The hardest thing right now
 

After 2018/2019 I thought I had put to bed and dealt with the fact that the original 5 would most likely never perform again. The passing of Christine really makes that final. I was introduced to the band in 1997. My first love with the band wasn't the Rumours album, it was their live performances. I don't lament a final album with all 5, but the realization that they'll never hit the stage as a complete unit is a gut punch.

I also don't want to see Lindsey and Stevie go to the end with bitterness between them. How great is it that Christine and John were able to be friends and put the past behind them, seemingly decades ago. I love this passage from a recent Rolling Stone article about Christine:

Some of the best moments in Fleetwood Mac’s final tours, reuniting all five of the classic lineup, came during the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham solo showcases. Every night, Christine would sit next to John on the piano bench, out of sight from most of the audience, just the two of them whispering and giggling together. They always huddled like two old friends, just sharing a private laugh. It was such a touching sight — so sweet and civilized, in the middle of all that emotional sturm und drang. She brought that warmth out in people. Even these people.

When it comes down to Lindsey and Stevie, it's so sad to see their animosity baked into their public persona, like an expectation of their coexistence. Time is so finite at this point in their lives. Knowing their animosity will be part of their epitaph is an incredibly hard pill to swallow. When the time comes, we probably won't see passages like the one written above in the context of Lindsey and Stevie.

Many people said they would be upset or disappointed if S&L became friends again and/or perform together. Yes, it is true that a lot of blood has flowed in the river, as we said in spanish where a lot of serious, hard fights have happened.

But when I find those clash of teams, or of people (and at job it's not unusual to find), I always remind them how historic, (more than severe) wounds have been healed (for example Pearl Harbor + Hiroshima-Nagasaki, and few years later those nations became friends, and allies in many ways), and in the big picture it was good they got over it.

So yes, I agree if at the end that bitterness between them has already gone, and they sincerely said All this bitchin' and moanin' pitchin' a fit, get over it, get over it, and close the episodes.

It's $tevie's world, and we're just living in it.

Lindsey is NEVER going to subscribe to that notion, and $tevie will accept nothing less.

I'd be upset if they "faked it" just to do another tour. I think everyone is well over the lovey-dovey tours followed up by bitterness, like clockwork.

This post isn't about wanting them to perform together again. It's about not going to grave engulfed in 50 years of baggage.

Ok here goes. (A little anger here.)

I honestly don't give a crap about their relationship. And I say this because "it is what it is". And Christine's death just may be the thing that does it. She just may, once again, bring them together.

But the truth is, they created that legacy, they created that destructive drama, they wrote this nasty story. The last years of them stabbing each other in the media was really truly who they were/are. I felt like calling them and telling both of them to just shut up already. We get it, you hate each other.

And Christine wrote her story, and I'm glad it's being told in proper. Everything I've seen has pretty much been "on point". So again, I really don't give a crap about B/N legacy or their entitled media relationship. I couldn't be more completely turned off by their behavior. What I do love is both of their tributes to Christine. They finally got something right in the realm of "being human".

I don't disagree with anything you've written. I guess I just have a side of sadness that hits me, that goes along with it.

The tributes to Christine have been beautiful.

I love ya, BigAl... none of that was directed at you. I'm going thru the stages of grief... I think I'm going thru all of them every day. :lol:

Oh gosh, I know it wasn't directed at me. It's really f•cked up being a fan of this band in a close way. We're like parents that want better for their kids, but the kids are grown and responsible for their own actions. There's only so much we can do, but it doesn't always ease the pain no matter how much we write it off.

To bring it back to Christine, the only real adult in the equation has left the building and that's really, really tough.

Hugs to you!

Amen, brother! They highjacked the band narrative for so long but I will NOT let their **** take an ounce of space away from Christine’s memory. I am heartened to see so many musicians and fans recognizing her full worth. There have been a couple of moments where journalists got it wrong (the “Don’t Stop” “Co-write” mentioned in BILLBOARD; one passive aggressive writer who said Christine’s songs never reached the chart heights of Buckingham or Nicks—which is bs, outside of “Dreams”) but overall people “know the score.”

She was everything, a quiet center that kept it all together for so long. She was also a genuine person, without pretentiousness or a need for constant attention. Because of this, she has always had mine...

hear hear! :nod::thumbsup:

it's been beautiful to see and read, and so well deserved.

I love this Aleuzzi!!

