Whew! ... What a crazy couple of days it has been. The Summer of Rush has begun and it took its toll on the Rush is a Band server. I had to hire a few extra hamsters to spin the wheels and all seems to be running smoothly now. I'm sure there are still a few bugs lurking, so if you notice anything funky, let me know. The last 2 days were the most traffic this site has seen yet. I just want to say thanks for all the words of encouragement and wanted to apologize for the downtime. Now... moving on.
Of course, the big news this week was opening night of the Snakes & Arrows tour. Rather than go into everything here, just visit the Opening night open thread for all the details. I've been adding YouTube bootleg videos to the bootleg videos page as I come across them (there are currently 5 up there) and there are now several photos uploaded into the opening night photo gallery. Thanks to everyone who's uploaded photos, and if you have any of your own, upload them here.
Now that the setlist has been revealed to those who have chosen to peak at it, I thought that for this week's poll I'd ask the question What do you think of the S&A setlist? Let us know here. Last week I asked you what song from Snakes & Arrows you were most looking forward to seeing live and the resounding winner is The Main Monkey Business with nearly 33% of the vote. Rounding out the top 5 were The Way the Wind Blows (13.9%), Armor and Sword (9.9%), Far Cry (8.1%) and Workin' Them Angels (7.3%).
Speaking of the setlist being revealed, I closed down the setlist game as soon as the first rehearsal lists were leaked. Now we need to tally up the results and determine a winner. I don't have the time right now, but if anybody cares to pour over the many setlists that were posted and figure out who got the most songs right, please do so and let us know the results. We'll give some sort of prize to the winner.
There have been a couple of recent video interviews with Geddy Lee posted online; one from the August issue of Guitar World and one from last night's episode of The Hour on CBC. Definitely check them out if you haven't yet.
I've received word from several folks who had ordered Snakes & Arrows on vinyl from the Rush Backstage Club that their orders had shipped already - about a week early. Great news. Hopefully the MVI will ship early too (doubtful).
Snakes & Arrows fell from #61 last week to #77 this week on the Billboard Album Charts in the US. Look for it to creep back up a bit as the tour gains steam and the MVI gets released. There's another great review of the album over at AntiMusic.com (thanks 1-2bucklemyshoe).
Tickets for the Madison Square Garden show in New York City on September 17th go on regular sale tomorrow at 10AM. See this post for details.
The Rush Bootleg Video Archive has moved to a new addres at this location. So update your bookmarks. If you're unfamiliar with the site it's a great place for fans to list and trade Rush bootleg videos.
Andy, the chair of the Relay for Life of Westminster, wanted me to remind everyone about the raffle they are putting on to win a Paul Reed Smith SE guitar signed by Alex Lifeson. Each $10 donation gets you an entry in the raffle with the drawing occurring after the June 23 show at the Nissan Pavilion. For all the details and to enter in the raffle go to this location.
Reader Bill K let me know that Rush was #3 on the Forbes Top 10 List of Summer's Hottest Tickets just behind the MLB All-star game and The Police. Here's what they say:
Average scalped ticket price to date for the tour: $196.91
Most expensive single ticket:
July 9
Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Conn.
Floor 2, Row E
Online asking price: $2,223
Face value: $85The popular trio who ruled the late '70s and early '80s still scores big with the last wave of baby boomers who were in high school at that time. Now in their 40s with money in their pockets, old fans are flocking back waving cash.
Former Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul (now in Hellyeah was asked in a UK magazine interview (Kerrang) to name the songs that changed his life and he said this about Rush's 2112:
The first time I heard this, the fucking drumming just blew me away, just floored me. Neil Peart has always been one of my favourites. Everything the guy's ever done is great, the band is incredible musically, and I've just always had a lot of respect for them.
Thanks to madjock666 at Counterparts for the heads up.
That's it for now. Next up for Rush ... West Palm Beach, Florida.
NOTE: Posts over 10 years old are partially archived. All comments, images and other embedded media have been removed.
