Fleetwood Mac announces tour dates, discusses Lindsey Buckingham departure

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Fleetwood Mac has announced dates for its 2018 North American tour, weeks after the firing of Lindsey Buckingham.

The band replaced Buckingham with Crowded House's Neil Finn and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell, according to an April 9 statement.

“We are thrilled to welcome the musical talents of the caliber of Mike Campbell and Neil Finn into the Mac family,” the group statement said. “With Mike and Neil, we’ll be performing all the hits that the fans love, plus we’ll be surprising our audiences with some tracks from our historic catalogue of songs. Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution. We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour.

“Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour. The band wishes Lindsey all the best.”

According to the majority of the rock band -- Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood -- Buckingham's departure came from a scheduling conflict over a world tour.

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"We were supposed to go into rehearsal in June and he wanted to put it off until November (2019)," Nicks told Rolling Stone in an interview published Wednesday. "That's a long time. I just did 70 shows. As soon as I finish one thing, I dive back into another. Why would we stop?"

Instead, after meeting a month ago, the band decided to replace Buckingham and will go on a 52-date North American tour.

Related: Fleetwood Mac replaces Lindsey Buckingham with Neil Finn, Mike Campbell ahead of farewell tour

Rolling Stone reported that the group isn't willing to say Buckingham was fired, per se.

“Words like ‘fired’ are ugly references as far as I’m concerned,” Fleetwood said. “Not to hedge around, but we arrived at the impasse of hitting a brick wall. This was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a functioning band. To that purpose, we made a decision that we could not go on with him. Majority rules in terms of what we need to do as a band and go forward.”

“Our relationship has always been volatile. We were never married, but we might as well have been,” Nicks said. “This is sad for me, but I want the next 10 years of my life to be really fun and happy. I want to get up every day and dance around my apartment and smile and say, ‘Thank God for this amazing life.’”

Stevie Nicks of music group Fleetwood Mac pictured in  2018. Nicks and other members of the band discussed their upcoming tour and replacing Lindsey Buckingham in an interview with Rolling Stone. (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)

Credit: Steven Ferdman

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Credit: Steven Ferdman

The dates for Fleetwood Mac's North American tour are below. Most general public tickets go on sale starting May 4 at 10 a.m. local time. The tour starts in October in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and runs through 2019. More information is available at FleetwoodMac.com.

Oct. 3: Tulsa, Oklahoma, at BOK Center

Oct. 6: Chicago at United Center

Oct. 10: Louisville, Kentucky, at KFC Yum! Center (on sale May 11)

Oct. 12: Lincoln, Nebraska, at Pinnacle Bank Arena

Oct. 14: Des Moines, Iowa, at Wells Fargo Arena

Oct. 16: Indianapolis at Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Oct. 18: Kansas City, Missouri, at Sprint Center

Oct. 20: St. Louis at Scottrade Center

Oct. 22 : St. Paul, Minnesota, at Xcel Energy Center

Oct. 26: Cleveland at Quicken Loans Arena

Oct. 28: Milwaukee at Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center

Oct. 30: Detroit at Little Caesars Arena

Nov. 1: Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena

Nov. 3: Ottawa, Ontario, at Canadian Tire Centre

Nov. 5: Toronto at Air Canada Centre

Nov. 7: Columbus, Ohio, at Nationwide Arena

Nov. 10: Edmonton, Alberta, at Rogers Place

Nov. 12: Calgary, Alberta, at Scotiabank Saddledome

Nov. 14: Vancouver at Rogers Arena

Nov. 17: Tacoma, Washington, at Tacoma Dome

Nov. 19: Portland, Oregon, at Moda Center

Nov. 21: San Jose, California, at Center at San Jose

Nov. 23: Sacramento, California, at Golden 1 Center

Nov. 25: Oakland, California, at Oracle Arena

Nov. 28: Phoenix at Talking Stick Resort Arena

Nov. 30: Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena

Dec. 3: Denver at Pepsi Center

Dec. 6: Fresno, California, at Save Mart Center

Dec. 8: San Diego at Viejas Arena

Dec. 11: Inglewood, California, at The Forum

Dec. 13: Inglewood, California, at The Forum

Feb. 5: Houston at Toyota Center

Feb. 7: Dallas at American Airlines Center

Feb. 9: Austin, Texas, at Frank Erwin Center

Feb. 13: Birmingham, Alabama, at Legacy Arena at the BJCC

Feb. 16: New Orleans at Smoothie King Center

Feb. 18: Tampa, Florida, at Amalie Arena

Feb. 20: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at BB&T Center

Feb. 22: Columbia, South Carolina, at Colonial Life Arena

Feb. 24: Charlotte, North Carolina, at Spectrum Center

Feb. 27: Nashville, Tennessee, at Bridgestone Arena

March 3: Atlanta at Philips Arena

March 5: Washington at Capital One Arena

March 9: Atlantic City, New Jersey, at Boardwalk Hall

March 11: New York at Madison Square Garden

March 13: Newark, New Jersey, at Prudential Center

March 15: Hartford, Connecticut, at XL Center

March 20: Albany, New York, at Times Union Center

March 24: Baltimore at Royal Farms Arena

March 26:  Buffalo, New York, at KeyBank Center

March 31: Boston at TD Garden

April 5: Philadelphia at Wells Fargo Center

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