"silver springs" is just the beginning

more angry, intense, and spiritually revealing stevie nicks and lindsey buckingham videos to remind you witches are real and grudges rock (and roll)

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If you’re anything like me (god I hope you’re not) then you are a completionist when it comes to decades-long interpersonal relationship drama relayed through art. Famous people publicly airing out the intense love and hate they have for someone they used to fuck is so beautifully and uniquely human, in my humble and mentally ill opinion! We all have at least one person we intensely love and hate, someone we’d love to write a seething screenplay about, one that will later star much-hotter approximations, the object of scorn humiliated through an exaggeratedly pithy plot. Or maybe a song, the lyrics cutting and compelling and engineered for melancholic pain, that you get to perform in perpetuity for the rest of your life.

Now, imagine performing said song in front of a rapt audience of dedicated fans, and then later seeing this performance on YouTube where it nets 49 million views in six years—a decade after it was first recorded and put on videotape, meaning those views are actually a lot higher. And you do this all while staring down the subject of the song, the ex who tore your life apart 30 years earlier when you first wrote the words. Oh, and imagine that the song was originally removed from the album it was intended to go on—the eighth best-selling album of all time, no less—but when you revived it for this performance it became its own monster hit and netted you millions of additional dollars to add to the enormous wealth you already have by writing about this shithead.

Stevie Nicks, the woman that you are.

Fleetwood Mac’s live version of “Silver Springs”, recorded during their 1997 reunion special The Dance, is one of the great iconic performances. So beloved that there’s merch dedicated to it. It’s made even better when you realize that the object of Stevie’s scorn, fellow band member and ex-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, is PLAYING GUITAR ON THE SONG. And also helped write said guitar arrangement. I will never not be obsessed with the fact that these two built a musical industry atop their volatile romance, not only in their individual work but also as collaborators. Imagine helping your ex-girlfriend who hates you write a song about how much you suck in the middle of your breakup! This is just one reason why Rumours is so legendary. The other reason is that every song is a fucking BANGER, including “Silver Springs”, a B-side removed from the main album last-second for timing purposes. (It was replaced by “Gold Dust Woman”, which is also extraordinary and also about Lindsey Buckingham being a womanizing piece of shit!)

I’ve been a Mac fan for a long time, but my obsession really ramped up in the Tumblr era, when fan pages appeared and shared all sorts of quotes, clips, and vintage gossip about the band¹. I went deep beyond the surface-level facts and into the guts of these wild ass people, the Rumours-era lineup specifically. That includes Stevie and Lindsey, two Californian bohemians who joined the British band in 1974 when they were looking for a new guitarist. As legend has it, drummer Mick Fleetwood heard Buckingham’s guitar on the track “Frozen Love”, from his album with Nicks titled, appropriately, Buckingham Nicks. The two were high school friends who performed in a Bay Area psychedelic band Fritz before branching out on their own. They fell in love, lived in poverty as struggling artists for years, and then found moderate success with Buckingham Nicks’ self-titled album in 1973. But joining Fleetwood Mac, already a well-known band in the UK (that already had a weird-ass reputation—Google Peter Green or Bob Welch if you want another Mac-related rabbit hole), was their real claim to fame. The group released the album Fleetwood Mac in 1975, which topped the Billboard 200 chart and has some of the group’s most memorable songs, like “Rhiannon”, “Monday Morning”, and “Landslide”.

The success of that album made the band mega-famous but also initiated some of the interpersonal drama that would become their mythos. Buckingham, always a bit of a dickhead, was jealous of the public’s reception of Nicks, the only band member who didn’t play an instrument and was therefore a bit of mockery inside the group, especially to Buckingham. But Nicks had what the band needed to break through: incredible lyric writing, sex appeal, and a stage persona that gave the group its iconic look—mystical and mesmerizing. The rivalry, along with the mountains of cocaine the band started doing together, led to their eventual dissolution as a couple. And they weren’t the only ones; keyboardist Christine McVie and bassist John McVie, a married couple, divorced around the same time. That fractioning created Rumours, which the band recorded in the midst of these duel breakups. The result is a series of tracks that range from aching and nostalgic to straight-up scathing. (It didn’t help that both Nicks and McVie moved on to other rockstars; Nicks started dating Don Henley of The Eagles—at the time a spitting image of Buckingham—and McVie had a love affair with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys. The two also had relationships with crew people on Rumours.)

