“Stevie is running the show,” tour keyboardist says in interview

[lovethemac1]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Interesting that many still don't understand or don't want to understand the spark for many people's ire at Stevie.

No one disputes Lindsey was a sh*tty b*stard to her for a very, very long time. His issues over their breakup clouded his behavior towards her.

No one disputes that she put up with this for a long time..... because the band was successful and making lots of money and giving them lots of fame beyond what they could get solo, even Stevie, and because in her competitiveness she decided she would not be the one to blame for breaking up the band. So she gutted it out. This was HER choice. She could have walked away from FM anytime after her huge solo success.

Many refuse to accept that she was locked in a co-dependent relationship with Lindsey for years which means she participated in the love-hate thing and could be just as manipulative and yelling and fighting with him as he could with her. She just puts a better PR face on things to convince you how reasonable she is and he didn't play the PR game as well and didn't hide how 'prickly' he was (his wife's word).

He did indeed try to understand her point of view and accommodate her style more-- she talked a lot about them at one point in the late 90s or so sitting down and really hashing things out and her telling him things she'd never said before and him saying "I wish I'd know that" etc. and they seemed to reach a level of detente.

Despite the goggles her die-hard fans continue to wear when watching the DR documentary, he was not confrontational to her in any of the scenes we saw. Him telling her she's using poor grammar (she was) was NOT 'confrontational'. The discussion about the contract to mix songs was not confrontational on his part either; but it WAS on her part. Yet many choose not to see it. She brought in another person and double-teamed him to pressure him to sign a contract he correctly would not sign. She sicced her assistant on him, and then whined while he was on the phone and then followed him out of the room. Yet he was being mean to her.

Her manipulation of the band continued with the excuses not to record. And for a while to not tour, so much so that Mick went to the press and did whiny interviews about how FM was finished because of her.

Lindsey may or may not have pitched a battle about the choice of intro music at Musicares (isn't it funny that so many on here whine about 'name the sources!' when a story comes out that makes Stevie look bad, but when there's an unnamed source that says Lindsey threw a fit at Musicares, well by golly it must be true!) and he mimed dancing while Stevie spoke (well after Chris and Mick checked their watches, laughed, then waltzed together).

Rather than Stevie saying look, this is the final tour, and telling her manager to tell his manager that she had a list of conditions for the tour that she wanted from him or something that attempted to slog out one final tour she lays down an ultimatum to the band that he's out or she's out.

Given the speed at which the band immediately replaced Lindsey with one of Stevie's favorite guitarists and co-writers, Mick did not bother to act as band leader and try to keep the band together for their final tour but capitulated right away, and then was complicit in convincing John to support the decision and then saying it only takes a majority vote not a unanimous vote to kick someone out. The band agreed to kick out a member and bring in a specific new member within DAYS of that event.

The band proceeded to lie to their fans and the public about what happened, why it happened, and when it happened. They also perpetuated a lie when they promoted the tour with photos of the Rumours5 line up. Their bottom line has been so unabashedly about doing the tour and making the final money. There's been little to no attempt whatsoever to even pretend they have an artistic or legacy motivation for this tour. They know they are lying and they are unwilling to face up to it because NO ONE is doing any interviews to promote this tour at all. (They've surely been advised by lawyers anything they say can be brought up in the lawsuit).

They've resorted to tricks like having side players speak in interviews to say how great things are on tour.

While there's a lot of Stevie bashing, there's also been a lot of Mick bashing, and a lot of head-scratching about the role of the McVies. Many a Chris fan has found themselves disappointed and disillusioned about her response. And no one has denied Lindsey can be a royal pain in the arse and demanding and pouty. But there's a contingent that insists that Stevie has never been and is never any of these things. He has consistently made attempts to make amends and move forward. She has resisted.

She broke up the band with a sneaky move, and with Mick's enabling. Not Lindsey. There is clearly a lot more that may come out due to the lawsuit, and the band's very pointed response indicated they are ready for a fight. The fact that people find this interesting and are speculating on when and how that other shoe might drop and what might come out should not shock people. Yet somehow it does. If people want to ignore the fuss and put their heads down and accept whatever the band dishes out, fine.

If people don't like reading nasty comments, skip over them. It's not hard. This cuts both ways. Personal attacks from one poster to another are just not acceptable. Argue the point someone is making but don't attack the person. There has been too much of that on here for sure. But bashing a band member is not the same thing.

bombaysaffires, what a beautifully written and sensible post. Thank you for summing up so well.