This past week Rush brought the Time Machine Tour to enthusiastic crowds in Las Vegas, Concord, Portland and Vancouver... and now there's only one more show left! After 3 months and 37 dates, Rush's 2011 Time Machine Tour will sadly come to a close tomorrow night at The Gorge outside Seattle, WA. To ease our suffering over the next several months until Rush's planned 2012 tour in support of Clockwork Angels, the band will be putting out a live DVD of their April 15th performance in Cleveland this Fall. The DVD is aptly titled Time Machine and has a tentative release date of September 27th. We only have official attendance figures for the first six shows of the tour so far, but all evidence suggests that the 2011 tour was a huge success for the band. Of those first six shows, THREE of them were sellouts. Since their return to the touring circuit back in 2002 they seldom sell out more than 3 shows on an entire tour, so that bodes well for the attendance figures for the other 32 dates. Hopefully we'll have those numbers soon. On that note, I thought for my next poll question I'd ask everyone what tour was your favorite since the band's return to touring after their 5-year hiatus from 1997-2002 (thanks to thedigitalman for the poll idea). Take the poll and let us know. In my last poll I asked everyone what Rush album that they think should be next to get the 5.1 Surround Sound treatment now that the Moving Pictures 5.1 remix has been released. Hemispheres was the clear winner with 25% of the vote and 2112 was a close second with 19% of the vote. You can view all the results at this link.
Back in March Lick Library launched a very cool and unique new interactive online drumming magazine called iDrum. Neil Peart graced the cover of their debut issue and the magazine also featured the first part of an in-depth video interview with Neil which you can check out online at this location. Issue #2 of iDrum became available online earlier this week and features the second part of Neil Peart's interview. You can check it out at this link. Neil covers a wide range of subjects including how he conditions himself to prepare for touring, his show-day rituals, his recent inner-ear issues, studying with Freddie Gruber and Peter Erskine, his Time Machine Tour kit and more. It's an extremely in-depth and interesting interview so be sure to check it out.
A few months ago Musician's Friend magazine launched a very cool sweepstakes where the winner would Win The Ultimate Concert Experience With Alex Lifeson. The winner ended up being Donald Beane of Wilton, ME and you can read about his experience and check out some photos at the Musician's Friend Facebook page. Congratulations Donald!
Toronto-born musician Andrew Cole will be performing a show at Midnight Madness in Oakville, ON on July 15th and was recently featured for an article in the Oakville Beaver. Andrew's manager is Kathleene Cochrane - wife of legendary Canadian musician Tom Cochrane, and Cole reveals in the article an upcoming collaboration that will feature Cochrane along with Alex Lifeson and other well-known musicians:
... Cole and Tom are currently working together on two new songs slated for release in October or November. The collaboration will also feature other music heavyweights such as Alex Lifeson from Rush, Janes Addiction and Paul McCartney's band, he said.
"Nobody knows about that, it's the first time I've said it. We wanted to get it out for the summer, but they're all on tour; it was really hard to get everyone," said Cole. "To have all these people on one song is strange because you don't know how it's going to work out. It could be absolutely brilliant or could be a disaster." ...
Lee Farber - Writer/Supervising Producer for The Soup on E! - is a huge Rush fan and contacted me to let everyone know that on tonight's episode there will be a major Rush reference about halfway into the show as the punchline to a clip called Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. The show airs tonight on E! at 10PM so check it out if you can.
Reader RushFanForever recently picked up a copy of Dave Bidini's 2004 book For Those About to Rock: A Road Map to Being in a Band, which contains several Rush references and stories. Bidini is a founding member of the Canadian indie rock band Rheostatics and a friend of the guys in Rush. He presented Rush with their Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame award last year and read some excerpts from this book in his induction speech. Here are a few of these excerpts:
Chapter 6 - The Men Who Hold High Places: Bands We Love And Why
As a kid in love with rock and roll, Rush was the first real band with whom I was obsessed. ... I was partly into Rush because, as a fourteen-year old, I wanted to appear older - most of the kids two grades above me were into Rush - and partly because, like tobogganing and watching The Beachcombers, to follow them was to quietly awaken one's sense of place. Besides, if you weren't into Rush, you were into disco, an impossible choice. When it was broken down along these lines, Rush was the one band every guy in my neighborhood cared about. ...
... the Rheostatics got to record with Neil Peart in 1992. I'd met rock stars before, but it was special meeting Neil because he was among my first heroes. I'd actually talked to Neil once before, having interviewed him by phone for a local magazine. This was a profound event, too. At the end of the interview - he'd called in from the Chateau Frontenac hotel in Old Quebec, and I was bleary-eyed from staying out the night before - I asked him if he was listening to any new bands. He paused for a minute and said, "Well there's this one band from Etobicoke. They're called the Rheostatics. Have you heard of them?"
"I'm...in them," I said, stuttering.
"That song, 'Horses,' " he said. "We were recording and I couldn't get it out of my head. We were doing a track, and I just couldn't concentrate. I was playing the song, but all I could hear was, 'Holy Mackinaw Joe,' " he said. "I had to stop and go out and buy the record."...
Chapter 10 - From Sea To Shining Sewer - Going On Tour
Geddy Lee once told me a story about Rush's early days:
We were playing in either Melville or Estevan, Saskatchewan; I can't remember which. We were scheduled to play at the arena in the evening, but when we arrived in the afternoon to do our sound check, we discovered that the local hockey team had refused to allow the ice to be covered. They had a big game coming up and thought that the concert might wreck the ice. So our gear was set up at one end of the rink, the mixing consoles were in the stands, and the lighting console was on stage with us. Just as we began sound check, the team started skating around the rink and practicing. It was very surreal. In the evening, the crowd was seated at the far end of the stands and we were playing down at the other end because the ice remained uncovered. ...
The June 28th edition of the Washington Post's crossword puzzle contained a Rush reference. The clue for 15 Across (4 letters) was "Tom Sawyer" band. Thanks to Power Windows for the heads up.
Actor/writer (and Rush fan) Wil Wheaton tweeted the following last week (thanks Nathan C):
iTunes: What's with all the Rush? Me: Anne's out of town til tonight. iTunes: Does it have to be so loud? Me: I don't even know you anymore.
In the latest installment of his music discovery podcast and blog Bands Like Rush, Ben Sommer talks to Gayle Ellet from veteran instrumental prog band Djam Karet. You can listen to the podcast and watch the video of the interview at this link. To find out more about Djam Caret check out their website here.
Reader Eric J was recently married and his most-awesome bride surprised him with a Rush Time Machine Tour groom's cake as shown in this photo. Looks yummy.
Reader Kelly D reports that at last night's Vancouver show during 2112 a guy in a chicken suit came out wearing a Bruins jersey along with a guy in a gorilla suit wearing a Canucks jersey - and the gorilla beat the crap out of the chicken as shown in this YouTube video.
That's all for this week. Happy Canada Day to all of our Canadian friends, and have a great 4th of July my fellow Americans!
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