UPDATE - 4/18@8:34PM: Rush's Snakes & Arrows Live DVD was beat out by Iron Maiden: Flight 666 for Music DVD of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards ceremony Saturday night.
UPDATE - 4/16@3:25PM: The organizers of RushCon have just announced the dates for RushCon 10. The main event will take place in Toronto the weekend of July 16th, with a smaller 1-day event in Las Vegas on August 14th. Check out the RushCon website for all the details.
There's been a flurry of activity since Rush officially announced the Time Machine tour last Thursday. There was so much going on that I didn't even have time to post my weekly random Rush updates post last Friday! So we have a lot to catch up on. Over the weekend Live Nation and Ticketmaster slowly revealed ticket sale and pre-sale information and by Tuesday morning the first pre-sales kicked off. To say it was all a bit confusing would be a big understatement, and things hit a big snag with Rush's fan pre-sales handled by Music Today; the official announcement regarding the pre-sales didn't go out until after the first pre-sales had already started. There was also very little revealed regarding what Live Nation and Ticketmaster had listed as Rush VIP or Premium ticket pre-sales until after the pre-sales had begun. It turns out that these VIP pre-sales allowed fans to purchase a package for around $300-350 which included a guaranteed seat in the first 15 rows along with a bundle of Rush swag. Along with the Music Today and VIP pre-sales there were CITI credit card pre-sales, Live Nation sponsored pre-sales and radio station sponsored pre-sales; enough to make your head spin! It's all been very confusing and I've been fielding several questions from fans on these and other subjects related to the tour. So I'll attempt to answer a few of these questions here.
First off - and the question I get answered the most - is how do all these pre-sales work? There are about 5 different types of pre-sales so I'll address each one separately.
Music Today fan pre-sales
Music Today is the company that has been handling Rush's fan pre-sales for the last few tours. To participate in these pre-sales you simply need to sign up at the Rush Music Today website; it is free to sign up, you do not need to be a member of any Rush fan club (there isn't any official Rush fan club), and there are no pre-sale passwords. There will be a fan pre-sale for all of Rush's tour stops, including Canadian dates. The fan pre-sales for any given date generally occur the week leading up to the general on-sale date and usually run from 10 AM Tuesday to 12PM Thursday local venue time, or until the allotted number of tickets runs out. The upcoming week's pre-sales are usually announced the Friday before the pre-sales occur via the Rush.com mailing list but - as we saw this past week - there's no guarantee of that. The Canadian pre-sales will be handled via a separate Music Today website located here (which by the way has not yet been updated for the current tour) although you do not need to sign up separately; your credentials are good for both the US and Canadian Music Today sites. When you are logged into the Rush Music Today site and a pre-sale is open, you will see a link to buy tickets on the Rush Music Today schedule. From that point things play out like most ticketing websites; you choose the type and number of seats you want, they find tickets for you, you choose to either take the tickets or try again, then enter your payment information. Ticket prices are face value although the fees might make the final cost slightly different from Ticketmaster, but not significantly so. When you purchase tickets, you will be given the option to pre-order an exclusive Rush.com tour package for $35 which includes a Time Machine tour t-shirt and an Aluminum Starman Logo water bottle. By purchasing tickets along with the tour package, you will be automatically entered into a contest where one winner from each tour stop will be selected for a meet-and-greet with Rush. These pre-sales are called out as Music Today pre-sales in the Rush is a Band tour section.
Rush VIP Premium Ticket Package pre-sales
The Rush VIP or Premium Ticket Package pre-sales simply allow ticket buyers to purchase a ticket bundle which guarantees a seat in the first 15 rows along with a package of Rush swag as detailed here. These pre-sales are available for most Live Nation sponsored shows and usually run the week leading up to the general on sale date from 10AM Tuesday to 5PM Thursday. Tickets are purchased via Live Nation/Ticketmaster just like you would buy any other ticket through these outlets. The big difference is the cost, which runs from about $300-350 depending on the venue. These pre-sales are open to anyone willing to pay the price and do not require knowledge of any special password. You cannot purchase 2 or more tickets together without purchasing the entire ticket package for each ticket. These pre-sales are called out with a code of RUSHVIP in the Rush is a Band tour section.
