First Aid Kit have shared a rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Songbird’ in tribute to Christine McVie.
McVie passed away last month following a short illness, her family confirmed. She was 79.
Performing backstage at the Cardiff International Arena during their ‘Palomino’ headline tour, First Aid Kit’s take on the Fleetwood Mac classic is visceral but delicate.
Sharing the track on social media, the band wrote: “For you, Christine”.
Check out the performance below.
Following McVie’s death, her Fleetwood Mac bandmates paid tribute to the singer-songwriter with Stevie Nicks calling her, her “best friend in the whole world” while Mick Fleetwood said he would “miss everything about you Christine McVie. Memories abound..they fly to me.”
McVie was widely seen as one of Fleetwood Mac’s most integral members. She served three stints with the band – first from 1970 to 1996, then 1997 to 1998, and finally from 2014 until her death. In that time, she performed on 13 of the band’s 17 studio albums.
“Christine McVie’s sudden passing is profoundly heartbreaking,” wrote Lindsey Buckingham. “Not only were she and I part of the magical family of Fleetwood Mac, to me Christine was a musical comrade, a friend, a soul mate, a sister. For over four decades, we helped each other create a beautiful body of work and a lasting legacy that continues to resonate today.”
Elsewhere the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Harry Styles and Jeff Tweedy have all performed Fleetwood Mac covers in tribute to McVie.
Following her passing, Bill Clinton has also expressed his gratitude to Christine McVie for lending Fleetwood Mac‘s ‘Don’t Stop’ to his 1992 presidential campaign. “It perfectly captured the mood of a nation eager for better days,” Clinton wrote.
In January 1993, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’-era line-up – comprising McVie, Buckingham, Nicks and Fleetwood – performed together for the first time in six years at Clinton’s inauguration.
McVie last performed on-stage with Fleetwood Mac in November 2019. You can watch footage from that concert here.
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