Share Your Stories Of Meeting The Band Or Close Encounters...

[presto123]

As a Rush fan of 33 years or so, I always wanted to meet the band but never did. Can any of you share your stories or personal impressions of meeting the band? I would love to hear even brief encounters in meet and greets and such. A Neil meeting story would be awesome as those are so rare.

 

Edit: I haven't actually met the band, but I have exchanged a few words from the front row on Power Windows tour.

[Lucas]

I don't know if this counts, as I have never met them, but the fond memories remain almost 36 years later :

 

I saw them Sept 25th 1980 at the Spectrum in Philly, and had great seats right in front of Alex .. I was a skinny 13 year old among a sea of metalheads ( yes, Rush was still a metal band then, as evidenced by Saxon opening the show ) .. Anyways, I was standing on my seat pretty much the entire show, and there were a number of times I made direct eye contact with Alex, and whenever I screamed and pointed at him, he laughed and a few times even pointed back ..

 

Alex gave off such a positive and happy vibe .. He was really enjoying every minute up there performing, and seeing him up that close was a monumental high for this 13 year old kid ..

 

A night I'll never forget

[Turbine Freight]

I don't know if this counts, as I have never met them, but the fond memories remain almost 36 years later :

 

I saw them Sept 25th 1980 at the Spectrum in Philly, and had great seats right in front of Alex .. I was a skinny 13 year old among a sea of metalheads ( yes, Rush was still a metal band then, as evidenced by Saxon opening the show ) .. Anyways, I was standing on my seat pretty much the entire show, and there were a number of times I made direct eye contact with Alex, and whenever I screamed and pointed at him, he laughed and a few times even pointed back ..

 

Alex gave off such a positive and happy vibe .. He was really enjoying every minute up there performing, and seeing him up that close was a monumental high for this 13 year old kid ..

 

A night I'll never forget

 

Top story! Well done Alex!

[edhunter]

I met Geddy and Alex in '97 briefly. I've talked backstage with Howard U. and Tony Geranios multiple times. I walked by Neil's bike backstage at Mohegan Sun.

 

BY-TOR (the funny one) from CP golfed with Alex in Puerto Rico a few times at the start of whatever tour it was that started there.

 

Alex tossed me a T-shirt in SLC in 2010, and Neil shot one to me in SLC in 2013. I actually gave both of them away.

[treeduck]

Close encounters?

[J2112YYZ]

Close encounters?

 

How often has that happened with you? :dweez:

[treeduck]

Close encounters?

 

How often has that happened with you? :dweez:

Never. The aliens mustn't think I'm an interesting subject.

[J2112YYZ]

Close encounters?

 

How often has that happened with you? :dweez:

Never. The aliens mustn't think I'm an interesting subject.

 

Or they take you in your sleep and return you safely before you wake up so you will never know what happened :o

Edited April 17, 2016 by J2112YYZ

[treeduck]

Close encounters?

 

How often has that happened with you? :dweez:

Never. The aliens mustn't think I'm an interesting subject.

 

Or they take you in your sleep and return you safely before you wake up that way you will never know what happened :o

Aye!

[presto123]

I don't know if this counts, as I have never met them, but the fond memories remain almost 36 years later :

 

I saw them Sept 25th 1980 at the Spectrum in Philly, and had great seats right in front of Alex .. I was a skinny 13 year old among a sea of metalheads ( yes, Rush was still a metal band then, as evidenced by Saxon opening the show ) .. Anyways, I was standing on my seat pretty much the entire show, and there were a number of times I made direct eye contact with Alex, and whenever I screamed and pointed at him, he laughed and a few times even pointed back ..

 

Alex gave off such a positive and happy vibe .. He was really enjoying every minute up there performing, and seeing him up that close was a monumental high for this 13 year old kid ..

 

A night I'll never forget

 

 

Funny you say that because the same thing happened to me in front row. Alex was always making eye contact with me so at one point I was yelling "backstage passes"....(I was young haha) and he just started laughing and shrugged his shoulders or something. Then later in the show Geddy came over in front of me and my friend started pointing at the Expos baseball hat I was wearing and Geddy winked at me. Never forget that one!

 

Wasn't Geddy an Expos fan before he was a Blue Jays fan? Seem to recall Warren Cromartie in the Signals credits or something.