CITI Cardmember pre-sales
These pre-sales are sponsored by Citi Bank and are open to anyone with access to a valid Citi consumer or business credit card. These pre-sales are available for most Live Nation sponsored shows and usually run the week leading up to the general on sale date from 10AM Tuesday to 5PM Thursday. Tickets are purchased via Live Nation/Ticketmaster just like you would buy any other ticket through these outlets. When prompted to enter your Passcode or Member Code on the billing information page you simply enter the first six (6) digits of your credit card account number (no dashes) located on the front of your Citi card. You do not ultimately need to use a Citi credit card to complete your ticket purchase. These pre-sales are called out with a code of CITI in the Rush is a Band tour section.
Live Nation pre-sales
If a pre-sale is sponsored by Live Nation, members of their mailing list in the city where the show is scheduled may receive an e-mail in advance of the pre-sale which will include any necessary password information. For information on how to sign up for their mailing list go to the Live Nation website. So far all of the Live Nation pre-sales have used a password of POPSTAR but this is subject to change. These pre-sales are available for most Live Nation sponsored shows and usually run the week leading up to the general on sale date for one or two days. Tickets are purchased via Live Nation/Ticketmaster just like you would buy any other ticket through these outlets. When prompted for a passcode simply enter the passcode that was provided to you. I will post these passwords in the tour section as soon as I become aware of them. These pre-sales are called out with a code of LIVENATION in the Rush is a Band tour section unless the password is known, in which case the password will instead be displayed.
Radio pre-sales
Radio station sponsored pre-sales often require that participants join the station's mailing list before receiving the password although some stations post the password on their site for all to see or announce it on air. Visit the specific radio station's site or check the Rush is a Band tour section for details. I will post any passwords I become aware of to the tour section as soon as I learn of them. These pre-sales are called out with a code of RADIO in the Rush is a Band tour section unless the password is known, in which case the password will instead be displayed.
As far as the quality of the tickets obtained in the different pre-sales, the Rush VIP pre-sales will guarantee you the best seats. But if you want to pay face value then the Music Today pre-sale is your best bet and usually get fans better seats than any of the Citi bank, Live Nation or radio pre-sales. Opinions vary on this though, so I suggest you check the comments on the various pre-sales posts to get a better idea of the types of tickets and experiences fans have had purchasing tickets thus far. A good general rule when purchasing tickets is to go into it prepared. Make sure you are very familiar with the seating at the venue for which you are purchasing tickets, have your credit card handy and decide how much you are willing to pay for tickets along with the seating you'll settle for.
So there you have some general information on pre-sales; hopefully this clears up some of your questions. Please check the Rush is a Band tour section before emailing me with specific questions about a given pre-sale; any information regarding pre-sale times and passwords will be entered there as soon as I become aware of it so that's the best place to get the information. When I get a chance I will likely make the above information available somewhere in the tour section as a ticket buyer's guide to Rush ticket sales and pre-sales, and keep it updated there. If you have anything to add or notice any errors, please let me know.
One other question I've been asked over and over again is whether Rush will be adding dates to the tour. While I can't answer for sure yet since there's been no official announcement, I've heard from a number of sources that there will be second shows in both Chicago and Red Rocks, and an Ottawa show added - but that's it... at least for North America. However, I have it on good authority that after a short break in early October after the end of the North American tour, the band will be heading down to South America to play about 5 shows.
