Fleetwood Mac Debuts New Lineup Without Lindsey Buckingham On ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’
The revamped Fleetwood Mac made their debut in an unlikely place, but it’s clear the band is ready for a new era after parting ways with longtime bandmate Lindsey Buckingham earlier this year. The legendary band, which includes longtime members Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, John McVie, and Christine McVie took the stage for the first time with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers alum Mike Campbell and Crowded House’s Neil Finn, who replaced fired singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham in April.
Fleetwood Mac’s new lineup played two of the band’s biggest songs, “The Chain” and “Gypsy,” during the supergroup’s surprising premiere appearance on the daytime chat fest The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
DeGeneres introduced the group by calling Fleetwood Mac “one of the most iconic bands in music.” Finn easily filled Buckingham’s shoes as lead vocalist on “The Chain,” the band’s iconic 1977 hit from their game-changing album, Rumours, while Campbell did double duty on “Gypsy,” playing guitar as well as the song’s keyboard hook on the classic song.
After playing the two songs, Fleetwood Mac veteran Stevie Nicks introduced Finn and Campbell to the audience and plugged the band’s upcoming tour, which kicks off Oct. 3 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.
Well, this doesn’t happen every day. @FleetwoodMac performed on my show today. https://t.co/WgxS3j07Op
— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) September 5, 2018
Steve Nicks previously teased that the departure of Lindsey Buckingham has opened up a whole new world for Fleetwood Mac. Nicks told Rolling Stone the band will finally be able to play some of the songs from the band’s Green era, which ended in 1970, four years before Nicks and Buckingham joined Mick Fleetwood and McVies to become the most successful incarnation of the band.
“We were never able to do that since 1975 because certain people in the band weren’t interested in doing that,” Nicks told Rolling Stone of playing Fleetwood Mac’s early songs. “Now we’re able to open the set with a lot.”
In an interview with Yahoo Music, Mick Fleetwood promised that the new Fleetwood Mac are looking forward to putting on “an incredibly vibrant show that is truly groundbreaking,” and he even teased the possibility of a future Fleetwood Mac album with Campbell and Finn, who already boast an impressive list of songwriting credits.
Ahead of their tour, the new Fleetwood Mac lineup will perform Friday, Sept. 21 at the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Festival. The show marks the first time that Fleetwood Mac will play the popular Las Vegas music festival, according to Entertainment Weekly.
You can see Fleetwood Mac’s performance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the videos below.
