rush tour history book

Rush: Wandering the Face of the Earth: The Official Touring History

Skip daly , richard bienstock  ( editor ) , les claypool  ( foreword ) ...more.

496 pages, Hardcover

Published October 29, 2019

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Exploring the Touring History of Rush: Exclusive Interview

Rush remained fiercely dedicated to their collective cause and to one another -- from Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson 's first show with Neil Peart on Aug. 14, 1974, in Pittsburgh through the final concert they played together on Aug. 1, 2015, at the Forum in Los Angeles.

Across all of those years through many tours and albums, the music of Rush helped to similarly inspire fans, who would then form their own bonds of friendship. Skip Daly and Eric Hansen are two of those fans, and the circumstances that brought them together as collaborators are a bit hazy, with the amount of years that are now in the rear-view mirror.

"It was probably on the National Midnight Star ," Hansen says, recalling an electronic fan newsletter that was once an important resource for Rush news and discussion. "It was the early days of the internet, for sure," he says. "I don’t quite remember exactly when we got to know each other online and started trading cassette tapes or whatever we did back in the day," Daly adds with a laugh, "but Rush fans always chatted with each other."

In the late ‘90s, Hansen launched the Power Windows fan site, initially as a portal to provide Rush wallpaper images for use on computer desktops. In the two decades that followed, the website became an important resource and archive of both articles and tour dates.

It also helped plant a seed for the project that Daly and Hansen eventually spent close to a decade working on together: Wandering the Face of the Earth , their new book, tackles the mammoth task of documenting close to five decades of road work by Rush. Mixing tour dates, statistics and set lists with rare photos, newspaper reports and both exclusive and archival interviews, the 471-page book is notable for offering a particularly deep look at the trio's earliest years between 1968-74.

Daly and Hansen researched the book with the support and blessing of Rush and their management team. In the following interview, conducted before the recent death of drummer Peart, the pair tells UCR about the experience.

How did the idea of doing this book first begin to take shape?

Eric Hansen: It all started really when Beyond the Lighted Stage , the Rush documentary, was released in 2010. When that movie first came out and even leading into that movie before it came out, I had the Power Windows website and back at that time, I had a pretty extensive tour date listing. Skip and I would talk, whenever something new would come up [as far as] what we used to call a “lost tour date,” he would always send something along to me whenever he found it – and he was a frequent collaborator.

When the documentary came out, within the first 15 minutes of the documentary, there’s a lot of memorabilia from early lost tour dates, which we later found out came out of Geddy Lee’s personal collection. Of course, Skip and I were giddy, because all of these lost tour dates, we realized: “Hey, these have never been seen before.” We started taking screen captures and adding a lot of that to the website. About that time, we started talking about, “Hey, there’s an interest here. We’re not the only ones that have an interest in these lost tour dates and Rush’s touring history." That was really the genesis for the book.

Watch Clips From Rush's 'Beyond the Lighted Stage'

What were some of the aspects or eras of the band that you felt like hadn’t been appropriately explored prior to now?

Hansen: The early days.

Skip Daly: Yeah, for me, it was definitely the pre-’74 years when they were a bar band playing the high schools and the bars around Ontario. Personally, that was a big interest for me, just because nobody knew much about that era. Eric and I would talk about this from time to time, whatever band I get into – and Rush isn’t the only one. But if there’s any band that I’m a fan of, I tend to go kind of deep into it and I get really curious, particularly about those formative years of what made the band what it is.

You know, no band ever expects necessarily to go on and play stadiums and be this huge act. But they all start out somewhere, banging around in a garage and playing little bars, so it always interested me, just to know where they came from. Even back in that early era, I would imagine that it must have been quite a thing to see. Because there must have been something different. There must have been some spark of what they’d become. That combined with the fact that that stuff wasn’t really well documented and there wasn’t much known about it, that was an intriguing era for me to try to flesh out.

Hansen: No band that starts out ever thinks they’re going to be around for 40-plus years. They definitely did not keep records for probably about the first seven or eight years, really. Around ‘76 is when we started finding some actual record keeping. There’s a whole period of months during 1977 when there was nothing. There was no official record taken.

Daly: Not to correct you, Eric, but they had some stuff. There were definitely some PDFs that we got from [ Rush manager/producer] Pegi [Cecconi ] from ‘74, ‘75 and ‘76, but it was very spotty. There was some stuff, but there were a lot of gaps. But then pre-1974, I think, from some of the first conversations with Pegi Cecconi and others in their management, they were not scoffing, but they were skeptical that we would be able to even come up with much prior to ‘74. Just because whatever records they would have had back in the day, contracts and such, they just didn’t have them anymore. That stuff, from their perspective, they were just running a business. And what business keeps their records beyond the old magical seven years or whatever it is that’s required for tax purposes? And they also had moved offices several times over the years, so I’m sure a lot of stuff got pitched.

