He goes his own way

Lindsey Buckingham displays big life after Fleetwood Mac

One door closed on Lindsey Buckingham this year — and hit him on the butt on the way out. Now he’s ready to open another one.

That was the message of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s concert Nov. 18 at the Michigan Theater, a stop on a tour that on Nov. 26 brings him to Canton. Fired by Fleetwood Mac earlier in the year, he’s responded not only with a lawsuit against the band but a purposeful renewal of his solo career, including a compilation of what’s come before, and promises of much more to come. “You are here at the beginning of something new,” Buckingham of Lindsey Buckingham,” when he noted that he “likes looking ahead and not behind — that’s certainly served me well this year.” But his song choices were clearly statements of purpose, including a solo acoustic pairing of “Shut Us Down” and Mac’s “Never Going Back Again.”

And he ended the night with the pointed and potent choice of his 2008 solo track “Treason,” whose chorus declared, “Deep down there’s freedom...We will rise from this treason.”

Mostly, however, Buckingham and his tight fourpiece band gave every reason to anticipate good things to come from his new path. Saturday’s show offered an insightful and, to some, revelatory showcase for the creative inventiveness and even quirkiness that’s made him one of the standout pop auteurs of the past four decades. For guitar fans in particular it was a festival of fingerpicking dexterity as Buckingham — in his trademark black jacket, black T-shirt and blue jeans — simultaneously played leads and rhythms on both acoustic and electric, driving songs such as “Go Insane” and a solo acoustic “Big Love” into frenetic fury.

KEN SETTLE Lindsey Buckingham performs recently at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor