Fleetwood Mac 1975
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Music, not love, keeps Fleetwood Mac together…

It’s three split-ups and one big hit

For a long while, the major distinction of Fleetwood Mac was not cashbox success but rather that it was the most groupie-proof rock group on the road. Co-founder drummer Mick Fleetwood was a joyously married father of two. John McVie, his co-captain, was wed to the Toni Tennille of hard rock, Christine, the outfit’s keyboardist and one of its singer/songwriters. And lately joining those Brits were two Californians, inventive lead guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and his own lady of eight years, Stevie Nicks, a singer-writer, too, and electric onstage writher.

The group enjoyed only modish attention in the States until suddenly last fall Chris’s creamily smooth “Over My Head” became a smash single. A tumultuous tour made the quintet’s first joint, superbly diverse LP, Fleetwood Mac, into a colossal platinum hit. After an astounding 41-week stay on the charts, sales are soaring toward two million.

Chris, 32, who, with Stevie, has added a softened, more melodic feel to the Mc Vie-Fleetwood rock bottom, confesses, “I’m mystified. I just write songs by stepping into other people’s shoes. Lyrics derive from relationships around me. That makes it easier to write love songs.”

Sadly, Chris may find that sort of material increasingly scarce. Love has kept the Captain and Tennille together, but, after seven years, road fever has put the Fleetwood Mac members personally (if not professionally) asunder. The McVies broke up late last year. Fleetwood and his ex-model wife, Jenny, are getting divorced, and the Buckingham-Nicks nonmarital arrangement ended just last month.

“We married two years before I joined the group,” Chris recaps calmly. “Then I joined in 1970 and we were together all the time. But after five years on the road seeing each other at our worst, we never had that space to step back, to enjoy missing someone—that sweet sorrow trip. Otherwise, you can go insane. We were Siamese twins. ‘Hi Chris, where’s John? Hi, John, where’s Chris?’ ” The wisest perspective on what happened comes perhaps from John. “It was very heavy for a couple of months,” he says soberly. “But what matters now is accepting what’s left between us. Look, man, we were together every second for more than five years, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, in the studio, on the road, during time off. In anyone else’s scene, we were married for the equivalent of 40 years.”

Chris wants now “to be in a vacuum, to have no problems,” and like all five Macs, to get on with the music and transcend any centrifugal peevishness that could corrode their platinum status. John has a new lady now, but he reports with unmistakable affection that “Chris’s reaction to the whole thing has been extremely mature.”

Only a hardily seasoned and disarming wit could have enabled her to survive the road life all these years. Born Christine Perfect in England’s Birmingham, she had to put up with even more nameplays at school than Chevy Chase. Her father, a music professor who gave violin recitals at cathedrals, urged her on to a career in classical piano. But by 12, Chris “loathed piano,” went to art school for five years and “finished as a uselessly qualified sculptress.” By then her musical tastes had been secularized by the Everly Brothers and black blues artists like B. B. King and Otis Spann. To escape deepening boredom as a London department store window dresser, she joined a local club band, Chicken Shack, and shortly thereafter fell in love with McVie. Along with Fleetwood, he had played with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers on the mid-’60s English blues club circuit.

“It takes stamina to stay in rock,” says Chris. “Lots of girls try it and slip by the wayside. You have to take care of yourself and avoid the weird drugs, or even the heavy-duty Southern Comfort stuff. You can definitely fall down and end up in an asylum. But I don’t see why a girl couldn’t sit down and learn lead guitar,” she continues. “I daresay to a guy it’d be rather sexy,” she adds, mock-riffing on an imaginary ax. “But I guess it is a bit butch. I like to retain my femininity, even in jeans [she has 40 pairs]. I don’t want to come off the least bit lezzo—leather jumpsuits and all that.”

A new LP is near ready, but luxuriantly being held while Fleetwood Mac thrives, and a summer tour is planned. And money is also coming in from previously frozen oldie revenues. It was held up by a still unsettled court battle against an ex-manager who sent out a bogus “Fleetwood Mac” group. “Money is frightening,” admits Chris, who plans to move from a rented apartment in Hollywood and buy a home. “I like to spend it as it comes in as long as I can pay taxes and live comfortably.” (She’s a tax exile from the U.K. where she would be in the 83 percent bracket.)

Road life has toughened Chris. “You have to detect the real friends from the lurking creeps with ulterior motives. Female groupies line themselves up for me—not sexually, thank God—and they turn out to be people who (a) write poetry, (b) write songs, (c) want to be palsy-walsy with me or (d) fancy the drummer.” But for now Chris and comrades can cope with the peculiar perquisites—and domestic pains—of hard-won rock fame. “It’s all just another chapter of weird Mac karma,” muses the dry, laconic Fleetwood. “We all got it on so right, musically, from the start—and we all have ended up biting the emotional shoulder.”

PHOTO (COLOR):Chris McVie wrote almost half the LP that made Fleetwood Mac a supergroup when ail three of its couples were splitting, including her and co-founder John.

PHOTO (COLOR):”To a guy, a girl on lead guitar or drums would be sexy. But to me, I daresay, it’d be rather butch. The piano isn’t.”

PHOTO (COLOR):They play and stay together despite the breakups: from left, John McVie, bass, Chris’s ex; Lindsey Buckingham, guitar; Mick Fleetwood, drums (divorcing); singer Stevie Nicks, Lindsey’s ex; and Chris.

PHOTO (COLOR):”We still enjoy playing and working together,” says John, with Chris. “It’s bizarre what you win—and pay.”

PHOTO (COLOR):”You must take care of yourself,” finds Chris. “I’ve never popped pills or done weird drugs. If anything, I’m a wino.”