Edited April 17, 2016 by presto123

[Mr. JD]

My daughters Make-A-Wish in 2008 was to meet Rush. She was their first MAW kid. We spent the afternoon with them including the sound check in Charlotte during the S&A Live tour. Sam got an All Access Pass and we also got 5th row seats to the show. Geddy dedicated "Mission" to Sam while she was watching the show from the stage. Unforgettable experience. Thanks MAW.

[blueschica]

 

Funny you say that because the same thing happened to me in front row. Alex was always making eye contact with me so at one point I was yelling "backstage passes"....(I was young haha) and he just started laughing and shrugged his shoulders or something. Then later in the show Geddy came over in front of me and my friend started pointing at the Expos baseball hat I was wearing and Geddy winked at me. Never forget that one!

 

Wasn't Geddy an Expos fan before he was a Blue Jays fan? Seem to recall Warren Cromartie in the Signals credits or something.

 

Yes, in the liner notes, he thanks Warren Cromartie and the Montreal Expos. The Expos have been around since 1960, while the Blue Jays were an expansion club that came to Toronto in 1977, so Expos would have been the "home team" for Canada before then. Warren Cromartie also mentions knowing Geddy in his book "Slugging It Out in Japan."

[Rick N. Backer]

Back in June I was in the TD Garden at the same time as the band. I don't think they saw me though.

 

:)

[Bhawk2112]

Had a really cool experience meeting Alex in The Orbit Room. I wrote it all down but every time I've ever posted it on a Rush forum I get relentlessly skewered for how long it is.

 

It was a pretty amazing evening, and he's everything everyone says he is when it comes to being a pleasant, funny gentleman.

[JohnnyBlaze]

Had a really cool experience meeting Alex in The Orbit Room. I wrote it all down but every time I've ever posted it on a Rush forum I get relentlessly skewered for how long it is.

 

It was a pretty amazing evening, and he's everything everyone says he is when it comes to being a pleasant, funny gentleman.

I think I remember that post. Weren't you with your girlfriend at the time too? You guys were hanging with Alex for a few hours, yeah? Or am I mixing your story with someone else's?

 

Those that skewered were probably a bit jealous.

[Xanadu]

Had a really cool experience meeting Alex in The Orbit Room. I wrote it all down but every time I've ever posted it on a Rush forum I get relentlessly skewered for how long it is.

 

It was a pretty amazing evening, and he's everything everyone says he is when it comes to being a pleasant, funny gentleman.

 

You're welcome to send me the story in a PM if no one else wants to read it. I would like to read it.

 

I would love to hang with Alex! :)

[JohnnyBlaze]

Had a really cool experience meeting Alex in The Orbit Room. I wrote it all down but every time I've ever posted it on a Rush forum I get relentlessly skewered for how long it is.

 

It was a pretty amazing evening, and he's everything everyone says he is when it comes to being a pleasant, funny gentleman.

 

You're welcome to send me the story in a PM if no one else wants to read it. I would like to read it.

 

I would love to hang with Alex! :)

Agree with all of that.

 

OR just break the story down into half a dozen or so posts that are all contained in its own thread.

[Mr. JD]

My daughters Make-A-Wish in 2008 was to meet Rush. She was their first MAW kid. We spent the afternoon with them including the sound check in Charlotte during the S&A Live tour. Sam got an All Access Pass and we also got 5th row seats to the show. Geddy dedicated "Mission" to Sam while she was watching the show from the stage. Unforgettable experience. Thanks MAW.

 

If anyone is interested, after Sam's MAW experience, she wrote a story for Ed over at RIAB. Here is a link to her story;

 

http://www.rushisaband.com/blog/2008/09/24/1596/Rush-makes-a-wish-come-true-for-one-special-fan

[x1yyz]

Had a really cool experience meeting Alex in The Orbit Room. I wrote it all down but every time I've ever posted it on a Rush forum I get relentlessly skewered for how long it is.

 

It was a pretty amazing evening, and he's everything everyone says he is when it comes to being a pleasant, funny gentleman.

 

You're welcome to send me the story in a PM if no one else wants to read it. I would like to read it.

 

I would love to hang with Alex! :)

Agree with all of that.

 

OR just break the story down into half a dozen or so posts that are all contained in its own thread.

 

Ditto. I would love to read the story!