Thank you for posting that. Very moving and a testament to their beautiful relationship.

i was able to happily capture some of that Christine-John sitting on the amp interaction in DC

The Mac has been a dead band for awhile. The band itself does not make new music but did regroup to play the hits for cash grab tours. Since this thread is related to Chris, can we not honor her blunt honesty and admission that Fleetwood Mac was over. She said this years ago. She told the truth and Mick forced her to back track. After what Stevie did to the band I think she is smart enough to know she could never go back now that Chris is gone. She would not play with Lindey and Chris but will play without Chris? I dont think so. Stevie was hesitant to tour with the band without Chris in 2003. John is pretty much retired too. Will Lindsey play somewhere with Mick someday? I would probably guess yes. That may happen. I think one reason Chris went for it when Lindsey was fired was because she acknowledged this is probably the last time she could do this.

BigAl
There was a funny thread many years ago speculating what John and Chris chatted about on the amps during Stevie's LONG Gypsy intro. I would watch them every night and wish I could hear their conversation instead of Stevie's.

We cant be bitter. Its a miracle these past 9 years what she has done. We all got to reconnect with her and she touched us once again. We got monster sold out arenas and small intimate theaters plus a duet album with Lindsey and a reissue of solo songs CD. When I heard Songbird play in 2014, I sat there in awe because I never thought I would hear that song again live. I did and I am so thankful.
The bitterness hides the brilliance. Imagine for a moment she wanted to come back but could not get over her fear or she did not want to impose on the band since they carried on without her. Her passing would still be tough but because she has done so much these past 9 years does make it more difficult to accept. A woman in her 70s rejoining a rock band and doing what she did these past 9 years is nothing short of spectacular.

The reason why there will never be communication with Stevie and Lindsey is because Stevie's team and allies such as Brad Jeffries and Vanessa Carlton have spoken of Lindsey like he should be in a penitentiary.
But then you have Chris and Mick who at most said something like it's happier and without tense anymore on the last FM tour.

I don't accept Stevie has made peace by not talking to him anymore because she always mentions his name. But she doesn't mention key players in her story like Rick Nowels, Tom Moncrieff, or Jimmy Iovine (other than Stop Draggin' My Heart Around).

BigAl, I think Chris' email to Lindsey after the suit settled should give you some warmth and know that when the time came, Christine had nothing but love for all of her bandmates, including Lindsey.

THIS is exactly how I've always felt about her. She was the only adult in the front.

https://youtu.be/RP95ZvV2fo4 I actually recorded one of those Chris and John McVie interactions. It isn’t much but I thought it was cute. Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/RP95ZvV2fo4 I actually recorded a bit of Christine and John talking to each other. It is not much but I thought it was cute.

I was watching a 2017 interview of hers today and she was saying how much her love of performing brought her back to the band. This was right before Lindsey was fired. Her voice was struggling and her ability to play was being limited. Yet she carried on. Yes she hit a few frogs and clunkers on some nights but NEVER piped in fake lead vocals or autotune. Got to admire that. Jon Bon Jovi lost his ability to sing and they pipe in fake lead vocals for Jon (and he is much younger). She was such a trooper and went on with the show. She gave it her all up to the end. Roberta Flack and Linda Ronstadt are alive but lost their ability to sing and perform many years ago.
God Bless you Chris
Fly Songbird Fly

:xoxo::angel::nod:

https://youtu.be/bDsQ-P4ZEYg We went to see Fleetwood Mac in 2019 in Nashville. That night Christine sounded quite well compared to some uneven performances earlier in that tour. I even remarked out loud that she was all the way back to her better performances since she returned to the band. The video I posted here was the final time I will get the pleasure of see the wonderful and beautiful Christine McVie. A lot of people were starting to leave as the song started. They shouldn’t have.

I couldn't bring myself to go to the Lindsey-less show in 2019. I think I made the right choice- the imaginative set initially tempted me but it had largely been pared down by the time they came to London- not the band's fault, just under-informed and confused audiences. The videos I have seen of Christine on that tour do seem to show a growing frailty, both vocally and physically so I kind of worried about her back then. She was certainly spouting the company line,but I never believed she approved of Lindsey's firing. The 2015 tour was a gift of an only occasionally benevolent god, and Christine was largely magnificent and a joy to behold. Yes, there was a flub here or there , but it made it all heroically real, a fascinating glimpse of a woman who had been through everything her profession could throw at her in her first fifty odd years, who then retired, and then did it all over again. I would never have been able to thank her enough for that.

