Lindsey Buckingham has said that he would rejoin Fleetwood Mac “in a heartbeat”.
The former Fleetwood Mac guitarist made these comments while reflecting on his time on the band, and his subsequent departure in 2018, in a chat with Sirius XM’s Conan O’Brien.
Rumours of a Fleetwood Mac reunion seemed to cool following the death of longtime bandmember Christine McVie in 2022. She was 79 years old.
Following this, former Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks had said that there was no need for the band to reunite, following McVie’s death.
Drummer Mick Fleetwood appeared to echo Nicks’ sentiments, saying that a “line in the sand had been drawn with the loss of Chris (McVie)”.
“pointing any fingers”
Speaking to O’Brien, Lindsey Buckingham recalled the circumstances which led to his exit from the band in 2018.
While insisting that he does not blame anyone for his departure, Buckingham feels that his replacements (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell & Crowded Houses’ Neil Finn) had “disrespected the legacy” that the bandmembers had built.
“Without pointing any fingers, it was certainly fairly singular in how it was driven. Others in the band were not happy with what was going on at that point. And I think everyone would have liked to see me remain, but did what they felt they had to do in that moment. And that’s understandable. There’s no fingers to point at anyone, really. That’s rock and roll, right?”, stated Buckingham.
He continued, “I was in the band for almost 45 years and we were always – this is always part of our legacy – we were always able to work out our differences over things of which were far more profound than any issues that happened in 2018 with me departing the band”.
Commenting on Finn and Campbell, Buckingham also added this.
“The band collectively allowing that to happen, maybe out of weakness to some degree, it disrespected the legacy we built,” he said. “Because we’d been through 45 years almost of really some very difficult moments, some very difficult years, and we’d come back around. Like I say, that’s our legacy. So to some degree, to go out and do something more generic was not honouring our legacy”.
“in a heartbeat”
However, when he was asked about returning to the band, Lindsey Buckingham replied, “in a heartbeat, absolutely”.
He also added, “If there’s more to come [from Fleetwood Mac], if there’s a way to heal that, that would be great. It would be very appropriate to close on a more circular note”.
