One of the most influential and long-lasting bands of all time will be hitting the stage at the Scottrade Center downtown this Friday, and if you’ve got the means to get there and get a seat (tickets are close to sold out), you’d be senseless to miss out.

Yes, the full, original lineup from the glory days of Fleetwood Mac is back on tour. Its appropriately titled “On with the Show” tour has brought all the members of the oft-estranged band together again, a stunning feat considering the infamous infighting for which the band has been known.

If you’re not sure about what I’m talking about when I say Fleetwood Mac or couldn’t name more than one of its songs, then you have just enough time to cram in a vital musical education course. This one is more important than that midterm.

The beginning of the Fleetwood Mac education is always, inevitably, its most recognized and replayed 1977 album, “Rumours.” Long acknowledged as one of the most important pop albums of all time, “Rumours” remains a snapshot of the best music of the ’70s and a symbol of an iconic band at its prime.

Yet, despite the mesmerizing harmonies between the band’s vocalists Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks, all was not going smoothly behind the scenes. The band was undergoing a serious of painful breakups and conflicts, and the stress took its toll on all the members—leading to all-night drug binges and tense recording sessions. However, as members have said, this pain translated into the best music Fleetwood Mac has put to record, and its hard to deny that the passion in songs like “I Don’t Want to Know” and “The Chain” is coming from a real, dark place.

The tracks on “Rumours” may mostly be full of sunny melodies, bright guitars and inescapably catchy choruses, but one look into the lyrics and history of the album gives an incredibly different, almost voyeuristic side to the band’s history. It is this unique combination of tones, mood and simply great songwriting that has ensured the album has by now become a cultural icon.

If you need more evidence, just look at the fact that “Glee” dedicated an entire episode (and the included songs) of its second season to the album, hoping to translate “Rumours” powers across generations. One of my first introductions into music beyond *NSYNC and The Spice Girls was my mother slipping the CD into the car stereo and inducting me into our now-traditional road trip sing-along to the front half of the album; songs like “Secondhand News,” “Go Your Own Way” and “Don’t Stop” ripe for scream-singing and steering wheel drumming.

Surely it’s worth it to shell out the money just to witness the group that birthed “Rumours” come together again (for the first tour in almost 40 years) to perform the album. If that won’t convince you, Fleetwood Mac has a wide discography full of other celebrated songs—who hasn’t sung along loudly to “Landslide” in their car at least once in their life?

You may be one of the youngest unaccompanied audience members there—but that just means you won’t be dealing with hordes of teenage girls threatening to shatter your eardrums or a crowd of rowdy drunkards ready to jump around and press ever closer to you until you feel like you’re sharing the same oxygen molecules. Instead, Scottrade will be full of nostalgia, musical legends and some of the most timeless songs of our world’s musical lexicon. Sounds like a great Friday night to me.