Rush Brought Their A-Game for the R40 Tour Stop in Seattle

One of the most heavily anticipated shows of 2015 rolled through Seattle on hot, hot, hot late July evening and that show was of course the R40 tour or if you read Geddy Lee’s shirt on stage(after a wardrobe change at the intermission) the “Arf40″ tour by the legendary Canadian power trio Rush.

The Seattle Center grounds which are home to Key Arena was a flurry of activity as the Bite of Seattle was just wrapping up and the Rush concert goers were beginning to take over. Up the street inside Dick’s Drive-In before the show it looked like a Rush T-Shirt convention and the buzz could be felt from there all the way back to the Arena that was getting prepared for what was promising to be an epic event.

It would be nearly impossible. or at least take several hours to list all of the things that happened at this Rush concert, with all of the stage changes and the crew with red jumpsuits with R40 Crew emblazoned on the back, the appearance of the person in a chicken suit, the life-size KISS stand-up board and props from virtually every era of the band. A Rush concert is as much a visual experience as it is an audio experience and the band left nothing behind, from using state-of-the-art lasers covering close to every spectrum of the rainbow, to a disco ball that seemed to be nearly the size of the PI Globe, the stage was set and set and set all night long.

During the monster 2 hour and 45 minute trip down memory lane with these living legends the crowd was treated to a wealth of killer songs from “The Anarchist” to “Subdivisions”, from “Roll the Bones” to “Tom Sawyer”. It’s fruitless to try and decide what the crowd liked best as the obscure songs got just as much raucous cheering and applause as did the material from the ever popular ’2112′ place in time, which to me is still one of the greatest rock albums ever recorded.

Here’s what the setlist looked like: (Courtesy of “Iron” Mike Savoia) Read his review HERE

Set 1:
The World Is…The World Is
The Anarchist
The Wreckers
Headlong Flight (with ‘Drumbastica’ mini drum solo)
Far Cry
The Main Monkey Business
How It Is
Animate
Roll the Bones
(with ‘Celebrity Rappers’ video)
Between the Wheels
Subdivisions
Set 2:
No Country for Old Hens
Tom Sawyer
The Camera Eye
The Spirit of Radio
Jacob’s Ladder
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part I: Prelude
Cygnus X-1 (Book One: The Voyage Parts 1… more )
Closer to the Heart
Xanadu
2112 Part I: Overture
2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx
2112 Part IV: Presentation
2112 Part VII: Grand Finale
Encore:
Mel’s Rock Pile starring Eugene Levy
Lakeside Park
Anthem
What You’re Doing
Working Man

With the fate of the band up in the air, at least from a major touring stand-point, (it was announced earlier this year that Neil Peart has tendonitis) the band seems to want to go out with a bang and they had every intention of taking Seattle and the fans of the northwest with them. And they did. The three chaps that make up Rush, Geddy Lee (Bass, Vocals), Alex Lifeson (Guitar, Backing Vocals) and Neil Peart(Drums) were a tight outfit and rambled through the set without missing a beat all night long and clearly were enjoying this send-off of sorts.

Even 40 plus years into this musical journey Rush still proves they are truly one of the greatest bands on the planet.

See more Rush photos HERE