On Oct. 4, 2018, inTulsa, Okla., Fleetwood Mac officially entered their second post-Lindsey Buckingham era with the opening gig of a new major North American tour.

The stakes are high for both band and fan. With Crowded House's Neil Finn and former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell in the lineup, they certainly aren't hurting for marquee talent. But questions linger about this revamped Mac: Will they ignore the Buckingham catalog? Will they dust off some vintage blues rockers from the Peter Green period?

Looking back, no matter the context, it's hard to imagine any fan was expecting them to debut the deepest of all deep cuts: "All Over Again" from their least popular LP, 1995's Time. But that song selection highlights the strangeness of being a Fleetwood Mac fan in 2018. To get everyone on the same page, let's recap the five rarest rarities from the tour so far.

"I Got You"
When Finn and Campbell joined the group, it seemed inevitable that we'd hear Mac-ified versions of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" and Petty's "Free Fallin'" – and, sure enough, we got both during the Tulsa show and subsequent concerts. Less likely, though still welcome, was a rendition of 1980's "I Got You," the peppy breakout single from Finn's New Wave act Split Enz. It was a fitting choice to cement a new beginning: That synth-driven track firmly solidified the New Zealand band's shift into pop.

"Tell Me All the Things You Do" 
We also expected – even predicted – that Fleetwood Mac would dust off "Oh Well," one of their peaks from the Peter Green era. But please raise your hand if you'd crossed your fingers for "Tell Me All the Things You Do," the sweltering blues-rock gem from 1970's Kiln House. They'd played this one only a handful of times in the early '70s – most recently a brief run in 1977.

"Storms"
It makes sense that Fleetwood Mac didn't debut "Storms" onstage until 2009, two decades after it appeared on Tusk, their experimental double-LP opus. With its unorthodox time signature and bare arrangement, the song almost feels too precious to withstand the intensity of an arena show. They dug out the track for dozens of gigs in 2009 before shelving it again, so its appearance in 2018 basically felt like another official debut.

"Hypnotized"
We recently made a case for "Hypnotized," the sleek soft-rock stunner from 1973's Mystery to Me. And paying tribute to late singer and guitarist Bob Welch – who was notoriously snubbed from the band's 1998 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction – would be a classy touch, no doubt. The band followed suit, and drummer Mick Fleetwood dedicated the track to one of rock's unsung songsmiths. Its inclusion was long overdue, considering they hadn't played the song live since 1977.

"All Over Again" 
Fleetwood Mac have ended their first two shows with the biggest curveball imaginable: "All Over Again," a dinky synth-pad ballad from the most despised album in their catalog, 1995's Time. They'd never played it live, and it's easy to see why – no one was expecting it, and few probably even remember it exists. The ballsiest move was sticking it at the end of the encore – after two of the greatest rock songs ever written, "Free Fallin'" and "Don't Stop." Call it the most delicate middle finger ever flipped.

 

 

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