The first general ticket sales began this morning when tickets for the Mohegan Sun show went on sale to the general public. A number of shows will go on sale to the general public tomorrow at 10AM:
Jun 29: Hard Rock Pavilion - Albuquerque, NM
Jul 03: Marcus Amphitheater - Milwaukee, WI
Jul 05: Charter One Pavilion - Chicago, IL
Jul 09: Rogers Sarnia Bayfest - Sarnia, ON
Jul 23: SPAC - Saratoga Springs, NY
Jul 24: Nikon at Jones Beach Theater - Wantagh, NY
Aug 07: White River Amphitheatre - Auburn, WA
Aug 09: Shoreline Amphitheatre - Mountain View, CA
Aug 16: Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Morrison, CO
Aug 27: Minnesota State Fair - St. Paul, MN
Sep 02: New York State Fair Grandstand - Syracuse, NY
Sep 03: PNC Bank Arts Center - Holmdel, NJ
Music Today pre-sales will likely be announced in the next few days for the following dates:
Jul 01: Starlight Theatre - Kansas City, MO
Jul 21: Susquehanna Bank Center - Camden, NJ
Aug 11: The LA Forum - Inglewood, CA
Aug 13: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater - Irvine, CA
Aug 22: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater - Maryland Heights, MO
Aug 25: Qwest Center - Omaha, NE
Aug 29: Nationwide Arena - Columbus, OH
Aug 31: Allentown Fairgrounds Grandstand - Allentown, PA
Sep 16: Consol Energy Center - Pittsburgh, PA
The word is that tickets for both Toronto shows will also go on sale next week although the dates are not yet officially listed anywhere (thanks Bamba).
I'd also like to take some time out to thank everyone who generously donated to the website last week; it is greatly appreciated. You should receive your RUSH IS A BAND bumper stickers soon if you haven't already. To get a sticker of your own just make a donation to the site. Thanks for the support!
For my next poll (which I've been running for a few days now already) I'm asking everyone how many shows they plan to attend on the Rush Time Machine Tour. Take the Poll and let us know. You can check out the results of the last poll where I asked everyone which of the five Rush songs chosen for induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame was their favorite at this link. Subdivsions was the winner with The Spirit of Radio and Limelight making a strong showing.
We learned earlier this week that the Rush VIP pre-sales package includes a Limited Edition Rush CD Single which includes two new songs off the upcoming album. Whether they will also release these songs digitally via iTunes or if the CD Single will be available for regular sale at a later date is not yet clear. It also seems that Rush is currently at work recording these songs in a studio in Nashville. Here are 2 recent MySpace status updates from Neil Peart drum tech Lorne Wheaton:
Done the drums....... Mood: accomplished
Posted at 7:50 PM Apr 13In Nashville tracking 2 new songs. Mood: happy
Posted at 10:47 AM Apr 13
And several folks sent me this video of all three band members congratulating South Park on its 200th episode via the show's website. The video was posted 4 days ago and the guys are clearly in some kind of recording studio. Oh yeah... and Neil sings in the video. :)
The long-anticipated Rush documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage will have its US and world premier next weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 24th while the Canadian premier will occur at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto on April 29th. Earlier this week a couple of preview clips from the film appeared online. And a couple days ago the official movie poster was released via Rush.com along with promises of a trailer, more premiers, theater runs and more coming soon!
The announcement of the Rush tour has sparked the creation of a few online petitions. This one asks that Geddy brings back his Rickenbacker for the tour (thanks Rick4001), and this one begs Rush to come to Atlantic Canada (thanks Rushrulez). Check them out and sign them if you are so inclined.
In other tour-related news, photographer John Arrowsmith will once again be traveling with the band on tour and posting pictures to his website and Rush.com.
Rush's Snakes & Arrows Live DVD (also on Blu-ray) is one of the 2010 Juno Award nominees for Music DVD of the Year. Rush won a Juno award in this category for Rush in Rio back in 2004. Winners will be announced at the Juno Gala Dinner & Awards ceremony tomorrow at the St. John's Convention Centre, as well as at The 2010 Juno Awards broadcast on CTV on Sunday at Mile One Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Rush Backstage Club is running a new contest where you could win a limited edition 2007 Snakes & Arrows tour poster printed on textured heavy art poster. The contest ends on April 23rd and you can sign up to enter at this link. Thanks to NJRocker16 for the heads up.
Power Windows reported a couple of weeks ago that a compilation of two previous tribute albums released by Magna Carta Records will be released on May 18th. The compilation is titled New World Man: A Tribute to Rush and includes tracks taken from 1996's Working Man and 2005's Subdivisions, along with the Alex Skolnick Trio's jazz interpretation of Tom Sawyer previously released on Last Day In Paradise and one new cover of Tom Sawyer recorded by I Omega.