Their original booking agency was no longer in business, so a lot of those records were just gone. Frankly, as much as the marketing guys like to tout this book as “it’s every single show they ever played,” I mean, it’s really not. It’s probably, with all due humility, it’s probably more accurate to say that it’s about the best anyone could probably do. We did try to get creative and we even went into things like, I thought about contacting the Musicians’ Pension Fund of Canada, because we had information, there was somewhere where these guys talked about how they had joined the union back in the early days when they were playing bars. So, that kind of clicked and it was like, “Huh, I wonder if they’d have any records?” They had some interesting records on early bar dates that nobody had found before. So, we did try to go as deep as we could, but the fact of the matter is that there’s some stuff that still is just kind of lost to the mist of time.

Beyond that, what was the overall process of filling in the gaps?

Daly: It was a lot of research. It was research combined with trying to think creatively and outside of the box a little bit about where hadn’t people looked before. We also had, as Eric mentioned, he had a decent skeleton from the years of work that he had done on his own site, having that tour list out there. Fans would send information in and a lot of that kept going on as we worked on the project. You know, nothing this huge happens in a vacuum. There’s a ton of fans out there that were enthusiastic about sending us information, and we had kind of a small core of fans that were even the next level of enthusiastic.

There’s one guy in particular that was going to libraries on our behalf and looking [things] up. We’d look at the date listing and he’d be like, “Oh, there’s a gap here in the dates you guys are missing, and I’m going to be in that city next week.” He would pop into the library and go through microfilm and send us [information]. Having a sense that there was probably a date somewhere in this month, he would look for either advertisements or else a review after the concert.

Hansen: You could tell from the routing of the tour where they must have played and if a tour date didn’t exist at that time, there probably was one that hadn’t been unearthed yet.

Daly: So, there was some of that. And obviously, that’s not the most efficient way to go about it, but when we had little gaps and stuff, we had people that would be willing to help out, which was nice. And also, frankly, a lot of those libraries were really nice. Eric and I would sometimes call them or email them and say, “Hey, we’re looking for this, is there somebody there that can pull it?” We met a lot of nice librarians through the course of the project. We did have people that would go through microfilm for us and send us scans and information.

Hansen: Especially when we’re calling those small towns in Canada. We’d frequently come across a librarian that was a fan of the band and was happy to help.

Watch Rush Perform 'Anthem' in 1976

Skip, as I was getting ready for this interview, one of the first things I randomly came across was an interview you did back in 2009 with Ian Grandy, Rush’s first roadie. That made me wonder if there were encounters like that one that helped to plant the seeds that there were a lot of stories worth telling. Because that’s another really interesting aspect of this book, the fact that you guys got so many of the people that had been associated with them over the years to add their stories to the fabric of this whole story.

Daly: That’s absolutely true, and it’s funny that you mentioned that interview and Ian specifically – because that absolutely was a big catalyst for me. I mean, Eric and I knew each other at that point. It was before the documentary came out that he spoke about, and I think that was maybe the last piece of it that really kind of kicked us in the ass to go ahead and do it. But absolutely, from speaking with Ian and a lot of the stuff in that first interview, it was kind of like the book was almost a natural thing to do after that, because it quickly became apparent he had a lot of great stories. In terms of speaking more broadly to a lot of the crew, both the historical past guys as well as the guys who were still on their crew at that point, that didn’t really happen too much until later – after we had the genesis of the project.

We really wanted it to be official and sanctioned for a lot of reasons. One is just because it felt right. But also, it quickly became apparent that it was the only way to go about it. The crew guys, not just the guys that still worked for them, but even the guys who hadn’t worked for them in years, they were all fiercely loyal and they were very polite whenever I would run into any of these guys or speak to them – but you know, they wanted for the book, in order to speak with us, they wanted to see that [we] had the approval to do this. They were still that loyal to the band.

They wanted to make sure that it was sanctioned and that it wasn’t just a couple of guys trying to dig up dirt. That really came about later on, after the first couple of years of finally getting approval from their management. We had to do a whole proof of concept before that, because we had to have something to present to say: “This is kind of what we want to do.” It was a bit hectic upfront trying to figure out: There was a lot of work just to even kind of pitch it, I guess.

Hansen: I just want to add one thing. Getting back to Ian, his memory of actual dates is uncanny. He would have a story and he would kind of remember the city when a certain story happened and sure enough, after we did our research, he provided the actual date or within the same weekend of when a story happened – and we’re talking 40-to-45 years ago. So, it was uncanny, his memory. Unfortunately, he was only around for the first one-third of the touring history. A lot of the stories he might have had from later on, we of course didn’t get to enjoy any of those because he left the band in the early '80s.

