Fleetwood Mac founding member Mick Fleetwood says Australian tour will not be band’s final goodbye.
They are one of the world’s most successful bands, defying all odds to remain intact after almost half a century.
Fleetwood Mac are currently touring Australia with the same line-up that produced one of the biggest selling albums of all time — Rumours.
Christine McVie is back in the band after 17 years in semi-retirement alongside Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham and John McVie.
The band’s drummer and founding member Mick Fleetwood told 702 ABC Sydney Breakfast presenter Robbie Buck it was great to be back on the road.
“It has not got old,” he said.
“We have been on the road now with Christine for many, many months all over the world and it is truly amazing seeing this woman return.”
Fleetwood said this tour would not be the last time the Australian public would hear from the band.
“This is not goodbye,” he said.
“Stevie [Nicks] mentioned it to me the other night, saying: ‘this can’t be the goodbye tour because no one said that it was’.”
Experiencing the first Australian concert
The opening Sydney performance for the On With the Show tour was the first in two months for the band, after a break from the US and European legs.
And while Buckingham cheerfully complained of new blisters on his guitar hand, there was no doubt amongst the audience this was a band that could still move as one.
The band wore its history on its sleeve with pride.
Fleetwood brimmed with energy behind his giant kit, while the recently returned McVie glowed as she delivered Songbird and Don’t Stop.
Nicks proved her voice was still top of the game, belting out Gypsy and Dreams, all the while executing her slow-motion dervish whirls.
Remembering Rumours
Although one of the highest selling albums of all time, the recording of Rumours was beset by a litany of relationship breakdowns within the band.
Fleetwood admitted he was still amazed the band has stood the test of time.
“I often go back to the feeling that I get when I see this strange convoluted bunch of people walking on that stage, they have all been involved at such high levels of emotion at various times,” he said.
“John and Chris were married and then went their separate ways, Stevie and Lindsay; I had a relationship for a while with Stevie.”
Fleetwood said some of the relationships would never be fully repaired.
“It is like the cauldron of emotive challenges,” he said.
“If you were looking at it on a piece of paper you would say ‘this is not possible, this script for this film is pure fantasy’.
“But we look back on it and we did survive it — with damage and also with growth.
“I don’t think any one member of this band would sit around and say this has not been worth it, even with the pain involved.”
Fleetwood Mac are currently in Australia playing shows in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane and the Hunter Valley.
Robbie Buck and Brendan King / ABC News / Thursday, October 22, 2015