A few weeks ago Rush was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Audio of the program along with several great photos is available on the CBC Radio 2 website at this link. The Canadian Music Scene posted a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos from the Gala on this page. Jacob Moon's inspired performance of Subdivisions was one of the big highlights of the evening. Moon describes the experience in detail complete with behind-the-scenes photos on his website here, and in this recent video interview with Roots Music Canada (thanks RushFanForever). Dave Bidini of Rheostatics fame introduced Rush at the Gala and reader stergios2112 located this bootleg YouTube video of his intro.
Several weeks ago I'd mentioned how RIAB reader and Brigham Young University English professor Patrick Madden (Pat) has published a book of personal essays called Quotidiana (University of Nebraska Press). It is available for purchase at Amazon and other booksellers. Its chapters cover a wide variety of subjects, from laughter to fatherhood to the nearly infinite nature of nature, but one unifying theme is the influence of Rush on the author. Half the essays are peppered with Neil Peart's lyrics in conversation with the author's life. Pat used so many lyrics, in fact, that he had to get Neil's permission (it was graciously granted). The book's third essay, Remember Death (those who deciphered the skull-and-femur Morse code message in their Roll the Bones tourbook will recognize this phrase), is especially Rush-related. It chronicles the author's epiphany one summer day in 1981 when his friend placed headphones on his head and played Tom Sawyer. From there, it builds a meditation on death through the lens of Rush. One of the tropes prominent in the essay is the vocabulary Pat learned from Rush lyrics. The essay itself intentionally includes dozens of "Rush words." Pat and the University of Nebraska have produced a PDF of the Remember Death pages for RIAB readers, along with a contest. Read Remember Death, noting all the "Rush words" you find (hint: there are between 50 and 100; they're mainly from the albums through Hold Your Fire). Send your alphabetically organized list in an email to Pat at pcmadden3@yahoo.com with RIAB Vocabulary Contest in the subject line before Saturday, May 1st (extended from April 12th due to popular demand). There is no need to purchase the book to enter the contest - just download the free pdf. The person who identifies the most Rush words will win a signed copy of Quotidiana plus a vinyl New World Man single (with an otherwise unreleased live version of Vital Signs on the back; according to several sites, this is the only time, other than their 1973 self-released 45, that Rush has ever released a single that does not appear on a full-length album). Two runners up will win one vinyl 45 each, of either The Big Money (b/w Middletown Dreams) or Time Stand Still (b/w High Water). Each winner will also receive a RIAB bumper sticker.
Reader, Rush fan, and composer/performer Ben Sommer recently created a music discovery podcast and blog called Bands Like Rush where bands that have some kind of connection or similarity to Rush are interviewed. For his third installment Ben interviews Troy Kidwell of Boston-based prog rockers Fluttr Effect. You can listen to the podcast or read the transcript at this link, and to find out more about Fluttr Effect check out their website.
Rush gets a mention in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way in the latest edition of Tool's newsletter. They give fan a set of rituals to perform to better the chances of one of the following happening:
To have (Tool) open for Pink Floyd at the Royal Albert Hall, or for Rush somewhere (Neuschwabenland?), or with King Crimson at Madison Square Garden, or to perform with "Muse" on a rooftop in Teignmouth, Devon: After standard Banishing procedures, under a gibbous moon, construct a magic circle from dried autumn leaves. ...
Tool and Rush are big fans of one another. Thanks to Kevin C for the heads up.
A couple of weeks ago I fooled several of you with my annual April Fools gag. Gamespot.com's April Fool's joke was also Rush-related and got the attention of many of you who are fans of the Rock Band video game. Their joke announced the world premier of Rush: Rock Band complete with a new drum peripheral based on Neil Peart's elaborate drumkit. Funny stuff. Thanks to rosmakloma for the heads up.
Reader tolikegolf found this Las Vegas Sun article discussing AC/DC's current tour which mentions Rush, using the prog-rock trio as an example of a band that is the polar opposite of AC/DC:
... We could not resolve Rush and AC/DC, which had just released "Highway to Hell" at about that time. These two bands could not co-exist on mixed compilation tapes we'd been assembling and trading.