Daly: I would echo what Eric just said. He has an amazing memory. And yeah, he wasn’t around for the later years, but the other great thing about him is that he was literally one of the only one or two or three guys that was around in the early, early days. You go back to ‘69 or ‘70 or ‘71 and it really was just Ian and maybe one other guy outside of the band who would really be able to speak to much of that era. So, having him so supportive of the project and so willing to put up with us for all of those years, it really helped us flesh that stuff out with a lot of great stories. And to Eric’s other point, Ian also was really good about if he didn’t remember something. He wouldn’t just throw something at us. He’d say, “I’m not sure about that.”

A lot of the other guys, bless their heart, you would interview other people and they would kind of say, “I think it was this,” but they wouldn’t give you a sense of, “Well, are you sure? What’s the percentage on that?” He was always very clear, which sometimes it helps to know what they don’t remember too – you know, when you’re trying to put the puzzle together.

One of the key things that right away helps to legitimize this book before you even crack the cover is the fact that the band and their management got involved. Talk about the process of landing their support.

Daly: It was at least 18 months, if not a solid two years from when we sort of said in mid-2010, “Hey, let’s do this,” and then started working on putting something together. I think from that point, it was probably a solid year and a half to two years before we finally got the “Okay, we’re cool with you guys working on it.” You know, not, “We’re cool with it coming out,” because we didn’t have anything finished at that point, but it was just, “Okay, here’s a letter saying we’re okay with you developing this.” Up until that point, it was kind of working on a draft and we couldn’t get any data from them yet, because we didn’t have the official approval. We couldn’t interview any crew yet, because we didn’t have the official approval.

So, it was really kind of taking Eric’s date listing, doing a bit of research and just trying to put that into some kind of format. Eventually, we had enough that we submitted it as a Version 1 draft manuscript, just as a proof of concept. And then it was hurry up and wait, and kind of check in every couple of months with their management to say: “Hey, are they cool with it?” We spent probably a year and a half to two years hearing one of two things back – either, “well, they’re too busy at work right now, you know, they’re getting ready for a tour”; or else, “Well, they’re on a break right now; they’re on vacation, I can’t bother them.” We cycled through iterations of that for almost two years before finally we just caught them at the magic moment, and we heard back: “Yeah, they’re cool with it. What do you need from us?”

At that point, we had two things. We got a letter saying, “Hey, this is sanctioned and they’re working on this with our blessing. It’s okay to talk to them,” so we could take that and go to crew guys. The second thing that we got was that they sent us the records that they had, which was basically some PDF documents that were the best they had in terms of records at this point, which was a lot better than nothing. We tended to use that as the gold source when there were questions. But there definitely were gaps.

Was there ever the thought in the back of your head that you guys could get to a certain point on this project, and they could just squash it and it would not come out?

Daly: Oh yeah. Multiple times. There were some times that it felt like that. You know, we’d be sitting here, kind of looking at each other, as people look at each other through the internet. You’d be saying to yourself, have we wasted a ton of time here? It was definitely a concern a lot of times along the way. But you know, it’s funny how you also take something to a certain point and it almost feels like: “Well, if I was going to bail on this, I should have done it before now. At some point, you just keep going and keep hoping for the best and try to do good work. Honestly, until I held the damn thing in my hands, you kind of have to go into that mode of protecting yourself and not getting hopes up too much. But yeah, it definitely felt like that at times along the way.

Watch Rush's Video for 'Half the World'

Did you have access to any unreleased concert recordings from the band’s archives to help verify the set lists and other details?

Daly: No, I wish. That would have been fun. I mean, honestly there’s so much out there bootleg-wise and what isn’t out there bootleg-wise, I’m not sure the band has. Especially if we’re talking about the early eras, the pre-1980 [time], really. I’m not sure that there’s much that they have that isn’t out there. I mean, I’m sure that there are some things, but nothing that I would think would get into what you’re talking about, back in the days of swapping the set list out night after night. I think that kind of stuff probably ended sometime around 1977. So, before ‘77, I don’t get the sense that they really have all that much.

But no, we did not have access to whatever there is. That would have been nice. And particularly, I have always been fascinated by the notion of whether or not in their closet somewhere, they might have recordings stashed away from the high-school bar days. I think that stuff would be really interesting to hear. Especially since they were playing songs back then that nobody’s heard that were never recorded. But I don’t know. No, we didn’t have access and no, I’m not personally aware of anything that exists that would have been useful in that regard.

Hansen: There was an interview with Alex, I don’t know, about eight or nine years ago, where they were cleaning out the vault and they found some tapes from their early days. But he had no idea what was on those tapes.

Daly: That was the interview I did with him, actually, Eric. [Laughs.]

Hansen: Was that yours?

Daly: Yeah, that was the one for Guitar International in 2008 or something like that.

Hansen: He found some unlabeled tapes.

