The North American leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour is complete. Rush takes the tour machine across the Atlantic next week where they'll play 15 dates across Europe beginning in Glasgow Scotland. Then, if the rumors hold true, they'll be back in North America for more dates in the Spring of '08.
The North American leg appropriately ended in Rush's hometown of Toronto. It was a fantastic show; Rush gave a little extra for this one. There are a lot of great pics in the gallery. And here's an audio bootleg courtesy canuckster.
In addition to the show, RushCon 7 took place over the weekend. I was there for part of it and had a great time. Documentary filmmaker Sam Dunn (Metal: A Headbanger's Journey) was also there. He's making a documentary on Rush with the blessing of the band and was present at both Toronto shows as well as RushCon.
Rush EuCon will take place on Sunday October 14th at the Manchester University campus in Manchester, UK. Special guests will include former Rush producer Terry Brown and Rush photographer Andrew MacNaughtan... along with another surprise secret guest from within the current Rush camp.
I keep hearing various rumors about the shows in Rotterdam being filmed for a future DVD release. Nothing official yet though. I guess we'll find out for sure on October 16th.
Neil Peart took advantage of the break between the North American and European legs to post another news update to his site.
The month of September saw the release of 6 Rush studio albums over the years: Caress of Steel (1975), A Farewell to Kings (1977), Signals (1982), Hold Your Fire (1987), Roll the Bones (1991) and Test For Echo (1996). For our last poll I asked you what your favorite song from Signals was. The overwhelming winners were Subdivisions (30%) and The Analog Kid (26%). Here are the complete results. For this next poll I thought I'd ask you what your favorite of the 6 September-released Rush albums is. Take the poll and let us know.
It's time for the annual snubbing of Rush by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The list of nominees for induction was announced late yesterday and once again Rush is not on the list. No surprise there.
The Larger Bowl is slowly inching its way up the charts. It's now at number 17 on the Radio and Records Rock Chart and number 18 on the MediaBase Mainstream Rock Chart. We learned last week that Workin' Them Angels will be released as the next single in the upcoming weeks. Speaking of which, here is a very impressive fan-made video of the song which syncs up the song with NASCAR footage (thanks Sho-Daddy).
The cover art for the upcoming Tiles album Flypaper has been revealed. You can check it out at this link. Thanks to Power Windows for the heads up. The album will be released in January and features an appearance by Alex Lifeson on the track Sacred & Mundane.
Power Windows also mentioned this interesting tidbit regarding Rush's album artist Hugh Syme on the Counterparts message board. From the Counterparts post:
I've recently learned that Rush's graphic artist Hugh Syme reused Dimo Safari's photo of the crowd from Different Stages in the Allman Brothers Band's Hittin' the Note album artwork. The image of the crowd viewing a gigantic tinkertoy was reimaged, with the tinkertoy replaced by giant mushrooms.
This is not the first time that Rush album art was recycled by another artist; in 1978 a photo of a Rush crowd was reused in Rainbow's Long Live Rock 'N Roll gatefold art. In both cases, the usage of the images was done without the knowledge of SRO/Anthem. Unlike the Rainbow usage, however, where Polydor retouched a mockup that they had originally rejected from Fin Costello, Hugh Syme was the graphic artist for both Different Stages and Hittin' The Note.
...
According to Anthem, they weren't aware of it until after the fact, and "chose to turn a blind eye."
You can check out the image he's referring to at this location. Very interesting.
The Heavy Metal Box Set compilation, first mentioned in this post and featuring Rush's Working Man, will be released next Tuesday. You can preorder it here.
Entertainment Technology online recently posted an article describing Pyrotek Special Effects involvement with Rush's stage show. You can check it out here.
Fortune online recently ran a photo gallery feature on how older rock acts are selling out arenas across the nation. Rush is featured and here's what they have to say about them:
Top songs: "Tom Sawyer," "Spirit of Radio," "YYZ"
Essential albums: 2112, Moving Pictures, Test for Echo
Listen to: "The Larger Bowl" (from the band's latest album, Snakes & Arrows)
Why they rock: After more than 30 years, their records still make the top ten. This year's Snakes & Arrows debuted at No. 3.
Bottom line: The band's latest tour is expected to pull in about $36 million.
Thanks to reader Kerry F for the link.
Grady is an American/Canadian hard rock band based out of Austin, Texas that recently released their second full-length, A Cup Of Cold Poison. Vocalist/guitarist Gordie Johnson was recently interviewed by ChartAttack.com and had this to say about Rush:
... Johnson has long had a reputation as one of Canada's loudest guitarists and his early exposure to vintage arena rock cemented his need to live it out loud.
"The first concert I ever saw was Rush at Cobo Hall in Detroit. You better believe that was incredibly loud, and it really left a mark on me, at least in the approach I take to performing live. I figure if you pay $5 or $55 or $500 to go see a show, it should be loud, it should be in-your-face and you should get your money's worth. And that's the way I've always approached things. It doesn't matter if it's a hockey arena or a dive bar, I've always approached every show like it was my last." ...
Thanks to ghost__rider for the heads up.
Rush has made yet another top albums list. Sympatico/MSN Entertainment recently placed 2112 at #19 on their list of the Top 25 Albums of the 70s. Thanks to Figerade for the link.
And finally, don't forget to vote for Rush.com in the 2007 BT Digital Music Awards (vote for this site too if you are so inclined).
That's all for now. Have a great weekend!
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