Rush is a Band

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

Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Updates and other random Rush stuff; more 2008 tour news!

Fri, Sep 7, 2007@11:12AM | comments removed/disabled

Rush will play their last 2 shows of the Middle West leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour over the coming weekend, hitting Chicago and the Twin Cities. They'll then return to the homeland for 6 Canadian dates with one show at Madison Square Garden thrown in the mix. After that it's on to Europe. But the good news is, as I reported a couple days ago, it looks like Rush will be touring in 2008 as well. Rumor has it that they'll play several dates in March/April of next year starting in Atlantic City and then moving into New England and Atlantic Canada. Then after a short break they'll head south and play some dates that will include New Orleans, New Mexico, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Nothing is official yet but my source on this has been very reliable in the past. And ... I have even more exciting 2008 tour news to report. Way back in December of last year I mentioned a rumor that Rush would possibly be playing at a concert next summer to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. It would be a large benefit concert along the lines of Toronto Rocks and take place in July on the Plains of Abraham. Well, it looks like this may no longer be a rumor but will actually take place although nothing official has been announced yet. The word is that Rush will be the headlining act of the closing day of the concert. If this actually happens it would be Rush's biggest full-length show ever as a crowd of nearly half a million fans are expected. It's also expected that this would be the last show of the Snakes & Arrows tour. As always, more details as I get them.

September marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Rush's 5th studio album A Farewell to Kings. So in last week's poll I asked you what your favorite song off this album was. The results are in and the resounding winner is Xanadu (my personal choice) with nearly 58% of the vote. Rounding out the list was Cygnus X-1 (16%), A Farewell to Kings (13%), Cinderella Man (7%), Closer to the Heart (6%) and 1 lonely vote for Madrigal.

Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Rush's 12th studio album Hold Your Fire. So for this week's poll I'm asking everyone what their favorite song off of that album is. Take the poll and let us know.

This month is Rush Month on UK digital radio station Planet Rock. Last Sunday they aired an interview with Neil Peart and this weekend it will be Alex Lifeson's turn; his interview with Mark Jeeves will air at 7PM (UK time) on Sunday.

Two big Rush fan conventions are coming up in the next several weeks. RushCon 7 will take place in Toronto over the weekend of September 21-23. For all the details visit their website at www.rushcon.org. Rush EuCon 12 will take place on Sunday October 14th at the Manchester University campus in Manchester, UK with special guest speaker former Rush producer Terry Brown! For all the details visit the website at www.rusheucon.com. What's really cool is that both conventions will culminate with a Rush show!

Power Windows has added a collection of Rush wallpapers for the Sony PlayStation Portable do the downloads section of his website.

As reported on this site earlier this summer, the sequel to the popular video game Guitar Hero 2 - Rock Band - will contain a cover of Rush's Tom Sawyer. The release date has been announced as November 20th and the game is now available for preorder for both the XBox and Playstation 3.

There's a new video up on Rush.com in the multimedia section. This time they speak with Anson - the guy who says check one two. :)

Andrew Olson has made some recent updates to his Neil Peart fan site including a new section titled Postcards from Neil. This section will highlight postcards that Neil Peart sent to people who wrote to him through Modern Drummer. So far there's just one in there, so if you have one and would like to share it - contact Andy.

I've recently come across a couple of really nice online galleries from the Snakes & Arrows tour. The first is from the Charlotte show (thanks jeffrey f) and the second is from the Shoreline Amphitheater show (thanks Phil).

Here's a bit of sad news. Jane Tomlinson, a British campaigner and fund raiser for cancer charities, died this past Tuesday - finally succumbing to her long battle with cancer . In addition to being a truly remarkable and inspirational woman, she was - not surprisingly - a Rush fan. She will be missed. Thanks to Liverpool.78 for the news.

Over a year ago I reported that Le Studio (where Rush recorded several albums including Moving Pictures) was for sale and we all joked about pooling our resources and buying it. Reader Geddy's Ricken and my shoes recently made a pilgrimage to Morin Heights, Quebec where Le Studio is located and sadly found out that it was recently sold to build some luxury condos. He did however take several great pictures from his visit that I thought I'd share here.

Goodbye Le Studio - we'll miss you.

If you're ever in Springfield, PA be sure to visit the Rush Inn; here's a pic of the place courtesy 1-2-bucklemyshoe.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

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