New Billy Burnette interview in Rolling Stone

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

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.

You are inferring that Campbell and Finn are better guitarists than Rick and Billy?
Maybe Campbell has a better style but if you talk about comfort, the Mac would have been like an old shoe for Billy. I dont follow your logic here. You are saying because the US leg of the Tango tour was only 6 weeks so it was an easier gig than the 2018 tour?
Rick and Billy had all the pressure stepping in for Lindsey while Tango was still cranking out hits. No one knew who they were (outside of Mac world). Finn had it easier. Lindsey had been gone before and were more like hired contractors than members. IMHO Fleetwood Mac sounded more like a cover band with Finn.