Lindsey Buckingham is breaking his silence on his departure from Fleetwood Mac, and he’s making it clear that he thinks the split has harmed the band’s legacy. During a political fundraiser in California, Buckingham spoke for the first time about his surprising exit from Fleetwood Mac as the band gets ready to embark on a massive 52-date tour later this year. In a video posted by Medium, Buckingham told the crowd the following.
“It’s been an interesting time on a lot of levels. For me, personally, probably some of you know that for the last three months I have sadly taken leave of my band of 43 years, Fleetwood Mac. This was not something that was really my doing or my choice. I think what you would say is that there were factions within the band that had lost their perspective.”
Buckingham also responded to an audience member who seemed to place blame on his ex-girlfriend Stevie Nicks for his firing.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter,” Lindsey said.
“The point is that they’d lost their perspective, and what that did was to harm – and this is the only thing I’m really sad about; the rest of it becomes an opportunity – it harmed the 43-year legacy that we had worked so hard to build, and that legacy was really about rising above difficulties in order to fulfill one’s higher truth and one’s higher destiny.”
Lindsey Buckingham is venting his frustration about his unexpected Fleetwood Mac firing https://t.co/69zc1uN1vJ
— Vulture (@vulture) May 12, 2018
Longtime Fleetwood Mac bandmates Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, and John and Christine McVie have avoided using the word “fired” when talking about their parting of ways with Lindsey Buckingham Fleetwood Mac co-founder Mick Fleetwood told Rolling Stone that “fired” is an ugly reference and that the band “arrived at the impasse of hitting a brick wall” regarding the scheduling of a world tour with Buckingham. Fleetwood revealed that the band made the decision that they could not go on with Lindsey.
Is Fleetwood Mac without Lindsey Buckingham still Fleetwood Mac? https://t.co/BzuPgUckeu pic.twitter.com/WDpQ4G7Mqk
— Journal Sentinel Entertainment (@mjsentertain) May 3, 2018
Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974 and was the songwriter and voice behind some of the band’s biggest hits, including “Go Your Own Way” and “Tusk.” Lindsey left the group after the 1987 Tango in the Night album, but he rejoined the band 10 years later. But ahead of Fleetwood Mac’s upcoming North American tour, the band announced that Lindsey was out and that he would be replaced by former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House singer/guitarist Neil Finn.
You can see Lindsey Buckingham talking about his departure from Fleetwood Mac in the video below.
Fleetwood Mac’s North American tour kicks off October 2 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and runs until April 2019.
