There is never a dull day in the Fleetwood Mac camp, with this dysfunctional rock band causing controversy yet again. Their exceptional guitarist has been sacked, announced by a brief statement “Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour. The band wishes Lindsey all the best.”

This shock announcement comes ahead of their next tour, rumoured to be Fleetwood Mac’s final live performances. Buckingham has been responsible for some of their greatest songs and has been with the band since 1974 in collaboration with Stevie Nicks.

In a surprising twist, the band has replaced Buckingham with not one, but two musicians. Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will be attempting to match Buckingham’s stunning guitar work.

Neil Finn will be sure to make the most of Fleetwood Mac’s more mainstream pop songs while Mike Campbell is there to power through the harder rock elements.

This iconic band has played out their dramatic lives in public through their songs cataloguing a string of intra-band infidelities and extramarital affairs, not to mention the well-documented cocaine abuse. Lindsey Buckingham has previously described the band as “a group of people who, you could make the argument, don’t belong in the same band together. It’s the synergy of that, which makes it work.”

With an ever-changing line-up, the only constant has been drummer Mick Fleetwood, who is confident the show will go on. Fans of Buckingham should take heart from the fact that there was a previous period of nearly ten years when he wasn’t part of the band before re-joining in 1997, so he may yet reappear.

Official tour dates have yet to be announced, but it is expected to start in June.