Two hours before Fleetwood Mac take the stage in Washington, D.C., for the fifth show on their massive U.S. tour, Stevie Nicks cuddles her Yorkshire terriers Sulamith and Sara while sipping Folgers coffee as Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious" — which samples Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen" — blares from a boombox. Down the hall, in a suite of rooms labeled "Men of Mac," Lindsey Buckingham noodles on his guitar and picks at some grilled chicken. Mick Fleetwood, dapperly appointed in a three–piece suit, chats with his twin seven–year–old daughters while mulling over a rack of outlandish clothing options. "Back in the day, I would be wheeled in here on a gurney most afternoons and massaged back to life," says the drummer, adding that the band used to play its songs faster thanks to all the "marching powder." "I'd somehow start it all over again and drink my way into oblivion halfway through the show."

For the first time, Fleetwood Mac are touring without a new album, instead celebrating the dozens of hits they've created over their decades–long career. "Last time we did an album and toured, there was a lot of tension," says Buckingham. "This time, there isn't." After years of acrimony and lineup shifts, Nicks, Buckingham, Fleetwood and bassist John McVie reunited in 2003 (without Christine McVie, who retired from the band in 1998) for an album and tour, laboring under the stress of renewing difficult relationships. "We don't have anything to fight about this time," says Nicks. "It gives us the opportunity to just go up there and perform these songs we love. It's really kind of joyful."