One of the shows that I looked up randomly was the Cleveland show from ‘96 on the Test for Echo tour and one of the footnotes there is regarding the debut of the “Half The World” film at that concert. The book has a lot of details like that of notable things that happened at these shows. For you guys, what were some of the more interesting things that you came across that were associated with particular shows?

Daly: There’s all kinds of funny, little quirky stories in there. It’s hard to know where to start. But yeah, again, we wanted it to be fun and part of it being fun – for me, anyway, and I think probably for Eric too, he can speak for himself, but it’s the little things like that. It’s the little stories and how you can tie it back. And then coupled with the fact that you realize that most people reading this book probably went to more than a couple of Rush shows over the years, right? So, for them to be able to look back at their gigs and see little notes like that, I thought that would be fun. We would try to kind of cram as much of that stuff in there as we reasonably could. It became quite fun to be able to find those moments that you could tie to specific dates like that. I mean, if you’re looking for a specific example, again, there are a ton.

One that pops to mind for some crazy reason right now is that I remember there was a gig on the Hemispheres tour where something happened and Geddy’s keyboard rig was off in the shop, and they had to play a gig somewhere in like, Phoenix or Salt Lake City or somewhere like that. They flew in and [keyboard tech] Tony Geranios, [who was nicknamed] Jack Secret, had arranged and had called whatever company it was at the time, Oberheim or whoever, and was trying to get a replacement keyboard to use for that night. Apparently, his particular rig at that point was kind of a fairly rare thing.

But they found a guy local to the gig, who had bought one from the company not too long ago, so they kind of matchmaked them and put them in touch with each other. Tony was able to get the guy on the phone and say, “Can we rent your keyboard for the gig?” [Laughs.] The guy brought it down and then they set it up and played it, and then at some point during the gig, the guy decides to try to just walk up on stage. Security came in and got the guy out of there or whatever, and it was just crazy stuff like that. So, there’s one for ya and that’s in the book somewhere, probably around, I think ‘79. But it’s little stuff like that. You know, if you were at that show, reading something like that, you’d probably go, “That’s crazy and cool.”

Hansen: You know, the thing that always struck me was all of the special guests that would come to the shows. Often in disguise, celebrities, fans of the band, they’d show up in disguise. We had quite a few stories like that. Another fact is that Geddy is an avid baseball follower , you know. They would schedule their warm-up tours to coincide with spring training down in Florida, so that he could go to as many ballgames as he could. There was one gig that I remember he invited an entire team backstage after the show. He told the crew, make sure you’ve got enough beer and shrimp for the entire team he had invited. They of course ran out after like 10 minutes.

Listen to Rush Perform 'Losing It' at Their Final Show

What’s the dream Rush gig you’d like to go back and see?

Hansen: So for me, the one that I’m kicking myself for missing is the final gig, which was Aug. 1, 2015. I knew it was going to be the last gig. They’d been talking about it, that it was the last gig. Even though they didn’t come out and say, “Hey, this is our final tour,” anybody that had been paying attention knew it was the final tour. I had been telling my wife for five years, hey, this could be the last tour, every time they toured. Well, this time I knew it, but she didn’t believe me – and Aug. 1 happens to be my anniversary.

So, I said, “Hey, for our anniversary, we can go see Rush’s final show!” And of course, I got shot down and you know, here we are four years later and she’s kind of saying: “Yeah, we should have gone to that final show.” It didn’t happen. I also wish I’d gone to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show. Every time I see the videos of that show, I get goosebumps. I just can’t imagine what it would have been like to have actually been there.

Daly: There’s so many good ones. I’ve got two or three myself that if I had a time machine, [I'd love to see]. One that I think would be interesting would to have been in that church basement, the first time that they played in public together. I think that would have been pretty fascinating. I can’t help but wonder if there wasn’t, even at that early, early time, just some sense of a minor spark of what was to come. You know, like something different about these 16-year-old kids jamming their way through these cover tunes. That would have been pretty interesting to see.

And yeah, the final gig, I missed that as well. I wasn’t out in L.A. for that. I think that’s something that the whole fan base wishes they were at, you know? Another one that I missed, I saw them within a week or two, but I didn’t catch the very first show on the Vapor Trails tour in Hartford, Conn., in June of 2002 after the five-year hiatus due to Neil’s terrible tragedies . I think that by all accounts, that was a pretty emotional and amazing thing. At a fundamental human level, for somebody to manage to come back from something like that, and for them to return to the stage together as a band after that, I think that would have been incredible to witness.

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RUSH: 'Wandering The Face Of The Earth: The Official Touring History' Book Due In October

Insight Editions has set an October 15 is release date for "Rush: Wandering The Face Of The Earth: The Official Touring History" . The book includes a foreword from PRIMUS 's Les Claypool , and an afterword by THE POLICE 's Stewart Copeland . The 304-page hardcover was compiled by Skip Daly , a RUSH expert for over 30 years, and Eric Hansen , who started the popular "Power Windows" RUSH fansite at 2112.net .

