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Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Fri, Apr 19, 2024

Rush documentary premiere tonight, in theaters 6/10, DVD 6/29

Sat, Apr 24, 2010@11:01AM | comments removed/disabled

UPDATE - 6/7@11:22AM: Here's a 3-star review from the UK's Guardian (thanks Graham B).

UPDATE - 5/27@8:02PM: Here's some more documentary coverage courtesy reader RushFanForever. The trailer for the documentary made #8 at Cinematical's weekly Trailer Park poll a couple of weeks ago. MusicRadar.com posted this great review of the film earlier this week, and there's this review from Hour.ca. And here is yet another great interview with the filmmakers which was recently posted at exclaim.ca.

UPDATE - 5/19@7:37AM: Here's yet another interview with the filmmakers (thanks RushFanForever).

UPDATE - 5/18@8:41PM: Here are a couple of positive reviews; one from Wired.com (thanks bassman4001) and one from ChartAttack who gives it 5 stars (thanks thetunefreak).

UPDATE - 5/14@11:56AM: Reader dave sent me this scan of a Tribeca Audience Award ballot for the film.

UPDATE - 5/10@10:02AM: Here's a photo of Sebastian Bach, Alex Lifeson and Eddie Trunk from the premiere afterparty that was posted on Eddie Trunk's website (thanks RushFanForever). This is some video news coverage of the premiere from NY1.com (thanks Nick).

UPDATE - 5/6@4:47PM: Here's a review from NoiseCreep.com (thanks RushFanForever).

UPDATE - 5/2@12:34AM: As expected, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage has won the Tribeca Heineken Audience Award!

UPDATE - 5/1@9:20PM: Here's a great review from FilmSchoolRejects (thanks glortiz).

UPDATE - 4/30@9:53AM: Here's yet more press coverage of the documentary from Metro News Vancouver (thanks RushFanForever), The London Free Press (thanks The Sphere) and CBC News (thanks RushFanForever).

UPDATE - 4/29@7:54AM: Here's another article covering the documentary from the Toronto Globe and Mail, and here's a Richard Crouse interview with the filmmakers which you can listen to in 2 parts - part 1, part 2 (thanks RushFanForever).

UPDATE - 4/28@5:17PM: Here's a video news story covering the documentary from Artisan News Service. The story includes new interview segments with filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen, and both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson (thanks RushFanForever).

UPDATE - 4/28@5:06PM: Here's some more coverage of the Canadian premiere from JAM! and from EyeWeekly where the filmmakers are interviewed.

UPDATE - 4/28@3:46PM: Here's a blurb from am New York's Tribeca Film Festival red carpet report:

Rush: Fashion-challenged and proud of it
The members of the band Rush didn't even try to dress well for Saturday's red-carpet premiere of the doc "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage." "We've had no fashion sense for 45 years," said rocker Geddy Lee, ... "We naturally don't fit in."

And here's a report from CTV Toronto.

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UPDATE - 4/28@12:59PM: Here's yet another great review from Tim McGonagle of NBCNewYork.com (thanks 1-2-bucklemyshoe):

... McFayden and Dunn accurately capture the unwavering and intense loyalty Rush fans possess for the band and each other. Just as engrossing are the filmmakers exposing the members of the band for what they are: funny, smart, likable family men. The film has some hilariously telling moments revealing them as the antithesis of hedonistic rock-stars ...

And here's a Toronto Star interview with filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen (thanks RushFanForever).

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UPDATE - 4/27@5:10PM: It looks like Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage is currently at the top of the heap in the standings for the Tribeca Film Festival Heineken Audience Award (thanks plunge)! Filmmakers Scot Dunn and Sam McFadyen are profiled in this Faces of the Festival article at the Tribeca website (thanks dave). If you're wondering why Kiefer Sutherland showed up at the premiere, check out this quote from the December 2003 issue of American Way where Kiefer is interviewed. When asked about music that reminds him of Toronto he says:

I'm a huge fan of Canadian rock-and-roll. When I was growing up, Rush came out with a record called Hemispheres, and I must have listened to that record for two years straight. Even when I was asleep I had it on. So, yeah, whenever I hear a Rush tune, the first thing I think of is Toronto.