I could keep going on the lore and legend of Fleetwood Mac, but it’s far too much to get into. (Although I should point out that Buckingham was kicked out of Fleetwood Mac in 2018, in part because he “wasn’t very nice to Harry Styles”.) The true purpose of this post is to offer some “further reading” as it relates to the “Silver Springs” performance. Many people are aware of that one but less familiar with the bevy of other Buckingham/Nicks content that exists online and chronicles their petty, messy, beautiful bullshit. I have a playlist of their most deranged stage moments, along with some other songs and behind-the-scenes stuff, that can further elaborate on my favorite drama queens so I’m here today to share it with you all. As someone who would absolutely fucking loooooooooooove to unfurl my wrath on a handful of men who’ve made my life unnecessarily difficult, but who is trying very hard these days to retain an air of maturity, I like to live vicariously through my witch queen Stevie Nicks. And I’d like to spread the gospel of her dedication to making Lindsey suffer publicly because we could all use a momentary distraction from global horrors in the form of some good fucking music.

“Frozen Love” album recording, 1973

Before we get into the live performances, I have to share the aforementioned “Frozen Love” off of Buckingham Nicks so you can get a taste of just how fucking GOOD these two sound together, separate from Fleetwood Mac. Lyrically, it’s also a pretty good indicator of where they were headed. The whole song is about resentment for a partner dressed up in lyrics trying desperately to be romantic. But I mean, “Hate gave you me for a lover”? It’s pretty clear they were already in the early stages of a teardown. But it’s also pretty clear that they’re incredible at writing songs about their tumultuous back-and-forth.

Sadly, Buckingham Nicks never got a digital or CD release. You can only hear it if you buy the original vinyl on resale markets. (I bought a pretty pristine copy about a decade ago for $50 on eBay—they now go for, uh, a bit more than that.) Luckily, all of the tracks are also available in decent quality on YouTube. I yearn for the day they make up just enough to remaster and rerelease on digital, but that doesn’t seem super likely given Nicks’ ongoing wrath for her former partner.

“Landslide” live, 1975

“Landslide” is arguably Stevie’s most famous song, not just for the impossibly beautiful lyrics but for its many covers (namely, the Dixie Chicks’ version). But I don’t think any version comes close to beating this live performance from 1975, ahead of the release of the band’s self-titled album. Stevie wrote “Landslide” in Aspen, just three months before joining the band and, despite her story changing a bit over the years, it’s very clearly about Lindsey and her fear of moving on from him. “I wrote “Landslide” for Lindsey—for him, about him,” she said in 2004. “It’s dear to both of us because it’s about us. We’re out there singing about our lives.”

I love every live version of this song, but this one is extra special. The tenor of her voice is hymnal, like she’s some heavenly creature sent here to serenade us with this gift of a song. A song that blossoms with new meaning for every phase of life. She is so young and free here that the performance transcends the potato-quality of the video and creates something haunting, almost ghostly. Lindsey’s soft concentration as he plucks those gorgeous notes, bringing her song about him to life, chokes me up, man! The dropped whisper she uses for “but you know, time makes you bolder” feels like a young woman crying out to her older self, reminding her of this moment just before the storm.

“Rhiannon” live, 1976

Ok, so this one actually doesn’t have much to do with the Buckingham/Nicks love drama saga. “Rhiannon” isn’t about Lindsey, but about “an old Welch witch” that Stevie learned about from a fantasy novel. It’s a great song on the album version but live… it’s truly like nothing else. Mick Fleetwood used to say that Stevie performing “Rhiannon” back in the day was akin to an exorcism, and when you watch some of these live videos from the ‘70s, it’s hard to argue with that.

I’m mostly including because this is an absolutely sick performance, my favorite of this song (although the Midnight Special one is also awesome). If you ever had any doubt about Stevie’s rockstar bonafides, watch the last two minutes of this and get back to me.

“I’m So Afraid” live, 1976

Honestly, this might be my favorite available Fleetwood Mac live performance. I believe that it’s prior to the Buckingham/Nicks breakup and it’s definitely before they blasted to the top with Rumours. “I’m So Afraid” is Buckingham’s signature song when he performs with Fleetwood Mac (I have a video on my phone from when I saw them live in 2014 where he goes mildly berserk playing it), and it’s clear why. It’s one of his more impassioned personal pieces, detailing what sounds like depression (“days when the rain and sun is gone / black as night / agony’s torn at my heart too long”) along with his repetitive inaction. It’s still pretty relevant to the 2025 version of the dude, who continues to push people away and make all of the same mistakes. (Confirming my suspicion that emotionally damaged dudes never really change past a certain age!)

But what I love about it most is how it’s a very unfiltered version of the band right as they’re finding their groove as a group. Yes, Stevie is dressed in the black chiffon that would become her signature, the whole band is riffing on the original track as intensity builds, and they are playing in front of a large crowd. But it’s a toned-down version of the excessive musical spectacle they’d soon become.

