On Friday August 26 on “Good Morning America” on ABC, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac played several songs and also gave fans a tease with ideas of a potential reunion with Fleetwood Mac, the band where she first became famous.
Nicks performed “For What It’s Worth” off her new album “In Your Dreams,” which is her first set in ten years. In addition, she performed the classic Fleetwood Mac hits “Landslide” and “Rhiannon.” Naturally, this gave her an opportunity to discuss a possible reunion with Fleetwood Mac. Nicks told “Good Morning America” along with several thousand excited fans from the audience, in terms of the possibility it is something that is waiting in the wings always. Those bands, for those of us in those types of bands, are there always.
While giving the interviewer a stern look, she added, you never break your band up. That isn’t a good idea. You always need to have your band. A new record was just released by Lindsey Buckingham. I have a new record as well. So when you follow the path all the way through, Fleetwood Mac always is here.
Nicks gave a considerably more inspired performance on the new song “For What it’s Worth” than on her versions of the Fleetwood Mac classic songs. “For What it’s Worth” was written following the tour she and Tom Petty did. Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers helped Nicks with the project. During the “Good Morning America” set, he also played the guitar, in addition to Dave Stewart, formerly of the Eurythmics, and Buckingham.
“In Your Dreams” wasn’t released by Nicks for ten years because she had been convinced by record executives that internet piracy made it fruitless to record new music. Nicks believed what she was told. She said, at that time I did listen. However around eighteen months ago, I stopped listening. Fans in the audience applauded.
For Lindsey Buckingham fans, we have some big news. You will not only have a chance to see him live on his upcoming fall tour. He is also about to release a new solo album.
“Seeds We Sow,” Buckingham’s sixth solo album, will be released September 6, 2011. It is the first self-release from Lindsey, who definitely took a total do-it-yourself-approach. He wrote and performed every song as well as did the mixing and producing.
A 31-city tour of North America has also been announced to support Buckingham’s new album. The outing will kick off in Nevada on September 9 and wrap up in Napa, CA on October 25.
Buckingham said about the new set, it could be my best work ever. I think it really represents what I do and shows a certain level of musicianship and maturity. I think I have many tools from my musical vocabulary that I can draw on which are a result of choice I have made. The album was done on my terms. It is coming from inside out. I really hope that I don’t ever stop doing that.
The album helps to showcase the full arsenal of Buckingham’s skills, from “In Our Own Time,” the first single, to the melodic, soft “End of time” to “One Take,” the most rocking track on the set, to “When She Comes Down,” a very touching number, to “She Smiles Sweetly,” the gorgeous, lullaby-like closing number. The set shows off a more mature guitar style and refined lyrics. A standout track is “Illumination.” Buckingham said, I think over the years my lyrics have gotten better. They aren’t more obscure, they are more poetic I think in how I create them. Even to me the process is mysterious.
Next year, Fleetwood Mac is scheduled to re-unite to do a tour and possibly record a new record.
Fleetwood Mac was able to overcome adversity and became one of the world’s biggest rock bands ever. Their album “Rumours” was recorded amid escalating drug abuse and the breakup of marriages. It is one of the best selling albums of all time.
The band later drifted into excess, however they always been able to overcome their differences to put on a spectacular show.
Over the last decade, Fleetwood Mac has been largely inactive. In 2009, they did play several British dates. However since then there haven’t been any signs that the group would be planning another tour.
Earlier this year, Stevie Nicks, the band’s legendary front woman, released a new solo album called “In Your Dreams.” She is apparently now aiming for a full reunion.
In an interview with Perez Hilton, Nicks said it was possible that Fleetwood Mac might reunite in 2012. Stevie Nicks is currently busy promoting her own record. Guitarist Lindsay Buckingham also is preparing to release a solo album.
Nicks said, when Lindsay’s and my albums are finished, Fleetwood Mac will get together again. We’ll go on tour and either make a new record or not.
The last album that Fleetwood Mac released was “Say You Will” in 2003, which ended a long period of silence. This fall Lindsay Buckingham will be releasing “Seeds We Sow,” his newest solo album.
So far no official announcement has been made about Fleetwood Mac’s future.
Will Stevie Nicks and Don Henley share the limelight and stage, as the rumored Fleetwood Mac and Eagles co-headlining tour of classic rock appears to be close to being official? With Nicks and Henley as the most recognizable faces and names from their respective rock super groups of the 1970s, the pair also share a history which is both well publicized as well as shrouded in mystery.
The hardest aspect probably for putting a concert tour together like this one isn’t the logistics of it all. Although logistics can be challenging, the toughest obstacle in this case could be the various egos who are involved. Which band is the biggest? Is it Fleetwood Mac or the Eagles? Who will be closing the show out? Will there be more Fleetwood Mac or Eagle fans coming to the shows? How will all this affect the dynamics between the major principals from the two groups?
Then throw into the mix that Stevie Nicks and Don Henley had a love affair that was on and off again during the late ’70s to early ’80s. Now the situation is even more complicated. Although the pair are much older at this point, old romances are quite often hardwired into people’s psyches. To make things even more complicated, Nicks was also involved with three other participants from the proposed mega concert tour: Mick Fleetwood and Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac as well as Joe Walsh of the Eagles.
If that wasn’t enough for the makings of a potentially very tense situation, there’s an additional issue from the past as well. During an interview with GQ Magazine in the early ’90s, Don Henley said he thought that Nicks had become pregnant from him and then had an abortion, naming the unborn baby Sara. Henley said that he thought Nicks had written “Sara,” one of the most famous of her songs and dedicated the tune to the love child sired by Henley that never was.
In later years, Nicks made it quite clear that she was very unhappy over the statements made by Henley. She didn’t ever deny that she had been pregnant with a child of Henley’s, however she was quite unhappy that Henley had shared that during an interview given to a national magazine.
Over the years it does appear that Nicks and Henley patched things up to a certain extent. In recent years the pair have performed together on stage. The most notable of the appearances being during a mini tour that did not include Fleetwood or the Eagles, where they performed alone as well as together.
Although Nicks and Henley both become solo stars, neither were ever as big as solo artists as they were when they were members of Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, respectively. So although the small solo tour including the King and Queen from 1970′s rock seemed to go well, a pairing of Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles would garner much more attention and have higher stakes.
There’s been plenty of internal drama in both groups. However if they were brought together in order to sell out baseball and football stadiums all over the country, it could be quite interesting to watch the on stage dynamics, if they do end up performing together, as well as any off stage drama potentially leaking out to the public.
Although Nicks and Henley are both true professionals, as well as both nearly senior citizens, it’s unlikely there would be real dirty laundry exposed. Henley, for his part, is a married man. However if once again any of the interpersonal relationships should get complicated or emotional, it will be quite intriguing to see how that could affect the product performed on stage as well as the tour.