Lindsey Buckingham wants to return to Fleetwood Mac to "heal" their rift after Christine McVie’s death

6 February 2024, 12:43

Mick Fleetwood and Friends celebrate the music of Peter Green

Lindsey Buckingham was forced from Fleetwood Mac in 2018, and it seems as though the time for a return has gone.

From the departure of leader Peter Green and slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer on, Fleetwood Mac have survived countless lineup changes over the years.

When Lindsey Buckingham was forced from the group in 2018, he was replaced by Heartbreaker Mike Campbell and Crowded House man Neil Finn, and the band played on.

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The prospect of a Buckingham return veered from "never" to "maybe" depending on who you were talking to and when, but when Christine McVie sadly died in November 2022, it seemed as though the chance of a reconciliation was gone forever.

Mick Fleetwood, one of the band's only two ever-presents alongside Christine's ex-husband John McVie, said as much a year ago.

"I think right now, I truly think the line in the sand has been drawn with the loss of Chris," Mick said. "I’d say we’re done, but then we’ve all said that before. It's sort of unthinkable right now."

That view was later echoed by Stevie Nicks, who said in October 2023: "Without her, what is it? You know what I mean? When she died, I figured we really can’t go any further with this. There’s no reason to."

But now Lindsey Buckingham has said that he would still be interested in rejoining the group and help "heal" the rift caused by his previous departure.

“In a heartbeat, absolutely," he told Conan O'Brien on SirusXM (via Ultimate Classic Rock) when asked about a reunion.

"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."

Opening up about his controversial departure, Buckingham alluded to his previous remarks that he was forced from the group by Stevie Nicks.

"Without pointing any fingers, it was certainly fairly singular in how it was driven," he said. "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?”

Buckingham added: "I was in the band for almost 45 years and we were always – this is always part of our legacy – we were always able to work out our differences over things of which were far more profound than any issues that happened in 2018 with me departing the band."

Of his replacement by Campbell and Finn, he said: "The band collectively allowing that to happen, maybe out of weakness to some degree, it disrespected the legacy we built.

"Because we’d been through 45 years almost of really some very difficult moments, some very difficult years, and we’d come back around. Like I say, that’s our legacy. So to some degree, to go out and do something more generic was not honouring our legacy."