One band cried out about the mythic Temples of Syrinx. The other shouted, "If you want blood - you got it!" Too much disparity in message for our young brains to process.
Camps had formed, the AC/DC crew and those of us backing Rush. One Rush detractor emphatically argued, "If it ain't AC/DC, it ain't music." That's crap! Listen to a Neil Peart drum solo and get back to me. I remember laughing at a line from a music magazine of the time, I think it was Circus, that mocked AC/DC's lead guitarist, Angus Young, by complimenting him on learning a third chord. ...
RushFanForever located this Toronto Globe and Mail article on French winemaker Philippe Guigal. It turns out that Guigal is friends with out own Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson:
... "We're good friends," he says of the power trio's two Toronto-based members, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. Mr. Lifeson, a grape groupie, has vacationed with Mr. Guigal in Greece and even attended the 35-year-old's wedding two years ago. ...
The April 2010 issue of Motorcyclist magazine has a feature titled Traveling Music: Songs That Make You Want to Ride Your Motorsickle where staff members pick a song that they think is ideal to listen to while riding. Editor in Chief Brian Catterson - who also happens to be friends with Neil Peart - chose Rush's Red Barchetta. Here's what he said:
My favorite motorcycle song isn't about a motorcycle. It's about a car, although the lyrics describe motorcycling equally well: I fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar, tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime ... Wind in my hair, shifting and drifting, mechanical music, adrenalin surge ... Well-weathered leather, hot metal and oil, the scented country air, sunlight on chrome, the blur of the landscape, every nerve aware. Rush drummer/lyricist Neil Peart penned those words long before he took up motor-cycling, and before the untimely deaths of his wife and daughter that led to his motorcycle journey chronicled in his book Ghost Rider. I did a story with Neil on the heels of that effort, and am happy to report that not only is he happily re-married, his wife Carrie gave birth to a daughter, Olivia, last August.
Thanks to Brian for the heads up.
Reader Eric D let me know that if you fly Air Canada and collect Aeroplan miles for rewards you can purchase a signed Neil Peart cymbal for 141,000 miles.
In a recent article at the Engineering News-Record profiling 2010 Award of Excellence Winner John Hillman, Rush is prominently featured:
When John Hillman's cell phone rings, out comes the tune of "Tom Sawyer," released by the rock band Rush in 1981. The song is not just a favorite of Hillman's-it comes as close to summing up his philosophy and personality as any one song could. A tribute to a "modern-day warrior," it has inspired him to shrug off petty politics, win over skeptics and rebound from setbacks-all for the sake of an "obsession" that sets out to transform the infrastructure world for the better. ...
Thanks to ashpkt for the heads up.
Reader rosmakloma located this glowing review at Blu-ray.com of Rush's R30 blu-ray re-release.
The results of Q107's survey to determine the Top 107 Classic Rock Songs were recently posted to the station's website and 4 Rush songs made the list; Closer To The Heart at #106, Tom Sawyer at #94, Limelight at #60 and The Spirit of Radio at #49. Thanks to tg for the heads up.
The Toucher and Rich show on The Sports Hub 98.5 in Boston had Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi on as a guest last week. They did a bit they called Geddy Bruschi where they had Bruschi read Rush lyrics and made contestants guess the song they were from. You can listen to the podcast at this link. Thanks to Brian M for the heads up.
Reader awanderingmadman let me know that Rush's 2112 made Mania.com's list of 20 Awesome songs for Sci-fi Fans, coming in at #3.
A few months ago I mentioned how at this past Winter NAMM show sound development company Sonic Reality unveiled their Neil Peart Drums Vol. 1: The Kit sample library for Neil Peart's Snakes & Arrows kit as part of their Drum Masters series. There have been a few delays in releasing it, but Sonic Reality now lists the product on their web site as being available in Q2 2010 and retailing for $199 (thanks Ken). Just last week Sonic Reality posted a behind-the-scenes video from the recording sessions for the sample library to their YouTube channel (thanks mabhogO at Counterparts). The video shows Nick Raskulinecz and the Sound Reality guys setting up the mics and then a couple of minutes of Neil pounding away on his kit.
That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and good luck buying tickets! Go Cavs! :)
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