Hear, hear!! Totally agree with you.

They dropped “Tell me all Things You Do” before our show. It was a good jam.I think it fit Mike Campbell’s guitar style rather well. Christine has a groovy piano solo in it. I really wanted to hear something from Kiln House but to no avail.

The hardest part is listening to people singing along to her songs in the Keith Urban and Harry Styles videos in total adulation and not knowing if she ever really felt that. I know there was a thunderous roar the second Mick hit the high hats on "You Make Loving Fun" in 2014, but that's really all I can think of. She was always overshadowed, be it Jeremy, Bob, or especially Stevie, and that seemed to suit her personality, but I wonder what she'd think of an arena full of people that isn't a Fleetwood Mac show singing her songs?

I don't know if that mattered to her. I mean, I'm sure she knew that plenty of people that admired her and loved her work but she said many times that she felt she was closer to the rhythm section of the band with John and Mick as opposed to the stars of Lindsey and Stevie. She was never one who felt the need to have the spotlight on her even though she obviously deserved it.

Looking back, it's poetic that Songbird closed Fleetwood Mac shows for so many years. It was the one time that the spotlight was completely on Christine. She closed the show just like she is (hopefully) ending the tumultuous history of Fleetwood Mac. It's also coincidental that the Songbird collection was released just a few months ago.

I feel like she did come to understand what she'd accomplished, how much of the band's success was due to her work, and her "legacy" as LB would say, because during one of her interviews in the last few years she was asked (I think it was talking to Johnny Walker on BBC2...) something like what she would tell her younger self or some such and she responded with "You're Christine F*****g McVie, and don't you forget it" :thumbsup:

Thank you for posting that. This is why I'm glad to be back at the ledge. I need to see all these things, it helps my heart. ♥

very sweet. all these things give me a good cry. I'm so grateful she found her way back to the band and they had those tours and that time together. thanks for posting.

Yes, I would like for her to have seen that. If her brother is alive, since her official site tracked the tributes, he is seeing these things. I am sure his children and grandchildren show him. That feels good.

I don’t know how much Chris got out at the end but if she was like me she hears Everywhere all around. When I pump my gas, there it is being played at the pump station. I do think that there was a dearth of young artists who referred to her has an inspiration and she may have felt that. She joked that there hasn’t been much hero worship but that we could start it. I think she might have liked to have been mentioned more in pop culture round ups, mentioned in her own right, not as part of FM.

I wonder how her brother John is doing with all this sadness. He is 83 now. She also has a younger half brother Cyril who would be about 52 now and i think he had 2 kids.. I haven't seen him mentioned in her obituaries. she also has more than 1 nephew..i believe it was a total of 3 nephews and a niece. I suppose Dan was the one she was closest to...

--Lis

Wonderfully said.

Keeping in mind it's The Sun, but according to this article (which had a few errors)...

She said: “I had the the big slice and dice (sterilisation) four months ago. I have reached the stage when my lifestyle and frame of mind is no longer cut out for babies. Where would they fit in?

“I have two godchildren, a half brother and a half sister who is 11. It’s great to have them around the house when they visit from England.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbi...ie-motherhood/

Thanks for posting that, Steve. I don't think I've ever seen that full article. just bits and pieces. interesting that john had to actually set a wedding date for them to go ahead and finalize the divorce.

--Lis

According to The Sun she recorded an album in 2013 that was never released!!!!????!!!!
Really??? Naah

I bet there are definitely songs. Christine got the music bug again. When she rejoined her and Lindsey instantly started recording. The tour was booked and they shelved what would later become Buck/Vie.
I hope someday we get to hear these songs. I bet even Lindsey has a few demos left over of hers.

Yes Steve, great article.

Lindsey and Stevie going through life never knowing whether or not Christine was having a go at them.

Thing I found interesting is that she had a half-sister? First I’d ever read that.

Yes interesting. I saw photos of a funeral online that may or may not be hers but claimed to be. There was a woman that looked like her but much younger. If she was 11 in 1978 she would be in her mid to late 50s.

I think maybe she meant step sister? that may have been a misprint Her father's 2nd wife was only a year older than Chris...so she would have been about 27ish when she married Chris's dad. I remember reading that she had a daughter, and then they had their son cyril together when Chris's dad was about 68.

so maybe it's more accurate to say she has an older brother, a younger step sister and a younger half brother.

--Lis