Rush brought the Fifty Something tour back to Texas this past week, playing the first of a pair of shows at San Antonio's Frost Bank Center Wednesday night. They'll wrap things up with one more show this evening, and then move onto Houston next Thursday for the first one-off show of the tour. In general, Rush has been toggling between their Bravo and Charlie setlists between the 2 shows in each city for all of the 2-night runs, with the night 1 Bravo setlist featuring 2112 in full as the centerpiece, and the night 2 Charlie set featuring the whole of Moving Pictures. Prior to the 2-show runs that began in Philly last month, there had been only 2 versions of the B set, but each 2-show run since has seen a new one, bringing the total now up to 8. The C setlists on the other hand have remained constant throughout the 2-night runs, with every night 2 audience seeing the identical set. It will be very interesting to see what Rush decides to do for the first one-off show next week in Houston. We might see the return of the rare Gorgo setlist that they played for the Fort Worth make-up show; that set featured BOTH 2112 and Moving Pictures in full.
The new documentary on the late Neil Peart titled No One's Disciple premiered on the CBC this past Wednesday evening as part of the documentary series The Passionate Eye. It was also made available for streaming via the CBC Gem app and gem.cbc.ca for free in Canada (or if you're using a Canadian VPN). If you aren't in Canada, it's also been popping up on YouTube, although those will likely be taken down at some point. Both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson along with drummer Chad Smith attended the theatrical premiere last week, where all three ran the red carpet interview gauntlet, and there are several clips available to check out in this post, such as this footage from the Canadian Press where they also chat with the filmmakers. The trio also conducted an extensive interview for the CBC's Q with Tom Power, which is available to watch online here. The CBC released the following clip earlier this week, and the trailer is available here.
The late Neil Peart grew up in the St. Catharines, Ontario community of Port Dalhousie, the lakefront home of Lakeside Park which inspired the lyrics to the 1975 Rush song of the same name. Back in 2020 the St. Catharines City Council, with the full support of the community, voted to name the newly rebuilt pavilion at Lakeside Park the Neil Peart Pavilion at Lakeside Park in honor of the hometown icon who passed away over 6 years ago in January of 2020. The Council also established the Neil Peart Commemorative Task Force, with the objective to commission a public work of art commemorating Peart's life and legacy. Back in January of 2021 the Task Force officially began welcoming artists to submit requests for pre-qualification via the city's website, and revealed the finalists in September of 2021 along with the launch of a fundraising campaign for the Memorial. In November of 2022 the Task Force finally revealed that the artist who will have the honor of creating the memorial is Morgan MacDonald of The Newfoundland Bronze Foundry. The project and its timelines were contingent on the Task Force raising the $1 million required for completion, and an official fundraising campaign launched in 2024 on Neil Peart's 72nd birthday. The campaign had been having trouble raising the funds until Peart's Rush bandmates decided to go on tour this past October, revealing that part of the tour proceeds would go towards the Memorial. Earlier this week the Task Force revealed that Rush's donations have finally put them over the finish line:
... The $1-million fundraising goal for a memorial statue to Peart in his hometown's Lakeside Park has been reached with a $785,000 donation from Rush. The band's contribution comes from proceeds tied to VIP experience and package tickets sold during its Fifty Something worldwide tour that kicked off in June. "Rush was able to get us over the finish line with the fundraising. We're very, very thankful for all that they've done," said Eric Lamothe, the city's manager of community programs and parks. ... Peart's Rush bandmates Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson presented the committee members and city staff with the cheque for the rest of the funds needed to make the memorial happen before their Toronto concert at Scotiabank Arena on Aug. 13. The committee has kept a lid on the donation until now. "It's incredible. It's definitely a magical moment to be able to pay tribute to Neil in the park with the connection to the 'Lakeside Park' song that's world famous," said Lamothe, who's been a liaison with the task force since its inception. "Lakeside Park is such a beloved destination to begin with. To be able to add this and to celebrate Neil and his accomplishments, we very much expect to have guests from around the world to come and gather and reflect at that spot. "So it's a special moment for sure, I think, for Neil and the Peart family, residents and fans worldwide." ...
A report is expected to go to city council next week for final approvals, and the city now anticipates that the memorial will open to the public in late 2027. The installation itself will depict two bronze statues of Peart - one as a young artist and the other in his later years. A pathway will connect the two statues with interpretive panels about Peart's personal and professional legacy. A video depicting what the Neil Peart memorial will look like in Lakeside Park can be seen on YouTube.
