Steve Nicks all but confirmed in a new interview with Vulture that Fleetwood Mac is done and will no longer perform following the November 2022 passing of singer-songwriter and longtime band member Christine McVie. Nicks’ comment echoes similar thoughts that Mick Fleetwood shared in February when he told theLos Angeles Times, “I think right now, I truly think the line in the sand has been drawn with the loss of Chris. I’d say we’re done, but then we’ve all said that before. It’s sort of unthinkable right now.”
“When Christine died, I felt like you can’t replace her. You just can’t,” Nicks now told Vulture. “Without her, what is it? You know what I mean? She was like my soul mate, my musical soul mate, and my best friend that I spent more time with than any of my other best friends outside of Fleetwood Mac. Christine was my best friend. When I think about Taylor Swift’s song ‘You’re on Your Own, Kid’ and the line ‘you always have been,’ it was like, that was Christine and I. We were on our own in that band. We always were. We protected each other. Who am I going to look over to on the right and have them not be there behind that Hammond organ? When she died, I figured we really can’t go any further with this. There’s no reason to.”
“And her songs, you take out all of those songs,” Nicks continued. “Christine was the pop star. She wrote all those really super pop hits. None of the rest of us could write those songs. What would happen is we’d have to take the songs out, like we did when she actually retired for 18 years. We couldn’t re-create those songs. So we became a much more hard-rock band.”
McVie died Nov. 30, 2022, following a short illness. Fleetwood Mac’s statement at the time read: “There are no words to describe our sadness at the passing of Christine McVie. She was truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure. She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life. We were so lucky to have a life with her. Individually and together, we cherished Christine deeply and are thankful for the amazing memories we have. She will be so very missed.”
Nicks herself published an open letter shortly after McVie’s passing in which she wrote, “Part of my heart has flown away today… I will miss everything about you.”
