Earlier in 2025, Lindsey Buckingham and his older daughter, Leelee, launched a YouTube series featuring them watching and discussing various music videos from his career. Recently, Lindsey and Leelee began checking out videos by other artists.
Videos by American Songwriter
One of the latest episodes features a clip of Florence + the Machine delivering a dynamic performance of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” during the British band’s 2010 set at the U.K.’s famed Glastonbury Festival. “The Chain” was among the many classic songs featured on Fleetwood Mac’s landmark 1977 album Rumours.
When Leelee told her dad about the performance at the beginning of the episode, Lindsey remarked, “I didn’t know they did that.” Leelee then commented, “I’m sure a lot of people cover Fleetwood Mac that you’re not aware of, to which Lindsey responded, “Well, you’d like to think so.”
Leelee then asked her dad if he likes Florence + The Machine, he answered, “I do. I think she’s very talented.”
As Florence’s band began to play the song, Buckingham noted that the guitarist, Robert Ackroyd, had “learned the part.” Leelee asked her father if he was surprised by that, he said, “Yes.”
Lindsey also commented on Florence + the Machine’s lack of harmonies in the verse, as Fleetwood Mac’s version featured him singing with Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie.
“I’m missing the harmonies a little bit, but that’s all right,” he said. Leelee then offered, “Well, no one can replicate your and Stevie’s harmonies.”
When the song hit the chorus, a large group of backing vocalists added their voices to Florence’s.
“Look at all the singers. Jesus,” Lindsey reacted. “They should have used them in the verse.”
About the Finale of the Performance and Lindsey’s Critique
As the song approached its finale, Leelee declared, “Okay, here comes the iconic … bit. Here we go.” As Florence + the Machine’s bassist played the memorable riff originally performed by Fleetwood Mac co-founder John McVie, Leelee asked her father, “Did John write this part, this riff?”
Lindsey answered, “He did indeed,” adding, “He got a writer’s credit for having written that part, ’cause it was so thematic.”
As Florence + the Machine played the rocking ending of the song, Ackroyd wailed away on guitar.
“Well, no one plays the solo like you,” Leelee commented to her dad. “That’s for sure.”
Lindsey shared some praise for Florence’s guitarist, saying, “He’s doing okay. They sound good. … He’s got the spirit.”
As the performance ended, Lindsey and his daughter both applauded.
Asked what he thought of Florence + the Machine’s cover of “The Chain” overall, he said, “I thought it was lovely. I mean, it was lovely that they decided to do it. It shows some regard for what we had done. And, you know, if there’s a passing of the torch there, I think they carried it very well. I mean, it was quite impressive.”
More About “The Chain”
“The Chain” was the only Fleetwood Mac song credited to the band’s entire Rumours-era lineup—Buckingham, Nicks, Christine and John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood. The original version of the song was never released as a single.
In 1997, however, the live version of “The Chain,” which appeared on Fleetwood Mac’s concert album The Dance, reached No. 30 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart.
“The Chain” is now the second most-played Fleetwood Mac song on Spotify, with more than 1.5 billion streams.
More About Florence + the Machine’s Performance of “The Chain”
In introducing her band’s performance of “The Chain” at the 2010 Glastonbury Festival, frontwoman Florence Welch announced, “Now, because today is such a … special gig for us, we decided that we’d do a special cover. And it’s pretty much my favorite song of all time, and all my heroes are in this band. And I thought they were gonna play this Glastonbury, but they’re not.”
She then revealed, “So we decided this is the only time we’re ever gonna play this song. … [It’s] for you people at Glastonbury, ’cause I love this festival so much. But we’re never gonna play it ever again after this. I hope you enjoy it, Glastonbury. This one’s just for you!”
Florence Discussed Her Love of “The Chain” in a 2024 Interview
Welch explained how “The Chain” became her favorite song in a 2024 video interview with T: The New York Times Style Magazine.
“I think … I was 17, and I was like just starting to really make music of my own, and I … used to listen to a lot of music in the car with my dad,” the singer/songwriter shared. “We were driving somewhere together, and the only CD in the car … was Rumours. And I’d never heard it before, and I loved the whole record, but there was something really specific about ‘The Chain.’ It’s like a song that is also a roller coaster. … [It’s] like they built … a roller coaster out of instrumentation, ‘’cause it starts so slow [and] the whole song starts to sort of go up to this peak that gives you that feeling of kind of flying back down again which is the most amazing feat. It felt like falling off a cliff.”
Florence then noted, “I’m always trying to recreate that feeling in my songs. Yeah, it opened a door for me, I think, in terms of what being in a band could sound like.”
She added, laughing, “You always have those songs in life that you’re always trying to make yourself. I think … with every record I’ve ever done, there’s always … a song where I’m trying to do ‘The Chain.’ Always. I’m like, ‘Not quite right.’ Like, ‘Nearly there. Try again next time.’”
(Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images; Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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