UPDATE - 8/22@12:27PM: Here's Rush's IG photo dump from the show. Towards the beginning of the show just before The Spirit of Radio, Ged paid tribute to legendary Philly DJ Pierre Robert as seen in this reel:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rush (@rush)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rush (@rush)

----- snip -----

UPDATE - 8/21@10:58PM: That's it for Philly night 1! They'll be back at it Sunday night. Rush gave us a brand spankin' new setlist, which was significantly different from anything we've seen thus far. No new songs - just a new mix of tracks. The closest analogy would be Bravo since the first set followed that path for the first half and it included 2112 in full in set 2. The second half of the first set is what really sets this apart, and made it so much different than the standard Bravo set. The second set actually matched the B-2 set from NYC and Toronto pretty closely - the one exception being The Garden instead of Witch Hunt. There's no setlist photo as of yet, so we're not clear what code name they are using for this one. Full setlist here.

UPDATE - 8/21@9:30PM: It's intermission time and we have a brand new setlist! One significantly different than anything we've seen yet. No new songs, just a new combination. While it started off looking like it might be one of the Bravo variations (or Foxtrot), it went off the rails after the Bravado tribute. Since they ended with Limelight, it's a good bet we'll see all of 2112 to kick off set 2. We haven't turned up any setlist photos yet, so we don't know the code name for this one yet. Here's what we have so far:

1) Xanadu
2) The Spirit of Radio
3) The Analog Kid
4) Freewill
5) Subdivisions
6) Bravado (Neil Peart tribute)
7) Caravan
8) La Villa Strangiato
9) The Trees

10) Limelight

----- snip -----

UPDATE - 8/21@8:08PM: The show is underway, and after Xanadu they kicked into The Spirit of Radio and The Analog Kid, which might suggest they are pulling out the Foxtrot set from Mexico City night 2, or one of the B setlists. We will keep an eye on it. Follow along with the setlist here.

Date/Time: Friday, August 21st @ 7:30PM
Show Number: 23
Venue: Xfinity Mobile Arena
Place: Philadelphia, PA
Setlist: View
Photos: TBD
Reviews: TBD

After reaching the quarter-pole of their Fifty Something tour last week in Toronto, and taking a much-deserved 8-day break, Rush is back at it and will play the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philly tonight, kicking off a 4-month run which will see them perform a pair of shows in 18 cities across North America before taking a break for the Holidays and picking things up in South America and Europe next year. Now that the band has all of their 4-show mini-residencies under their belt, it's not clear how the setlists will break down given that they'll only be doing 2 shows per city. The only info we have to go on at this point are the 2 Echo/E and Foxtrot/F setlists that were played in Mexico City. These 2 setlists included one show with 2112 in full and the other with Moving Pictures in full, and a good selection of songs spread out between the 2 nights. Every show thus far has started with Xanadu and ended with Working Man, so we don't expect that to change either, and we'll expect the Neil Peart Bravado and Time Stand Still tributes in each respective set. It's probably a good guess that the 2-night rotation will look something like those Echo/Foxtrot sets. Although they might pull out some totally new setlists, or they might just continue with the 4-setlist rotation and just spread it over 2 cities. We'll start to answer all those questions tonight in Philly. Rush's exclusive line of Philly merch is featured in this IG post, with early merch sales beginning at 4PM on the Broad Street side near the Team Store. Doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 7:30 (ish). We'll be keeping a close eye on the setlist tonight, so follow along for updates. For everyone going tonight, have a blast!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rush (@rush)