And it’s found its way to this list because of the Stevie harmonies in the chorus, which do not exist on the album track but are so painstakingly beautiful I get goosebumps every time she comes in. It’s clear why their combined stage presence elevated the band into superstardom—they’re fucking electric together.

“Go Your Own Way” live, 1977

This performance of the Rumours track “Go Your Own Way” isn’t exactly under-the-radar (it has 10 million views and is considered the songs’ “official music video) but it warrants inclusion due to Nicks’ feelings about the song and her vibe onstage. In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, she revealed her disdain for one of its famous lyrics. “I very much resented him telling the world that ‘packing up, shacking up’ with different men was all I wanted to do,” she told the mag. “Every time those words would come onstage, I wanted to go over and kill him. He knew it, so he really pushed my buttons through that. It was like, ‘I’ll make you suffer for leaving me.’ And I did.”

She’s been repeatedly on the record about how much she hated performing this song in the aftermath of their breakup and it makes sense! Despite its upbeat tempo, the lyrics are pretty nasty towards her. Imagine your shitty ex, who you financially supported for years while he worked on his music, slut shaming you on stage every night. He’s lucky she didn’t kill him tbh!

In this particular performance, you can see the emotional toll the song is taking on her. This was shortly after they called it quits for good and she’s holding back tears throughout, which is especially noticeable at 1:27, right after the verse with the “shacking up” lyrics. Fear not, however, for she would get her revenge!

“Angel” recording session, 1978

Now, not to be a total fucking hipster, but Rumours is not my favorite Fleetwood Mac album. That honor goes to its followup, 1979’s Tusk, an album received moderately well upon release—although considered a letdown after the success of Rumours—but that has grown in estimation among fans and especially musicians. (It’s a favorite of Kim Gordon!) The album is overly long, sonically strange, took forever to record, and is fueled almost entirely by millions of dollars worth of cocaine and Buckingham’s increasingly manic ego. It’s pretty weird and disorganized, but, in my opinion, is also packed full of some of the band’s most beautiful work. Nicks, Buckingham, and Christine McVie—the three songwriters of the group—put their whole ass into this one, especially in their ballads. McVie’s “Never Make Me Cry” does, in fact, make me cry every time I listen to it! Nicks’ “Storms” is possibly my favorite thing she’s ever written. (A beautiful breakup ode for the girls who feel like they’re “too much”.) And Buckingham’s “Save Me a Place”, one of the least fussy tracks on the record, is so tender it’s a wonder he actually wrote it.

Another underrated song on the album is Nicks’ “Angel”. Her songwriting on Tusk is especially mesmerizing and strange—definitely her most lyrically experimental work—and I think “Angel” is the best summation of that. This video, taken from a documentary about the recording of Tusk, is probably my favorite Mac video on the internet. I rewatch it all the time. It contains some background on the writing of the track but is most notable for the bit starting at 2:30 where you get to witness Stevie and Lindsey collaborating. Despite coming two years after their bad breakup, it’s very clear from this brief segment why they fell in love in the first place. There’s enormous tenderness in the interaction and magic in the way their harmonies braid—how easily they can find their mutual tone, like their voices were made to pair together. And the ensuing performance is one of their more playful live moments. The bit at 6:20 when they share the mic and he puts his arm around her? Pretty darn cute!!! This also comes after Stevie had an affair with Mick Fleetwood that allegedly really fucking pissed Lindsey off, so it’s nice to see some softness still there between them, even if it’s played up for the audience.

Here’s another clip from this same documentary that contains some footage (starting at minute 6) of Stevie mocking Lindsey. A man who deserves mockery!

(Stevie’s also alluded to her and Lindsey perhaps having some lingering hookups in the time after their breakup, which presumably happened during the Rumours tour and not the Tusk one, but you won’t convince me they weren’t still fooling around a bit in this era. The chemistry is insane!)

“The Chain” live, 1982

“The Chain” is a very important song in the Fleetwood Mac canon. It’s the only song all five members of the band have writing credits on, and it comes midway through the Rumours tracklist, a little mid-journey reminder of their testament to put the band before their personal turmoil. Now, obviously that testament’s been, uh, tested! But even in 1982, five years after the recording of Rumours, they were still steadfastly dedicated to keeping the band afloat. By this point, Stevie had branched off into a successful solo career (to Lindsey’s chagrin) but she still always put Fleetwood Mac first.

This video is probably one of their coke-iest performances, but it’s also one of their best. It’s also a prequel to the fabled “Silver Springs” performance—skip ahead to 3:00 to see what I mean. The evil stare downs were STRONG! The screaming at each other DELICIOUS! God do I love these weirdos.

