Rush is a Band

Updates and other random Rush stuff

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:26:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/24@1:44PM: Here's one item I'd forgot to mention. DrumsForCures Inc. is running a charity auction where they are selling a Neil Peart autographed drumhead to raise money for cancer research. For all the details and to place your bid go here (thanks Tom B).

Rush opened up the European leg of the 2013 Clockwork Angels tour this past Wednesday in Manchester, England. They continue their trek across jolly ol' England today, where in just a couple of hours they'll hit the stage at London's O2 Arena. Then it's on to Birmingham, Sheffield and Glasgow before jumping the channel to bring the tour to mainland Europe. One of the stops they'll be hitting while in Europe is the Sweden Rock Festival - the band's first appearance at a European festival in 34 years. Geddy Lee was recently interviewed by VH1 Radio Network's Dave Basner and shed some light on why the band has avoided festivals over the years:

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Rush 2013 Clockwork Angels tour London open thread

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:47:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/24@7:46PM: They played the Night A - version 3 set (thanks Al-Dreamline), and official photos are already posted at Rush.com.

UPDATE - 5/24@4:11PM: It's intermission time. It looks like Night A - version 3 so far (thanks Al-Dreamline).

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Geddy Lee talks Rock Hall induction, Clockwork Angels tour in new interview with the Birmingham Post

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:31:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/24@9:39AM: Interviewer Steve Adams also mentioned to me in an email that Geddy also spoke with him about how the band did consider playing Losing It from Signals on the current tour. Jonathan Dinklage, one of the members of the string section, is a longtime fan of the band and had developed an interesting take on the song. This portion of the interview was omitted from the article because of space constraints.

In the lead up to this weekend's Rush show in Birmingham, Geddy Lee spoke with Steve Adams of the Birmingham Post for an interview where he discusses the band's recent Rock Hall induction, the Clockwork Angels tour and more. Here's Geddy on how emotionally overwhelming the Rock Hall induction was for the band:

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Alex Lifeson talks Clockwork Angels tour in new Sheffield Star interview

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:19:00 -0500

In the lead up to next week's Rush show at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, Alex Lifeson spoke with the Sheffield Star for a short interview to discuss the Clockwork Angels tour.

... "We love playing over here. The last tour was the first time that we had played at the O2 in London which was so much better than Wembley Arena and the Arena at Sheffield is a really good arena too. We've played there a few times now and it has a pretty good sound for that type of venue. It's important for us to play outside London too so we try to play as many places that we possibly can when we're here." ...

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Martin Popoff's Rush: The Illustrated History released

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:58:00 -0500

We learned earlier in the year that author and music journalist Martin Popoff is following up his 2004 Rush biography Contents Under Pressure with a new illustrative history of the band titled Rush: The Unauthorized Illustrated History. The book was scheduled for a May 30th release but has already begun shipping from several online retailers including Amazon.com. From the book's description:

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Win front row tickets for Rush at Jones Beach from Q104.3

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:11:00 -0500

New York City's Q104.3 is running a contest where one lucky Rush fan could win front row tickets to Rush's upcoming show at Jones Beach on June 23rd along with meet and greet passes and a custom Geddy Lee Clockwork Angels bass guitar. To enter you just have to tell them in 140 characters or less why you're Rush's biggest fan. They'll then give you a custom URL to get your friends and family to vote for you for the chance to win. The contest is open to fans in the NYC tri-state area only. You can get all the details and enter the contest at this location.

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Alex Lifeson Planet Rock interview now online

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:52:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/23@10:50AM: Planet Rock mistakenly posted a shorter version of the interview with Alex than they had meant to. The full, 20+ minute interview is now posted in the audio player in this article.