Hansen stated about "Rush: Wandering The Face Of The Earth: The Official Touring History" : "We first conceived it nine years ago, not long after the release of [the RUSH documentary] 'Beyond The Lighted Stage' . Covering the 40-plus-year touring history of our beloved band, it is a book that not only compiles the tour dates and setlists, but also tells the stories of what happened on tour. We weren't alone in our quest, though, and enlisted the help of many fellow fans (you know who you are) to help flesh out these stories. With early approval from the folks at [ RUSH 's management company] SRO , we were not only provided with their tour records, but they helped us connect with many crew members both past and present. In addition, we had the pleasure to speak to past band members such as Mitch Bossi , Lindy Young and Gerry Fielding , as well as John Rutsey 's brothers, Mike and Bill . When it came to the cover, we pitched some ideas over the phone to Hugh Syme , and he came back to us with the amazing cover you see [below]."

Official book description: " Alex Lifeson , Geddy Lee and Neil Peart performed together for the first time to an audience of 11,000 people in 1974. Forty years later, their last tour sold over 442,000 tickets. This is the story of everything in between. This is the story of RUSH .

"Fondly known as the Holy Triumvirate, RUSH is one of the top bands to shine through rock-and-roll history. 'Wandering The Face Of The Earth' covers RUSH 's storied touring career, from their humble beginnings as a Toronto-area bar band playing middle school gymnasiums to their rise as one of the world’s most sought-after live acts, selling out massive arenas around the globe. This book includes every setlist, every opening act, and every noteworthy moment meticulously researched and vetted by the band themselves. Along with spectacular, never-before-seen imagery, this is THE must-have tour compendium for RUSH fans."

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The book promises to include “every setlist, every opening act, and every noteworthy moment, meticulously researched and vetted by the band themselves.”

Published on

A new book documenting legendary prog-rock trio Rush’s touring career is to be published later this year. Rush: Wandering The Face Of The Earth – The Official Touring History was compiled by Skip Daly and Eric Hansen and has been fully endorsed by the band.

The 416-page book will include every setlist, along with the bands who joined them on the road, while previously unpublished photographs will also be included.

It is set for publication on 15 October via Insight Editions, with Primus’ Les Claypool – who toured with Rush on their Roll The Bones tour in the early 90s – providing the foreword, while The Police’s Stewart Copeland has written the afterword.

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A synopsis reads: “Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee and Neil Peart performed together for the first time to an audience of 11,000 people in 1974. Forty years later, their last tour sold over 442,000 tickets. This is the story of everything in between. This is the story of Rush.

“ Wandering The Face Of The Earth covers Rush’s storied touring career, from their humble beginnings as a Toronto-area bar band playing middle school gymnasiums, to their rise as one of the world’s most sought-after live acts, selling out massive arenas around the globe.

“This book includes every setlist, every opening act, and every noteworthy moment meticulously researched and vetted by the band themselves. Along with spectacular, never-before-seen imagery, this is the must-have tour compendium for Rush fans.”

Rush played their final show together in Los Angeles on August 1, 2015 – the last show on their celebrated R40 tour. Since then, however, the band have stated they will not play live together again .

In a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone , bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee said: “Well, I’d say I can’t really tell you much other than that there are zero plans to tour again.

“We’re very close and talk all the time, but we don’t talk about work. We’re friends, and we talk about life as friends. I can’t really tell you more than that, I’m afraid.”

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RUSH - 1977-2004 The Complete Tour Books Now Available

November 28, 2005, 18 years ago

news rush rarities

According to an update from Rush.com, The RUSH Backstage Club has released an original and unique product, Rush 1977-2004 The Complete Tour Books. This is a 400 page coffee table book with all of Rush's tour books to date, a total of 15 books. The books have been reproduced and bound together in a black, cloth-wrapped 12" x 12" book. The front cover is debossed in black and silver foil with the starman logo. There is a two-page introduction written by Neil Peart, detailing his involvement in the design and content of every Rush tour book going back to1977.

There are 500 limited edition copies available now. These copies have been signed in silver ink by Geddy, Alex, and Neil. Also, these are numbered 1 to 500 by Neil himself (because he has the best handwriting!). Each book comes with a custom slipcase debossed in black and silver foil with the starman logo.

Neil Peart, excerpt from Rush 1977-2004 The Complete Tour Books:

Rush 1977-2004 The Complete Tour Books is available exclusively at Rushbackstage.com.

