The tragic death of Christine McVie in 2022 seems to have ended any chance of a Fleetwood Mac reunion, but two of the group’s most fractious parties have hinted at the most unlikely of reconciliations.
“And if you go forward…” read the handwritten text on an image posted by Nicks. “I’ll meet you there.” posted Buckingham just moments later.
The Buckingham Nicks album flopped on its release, but both musician found success when they joined Fleetwood Mac on New Year’s Eve 1974, in time for the following year’s Fleetwood Mac album.
Buckingham and Nicks had gone to the same high school together and started dating after their band Fritz broke up at the start of the 1970s.
They had an acrimonious breakup by 1977, and their split was chronicled in several songs by the band from their era-defining Rumours album.
Nicks’ ‘Silver Springs’ and ‘Dreams’ were about the end of the relationship, as were Buckingham’s ‘Go Your Own Way’ and ‘Second Hand News’.
Despite the bitter end of their romantic involvement they both stayed in Fleetwood Mac till Buckingham was forced from the lineup in 2018, when he was replaced for the band’s final run by Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.
Buckingham Nicks – Frozen Love (1973)
Buckingham is on the record as saying Nicks was the reason he was fired from Fleetwood Mac.
Lindsey claimed that the band’s manager, Irving Azoff, called him at home to tell him: “Stevie never wants to be on a stage with you again.”
There were occasional barbs thrown back and forth, but in July 2024 Fleetwood Mac ever-present Mick Fleetwood urged some sort of reconciliation.
“It’s no secret, it’s no tittle-tattle that there is a brick wall there emotionally,” Mick told Mojo in 2024.
Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way (Official Music Video) [HD]
“Stevie’s able to speak clearly about how she feels and doesn’t feel, as does Lindsey. But I’ll say, personally, I would love to see a healing between them – and that doesn’t have to take the shape of a tour, necessarily.”
And for his part, when asked the same year about some sort of Fleetwood Mac reunion after Christine McVie’s death, Buckingham told Conan O’Brien on SirusXM: “In a heartbeat, absolutely.
“If there’s more to come, if there’s a way to heal that, that would be great. It would be very appropriate to close on a more circular note.”
Fleetwood Mac – Second Hand News – Live 1982 US Festival
Of his departure from the group in 2018, he added: “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?”