As I'd mentioned last week, UK digital radio station Planet Rock recently interviewed Alex Lifeson and asked fans to submit questions. The interview just aired this morning (afternoon in the UK) and is now available online. The five best questions were presented to Alex when he visited the Planet Rock studio, and you can see what questions were asked along with his answers in this video. They also have the audio of Alex's full 12-minute interview with Planet Rock's Darren Redick which you can listen to online here. Alex talks about the current tour, the Rock Hall induction ceremony, explains the infamous blah speech, the band's plans after the tour, and more.

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Rush 2013 Clockwork Angels tour Manchester open thread

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:53:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/23@9:25AM: Here's a gallery of photos from the show that was posted over at Cygnus-X1.net.

UPDATE - 5/23@7:19AM: Reader Al-Dreamline and others have confirmed that it was the Night B - version 3 setlist. Official photos from the show have been posted over at Rush.com.

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Geddy Lee talks Sweden Rock Festival in new interview

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:42:00 -0500

Rush will kick off their 10 date European leg of the 2013 Clockwork Angels tomorrow in Manchester, England. One of the stops they'll be hitting while in Europe is the Sweden Rock Festival - the band's first appearance at a European festival in 34 years. Geddy Lee was recently interviewed by VH1 Radio Network's Dave Basner and shed some light on why the band has avoided festivals over the years:

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The Toronto Star's Rush: An Oral History feature now online

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:09:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/22@1:19PM: Cygnus-X1.net has removed most of the feature from their website at the request of the Toronto Star. The article/e-dispatch is available for purchase online here.

In the lead-up to Rush's Rock Hall induction last month, the Toronto Star published an e-dispatch story on Rush titled Rush: An Oral History. Toronto Star journalist Vinay Menon conducted separate and lengthy interviews with all 3 band members, their parents and wives, record execs, producers, management and more. John at Cygnus-X1.net has transcribed and scanned the entire feature and made it available online at this location. The feature covers the entire history of the band as told by the people who lived it. It's a very interesting and informative feature and a must read for any Rush fan. You can read the whole thing online here. Thanks John!

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Part 2 of Chad Smith's In Conversation podcast with Alex Lifeson

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:11:00 -0500

MusicRadar.com launched a new podcast series with Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers last Monday called In Conversation, and Alex Lifeson was the first featured guest. You can listen to the first of their three-part conversation at this location, and MusicRadar posted part 2 of the interview this morning here. The interview took place a few days before the band's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction over a leisurely dinner at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, California. In the second installment Alex chats with Chad for over half an hour about the Rock Hall induction ceremony, his painting, his pilot's license, John Rutsey, and more. You can listen to it and read the transcript at this location, or get the podcast on iTunes here. The third and final part of the interview will be posted next Monday.

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Rush Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony HBO broadcast preview clips now online

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:02:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/22@3:30PM: Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) HBO has taken down the videos from the broadcast from Facebook. It looks like the camera-phone YouTube videos from the ceremony itself are still up though. You can still check those out in this post. There's also some camera-phone vids of the broadcast still available here as well.

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Updates and other random Rush stuff

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:17:00 -0500

Rush's April 18th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will premiere on HBO tomorrow evening at 9PM EST. The listed running time on the HBO website for the edited, televised version is 168 minutes - nearly 3 hours, while the ceremony itself was at least 4 and a half hours long. So it'll be interesting to see what they decide to edit out. Hopefully they'll keep the opening standing ovation for Rush along with Alex Lifeson's blah speech. Alex's speech was the highlight of the evening according to this Radio.com article (and RIAB readers):

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Planet Rock taking questions from fans for upcoming interview with Alex Lifeson

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:29:00 -0500

Not to be outdone by MusicRadar.com, UK digital radio station Planet Rock will be interviewing Alex Lifeson this coming week and are asking fans to submit questions. The five best questions will be presented to Alex when he visits the Planet Rock studio. For all the details and to submit your question, go to this location. Rush will begin a 10-date stint in Europe next week beginning with a May 22nd show in Manchester, England. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.

