Would the Rumours line-up still be together if ...

[Storms123]

Originally Posted by Ench

Lindsey had just agreed to the tour dates that the other band members wanted.

On this forum a fair proportion of the posters blame the band (in particular Mick and Stevie) for the impasse that lead to Lindsey parting ways with the band. But, what scant actual information we have about the causes of this, it seems that Lindsey refusing to sign off on the tour led to the impasse and the split.

Couldn't it be said that fault is on both sides for this impasse, and given that the majority of the band (all of the rest of the band) wanted to tour, then perhaps Lindsey should have agreed and signed off on the tour.

I don't see anything, other than wild speculation, to suggest that Lindsey would have been dropped had he compromised and agreed to a timetable. Hence, it seems that an unwillingness to compromise is possibly the root cause of the split, and hence there is fault on both sides. But, if you have a five member group, and four members agree and one doesn't, then that would suggest to me that it's the one member who is more at fault than the others.

I can see why FM would want to go out on the road sooner rather than later. John's cancer is now 'clear', but I can see that the scare he had in 2013/2014 would have focussed his, and other band members, minds on the fact that they aren't going to be around, and able to tour, forever. Delaying for a year increases the chance that the tour won't go ahead due to members being ill or worse. Lindsey is younger than Christine, Mick, and John, and may be less focussed on imminent mortality (or at least forced retirement.)

But, if we go back to basics, we have that Fleetwood Mac is touring without Lindsey because Lindsey refused to go on the tour (asking for it to be at a later time). I can't see how this is not more Lindsey's fault than Fleetwood Mac. If you want to be in a band, you have to compromise. Lindsey didn't, and paid the price.

Can I point out that I'm more of a Lindsey fan than I am a Fleetwood Mac fan. But, like my full acceptance that Roger Waters is an ... not a nice person ..., I think that Lindsey is more at fault here than the others are due to personal failings.

If Fleetwood Mac was as important to Lindsey as pronouncements suggest, then he should have compromised.

He did agree to the tour dates. Apparently, according to Lindsey’s wife, this iteration is starting the tour later than they would have had they not fired Lindsey. The “tour dates” story was something the band dreamed up initially.