February 2020 | Rolling Stone | 29
M
ICK FLEETWOOD
should be relaxing.
Fleetwood Mac
just wrapped up a 13-month
world tour — their first since
parting ways with Lindsey
Buckingham and replacing
him with Tom Petty and
the Heartbreakers guitarist
Mike Campbell and Crowded
House frontman Neil Finn —
but the 72-year-old drummer
is already deep into planning
his next project: a tribute
concert to Peter Green,
who co-founded Fleetwood
Mac and wrote many of the
group’s early classics before
being sidelined by mental
illness and addiction issues.
The show is set for Febru-
ary 25th in London, with
special guests David Gilmour,
Christine McVie, John Mayall,
and Steven Tyler. “I wanted
people to know that I did not
form this band — Peter Green
did,” Fleetwood says. “And
I wanted to celebrate those
early years of Fleetwood
Mac, which started this mas-
sive ball that went down the
road over the last 50 years.”Peter Green hasn’t been
seen much in public over
the past decade. When is
the last time that you and
he spoke?
It was about a year and a
half ago. I went out with my
girlfriend, and spent the day
with him. He’s not the Peter
that I knew, clearly. But he
plays acoustic guitar. He loves
painting, and fishing is his
hobby. It’s no secret that he
took a left turn and never
came back, but he’s OK. He
also has really little or no ego
at all, which is unbelievable.
You want to go, “Do you re-
alize what you did?” “No, no.
Yeah, I suppose so.” He has
no ego about what he did.
Might he perform at the
show?
No. But it seems he’s going
to come. He wants to keep
a very, very low profile, and
that’s fine. This is about the
journey Peter took into the
music, and that music is still
alive. Everyone that’s on this
show has their own poignant
story about being connected
to that early band.
Will John McVie be there?
Not as of the moment. He’s
in the middle of one of hissailing trips. But Christine
[McVie] will be there.
Peter was one of about
10 guitarists who have left
the band over the years.
Why can’t you and John
ever hold onto guitarists?
We don’t really know. It’s
daunting when you look at all
the great guitarists that have
come through our ranks.
But John and I have always
just kept the band going. We
can’t do this on our own.
Every time [someone leaves]
we go, “Well, what the fuckare we going to do now?
Find another guitar player!”
I’ve heard there’s talk
of a Fleetwood Mac Broad-
way musical.
There’s always been talk
about doing something like
that. I hope it can happen
at some point. A lot of peo-
ple, understandably, would
say, “Wow, that would make
a really good musical.” It
is an incredibly interesting
story, especially the period
around Rumours. But it’s
not formed.How do you feel phys-
ically, after wrapping up
that recent marathon tour?
It’s actually coming off
the road that’s the downer.
You find yourself wonder-
ing why you start to get
antsy around 8 p.m. It’s this
military- type of stress where
you just keep going and
going, so you have to be care-
ful with how you work your
re-entry so you don’t beat
yourself up too much.
What are the future plans
for the group? I’ve read thatStevie Nicks is preparing a
long solo tour.
We had a lovely get-together
in L.A. about two weeks ago
after the tour. We are all very
open to that continuing in
the band. There’s no break-
ing up of the band. We were
like, “Give us a break. Give us
a few weeks before we start
wondering what to do.” In
the New Year, we’ll touch on
what the vision is.
What is your vision for
what that might be?
We’re not going to do a
[long] tour, I would say, ever
again. But there’s loads of
alternatives. People like Peter
Gabriel have a lovely way of
working where they go and
just do four or five major
festivals during the summer.
That’s the sort of vision that I
see for Fleetwood Mac. We’re
able to cherry-pick things
that have dignity, and are fun
to do, and they’re historically
interesting.
A lot of bands are doing
farewell tours now. Can you
ever see Fleetwood Mac
doing one of those?
I suppose. It would the right
thing to do, to let people
know you’re not wanting to
play again. We are not at that
point, but if we get there,
it’s a pretty good, gracious
thing to let people know
they’ll never see the band
play again.
Do you see any scenar-
io where you’d ever play
with Lindsey Buckingham
again?
No. Fleetwood Mac is a
strange creature. We’re very,
very committed to Neil and
Mike, and that passed away
a time ago, when Lindsey
left. And it’s not a point of
conversation, so I have to
say no. It’s a full drama of
Fleetwood Mac, no doubt.
His legacy is alive and well,
and as it should be. A major,
major part that will never
be taken away, and never be
down-spoken by any of us.
Neil and Mike have tremen-
dous respect for Lindsey.
The situation was no secret.
We were not happy. It was
not working, and we parted
company. And that really is
the all of it.
Have you spoken to Lind-
sey since his heart attack?
I have not.The drummer on paying tribute to Peter Green, Fleetwood
Mac’s future, and his relationship with Lindsey BuckinghamBy ANDY GREENEMick Fleetwood
Q&A
AM
AN
DA
D
EM
ME