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Short new Geddy Lee interview with the Coventry Telegraph

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:23:00 -0500

In the lead-up to Rush's upcoming show at the LG Arena in Birmingham next Sunday, the Coventry Telegraph spoke with Geddy Lee for a short interview in today's edition. When asked about their stage show Geddy says the following:

... "We like to try and put as much magic into the design as we can. A full range of visual enhancements such as intriguing animated backdrops and comedy to make the show a fully-rounded experience." ...

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Rush remastered album collections available on HDTracks.com, physical format coming soon

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:29:00 -0500

Yesterday Rush released 2 new digital-only album colections: Rush The Complete Mercury Years and Rush: The Studio Albums 1989-2007. Rush The Complete Mercury Years contains Rush's complete Mercury catalog (all their albums up through A Show of Hands), including the new 2112 Deluxe Edition and 2008's Working Man vault edition. This Mercury collection was essentially already made available via 2011's Sectors box sets (excluding the 2112 Deluxe Edition and Working Man vault edition), but this marks the first time they've been released for sale digitally. Rush: The Studio Albums 1989-2007 contains the entire Atlantic-era Rush studio catalog (Presto through Snakes & Arrows). The collections were made available via iTunes for $79.99 and $49.99 respectively, and billed as being mastered for iTunes (see this article explaining what that really means). The Atlantic-era Rush: The Studio Albums 1989-2007 along with the Sectors collections were also made available as 96kHz/24bit lossless audio via HDTracks.com for a significantly higher cost, but with much better quality. From the HDTracks.com website:

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MusicRadar.com taking questions from fans for upcoming interview with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:37:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/15@1:38PM: MusicRadar.com is also sponsoring a contest for UK residents to win front row tickets to one of the UK dates along with a Squire Geddy Lee bass.

MusicRadar.com announced today that they will be interviewing Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson this coming Monday, May 20th and are asking fans to submit their questions for the pair. From the website:

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Rush Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony to air on HBO this coming Saturday, May 18th

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:57:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/15@8:47AM: Here's a press release with more details on specific air dates and times for the ceremony (other than the 5/18 9PM premiere):

HBO Signature will present a 24-hour marathon of the HBO special beginning at midnight the same day the special debuts on HBO, and concluding May 19 at midnight.

Other HBO playdates: May 24 (5:00 p.m., 12:15 a.m.), 26 (4:10 p.m.), 28 (9:45 p.m., 4:05 a.m.) and 31 (12:30 p.m.), and June 1 (1:00 p.m.), 3 (1:45 p.m.) and 5 (2:20 a.m.)
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Prog magazine's Rush special hardcover edition now available online

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:41:00 -0500

The latest issue of Prog magazine went on sale last month, and the issue contained a 14-page Rush cover feature titled Men at Work: 45 stories from 45 incredible years together. Along with the Rush cover feature in Prog #35, they released a limited edition hardcover version of the magazine's Rush content which includes an additional 12 pages of Rush coverage. John over at Cygnus-X1.net recently received his hardback copy and transcribed the entire thing, making it available online here. The additional content includes a letter from editor Jerry Ewing, a 1990 Presto-era interview with the band titled Presto Manifesto, a previously unpublished 2012 Prog interview with Geddy Lee called Mechanical Animals, and a new interview with Geddy and Alex where they discuss the future of the band titled Closer to Their Hearts!. Here they are on the subject of a 40th anniversary tour:

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Rush iTunes-only digital album collections now available

Tue, 14 May 2013 07:01:00 -0500

UPDATE - 5/15@12:45PM: The latest Masterdisk newsletter (thanks Eric at Power Windows) reveals that the remastered The Studio Albums 1989-2007 collection will also be made available on a physical format:

Rush fans rejoice! Andy VanDette's highly-acclaimed remastering work for Rush continues! Andy recently completed the series of albums from 1989's "Presto" to 2007's "Snakes and Arrows." The new remasters will first see release at the Mastered for iTunes store, then HD Tracks, and later in physical formats.

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