[x1yyz]

My daughters Make-A-Wish in 2008 was to meet Rush. She was their first MAW kid. We spent the afternoon with them including the sound check in Charlotte during the S&A Live tour. Sam got an All Access Pass and we also got 5th row seats to the show. Geddy dedicated "Mission" to Sam while she was watching the show from the stage. Unforgettable experience. Thanks MAW.

 

If anyone is interested, after Sam's MAW experience, she wrote a story for Ed over at RIAB. Here is a link to her story;

 

http://www.rushisaba...one-special-fan

 

Oh, that is simply wonderful. It actually brought a tear to my eye reading it. That is exactly how I always imagined the band members to act.

 

If I dare ask, how is your daughter now?

[JARG]

I was living in Austin during the Counterparts tour, and Rush did a Rockline interview the day before their Austin show. We (my ex-wife and I) figured they would be broadcasting from the local rock station, KLBJ, so we drove over to the station about 15 minutes before the interview was to air. The parking lot was almost completely empty. There were a couple of guys parked in the lot who had the same thought. They said they'd been there for about an hour and hadn't seen any activity, so we headed home and turned on the radio to listen to the interview.

 

At some point the interviewer let out that Rush was at the UT radio studio -- KUT -- so we grabbed my guitar and raced down to the Communications building on campus, where the radio station was located. We circled the building looking for a place to park when we noticed an idling Lincoln Towncar, complete with a driver, waiting in the alley behind the building. We also noticed a small knot of people, maybe 30 or 40, waiting by the back door to the studio. We quickly parked the car and joined the group of waiting fans.

 

Over time that group roughly tripled in size, and at some point near the end of the interview someone came out the back door and told the group that we'd have to clear a path to allow Geddy and Alex access to the car, which had pulled up closer to the door.. We complied and shortly thereafter, Geddy and Alex appeared. That nice path wasn't so nice after that! Geddy seemed more motivated to get to the car than Alex, who was hanging back near the door joking with fans.

 

Eventually Geddy moved closer to where we were standing, hastily signing autographs along the way. Some guy introduced himself as "Paul" and shook Geddy's hand. Apparently that was all he wanted to do because he didn't say anything else. A Neo-Max-Zoom-Dweebie of a Rush fan (you all know the type) squeezed in next to me and handed Geddy a HFY tour book for him to autograph. I took that opportunity to thank Geddy for all the good music they've produced over the years and to tell him that they were an inspiration to me and many others. He nodded at me and said "you're welcome" and handed the autograph to the Rush geek, who took it from him and said to Geddy, "but Neil was supposed to sign it". Geddy and I exchanged a "WTF" look and then he moved on to sign more autographs as he made his way to the car.

 

By this time Alex was also headed to the car and also by this time there was no path to speak of. The flow of the crowd was such that it was clear Alex would not be passing close enough to me for him to autograph my guitar, so I summoned my own Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie and yelled "King Lerxst!" and for a moment everyone went quiet (they probably thought I was gonna' shoot the guy or something). That got Alex's attention and he looked over at me. I took advantage of the hush in the crowd and said, "Would you please sign my guitar". He smiled a big smile and said, "Of course, my loyal subject".

 

He made his way over to me and I handed him my guitar and then offered him the brand new Sharpee I had brought with me. He instead grabbed someone else's Sharpee, which wasn't new at all. He turned my guitar over in his hands a couple of times and asked, "where should I sign it?" I said, "anywhere is fine, as long as it's visible". He then chose a spot, signed it, and handed it back to me. "Thanks man", I said. He said "you're welcome" and then proceeded on to the car which now was only a few yards away.

 

The next day I took my guitar to Guitar Resurrection and asked what I could do to preserve the autograph, which, because it was signed with an old Sharpee, wasn't particularly bold. They suggested I cover it with some clear pick guard material which I promptly did. Over the years the autograph has faded even more, but the memory of that day is still as sharp as ever.

[Mr. JD]

My daughters Make-A-Wish in 2008 was to meet Rush. She was their first MAW kid. We spent the afternoon with them including the sound check in Charlotte during the S&A Live tour. Sam got an All Access Pass and we also got 5th row seats to the show. Geddy dedicated "Mission" to Sam while she was watching the show from the stage. Unforgettable experience. Thanks MAW.

 

If anyone is interested, after Sam's MAW experience, she wrote a story for Ed over at RIAB. Here is a link to her story;

 

http://www.rushisaba...one-special-fan

 

Oh, that is simply wonderful. It actually brought a tear to my eye reading it. That is exactly how I always imagined the band members to act.

