UPDATE - 2/8@11:47AM: I missed one radio pre-sale; KGON is sponsoring one for the Clark County show on June 1st. It begins today at 10AM (PST) and you can get tickets at this link. The password is KGON. Many thanks to Xourque for the heads up.

UPDATE - 2/7@10:36PM: Reader salukiboricua reports from Puerto Rico that the local concert promoters there put out a press release in a local paper stating that Rush will arrive in Puerto Rico a full week prior to the show on April 11th to rehearse for the tour. As I've mentioned before, the band is keeping the 10th of April open for a possible second show depending on how sales for the one on the 11th go. Sounds like they'll be there in plenty of time for this to come about if the demand exists.

UPDATE - 2/7@10:10PM: The Concord radio pre-sale tomorrow is sponsored by 107.7 The Bone in San Francisco, and the password is PEART. Thanks to SouthShield Bob for the heads up.

UPDATE - 2/7@5:29PM: The password for the WEBN-sponsored pre-sale tomorrow for the Cincinnati show is FROG.

UPDATE - 2/7@4:41PM: The site has been experiencing technical issues all afternoon. They should be corrected soon Things are back up and running now (for anyone who cares, the site's primary DNS server crashed). Sorry for the inconvenience.

UPDATE - 2/7@1:09PM: Oops.. I totally forget to mention the WDVE-sponsored radio pre-sale that is going on today until 6PM for the Pittsburgh show. To purchase tickets go here and use the password WDVE.

UPDATE - 2/7@12:34PM: The Noblesville show radio pre-sale password is WFBQ (thanks indyice8).

UPDATE - 2/7@12:01PM: It looks like Q95 out of Indianapolis is sponsoring the Noblesville pre-sale. No word on the password yet though. Thanks to scottw for the heads up.

Round 3 of the Music Today fan pre-sale is nearing completion (noon today local venue time) although several AMEX presales are ongoing and will continue through tomorrow for the shows in Woodlands, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Concord, Moline, The Gorge, Clark County, Philadelphia, Noblesville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Atlantic City, Saratoga Springs and Hershey. Remember, for the AMEX pre-sales the password is just the customer service 800 number (8003272177) on the back of your Gold Card.

There are radio pre-sales listed for the dates in Concord, CA on May 4th and Noblesville on June 25th that will be running tomorrow, but I have not been able to figure out who's sponsoring them yet. If you have any information, please let me know.

WEBN in Cincinnati is sponsoring a pre-sale for the Riverbend show tomorrow from 10AM to 6PM. No word on a password for this one yet - if you know it, let me know. Also, 93.5 WTPA FM in Central PA is sponsoring a pre-sale for the Hershey show tomorrow which will run from 10AM to 6PM. The password is FREEWILL.

Regular tickets for the following shows will go on sale tomorrow:

Jul. 2: Post Gazette Pavilion - Pittsburgh info
Jul. 5: Saratoga Performing Arts Center - Saratoga Springs info

Regular tickets for the following shows will go on sale Saturday, February 9th:

Apr. 20: Woodlands Pavilion - Woodlands info
Apr. 23: Frank Erwin Center - Austin info
Apr. 25: Superpages.com Center - Dallas info
Apr. 26: Ford Center - Oklahoma City info
May. 20: i wireless Center - Moline info
May. 31: Gorge Amphitheatre - George info
Jun. 1: The Amphitheater at Clark County - Ridgefield info
Jun. 3: Idaho Center - Boise info
Jun. 14: Wachovia Center - Philadelphia info
Jun. 25: Verizon Wireless Music Center - Noblesville info
Jun. 30: Riverbend Music Center - Cincinnati info
Jul. 4: Marc Etess Arena - Atlantic City info
Jul. 17: Hersheypark Stadium - Hershey info

Regular tickets for the following show will go on sale Sunday, February 10th:

May. 4: Sleep Train Pavilion - Concord info

So after this weekend - outside of the 6 Canadian dates - tickets for all shows will be on regular sale except for St. Paul, Kansas City, St. Louis, Mohegan Sun, Bristow, Charlotte and Atlanta.

Just a quick note/reminder that all times given on this site and Ticketmaster are LOCAL to the venue.

My contact at Music Today has assured me that information on the Canadian dates will be forthcoming in the next few weeks. Music Today will handle the pre-sale for these dates and it should run much like it did on the first leg where all the Canadian dates went on pre-sale at the same time. Check out this post and this post to see how it went on the first leg.

Unfortunately, my industry sources are telling me that ticket sales for the 2008 leg have not been all that great. As of a couple days ago, floor seats were still available through Ticketmaster for about 10 shows and there were over 3000 seats left for the Nokia show. They've sold on average 5-6 thousand seats for every show so far with the exception of Red Rocks which is sold out. If this keeps up, second shows at the Nokia, in Puerto Rico, Red Rocks or anywhere else are unlikely. My feeling is that if Rush does not do something on this leg to make the show significantly different from the first leg, ticket sales will continue to do poorly. They did state that they'd revamp the setlist when they originally announced the tour, but swapping out a few songs I don't think will cut the mustard. Now if they were do something like play all of Moving Pictures (including Camera Eye!) or play all of Hemispheres or something similarly earth-shattering... that would pull in the fans in droves. We'll see. Just to be clear, I have no inside info on the setlist yet - I'm just daydreaming/speculating. :)

There was a rumor not too long ago which was started by the annoyingly vague (but usually accurate) Drew2112 over at Counterparts where he stated on December 27th that:

I know people will get angry but the reason will be revealed soon as to what will make this tour extra special and why it will draw more than 2007 as far as attendance

He first assured everyone that the extra special thing was not that it would be a farewell tour. Drew then dropped several vague hints in the form of images and eventually quit the site on January 23rd after being berated by everyone for not being more specific. The hints could have meant just about anything, but most thought they might refer to songs in the setlist. December 27th was several weeks ago, and the only thing that Rush has announced has been the tour dates and the Snakes & Arrows Live CD. I really hope they drop a bomb on us in the form of a completely unexpected addition to the setlist. We'll see...

And as a reminder, Music Today has graciously offered to run a promotion exclusively for Rush Is A Band readers - just like on the last leg. Three lucky readers will be randomly picked to receive a Limited-Edition Rush T-Shirt. To enter the Rush Is A Band T-Shirt Giveaway, email the following information to riabbiggestfanzz@aol.com.

* First and Last Name
* T Shirt Size
* Age
* Mailing Address
* Phone Number

Email entries will be accepted until Friday, February 29th. Winners will be picked and notified by Music Today the week of March 4th - March 8th. A big thanks to Music Today for doing this again - it was a big success on the 2007 leg.

That's all for now. I will have some more non-tour-related updates tommorrow.

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