Last weekend's 4-day Rush the Rock Hall event in Cleveland was a huge success, with the Hall seeing a constant flood of Rush fans throughout the weekend. Rock Hall VP of Education and Visitor Engagement, Jason Hanley, conducted all 4 of the panels, which were all sold out. Hugh Syme was up first, and relayed stories of how he came to work with Rush, showcasing some of his artwork both with Rush and other artists. Hugh also created the event's logo depicting the Signals dog (Hugh says the dog's name is Martin) sniffing at a hydrant in front of the Rock Hall, and provided signed prints to all attendees. Next up was author Kevin J. Anderson, who told the story of how he ended up becoming friends with Peart, and discussed his collaborations with the band. After the panel he signed books for fans, and revealed that Neil's widow Carrie Nuttall Peart was also there and would be signing copies of Peart's Silver Surfers book. The final panel on Friday was titled From Working Man to the Spirit of Radio: Rush, Radio, and Industry, and featured Donna Halper, Ivar Hamilton of CFNY and others discussing radio's place in the history of Rush. The Rush Nerds panel on Saturday featured yours truly (Ed Stenger), Jillian Maryonovich (RUSHCON), Matt Wardlaw (Ultimate Classic Rock), Annie Zaleski (author) and Rush superfan/archivist/historian Ray Wawrzyniak, nerding out on all things Rush for well over an hour. In addition to the panels, the Hall was filled with Rush music all weekend, Rush merch, a special Rush exhibit, Rush games and trivia, and more. Kudos to both the Rock Hall and RushCon for putting on an excellent event. I've uploaded a small sampling of photos from the weekend here.
The annual Modern Drummer readers poll is currently underway and will close at the end of the month. Rush touring drummer Anika Nilles is one of the nominees, and you can vote for her here. Here's what she had to say regarding the nomination:
Really honored to be nominated in the Modern Drummer Readers Poll, especially alongside so many incredible artists and musicians I've looked up to and respected for years. I never take things like this for granted. Just grateful to be part of the conversation and to keep doing what I love. Thank you to everyone who continues to support! Categories are PROG ROCK & TOUR DRUMMER of the year. ...
Rush will be releasing new vinyl editions of 2112 (liquid vinyl) and The Spirit Of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974-1987 this coming Friday, October 2nd and both are now available for pre-order (2112, TSoR Greatest Hits). The 2112 edition was previously made available exclusively for the UMusic shop in NYC during Rush's Madison Square Garden run, and The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 19741987 will be available on vinyl for the first time as a two-LP set featuring all 16 of the original collections tracks, as well as an abbreviated one-LP, 10-track version.
Writer/poet Paul Woods - aka Pye Dubois - passed away last week at the age of 78. Woods was the unofficial 5th member of Rush's labelmates Max Webster, where he was the band's primary lyricist. He also collaborated with Rush's Neil Peart on the lyrics for Tom Sawyer and had co-writing credits on Force Ten, Between Sun and Moon and Test for Echo. This was the latest of several tragedies for Max Webster, as keyboardist Terry Watkinson passed away in February, and drummer Gary McCracken passed just a couple of weeks ago. Rush posted the following message to Instagram after learning the news, along with a few photographs:
It's been an unbelievably tragic year for Max Webster founder Kim Mitchell and all those who knew that band personally. In late February, Max keyboardist Terry Watkinson passed away, and now, a mere 7 days after the death of drummer Gary McCracken, news has reached us that Max Webster lyricist Pye Dubois (Paul Woods) has suddenly left the planet. For those who aren't aware, over a span of 20 years, Pye and Neil collaborated on the lyrics for four Rush songs : Tom Sawyer, Force 10, Between Sun and Moon, and Test for Echo. We send our most heartfelt sympathies to the bandmates, friends and families of those three stellar musicians. RIP boys.
(Here are a couple of photos I took on a bus trip with Max Webster through Germany in 1979, whilst on tour with Rush. A happy gang in front of the tour bus, and Pye's broad smile)
Alex Lifeson's Envy of None bandmate Maiah Wynne's second solo album Into the Waves officially releases today via Kscope Records. Alex Lifeson makes a guest appearance on the album, appearing on the tracks Don't Wait and Another Step. The album is available in multiple formats including LP, digipack CD and streaming. For all the details and to order a copy, visit this location.
Back in 2019, Multi-instrumentalist Marco Minnemann released a limited edition EP featuring a track he co-wrote with Alex Lifeson titled Lover's Calling. He recently revisited those recordings, and released an updated version of the song, including some new vocals and a drum-cam video (thanks Mark R):
Collider.com posted their ranking of all of Rush's instrumental tracks this past week, with La Villa Strangiato taking the top spot:
... "La Villa Strangiato" is Rush's greatest instrumental and remains a definitive example of balancing virtuosity, atmosphere and humor, while proving the band can create a memorable narrative and emotional arc without lyrics.
DEVO's Gerry Casale was recently interviewed for the Punks on Pizza podcast, and relayed the story about directing the video for Rush's Superconductor. In particular, he describes how, while Geddy and Alex really liked his ideas, Neil was a tad difficult to work with, as seen in this video.
That's all for this week. Have fun tonight San Antonio, and have a great weekend everybody!!
