New Billy Burnette interview in Rolling Stone

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

We have huge differences of opinion. I dont know what you mean by "a tour of that magnitude." Would not the 1987 tour (first without Lindsey and promoting a new album he had no part of) be a much bigger event than some golden oldie cash grab tour of them in their 70's?
I have to trust Billy on some of his observations since he is not a pathological liar like Mick. If Billy thought Irving blocked him, he would have known and said so. He said Stevie and Chris wanted him but not Mick's management. I would think Stevie and Irving would be on the same page.
Billy jumped in with both feet and did well in 1987. He could have done it with eyes closed in 2018.
God bless Billy for forgiving Mick after 2 years. IMHO Billy had a right to be pissed. Very disrespectful. But hey, what he did to Lindsey was worse.

The opening night of the 1987 tour was in six weeks when Billy and Rick joined.

Billy was already deep in their inner circle. He’d played with all of them and had recorded with most of them. Mick knew Billy was very familiar with the songs and that he could sing with the girls. Mick also knew Rick and that he was a highly in-demand sideman. In other words, he knew they could pull it off.

However, it was the first Fleetwood Mac tour in five years and they were touring behind a hit album. In that five year absence, Stevie had four Top Twenty hits and Christine had one, and the band (at that moment) had three Top 20 songs from their current release. They were still commercially vibrant. Plus, Lindsey quit the band. Nobody was going to fault them for continuing without him. It didn’t matter nearly as much.

In 2018, they knew there was going to be blowback from Lindsey’s firing and that they would lose some fans as a result. Billy and Rick weren’t going to make up the difference. Mike Campbell and Neil Finn very easily could, especially in the wake of Tom Petty’s death. Again, there was never a serious consideration for bringing back Billy.