And here is a horrible review from Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood elsewhere (thanks RushFanForever). Be sure to leave a nice comment for Mr. Wells if you get a chance. :)

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UPDATE - 4/26@9:02PM: Here's some more love for the documentary from the Wall Street Journal's Joe Morgenstern:

... I'll not only remember, but will revisit when I can, "RUSH: Beyond the Lighted Stage," a rock documentary, by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn, that's the very opposite of murky. During the course of its four-decade run, the Canadian band RUSH has been immensely popular and tricky to categorize, notwithstanding Jack Black's on-camera assertion that it's a band "with a deep reservoir of rocket sauce." Still, there's no mystery about what makes this film the special occasion that it is. The band's members-Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart-are thoughtful, terrifically likable and brilliantly articulate. And an impressive array of interviewees makes an ironclad-metalclad-case for the lofty level of the band's musicianship. Here's a documentary that delights and instructs in equal measure. That's all you can ask-though it's a lot-of any movie.

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UPDATE - 4/26@8:15PM: Here's Eddie Trunk's review of the film (thanks Will C).

UPDATE - 4/26@3:38PM: Here's a short review of the film that appeared in today's Wall Street Journal (thanks Steve), and here's a review by Hank Shteamer of Time Out New York. The documentary is now also available for pre-order at the Rounder Records site on both DVD and Blu-ray (thanks David_MSP).

UPDATE - 4/25@10:53PM: Here's a video report on the red carpet event from AP-Red.com. A couple of fans including JackRelax (aka Jillian of RushCon) are interviewed along with filmmakers Scott and Sam, Sebastian Bach, and Rush themselves (thanks Sean).

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UPDATE - 4/25@2:29PM: The film now has an official website located at RushBeyondTheLightedStage.com (thanks RushFanForever). Reader RushSignals1982 (aka Todd Garbarini) attended the premiere and wrote up a great review which you can check out at this link. There's a great feature article up on the Tribeca Film Festival website which profiles a father-son pair of fans who came all the way from California to see the premiere (thanks plunge). Here are some more photos from the red carpet at the Life magazine site (thanks nick). And TMMB found a bunch of red carpet videos from the premier on Youtube; one with Alex and Geddy, this one and this one featuring Sam and Scott, and this one with Sebastian Bach and his family.

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UPDATE - 4/25@9:20AM: Here are a bunch of Getty Images press photos (thanks double-agent) from the premiere last night. Included are several photos of Geddy, Alex, Sam and Scott, Sebastian Bach and his wife, Anthem's Pegi Cecconi and Rounder's John Virant.

Phil Simon also posted a bunch of great photos from the premiere to the Rush Fans Attending Tribeca Documentary Premiere Facebook page. Included are a couple of pictures of Eddie Trunk and Donna Halper.

And here's a minute-and-a-half video of Alex and Geddy speaking to the audience before the start of the film (thanks kevin).

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UPDATE - 4/24@11:08PM: Along with Geddy and Alex, Kiefer Sutherland, Sebastian Bach and Eddie Trunk are in attendance at the premiere. Here are a couple of pictures of filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen in the theater along with the arrival of Geddy and Alex (thanks JackRelax). The RushCon Twitter feed has a nice blow-by-blow report.

UPDATE - 4/24@8:39PM: Here's a photo of a banner outside of the Rush documentary premiere earlier this evening. The red carpet is out and Rush is about to arrive (thanks JackRelax).

The long-awaited Rush documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage will have its US and world premier tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The official trailer for the film was posted online earlier today and you can check it out at this link, along with these 2 preview clips that had been posted online a couple weeks ago. The Canadian premiere will occur at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto next Thursday, April 29th. Earlier this week we learned that the documentary will get its television premiere on VH1 and VH1 Classic on June 26th, and now the official Banger Films blog is reporting that the film will appear in select theaters for one night only on Thursday, June 10th and be released on DVD/Blu-ray June 29th. For any RIABers who are attending the premiere, there will be a pre-screening meet-up at The Molly Wee which is located at 30th and 8th.