Last week, Christine McVie stunned Fleetwood Mac fans when she told the BBC she didn’t know if the band would ever tour again. “If we do, it will be without John [McVie] and without Stevie [Nicks], I think,” she said. “I think I’m getting a bit too old for it now, especially having had a year off. I don’t know if I can get myself back into it again.”
“[John] is feeling a little bit frail,” she continued. “You know he was ill. He’s fine, but he just hasn’t got the heart for it any more. He wants to get on his boat. You reach a certain age where you go: ‘Hey, I’m not going to bust a gut doing this anymore.’”
She concluded by saying that only drummer Mick Fleetwood would definitely be down for another tour. “[He] would do it in a lightning strike,” she said. “But I couldn’t possibly say. We’re certainly not touring this year either.”
The comments generated headlines around the world. But now, McVie has clarified to Rolling Stone where the group stands with regard to future touring.
“First and foremost, I’m thrilled to see that everyone still cares so much about Fleetwood Mac, how humbling to know what a lasting impact this band has had,” she said. “To clarify my recent comments, I was specifically asked if Fleetwood Mac would tour again. I gave a cheeky answer indicating that the band might be ‘done with that’ or ‘you just never know.’ I always intended to convey that, particularly after the last year, we just don’t know what the future holds.
“In no way are any members of Fleetwood Mac ‘done’ with being part of the band,” she continues. “If anyone took that from my statement, that was a misperception and not intended. Fleetwood Mac is part of the DNA of who I am, and I know the same is true for Stevie, Mick and John. As for future touring………Who knows. We continue to hope for the best.”
The band has been on hiatus since the conclusion of their An Evening With Fleetwood Mac tour in November 2019. It was their first tour since parting ways with singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and bringing Crowded House’s Neil Finn and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell into the fold.
In February 2020, Mick Fleetwood staged a tribute concert to Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green at the London Palladium featuring Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Steven Tyler, Billy Gibbons, Neil Finn, John Mayall, Kirk Hammett and Christine McVie. It’s coming to movie theaters on March 23rd and March 28th and will be released as a live album and DVD on April 30th.
