UPDATE - 1/4@11:32AM: I have it on good authority that the South American dates will happen, so there's nothing to worry about on that front. I'm unsure why those Chilean papers reported that the dates were in question. Again.. my sources are assuring me that these dates are still on. I'll let you know of anything else I learn.
Several weeks ago I reported that Rush would be spending around 2 weeks touring South America as part of the 2008 extension of the Snakes & Arrows tour. Indeed, shortly after that several South American newspapers and websites were reporting that Rush was expected to make stops in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Brazil sometime in May. And just last week I let you know that the 7 dates in South America would be at the following venues:
Estadio do Maracana - Rio de Janiero, BRAZIL
Estadio do Morumbi - Sao Paulo , BRAZIL
Castelao - Fortaleza, BRAZIL
Estadio Beira-Rio - Porto Alegre, BRAZIL
Estadio de Nacional Chile - Santiago, Chile (May 1)
El Monumental - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Estadio de Nacional Peru - Lima, Peru (May 4)
The Chile date has been tentatively set for May 1st, the Peru date for May 4th. However, just recently I've received word from several South American fans that some newspapers had been reporting that these dates were now in question. Vinnie2112 let me know that in the El Mercurio from just a few days ago there was an article titled Rush show in Chile remains in suspense. From the article (loose translation):
It was going to be in may, but some adjustments made by the band place some doubt.
It is true that there was no official announcement. But industry insiders, international web sites and the band members themselves, have all stated that the possibility of a latin-american Rush tour was a near certainty and would include a May 1st date at the Estadio de Nacional in Chile
But the long awaited dream by numerous local fans and one of the largest megaevents forecast for 2008 may have to wait. Due to a series of adjustments in the trio's tour, their route through the region will be moved from towards the beginning of the tour, to the second half. Even though the latin dates had been tentatively set for months by the bands management, the band decided to add more concerts in United States for their world tour.
This precipitated problems finding an apropiate venue in Argentina and Chile (the Nacional depends on the futbol calendar) would have atempted against a faster agreement.
Sorry for the translation - my Spanish is not all that great. I'm especially confused by that last paragraph. What I can gather I think is that they still plan on hitting South America but won't be able to do it until later in the summer and don't have the venues finalized yet. This may be why the South American dates were not at all mentioned in the official tour announcement from a couple weeks ago. As always, I'll try to find out as much as I can and let everyone know what I learn.
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