Picture from 1996

[mitzo]

Stevie made them all wildly popular on a long term basis and extremely wealthy, including Lindsey.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I know it eats people up to admit it but Stevie fills arenas. So much so, that Mick destroyed the legacy of the band to fire Lindsey. He chose sold out arenas and money over legacy.

Fleetwood Mac’s legacy is being rock’s greatest soap opera. The first three guitarist go nuts, cancelled tours, revolving door of personnel, ex-manager puts out a fake band, affairs, breakups/divorce, solo careers, creative difference, break up, make up, breakup again...

A happy ending with the classic lineup would be anticlimactic for the Fleetwood Mac story.

The only tour was On With The Show because there was a huge demand for tickets because of Christine reuniting with the band.
....
Its sad but true, most people who go to Mac shows are there for Stevie. I remember skipping school in 1987 to wait in line for Tango tickets. It was a huge line and almost everyone in line was commenting they were only there to see Stevie. No one cares about Christine.

Those were the most notable, but Christine had a #4 and #14 hits in 1987. And, the last two Fleetwood Mac tours did better in terms of attendance and being extended than the two tours that preceded them.

A Stevie solo show will do better than a Fleetwood Mac show without Stevie, but a Fleetwood Mac show with Stevie will do better than a Stevie solo show. And, Fleetwood Mac does better when Christine is in the band than not, so obviously people do care, at least in the context of Fleetwood Mac. [/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by mitzo

Stevie made them all wildly popular on a long term basis and extremely wealthy, including Lindsey.

To a point. Christine had almost as many hits overall as Stevie, solo or Mac, and Christine had most of the band’s Top 40 singles. Also, Christine had Top 5 hits on “Mirage” and TITN, while Stevie didn’t crack the Top 10, so her solo popularity didn’t translate into successful Fleetwood Mac singles, especially considering all three of her solo albums up to TITN had Top 5 singles.

Stevie is obviously the most popular member, but people understand the difference. There is a context with Fleetwood Mac that draws in more people.