Fleetwood Mac "couldn't go on" working with Lindsey Buckingham.

Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks

Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks

The 'Go Your Own Way' hitmakers parted ways with their guitarist earlier this month and though the remaining members of the band - Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, and Stevie Nicks - stopped short of saying he was fired, they have admitted they "hit a brick wall" with him that wouldn't allow the band to "go forward" if he stayed.

Mick said: "Words like 'fired' are ugly references as far as I'm concerned.

"Not to hedge around, but we arrived at the impasse of hitting a brick wall.

"This was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a functioning band. To that purpose, we made a decision that we could not go on with him.

"Majority rules in term of what we need to do as a band and go forward."

The 'Chain' group have enlisted Crowded House's Neil Finn and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell to replace Lindsey on their upcoming tour and are looking forward to performing songs they haven't performed live in years.

They have decided to utilise their entire back catalogue for their set lists, rather than just the 1975-1987 period of the first tenure of the guitarist, who rejoined the group in 1997.

Stevie told Rolling Stone magazine: "We were never able to do that since 1975 because certain people in the band weren't interested in doing that.

"Now we're able to open the set with a lot; a raucous version of [1969's] 'Rattlesnake Shake' or something. I'd also like to do [1970's] 'Station Man,' which has always been one of may favorites. We're definitely doing [1970's] 'Oh Well.' "