PHOTO (COLOR):In her L.A. pad between tours, McVie says, “I’m a bit of a cynic. I know the reasons people hang around. I love time to myself.”

Jim Jerome / People (Vol. 5 Issue 19, p71. 2p.) / May 17, 1976 

stevienicks

LIVE IN CONCERT (2024)

Stevie Nicks

MAY 3, 2024 – MAY 5, 2024
Lovin’ Life Fest
Charlotte, NC
TICKETS

MAY 7, 2024
Enterprise Center
St Louis, MO
TICKETS

MAY 10, 2024
WinStar World Casino & Resort
Thackerville, OK
TICKETS

MAY 14, 2024
Bridgestone Arena
Nashville, TN
TICKETS

MAY 18, 2024
Frost Bank Center
San Antonio, TX
TICKETS

MAY 21, 2024
Yaamava’ Resort & Casino – Yaamava’ Theater
Highland, CA
TICKETS

MAY 24, 2024
BottleRock Napa Valley
Napa, CA
TICKETS

MAY 27, 2024
Delta Center
Salt Lake City, UT
TICKETS

MAY 30, 2024
Ball Arena
Denver, CO
TICKETS

JUN 4
Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, IN
TICKETS

JUN 9 
Mohegan Sun Casino
Uncasville, CT
TICKETS

JUN 12
MVP Arena
Albany, NY
TICKETS

JUN 15
Hersheypark Stadium
Hershey, PA
TICKETS

JUN 18
Van Andel Arena
Grand Rapids, MI
TICKETS

JUN 21, 2024 (with Billy Joel)
Soldier Field
Chicago, IL
TICKETS

JUL 12, 2024
BST Hyde Park
London, England
TICKETS

^ Non-Live Nation show


Previous 2023 dates

March 10, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Los Angeles, CA
SoFi Stadium

March 15, 2023
Seattle, WA
Climate Pledge Arena

March 18, 2023
Las Vegas, NV
T-Mobile Arena

May 12, 2023
Raleigh, NC
PNC Arena

May 16, 2023
Knoxville, TN
Thompson-Boling Arena

May 19, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Nashville, TN
Nissan Stadium

May 22, 2023
Atlanta, GA
State Farm Arena

May 25, 2023
Orlando, FL
Amway Center

June 16, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Philadelphia, PA
Lincoln Financial Field

June 20, 2023
Toronto, ON (Canada)
Scotiabank Arena

June 23, 2023
Chicago, IL
United Center

June 27, 2023
Louisville, KY
KFC Yum! Center

August 5, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Columbus, OH
Ohio Stadium

August 8, 2023
Milwaukee, WI
Fiserv Forum

August 12, 2023
Houston, TX
Toyota Center

August 15, 2023
Austin, TX
Moody Center

August 19, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Kansas City, MO
Arrowhead Stadium

September 23, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Foxborough, MA
Gillette Stadium

September 27, 2023
Pittsburgh, PA
PPG Paints Arena

October 1, 2023
New York, NY
Madison Square Garden

October 4, 2023
Buffalo, NY
KeyBank Center

October 7, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Baltimore, MD 
M&T Bank Stadium

October 28, 2023
Memphis, TN
FedEx Forum

November 1, 2023
Savannah, GA
Enmarket Arena

November 4, 2023
Allentown, PA
PPL Center

November 7, 2023
Detroit, MI
Little Caesars Arena

November 10, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Minneapolis, MN
U.S. Bank Stadium

November 29, 2023
San Diego, CA
Viejas Arena

December 2, 2023
Inglewood, CA
The Kia Forum

December 5, 2023
Palm Desert, CA
Acisure Arena

December  8, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Phoenix, AZ
Chase Field

December 12, 2023
Sacramento, CA
Golden 1 Center

December 15, 2023
San Francisco, CA
Chase Center

FEB 10, 2024
Mark G Etess Arena
Atlantic City, NJ

FEB 14, 2024
UBS Arena
Belmont Park, NY

FEB 17, 2024
CFG Bank Arena
Baltimore, MD

FEB 21, 2024
Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Greenville, SC

FEB 24, 2024
Hard Rock Live
Hollywood, FL

FEB 28, 2024
Smoothie King Center
New Orleans, LA

MAR 3, 2024
CHI Health Center
Omaha, NE

MAR 6, 2024
Simmons Bank Arena
North Little Rock, AR

MAR 9, 2024
AT&T Stadium
Arlington, TX
Billy Joel

 



2022 Tour

Stevie Nicks

Jazz Aspen Snowmass
Snowmass, CO
Labor Day 2022

Ravinia Festival
Highland Park, IL
September 8, 2022
September 10, 2022

Pine Knob Music Theatre
Clarkston, MI
September 13, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Sea Hear Now Festival
Asbury, NJ
September 17, 2022

Xfinity Center
Mansfield, MA
September 19, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Maine Savings Amphitheatre
Bangor, ME
September 22, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Sound on Sound Festival
Bridgeport, CT
September 24-25, 2022

Ohana Festival
Dana Point, CA
September 30, 2022

Hollywood Bowl
Los Angeles, CA
October 3, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

POSTPONED
Ak-Chin Pavilion

Phoenix, AZ
October 6, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

POSTPONED
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

The Woodlands, TX
October 9, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Alpharetta, GA
October 12, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Ascend Amphitheater
Nashville, TN
October 16, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Credit One Stadium
Charleston, SC
October 19, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

PNC Music Pavilion
Charlotte, NC
October 22, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Tampa, FL
October 25, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
West Palm Beach, FL
October 28, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Orion Amphitheatre
Huntsville, AL
October 31, 2022

RESCHEDULED SHOWS

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
The Woodlands, TX
November 2, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Ak-Chin Pavilion
Phoenix, AZ
November 5, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton