The Rush appreciation thread

My family moved to a new town in '79. I was 11 and up to that point, my musical tatses were Beatles and whatever was on pop radio stations. My new neighbors were huge Rush fans. They tried to get me into them but at first, it just didn't click. In fact, I wanted no part of that weird music.  However by Moving Pictures I had started to like a few songs. I had a mix tape (taped off the radio) of songs like Vital Signs, Spirit of Radio, etc and that blossomed into full on love for their music.

My first record was Moving Pictures. My second was Caress of Steel. As a Rush neophyte, hearing CoS was quite the interesting experience.  It became one of my favorites though.

Well Feedback is not your typical covers album.....It is songs that made an impact on each one of them growing up. Rush did not record those songs because they were popular, the songs were who they were and influenced them to get into a band and play rock n roll.

This portion from the liner notes, which of course all of it written by Neil.

"It was April of 2004, but Geddy, Alex, and I were channeling back to 1966 and 1967, when we were thirteen- and fourteen -year-old beginners. We thought it would be a fitting symbol to commemorate our thirty years together if we returned to our roots and paid tribute to those we had learned from and were inspired by. We thought we might record some of the songs we used to listen to, the ones we painstakingly learned the chords, notes, and drum parts for, and even played in our earliest bands."

No Rush fan should be without it......Your right, here's mine!

Yup, Neil joined and had to learn the songs within 2-3 weeks of going on the road. My daughter gave me the Wandering the Face Of the Earth Complete Tour book for Christmas. It's filled with great backstage info and commentary about pretty much every show they did from start to finish.

Even have listed dates they were suppose to play but either could not be confirmed by band or label or venue, because they can't remember that far back....It's cra-cra.

It clearly details how they built a touring empire from nothing but dirt and sweat. Also the roadies that stuck with them for so long....excellent book.

I thought I heard somewhere that their first show with Neil was opening for Manfred Mann and Uriah Heep. Is that correct or was that a bit later(maybe on FBN tour)?

I know it well......I'm on my 3rd vinyl copy of Hemispheres. My original is packed away.....

Great pic of the band during the Rush debut album tour, Agora Ballroom 1974.

Saw them in 78-79 first time......College, marriage, kids, caused a break in live shows thru late 80s early 90s, only saw the Presto tour with my wife (marrying me she became a Rush fan, and a huge Peart fan). We saw every tour in the 2000s to the last one, R40 Tour. Saw Time Machine tour twice in Seattle and San Francisco in 1 week span.

Our kids saw the last 3-4 shows in Seattle so it became a family affair to see a Rush show.

According to my Discogs collection account I have 43 Rush entries of LPs, CDs, VHS, DVDs.....And I have not loaded all my cassettes and some 8-tracks I have also. Plus I have books, tour programs and numerous tour shirts. Clearly Rush has been a massive part of my musical life, that will never change.

All eras of Rush are excellent, that has nothing to do with being a fanatic but a lover of great music and the brilliance of change.

Somewhere on this site many years ago I remember mentioning the day that Rush retire was going to be a tough, tough day to swallow. They are literally the last band to be able to put on live shows like they did with such grand presence and production, at least within this genre...there is nobody left that can do that....
Retiring from touring was tough although something kept telling me at least maybe we will still get new music but no huge tours, maybe a few shows here and there....I kept a candle burning.

In interviews (recent) Geddy has mentioned that there is no unreleased Rush music in a vault somewhere...

Losing Neil Peart was simply massive, 10 yrs from now I understand it but still he was only 67......Last week I read the announcement over and over and over just to make sure....The Professor is gone.

"....though its just a memory, some memories last forever..." (Lakeside Park)