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RUSH Wandering the Face of the Earth – The Official Touring History 1968-2015

by Larry · March 4, 2020

I’ve seen Rush (the best power trio, the best rock band, with the best drummer, best bass player and best lead guitarist in the world – yet I remain totally unbiased!) more times than I can remember. Back when there were paper tickets, I’d keep the stubs as a reminder. Now in addition to the stubs (and thanks to my lovely daughter’s gift) I have this massive book – RUSH: WANDERING THE FACE OF THE EARTH – that contains their complete touring history!

RUSH Wandering the Face of The Earth was published in October 2019. Neal Peart died in January 2020. The timing of this retrospective of a band that meant so much to so many could not have been better.

The authors of RUSH Wandering the Face of The Earth are Skip Daly and Eric Hansen, two Rush super fans. Their bios belie their ages – Skip’s first Rush concert was on the Presto tour, and Eric became a fan after Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures . This one of those occasions when being older is definitely better – as you’ll hopefully agree after seeing my ticket stub collection! :) Eric also started the Rush fan site Power Windows .

Each chapter in their book contains one tour. Most tours were, as usual, after an album was released. In addition to a paragraph and details of each tour date, there are a few pages of description, quotes from the band and other folks on the tour, and quite a few photos.

This book reads more like a history of the band combined with a guide to each gig.

Of course, the first thing everyone does when getting this book is look up the concerts they are sure they attended and try to piece together the memories of the ones they think they attended. It’s a 45 year Rush history, and RUSH Wandering The Face Of The Earth has the notes, locations and set lists (plus a lot of photos) to fill in the gaps when your memory is as full and old as mine. I’ve used the book’s table of contents, which is broken out by tour, and added the dates from the gigs listed to help with my own timeline. That’s one of the best things about this book – it allows the reader to stroll memory lane with the band’s timeline juxtaposed with their own.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Les Claypool of Primus

Introduction: A Master Class in 45 Short Years by Howard Ungerleider

Chapter 1: ORIGINS (Tour History 1965 – February 1974)

My favorite quote from the pages describing this part of the Rush touring is how the name of the band came about, from the original drummer John Rutsey’s older brother Bill.

“I can’t remember any of the silly names that they were coming up with, but I was sitting upstairs and I just finally had heard enough, and so I shouted downstairs ‘Just call the band Rush!’ And they said ‘Rush? What’s that?’ And I said ‘You know, like drugs!….Rush!’. So that’s exactly how it happened.” (pg. 21).

The very first concert listed in the book is September 6, 1968. I was almost 7 but for some reason my parents did not take me to this concert. It might have had something to do with the fact that it was in Toronto and we were not.

Chapter 2: THE RUSH TOUR  (Tour History March 1974 – December 1974)

Rush’s first performance in the United States – May 18, 1974, in East Lansing, Michigan. I was a bit older by then, but still did not make this red-letter date. (pg. 45). They hit Texas in October 4, 1974 with a performance in Houston (pg. 54). There are some great notes in this chapter on the gig where Rush opened for Sha Na Na…and got booed (pg. 51).

Chapter 3: THE FLY BY NIGHT TOUR  (Tour History January 1975 -June 1975)

Chapter 4: THE CARESS OF STEEL TOUR  (Tour History July 1975 – January 1976)

There is discussion in the pages describing this tour of how the album was  not well received and how it was a low point for the band. I still love and listen to this album, and The Fountain of Lamneth is one of my favorites for contemplation.

This chapter has the first mention I can find in the book of a tour that came to a town where I lived (San Antonio, Texas, the rock and roll capital of the world) is on page 63 (October 28, 1975). Rush played at Randy’s Rodeo, a country and western place on Bandera Highway that used to be a bowling alley.  The blurb for the concert mentions KISS-FM and DJ Lou Roney who I listened all through high school and college. Our family had just moved to San Antonio, and I’m pretty certain my mom did not let my 13-year-old self go to this concert.

Chapter 5: THE 2112 TOUR  (Tour History February 1976 – July 1976)

There’s a description here of the recording of Rush’s first live album ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE at Massey Hall in June 1976. This and the live recording of Working Man is what hooked me on Rush forever.

Rush came back through San Antonio June 7, 1976. Thin Lizzy was the opening act. I’m pretty sure I missed this one.

Chapter 6: THE ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE TOUR  (Tour History August 1976 – June 1977)

Artful Dodger and Leslie West opened for Rush in San Antonio January 8th and 9th, 1977 (pg. 120). I’m pretty sure this was my first Rush concert, as I can still remember two things: how small the guitar looked in Leslie West’s hands, and yelling for Rush to play “Working Man” (as I had worn out my brother’s copy of ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE playing that song (sorry, Terry)).

Chapter 7: THE FAREWELL TO KINGS TOUR  (Tour History August 1977 – May 1978)

One of the most awesome concerts ever – October 22-23, 1977 with UFO opening the show. Max Webster played as well, and hearing the all of the songs on that album live was tremendous (pg. 141). According to the notes, the Municipal Auditorium held 5,800 people.

