The one place Fleetwood Mac were always terrified of travelling to: “Shit!”
By virtue of the rock and roll powerhouse that Fleetwood Mac became, it was clear that they were not scared of many things, and certainly very much not of each other.
As we all know is infamously the case by now, this was a band who had no qualms about voicing their true thoughts on the world, their music, and their fellow bandmates, even when that landed them with the most bruising of blows. In many ways, they were more like a group of bickering schoolchildren who sorely needed to be brought under control. Luckily, it wasn’t a person, but a place that always managed to bring them all in line.
What people tend to lose sight of once they’re rich and famous is all the struggles and challenges that life, while trying to start a band, throws at you. But Mick Fleetwood certainly never forgot pounding up and down the roads of the country, playing shows and penning lyrics, as well as inevitably bickering with each other. Yet when faced with a gruelling tour schedule, there are always the moments and places that send a jolt of fear up your spine – and for him, that set in as soon as they crossed past north of the English border.
Scotland is a formidable place in terms of landscape, people, and culture. But for Fleetwood Mac in their earliest years, their fears about the place were far more logistical. “Back in the day, it was always a schlep going to Scotland,” Fleetwood admitted in his 2017 memoir. “It was like going to a different country. When we made the journey, it was spent worrying if the van was going to break down because it was a long way.”
Despite the slightly exorbitant claim that the journey “felt like going abroad, like getting on the boat and going to Germany,” the frontman then reasoned with himself by adding, “I get that it is not really that far, but we felt like, ‘Shit! We’re going to Scotland’ — 350 miles seems like a long way when you are starting out.”
He’s not wrong – going from one tip of the country to the other can be a far more arduous trek than many on the outside believe – but, on the flipside, there were obviously major benefits once they got there.
With a reputation that spans all over the world, the Scottish fans made every worrisome moment on the road worth their while. Fleetwood concurred by saying, “When we were starting out, there was always this wild enthusiasm. Off we would go, and they were wild, wild audiences in Scotland. I think it is the nature of the culture. Also, we became aware that the Scots are so happy to see music come to them, even on a local level. They really appreciated that we were here and had come up from London.”
When a band like Fleetwood Mac made their mark, it’s true that the Scots would absolutely never forget it. They would feel like an integral part of the magic and the mystery that would ensue, as the audiences proved that they could either make or break any budding new artist. If you were good, they would adore you; if you were bad, they would feed you to the lions.
Maybe it was that experience that made Fleetwood Mac so feisty in the end, because they knew they were only as prolific as their most ferocious Scottish crowd.
