admit he was a liar without saying the word, "liar".

Great read for those that need confirmation of what really went down. Had nothing to do with touring, or LB solo shows. It had everything to do with $tevie wanting him out and wanting control of the band, and using Mick to do get her that control.

Will LB ever play with Fleetwoood M.........errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr $tevie Nicks band?

No, $tevie will not allow it. And $he'll refuse to tour if I were to ask him. And that would leave us without the $$ we would be asking if we were doing a few tour dates in 2020/2021.



^^^^ I translated for you guys.