In June, Fleetwood Mac fired longtime guitarist Lindsey Buckingham from the band following a disagreement about their then-upcoming tour. He was replaced by a pair of guitarists, Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House. With the new lineup, Fleetwood Mac kicked off their tour last night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The band decided to throw a couple of nods to their new guitarists’ careers into their set, which included renditions of Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” on which Campbell used to sing backing vocals for Petty live, and Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over.”
Campbell previously spoke about the band covering “Free Fallin’,” saying in a recent interview, “Stevie wanted to do that one. I love that song, but I’ve just played it so much. I said to her, ‘Do we have to?’ She said, ‘The crowd will love it. It’ll be a moment.’ So I’m getting into it again.”
Nicks had a strong relationship with Petty, and after his death, she shared a story about a time in 1994 when he refused to help her write a song (for good reason): “I had a visitation from an old boyfriend, right after my rehab, and it had shaken me. I asked Tom if he would help me write a song. And he said, ‘No. You are one of the premier songwriters of all time. You don’t need me to write a song for you.’ He said, ‘Just go to your piano and write a good song. You can do that.'”
Watch Fleetwood Mac perform “Free Fallin'” above.
