Mick Fleetwood revealed that he recently reconnected with his former bandmate, Lindsey Buckingham, more than two years after he was fired from Fleetwood Mac .
In a new interview with Page Six , the 73-year-old rock legend said he spoke to Buckingham on the phone following the death of Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green in July, but he stopped short of confirming whether they will ever reunite on stage.
“Lindsey said, ‘I know you’re really sad and of course, I was,’” Fleetwood said . “That’s what reconnected me and Lindsey. We had the greatest talk. It was like we’d just spoken five minutes ago.”
While their estrangement is now over, Fleetwood was vague when asked if Buckingham will ever return as the group’s guitarist. He admitted to the outlet he “has no idea” if Buckingham will ever play for Fleetwood Mac again due to the past drama with his ex-bandmates.
“I think the reality is without going into huge detail, one of the things I always say is that the disconnect happened and there were emotions that were somewhat not removable and there are personal things within the band and Lindsey’s world.”
The drummer added that Buckingham’s work with the group “is never going to go away,” but that he has an operational band following his departure.
“You know time heals and it was lovely to be able to talk with him,” he added.
Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975 with his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks. He penned and was the lead singer of some of the band’s biggest songs, including “Go Your Own Way” and “Tusk.”
But ahead of Fleetwood Mac’s 2018 North American tour, the bandmates fired Buckingham and announced he would be replaced by former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House singer/guitarist Neil Finn.
In an interview with CBS This Morning , Buckingham revealed he was given the bad news by longtime manager Irving Azoff, who told him it was Nicks who wanted him out of the group he had been a part of for more than 40 years. Buckingham ultimately filed a lawsuit against his ex-bandmates. He also revealed that he was “open” to returning to Fleetwood Mac in the future but doubted it would happen due to the “politics” involved.
While Fleetwood had no update on a possible musical reunion with Buckingham, he did say he hopes to return to performing on stage in a post-coronavirus world sometime soon.