Weeks before COVID put a grinding halt to live music around the world, Mick Fleetwood gathered up rock n’ roll royalty to pay tribute to Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green. The star-studded evening was one of the last great rock n’ roll concerts of the pre-pandemic era and the last performance by Christine McVie. The Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter passed away on Wednesday at the age of 79 from a “sudden illness.”
In a clip from the concert, released on multiple formats as Mick Fleetwood and Friends Celebrate Peter Green and the Early Years of Fleetwood Mac, McVie takes the reigns on “Stop Messin’ Round”. First released as a single in 1968 by the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, the song was later covered by Aerosmith whose singer Steven Tyler was on hand for the 2020 concert. McVie and Tyler pull off a vocal yin and yang, with McVie’s tender style smoothing out Tyler’s gruff howling. The performance falls in line with McVie’s reputation as the peacemaker between the often-warring factions inside Fleetwood Mac.
Related: Stevie Nicks Remembers Best Friend & Bandmate Christine McVie With HAIM Lyrics
Though McVie joined Fleetwood Mac at the tail-end of Green’s tenure, she holds the founding guitarist in high regard for what he did with the group.
“He was brilliant. And he was a tremendous man,” McVie told Rolling Stone over the summer. “Just phenomenal. Great sense of humor. Had a great laugh and a twinkle in his eye. He was just a very, very gifted man.”
The Mick Fleetwood and Friends concert also featured McVie’s Fleetwood Mac bandmate Jeremy Spencer, though fellow bandmates Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and even Green himself (who sadly died five months later) did not attend. Rounding out the all-star event was Steven Tyler, David Gilmour, Billy Gibbons, Pete Townshend, Kirk Hammett, Noel Gallagher, and more.
Watch Christine McVie perform “Stop Messin’ Round” with Steven Tyler, Mick Fleetwood, and others at the 2020 Peter Green tribute concert.
Mick Fleetwood And Friends – “Stop Messin’ Round” – 2/25/20