The show that I have the oldest paper ticket stub for is mentioned on page 169. It featured supporting act April Wine, who (according to my trust ticket stubs) we saw as a headliner in San Antonio two years later. This show was at the Convention Center Arena.

Update : see my brother’s comment below. He still has the t-shirt from that concert. A picture of it that he sent me is included below.

Chapter 9: THE SUMMER TOUR ’79  (Tour History August 1979 – September 1979)

Another paper ticket stub marks the concert from February 3, 1980 (pg. 186) again at the lovely San Antonio Convention Center Arena. Max Webster , fellow Canadian band, was the opening act.

Chapter 11: THE FALL 1980 TOUR (Tour History September 1980 – October 1980)

The last of the paper ticket stubs I have to jog my memory – April 11, 1981 (pg. 208). There’s a paragraph in the book that says immediately after this show the band flew to Florida to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle, then flew back for another gig in Fort Worth.

Chapter 13: THE EXIT . . . STAGE LEFT TOUR  (Tour History October 1981 – December 1981)

Chapter 14: THE DEEP SOUTH SPRING TRAINING TOUR  (Tour History April 1982)

When I first saw the name of this tour I instantly thought that it was a Geddy boondoggle to get close to baseball spring training! It was, however a warm-up to get in shape for the Signals recording sessions (pg. 222)

Chapter 15: THE NEW WORLD TOUR  (Tour History September 1982 – may 1983)

March 2, 1983 – no paper ticket to remind me, but Alex with short hair and Golden Earring (“Radar Love”) as the opening act are reminders of this gig (pg. 237 – 238). There is a great set of photos on page 230 of the boys with their mothers and fathers.

Chapter 16: RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, 1983  (Tour History September 1983)

Chapter 17: THE GRACE UNDER PRESSURE TOUR  (Tour History May 1984 – November 1984)

The Texxas Jam. June 8, 1984. (pg. 252). I’d moved to Houston in January 1984. We did not stay for Ozzy :).

Chapter 18: SPRING TRAINING 1985 (Tour History March 1985)

This tour did indeed allow Geddy to hit a few spring training games (pg. 261).

Chapter 19: THE POWER WINDOWS TOUR  (Tour History December 1985 – May 1986)

January 15-16, 1986 at The Summit in Houston. (pg. 271)

Chapter 20: THE HOLD YOUR FIRE TOUR  (Tour History October 1987 – May 1988)

Chapter 21: THE PRESTO TOUR  (Tour History February 1990 – June 1990)

February 26 at the Summit with Mr. Big (pg. 294)

Chapter 22: THE ROLL THE BONES TOUR  (Tour History October 1991 – June 1992)

The description of this tour mentions Primus as an opening act (pg. 304. Les Claypool, the singer and bassist for Primus, wrote the Foreword to this book). Primus is starting a tour this year (2020) where they plan to play the entire Farewell to Kings album! They will play at the excellent ACL-Live venue in downtown Austin May 29, 2020!

Chapter 23: THE COUNTERPARTS TOUR  (Tour History January 1994 – May 1994)

The chapters also talk about the set lists for each tour. This one states that this tour “marked the first tour that featured nothing from Rush’s first four albums – and the only tour ever to skip 2112 completely.” (pg 320). It also mentions the band Primus again, saying that their jamming on the Hemispheres tracks during sound check convinced Rush to bring back parts of that album on this tour.

Chapter 24: THE TEST FOR ECHO TOUR  (Tour History October 1996 – June 1997)

After this tour was when Neil temporarily retired after his daughter was killed in a car accident and his wife later died of cancer. Five long years passed.

Chapter 25: THE VAPOR TRAILS TOUR. (Tour History June 2002 – November 2002, includes the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto concert July 30, 2003)

There’s a great description here when the trio shared a moment at their first concert back on stage (pg. 347). This tour also included the November 23,  2002 Rio concert that was filmed for the Rush in Rio DVD.

Chapter 26: THE R30 TOUR (Tour History May 2004 – September 2004)

“Every album was represented in the R30 set list save for Presto.” (pg. 364) Though there was no album of new music to tour on, this tour was right after the album Feedback which featured covers of classics.

Chapter 27: THE SNAKES & ARROWS TOUR (Tour History June 2007 – October 2007)

Deservedly slowing down from their relentless touring pace, the band had three years between tours.

Chapter 28: THE SNAKES & ARROWS LIVE TOUR (Tour History April 2008 – July 2008)

The band’s Colbert Show appearance, is in the tour list on pages 404-405.

Chapter 29: THE TIME MACHINE TOUR (Tour History June 2010 – July 2011)

Chapter 30: THE CLOCKWORK ANGELS TOUR (Tour History September 2012 – August 2013)

This concert tour was the first time I dragged my lovely wife to see the boys, at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York. I had tickets to see them in Houston, but when I bought them I did not realize that we had already booked a trip out-of-town. This concert with the few string section for the Clockwork Angels tunes, was outstanding. And when Alex’s feed to his amp malfunctioned, we got to see Alex dance a gig. Full notes (and a pic of me holding the set list) here .