“Thrown Down” from Destiny Rules, 2004

Perhaps the most fascinating Fleetwood Mac document out there is this 2004 film that coincided with the release of their final album (minus Christine McVie), Say You Will. I kind of can’t believe this exists, if I’m being honest. If you ever wanted a front-row seat to the chaos of these insane people, well, here you go! This particular clip shows Stevie and Lindsey working on a track Stevie wrote called “Thrown Down” (one of the better songs on an album I honestly don’t like very much). Like the “Angel” clip from above, it’s a rare look at the once-lovers working on a song together.

“It’s odd sitting here singing all this stuff about myself,” Lindsey says in the clip, his wedding ring perfectly in frame. (He is married to interior designer Kristen Messner, who looks an awful lot like Stevie Nicks imo! If you want another wild fun fact: Kristen was sitting in the front row and pregnant with the couple’s first child in the legendary “Silver Springs” video. LMAO.) “You sort of learn to disassociate and to be professional about it. But, you know, it’s pretty amazing all this time later that there would still be those subjects being dealt with in a very deep manor.”

My favorite part of this video comes at the end, when Lindsey tries to school Stevie about the tense of her lyrics. “Well, I don’t think that you could say that to Bob Dylan,” she snips back. His reaction face is truly chef’s kiss. THE QUEEN.

You can watch the full documentary here. You’ll also definitely want to check out the bit starting at minute 47, when you get to witness a full-blown Lindsey/Stevie fight and see what a snakey piece of shit he is! The doc makes it pretty clear why he was eventually booted from the band!

“Say Goodbye” live, 2013

We have now reached the very sad portion of this post! This performance of “Say Goodbye”, also off Say You Will, is pretty infamous among fans of the pair. I first saw it on Tumblr around the time it happened and readers, I was shook! Surprisingly, this one was written by Lindsey and is about his relationship with Stevie. He wrote it back in the ‘80s, the first time he left the band, and it’s a reflection of his time with her.

“I've known Stevie since I was about 16,” he told Guitar Player in 2003. “After I finally left the band, I was able to look back at all of it in a very tender way and say, ‘Hey, look, this is what it is. It's kind of a dream within a dream. We all just did what we had to do.’” Lindsey Buckingham taking the high road? Having something nice to say? Wow!

The lyrics wreck my life every time I hear them. Anyone who’s gone through a tough breakup—one that hurt longer than it had to and that you struggled to find the meaning in—will feel it deeply, too.

So you face yesterday
Thinking on the days of old
And the price that we paid
For a love we couldn't hold
I let you slip away
There was nothing I could do
That was so long ago, yeah
Still I often think of you

This Vegas performance, taken by a fan, focuses mostly on Stevie’s face as Lindsey sings. It’s like she’s looking right through time, seeing the memories of their war-torn love play out on a Möbius strip. This thing that has been the source of their creativity and careers, but that she maybe never really processed outside of that, until this moment. Who’s to say how authentic it is, or if this is just another stage act, but her breakdown at 2:40, when she has to pause because she can’t sing through the tears—that’s not really the sort of thing you can fake, I don’t think. His voice cracking right after, and the hug they share as the lights come back up, is the reason this wild love story is legendary.

Bonus: “Silver Springs” live, 1977

This video only made it’s way online two years ago and it’s kind of a miracle that it exists! The quality isn’t great but, as far as I know at least, this is the only live performance of “Silver Springs” from the ‘70s you can watch online. It doesn’t have the prickly “putting a curse on you” vibes of the ‘97 version, but it’s still pretty remarkable, especially for the harmonies on the chorus where you can really hear the late, great Christine McVie coming through.

Speaking of Christine, I’ll leave you with this 2024 quote from Stevie about the end of Fleetwood Mac, that is a beautiful tribute to her friend that also, naturally, contains a sneaky jab at Lindsey. Their hate will never die and that’s why we love them!

“There is no more Fleetwood Mac now, because when Christine died, Fleetwood Mac died. We cannot replace her. This was my music soulmate, my best girlfriend. We kept that band afloat, the two of us, by keeping the peace, no matter what. We were the keepers of Fleetwood Mac, and that is why we cannot replace her. We did replace Lindsey two times, and it was ok. No fighting, super fun.”

1. If you want more Buckingham/Nicks relationship info, I highly recommend perusing the Tumblr accounts Buckingham Nicks Resource and Buckingham Nicks Info. These were my indoctrination to the deeper lore and they’re great rabbit holes should you enjoy such things!