After their extended post-homecoming break last week, Rush cranked up the tour machine once again this past weekend, playing a pair of shows at Philly's Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday and Sunday, and then moving on to Detroit on Wednesday for the first of a pair of shows in the Motor City. They'll wrap up their 2-show Detroit stint tonight before heading back to the Great White North to play a couple of show's at Montreal's Centre Bell later next week. Now that the 4-performance stints are concluded, there was a lot of speculation as to how Rush's setlist selection would play out for the rest of the tour. From the small sample size we have so far, it looks like they'll be rotating in different versions of their Bravo and Charlie sets for each city in order for fans to get a taste of both 2112 in full and Moving Pictures in full. There's no way they can insert every single song they've rehearsed over 2 nights, so they are instead adding more versions of these sets where the core setlist songs and structure remain, but they swap out a couple tracks and maybe drop one. For instance, for Detroit night 1 they subbed out Leave That Thing Alone for La Villa Strangiato, and The Garden for Witch Hunt just like last Friday in Philly. But they also swapped out The Trees for Natural Science and cut out the Headlong Flight/Caravan slot altogether. For tonight's show, we should see a Charlie set, and fans will get Moving Pictures in full, which is what happened in Philly this past Sunday. For that show, they played the standard C setlist but with the one change of swapping out Anthem for A Farewell to Kings. One highlight from the past few shows has been Anika's epic gags at the end of Working Man, which are becoming more and more elaborate. For night 2 in Philly Anika drew a sketch of Ged/Al on a clipboard that had stick figure depictions of the pair with the caption Lerxst & Dirk at the top and U SO CUTE at the bottom, and for Detroit she pulled out a bag of potato chips. Drummer Mike Portnoy was at that show and had great things to say about Anika, who he hung out with backstage:
With the huge success of Rush's tour so far come the inevitable rumors of additional dates, Sphere residencies, added legs, etc. While there's some meat to a lot of these rumors - the Sphere residency for instance - most of them are just speculation or wishful thinking at this point. The latest rumor was sparked by a listing on the official VIP Experience website for 2112 Platform Experience tickets for 4 Rush shows that were not on the current tour itinerary - namely Houston on October 1, St. Louis October 21, Cinci October 23 and Pittsburgh November 15. Those dates were open at those venues, so they fit logistically at least. However, they were all listed as going on sale this coming Tuesday, September 1st, and with that tight timeline they'd almost have to announce them soon - Monday at the very latest (and that's pushing it). The other odd thing was the fact that there was only one show listed in each city, which would break the pattern of multiple shows per city. Also, the dates disappeared overnight and are no longer there. We'll keep an eye on this, but it's looking like just a listing mistake at this point. This all comes alongside unsubstantiated rumors of an additional US run next summer, with some festival appearances, and a possible stint in Asia. Whereas I don't doubt that some of these things might end up occurring, it's premature at this point and there's nothing official. If Rush has any plans to make a big announcement about any of this, a good spot to do it might be their 8-day break after Montreal. More information as we learn it.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in partnership with RushCon will be celebrating the return of Rush to Cleveland next month with a 4-day fan event. Rush the Rock Hall will take place during Rush's 2-show run at Cleveland's Rocket Arena from Thursday, September 17th through Sunday, September 20th. The event will include special appearances by Rush album artist Hugh Syme, and author Kevin J. Anderson, along with special panel discussions From Working Man to the Spirit of Radio: Rush, Radio, and Industry on Friday, and Rush Nerds Rush the Rock Hall Panel on Saturday. The Saturday panel will include yours truly (Ed Stenger), Jillian Maryonovich (RUSHCON), Matt Wardlaw (Ultimate Classic Rock), Annie Zaleski (author) and Rush superfan/archivist/historian Ray Wawrzyniak. Fans will need to purchase Rock Hall admission tickets to get the full experience, and then each panel is an additional $10. If you plan to attend more than one day, then it makes more sense to just purchase a year-long Rock Hall membership, which will get you in all 4 days (and beyond). The Hugh Syme panel is sold out, but tickets for the other 3 panels are still available. For all the details and to purchase tickets, visit rockhall.org.
Rush and Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs have an extensive Rush reissue series in the works, where they will be releasing audiophile versions of Rush's Mercury-era catalog over the next few years. The first batch of titles will include Rush's debut album (Hybrid SACD, 2 LP), Fly by Night (Hybrid SACD, 2 LP) and A Farewell to Kings (Hybrid SACD, 2 LP). The only title currently available is the Fly by Night vinyl edition, which began shipping this past week and can be purchased at this location. The other titles have not yet been released, but are all currently available for pre-order. Rush plans to release a total of 11 albums over the next 2 years or so beginning this summer; the first time that the band's complete Mercury catalog has been issued as dedicated standalone audiophile editions. All titles will be available as hybrid SACDs and on vinyl, with many of the latter available in their UltraDisc One-Step format or as double LP sets. Following the first 3 titles, the remaining albums, beginning with 1975's Caress of Steel and concluding with 1985's Power Windows will arrive in 2027 and 2028.
This coming year's Bubba Bash Neil Peart charity tribute concert will take place on Saturday, January 9th, commemorating the 7th anniversary of Neil Peart's passing on January 7, 2020. Like in years past, the event will take place at the Keswick Theatre outside Philly, and feature Rush tribute band YYNOT along with special guests. This year's lineup will include Jason Bittner, Joe Bergamini, Tyler Warren, John Wesley, Greg Russell, Jack Gibson, Mike Orlando, Payton Rose Velligan, Dave Langguth, Tyme Rogers, and Zach James with Cathy Rankin returning as hostess. All proceeds will go to support Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and tickets for the event are now on sale.
On a related note, for the past 6 years, on Neil Peart's birthday, RUSHfest Scotland has sponsored the release of an album of Rush songs dedicated to the iconic drummer titled TRIBUTES - SONGS FOR NEIL, played by Rush tribute bands and musicians from around the world, with proceeds from the sales going to support Cancer charities. They are continuing the tradition this year with SONGS FOR NEIL VOL. 7, which will release next month in celebration of what would have been Neil's 74th birthday. Like all the previous volumes, this seventh volume will feature artwork from Hugh Syme, and they are now taking pre-orders. Volume 7 will be available double-CD, vinyl, and/or digital download, and you can pre-order now via this link.
CTV News ran a story on Geddy Lee's vocal coach Mitch Seekins this past week, where they chat with Seekins in his home studio about how he got the gig and the challenge of getting Ged's vocal chops into shape. You can watch the video news clip here.
WMMR DJ Preston Elliot played some golf with Alex Lifeson on the Saturday between Rush's 2 Philly shows, speaking about it a bit and sharing some photos on his radio show as seen here.
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend! For everyone going to tonight's Detroit show, have a blast!!