We were in Denver so that I could acclimate for a run (the Pikes Peak ascent). We were staying downtown, testing out high-rise living (which we now do full-time) and were within walking distance of the Pepsi center. I gotten the concert dates screwed up (again thought we’d see them in Houston) so the day of the concert I called the arena – and ended up with FLOOR SEATS. It was yet another flashback to the days in high school when we’d wait in line for floor tickets. The final concert (with my wife in tow yet again) was once again one of the best shows I’d seen.

Besides getting floor seats by calling the arena the day of, the best thing was getting paper ticket stubs again!

RUSH Wandering the Face of the Earth is not just a great tour book. As each chapter went through I went back and listened to the albums that were represented by the tour described in that chapter.  Music always bring back memories. With Neil Peart’s passing, the R40 really was indeed the last time we will see the trio live. But they certainly live on in their music, and in awesome remembrances like this book.

Just look at those ticket prices!!!!

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5 Responses

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Very well written Larry. I suspect I may have seen them before you. Chapter 8, tour of the Hemispheres. Saw them as a high school senior in 1978 in San Antonio. Not only did I bring my camera and telephoto lens which captured some intriguing black and whites, but in spite of no ticket stub, I still have the concert t-shirt. Sending a photo of the shirt to you as I have no clue how to upload an image on you web page.

Many thanks for the review!

Send some of the B&W photos! I added your concert t-shirt! You should meet me in Austin to see Primus play the Farewell to Kings album!

Great article my friend ! Cheers from Canada

Thank you sir! Stay safe up there!

Saw RUSH in San Antonio @ Randy’s in 1975. The tickets were $3.00 in advance. Excellent show from what I remember. Joe Anthony, Lou Rony and KISS-FM got this band on the map in South TX.

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Rush Fans’ Delight: Tour History Book

From the book’s announcement:

“Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and Neil Peart performed together for the first time to an audience of 11,000 people in 1974. Forty years later, their last tour sold over 442,000 tickets. This is the story of everything in between. This is the story of Rush .”

The 416-page Wandering the Face of the Earth is said to be the most comprehensive collection of information on Rush’s tours ever assembled, plus loads of previously unpublished photos, and more.

More from the announcement: “Fondly known as the Holy Triumvirate, Rush is one of the top bands to shine through rock-and-roll history. Wandering the Face of the Earth covers Rush’s storied touring career, from their humble beginnings as a Toronto-area bar band playing middle school gymnasiums to their rise as one of the world’s most sought-after live acts, selling out massive arenas around the globe. This book includes every setlist, every opening act, and every noteworthy moment meticulously researched and vetted by the band themselves. Along with spectacular, never-before-seen imagery, this is THE must-have tour compendium for Rush fans.”

Co-author Skip Daly has been an expert on Rush for over 30 years. He became a Rush fan in high school, and his first Rush concert was on May 5, 1990 (the Presto tour) at the Capital Centre in Largo, MD.

He has since attended 25 additional Rush shows—at least one gig per subsequent tour.

The other co-author, Eric Hansen, was first introduced to Rush after receiving a cassette tape of the albums Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures , and eventually became a true fanatic following the release of Rush’s Hold Your Fire . In 1998, he started the popular Power Windows Rush fansite at 2112.net. He is also known for his contributions to the documentary Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage .

Rush: Wandering the Face of the Earth follows 2018s Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass , subtitled “A Compendium of the Rare, Iconic and Weird.”

Rush has been releasing 40th anniversary expanded editions of their albums, including a deluxe version of Hemispheres  in 2018.

Related: Rush has never had a top 10 single in the U.S. Here are 9 other bands that haven’t

Watch Rush perform “Tom Sawyer”

Related: Peart passed in 2020

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- The Rush Tour Information Database -

• Fly By Night Tour
• Caress Of Steel Tour
• All The World's A Stage Tour
• A Farewell To Kings Tour
• Hemispheres Tour
• Permanent Waves Warm-Up Tour
• Permanent Waves Tour
• Moving Pictures Warm-Up Tour
• Moving Pictures Tour
• Exit Stage Left Tour
• Signals Warm-Up Tour
• Signals Tour
• Grace Under Pressure Warm-Up Tour
• Grace Under Pressure Tour
• Power Windows Warm-Up Tour
• Power Windows Tour
• Hold Your Fire Tour
• Presto Tour
• Roll The Bones Tour
• Counterparts Tour
• Test For Echo Tour
• Vapor Trails Tour
• Snakes & Arrows Tour
• Time Machine Tour
• Clockwork Angels Tour

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