Fleetwood Mac fans speculate after sudden flurry of band activity
New social media activity comes as Stevie Nicks performs on ‘Saturday Night Live’ for the first time in 41 years
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Fleetwood Mac fans are curious about a sudden flurry of activity from bandmembers and on social media.
Over the weekend, a new Instagram account popped up featuring an “authenticated” blue tick and a description that reads: “The official Instagram account of Fleetwood Mac.” Set to private, it is currently followed by eight people, including Stevie Nicks.
This, and the recent activation of a Fleetwood Mac TikTok account, comes as Nicks performed on Saturday Night Live for the first time in 41 years.
On Saturday 12 October’s episode, Nicks appeared alongside pop star Ariana Grande and performed two songs, including her recent single “The Lighthouse”, which was inspired by the controversial overturning of Roe v Wade in the US.
“I wrote this song a few months after Roe v Wade was overturned,” Nicks, 76, said in a statement upon the song’s release last month. “It seemed like overnight, people were saying ‘What can we, as a collective force, do about this?’
She continued: “For me, it was to write a song. It took a while because I was on the road. Then early one morning, I was watching the news on TV and a certain newscaster said something that felt like she was talking to me – explaining what the loss of Roe v Wade would come to mean. I wrote the song the next morning and recorded it that night.
“That was 6 September 2022. I have been working on it ever since. I have often said to myself, ‘This may be the most important thing I ever do.’ To stand up for the women of the United States and their daughters and granddaughters – and the men who love them. This is an anthem.”
During the show, Nicks also performed “The Edge of Seventeen”, the third solo single from her 1981 debut solo album, Bella Donna.
On social media, fans praised her performance while speculating as to the significance of the band’s new Instagram and TikTok accounts: “Fleetwood Mac making an official Instagram and TikTok we are cooked,” one fan wrote on X/Twitter.
“Fleetwood Mac making an Instagram. Somebody sedate me,” another fan joked.
One said: “There’s a new official Fleetwood Mac Instagram and TikTok account!! could be related to Stevie on SNL, could be an announcement – nobody knows and we’re all going crazy.”
The Independent has contacted Fleetwood Mac’s representatives for comment.
This week (18 October) marks the 45th anniversary of their 12th studio album, Tusk, which marked a new experimental era for the band.
Band co-founder Mick Fleetwood said in a June interview with Mojo magazine that he hoped his estranged former bandmates Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham would one day reconcile.
“It’s no secret, it’s no title-tattle that there is a brick wall there emotionally,” he said. “Stevie’s able to speak clearly about how she feels and doesn’t feel, as does Lindsey.
“But I’ll say, personally, I would love to see a healing between them – and that doesn’t have to take the shape of a tour, necessarily.”
The rift between the two musicians led to Buckingham’s ousting in 2018 ahead of their North America tour, for which he later sued after accusing his Fleetwood Mac bandmates of breach of contract.
In an appearance on CBS in December that year, Buckingham said that a settlement had been reached: “We’ve all signed off on something,” he said “I’m happy enough with it. I’m not out there trying to twist the knife at all. I’m trying to look at this with some level of compassion, some level of wisdom.”
After Buckingham’s departure from Fleetwood Mac, Crowded House frontman Neil Finn and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell joined the band for a world tour.
Longtime singer, songwriter and keys player Christine McVie died unexpectedly in 2022, which Nicks has said signalled an end to the group.
“Without Christine, no can do,” she told Mojo in June that year. “There is no chance of putting Fleetwood Mac back together in any way. Without her, it just couldn’t work.”
Fleetwood also told Mojo that he had expected the band would tour again before McVie’s death.
“There was a full intention, without waiting too long, that we’d go and pick things back up,” he said. “That we’d play stadiums, big shows and festivals… and then at that point it was heading towards us saying goodbye.”
He previously said in 2023 that the idea of a reunion was “unthinkable” without McVie.
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