Fleetwood Mac is coming to Tampa.
It's the legendary, Grammy-winning rock outfit's first appearance since a December 2014 show in the same room, but the band will look a little different when it arrives at Amalie Arena on February 18 (hence the shitty photo at the top of this post).
THE RUMOURS ARE TRUE
Concert review: Fleetwood Mac lands at Amalie Arena in Tampa (2014)
On April 10, the band announced the departure of longtime guitarist Lindsey Buckingham (was he fired though?) and the addition of Mike Campbell, the former guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, plus Crowded House frontman Neil Finn. Billy Burnette — who was once hired to replace Buckingham the last time he left the band more than three decades ago — is a little salty about not being tapped to do the job again.
“Breaking news: Lindsey Buckingham is out but I’m not in,” Burnette wrote in a Twitter message that was deleted a few hours after it was posted.
Rolling Stone said Buckingham — who initially joined the group after Bob Welch left in 1974 — was canned after a dispute surrounding the scheduling of this tour coming to more than 50 North American cities.
“We were supposed to go into rehearsal in June and he wanted to put it off until November [2019],” Stevie Nicks said. “That’s a long time. I just did 70 shows [on a solo tour]. As soon as I finish one thing, I dive back into another. Why would we stop? We don’t want to stop playing music. We don’t have anything else to do. This is what we do.”
The rumour mill will continue to swirl around the lineup change, but Fleetwood Mac is focused on the band's catalog for now.
“Fleetwood Mac has always been about an amazing collection of songs that are performed with a unique blend of talents. We jammed with Mike and Neil and the chemistry really worked and let the band realize that this is the right combination to go forward with in Fleetwood Mac style. We know we have something new, yet it’s got the unmistakable Mac sound,” Mick Fleetwood said in a press release.
The Tampa show is one of just two Florida dates (the other is on February 20 at Ft. Lauderdale's BB&T Center), and tickets for all shows on the extensive tour will go on-sale to the general public starting on Friday, May 4 at 10 a.m. local time. They'll cost fans $69.50-$249.50.
American Express Card Members can purchase tickets in select markets before the general public beginning Monday, April 30 at 10 a.m. through May 3 at 10 p.m.
More information is available below.
This article appears in Apr 19-26, 2018.
