Heartbreakers and Crowded House Songs to Be Part of Fleetwood Mac Set Lists
Fleetwood Mac's decision to part ways with Lindsey Buckingham for their upcoming tour prompted the question of what will take the place of the songs written by Buckingham in the set list.
In a new interview, Mick Fleetwood hinted that the band will incorporate highlights from the careers of the two men taking Buckingham's place, Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House.
The drummer told Yahoo! that Fleetwood Mac's heritage and their background is going to be appropriately part of the show,” but noted that nothing has been determined yet. “We’re all exchanging lists, emailing madly backwards and forwards,” he said.
Shortly after the tour was announced, Stevie Nicks said that Buckingham's departure gave Fleetwood Mac an opportunity to play songs from before she and Buckingham arrived in 1974, citing her desire to perform earlier songs like "Rattlesnake Shake," "Station Man" and "Oh Well."
"And I think Stevie’s even threatening to sing ‘Black Magic Woman,’ which sounds more than exciting!" Fleetwood added. "I think everything is just open, looking at what we’ve done since the beginning and no doubt touching on some of the blues stuff that Campbell, very specifically, is insisting that we do. And happily so.”
It's left the band with an embarrassment of riches to choose from.
“I was around Stevie’s house the other night with Campbell, and we quietly realized that we were heading towards a three-hour show! It was a sort of comedic moment,” Fleetwood said. “We’re looking forward to putting on an incredibly vibrant show that is truly groundbreaking, for us, and that’s about as good as it can get for a musician to be in that sort of non-complacent place.”
In addition to the tour, Fleetwood also suggested that the songwriting talents of the two newcomers could result in an album by the band.
“I don’t think you can keep the horse in the trap, so to speak, when it comes to Christine [McVie] and Stevie,” he said. “They’re still connected to everything about writing and having a whole new approach to it. Mike is hugely conversant with production and has written way more than I ever, ever knew. And he’s worked with Stevie, writing and producing and a lot of stuff that Stevie did through the years with Tom and, of course, the Heartbreakers. And Neil is a given; he’s just a hugely connected songwriter that really covers a huge gamut.
"I truly believe that [new music] will happen. I’m hoping that we can throw out a couple of calling cards before we go out on the road. I’m not quite sure that we can apply ourselves to do that, but all of that is to look forward to. It’s hugely important, whichever way you look at it, for a band to remain being creative [and] not treading water.”
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