Hello Everyone, I recently decided to do a full discog listen, listening to one album everyday for a week, then moving onto the next. I have been a rush fan since 10(currently 27) and I used to absolutely HATE anything after moving pictures. Just recently made it to signals & grace under pressure, and can I just say, I am pleasantly surprised at how much I love these 2 albums. I know we're just now getting into the synth era, but damn they are spectacular. I thought signals was amazing, but grace under pressure is magnificent, the production & the catchiness of the songs just makes this album sound HUGE. I miss the huge guitars and 10+ minute tracks, but I have been absolutely vibing with the synth era. Can't wait to finally give power windows a full listen this weekend. Hopefully I love it as much as some of this subreddit seems too!

This is going to be a self indulgent post about how I got into Rush. The TLDR is through the video games Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Feel free to read on or skip down to the comments to share your own journey, large or small.

First some background: I (38M) grew up thinking I just didn't like music. My mother was into country music, which shut out any of my dad's tastes from being played. I was brought to a couple of concerts (BB King, Yes) and was bored to tears. My brother's taste in music was film scores so I gravitated toward that. Sure, there were a handful of songs I caught through the grapevine, but a majority of it just wasn't for me.

It wasn't until 2006 where I realized that music could be good actually? My roommate in college had Guitar Hero (1+2) and playing through that linked the music to a deeper level by having it as an essential part of the gameplay rather than something playing in the background to be ignored while browsing a K-Mart. I quickly started becoming a fan of a lot of songs from those games; The Police, Foo Fighters, Kansas, Allman Brothers, Deep Purple, and of course, Rush with YYZ. It didn't matter that all of these were covers since I didn't have the background to know what they originally sounded like.

But a single song doesn't make you a fan of a band, it makes you a fan of that song. But as time went on, more games were released including another rhythm game series, Rock Band, which included a cover version of Tom Sawyer. It was... fine. I enjoyed it well enough at the time. Playing the song (along with all the others in the game) gave time to develop an affinity for it.

A great thing about Rock Band is that they would release new songs to purchase every week. Within a couple of months they added cover versions of Limelight and Working Man to the game and..... I hate them. If you wanna know how bad the cover for Limelight is, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdN9m1EhCfY

Thankfully, six months later they added Moving Pictures to the game. Yes, the entire album and no, not cover versions. Limelight finally clicked for me. Getting the original version of Tom Sawyer meant I never had to play the cover version again.

Expanding a little beyond rush, the also added "The Hockey Theme" by Neil Peart, and form there I really realized just how good he was on the drums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8u-F1CSCZ4

Over the years, they added other songs from Rush, but another milestone wasn't until 2010 with the release of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock which included 2112. Not only that, but it included narrations from the entire band between the sections to provide broader context. As someone who has a bit of lyric blindness, this let me actually understand the story of what was happening in the suite.
If you're curious, here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t5n0B2a8kA

By 2015, I could say I was a fan. I've heard enough songs to know that I like the band and not just a handful of songs. Around this time was the R40 tour, my dad asked if I wanted to go and I said yes.
He never bought the tickets so I never got to see Neil play. After he passed, it was clear I'd never get to see Rush perform, ever.

Fast forward to now, I've seen three shows on this tour and had a phenomenal time. I haven't dug into their material outside of GH/RB so a lot of these songs I've been hearing for the first time on this tour. Seeing them play has made me an even bigger fan and I look forward to being able to dig into the back catalog to find even more good music.

Thank you for coming with me on this journey if you've read to the end. I just had to get this all out after seeing my third and likely final show of Rush. Again, feel free to share your own story. Was it an album a friend played over and over again? Was it a show you caught back in the day? Are you weird like me and got into Rush through video games? Whatever way, we're glad you're here.

Edit: One last fun thing to share, Rush playing Rock Band (and failing). Real life musical talent doesn't necessarily translate backwards to the plastic version, lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78KWIRpjKwU

Yep

My 22 old son and I went to the show tonight. It's our 3rd time show this tour and his 5th overall. During the show he told me, "Alex's best La Villa is at Pinkpop." Yeah, I take that as a total parenting win.

I've been very lucky to be able to attend three shows on this tour. Unfortunately, two of those shows were nearly identical and I won't have the opportunity to travel to additional shows.

So what songs (in the known rotation) do you wish you got to see played at the show(s) you attended?

(Here is a link to the list of songs: https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/setlists.php?tour_id=32#TOUR)

For me it's Caravan and The Trees

Edit: Since people are sharing ones that aren't in the rotation as well, I would have liked to have seen Fly by Night.

Geddy wore this in the 2nd set of the DC concert, Tue. Oct. 27.

Let’s go!

Working Man. I thought not only my ear drums but the speakers were going to explode.

That was the hardest I’ve heard live!

First time seeing Rush since 2010!

Amazing show tonight

I'm sure there will be lots of opinions on this list, but it's cool to see Rush being recognized by Rolling Stone once again.

Me (64F) fell in love with Rush waaaay back in 1977 when "A Farewell to Kings" was released. I was 15 and hanging out with a bunch of guys at the time, and one of them played this album nonstop, so even though Rush wasn't considered "girl" rock, that album became somewhat ingrained in my brain and marked the beginning of my fandom.

I have seen the band only maybe 4 times over the years, but Xanadu is still my all time favorite. Between the ticket costs and the serious adulting that I've been dealing with pretty much nonstop, I was on the fence with seeing this tour. But when I found out that they open each show with Xanadu and it was sort of a coming to jesus moment: Hubby doesn't really want to go, I do, plus I need a fricking break from being everything to everyone all the time, and they OPEN WITH XANADU.

I bit the bullet a hour ago and paid $560 for a Section 100 seat that appears will offer a superb listening and viewing experience.

Rush here I come!

Some pics I took at the show

Make sure to check out the video of Anika's Antics at the bottom of the page...

And Power Windows as a whole. At least, I think it is.

I’ve really grown to love this album, and this song. The guitar tone/playing is so good. I don’t know how to describe it, but it has this dreamy/chorusy tone that really highlights the sound of the 80s and synth pop rock. The solo is so good too. I could listen to 10 hours of that tone/sound playing.

And we can’t forget the big sounding drum intro and the synth as well. These guys sure knew how to capture the sound of the 80s.

San Jose folks, anyone else's calendar look like this in the first week of December?

Ive spent a lot of time cutting, stabilizing , cleaning and targeting my 2112 video specifically to zoom in and show Anika during the full song in Seattle. I haven’t seen any other video showing her for the entire song. The Video was 4K in HDR and zoomed up like this its still a bit under 1080p so it’s not perfect. Hope you enjoy:

https://youtu.be/YCYis-koAh4

Wird es für jede Stadt in der Rush spielen auch in Europa verschiedene Poster geben?
Hat da jemand eine Info ? 😃

About to see Rush in this 7,000 seat purpose built music venue. Super excited. I picked this over the Arena Dates. Anyone else pick this venue specifically?

Remember when Rush died their Clockwork Angels tour with a string ensemble?

Wouldn't it be nice if they did a show with a FULL symphony orchestra?

It worked for Procol Harum, Deep Purple, Metallica, Yes and Tull.

All I can say is "make it so".

Just imagine 2112, Cygnus X-1 and Hemispheres with an orchestral backing.

Who's with me?