 

If I dare ask, how is your daughter now?

 

She has been cancer free going on 8 years now. She will be graduating with a Masters degree from the University Of Georgia in about a month. Sam is very much her own person. She has got about a dozen tattoos including a "P/G" logo on top of her left foot. I couldn't be more proud of how she has grown.

[Blue J]

My daughters Make-A-Wish in 2008 was to meet Rush. She was their first MAW kid. We spent the afternoon with them including the sound check in Charlotte during the S&A Live tour. Sam got an All Access Pass and we also got 5th row seats to the show. Geddy dedicated "Mission" to Sam while she was watching the show from the stage. Unforgettable experience. Thanks MAW.

 

If anyone is interested, after Sam's MAW experience, she wrote a story for Ed over at RIAB. Here is a link to her story;

 

http://www.rushisaba...one-special-fan

 

Oh, that is simply wonderful. It actually brought a tear to my eye reading it. That is exactly how I always imagined the band members to act.

 

If I dare ask, how is your daughter now?

 

She has been cancer free going on 8 years now. She will be graduating with a Masters degree from the University Of Georgia in about a month. Sam is very much her own person. She has got about a dozen tattoos including a "P/G" logo on top of her left foot. I couldn't be more proud of how she has grown.

 

That is fantastic, JD. I'm so happy for her, and for your whole family!

[x1yyz]

My daughters Make-A-Wish in 2008 was to meet Rush. She was their first MAW kid. We spent the afternoon with them including the sound check in Charlotte during the S&A Live tour. Sam got an All Access Pass and we also got 5th row seats to the show. Geddy dedicated "Mission" to Sam while she was watching the show from the stage. Unforgettable experience. Thanks MAW.

 

If anyone is interested, after Sam's MAW experience, she wrote a story for Ed over at RIAB. Here is a link to her story;

 

http://www.rushisaba...one-special-fan

 

Oh, that is simply wonderful. It actually brought a tear to my eye reading it. That is exactly how I always imagined the band members to act.

 

If I dare ask, how is your daughter now?

 

She has been cancer free going on 8 years now. She will be graduating with a Masters degree from the University Of Georgia in about a month. Sam is very much her own person. She has got about a dozen tattoos including a "P/G" logo on top of her left foot. I couldn't be more proud of how she has grown.

 

I'm so happy to hear that!

[Rick N. Backer]

I was living in Austin during the Counterparts tour, and Rush did a Rockline interview the day before their Austin show. We (my ex-wife and I) figured they would be broadcasting from the local rock station, KLBJ, so we drove over to the station about 15 minutes before the interview was to air. The parking lot was almost completely empty. There were a couple of guys parked in the lot who had the same thought. They said they'd been there for about an hour and hadn't seen any activity, so we headed home and turned on the radio to listen to the interview.

 

At some point the interviewer let out that Rush was at the UT radio studio -- KUT -- so we grabbed my guitar and raced down to the Communications building on campus, where the radio station was located. We circled the building looking for a place to park when we noticed an idling Lincoln Towncar, complete with a driver, waiting in the alley behind the building. We also noticed a small knot of people, maybe 30 or 40, waiting by the back door to the studio. We quickly parked the car and joined the group of waiting fans.

 

Over time that group roughly tripled in size, and at some point near the end of the interview someone came out the back door and told the group that we'd have to clear a path to allow Geddy and Alex access to the car, which had pulled up closer to the door.. We complied and shortly thereafter, Geddy and Alex appeared. That nice path wasn't so nice after that! Geddy seemed more motivated to get to the car than Alex, who was hanging back near the door joking with fans.

 

Eventually Geddy moved closer to where we were standing, hastily signing autographs along the way. Some guy introduced himself as "Paul" and shook Geddy's hand. Apparently that was all he wanted to do because he didn't say anything else. A Neo-Max-Zoom-Dweebie of a Rush fan (you all know the type) squeezed in next to me and handed Geddy a HFY tour book for him to autograph. I took that opportunity to thank Geddy for all the good music they've produced over the years and to tell him that they were an inspiration to me and many others. He nodded at me and said "you're welcome" and handed the autograph to the Rush geek, who took it from him and said to Geddy, "but Neil was supposed to sign it". Geddy and I exchanged a "WTF" look and then he moved on to sign more autographs as he made his way to the car.

 

By this time Alex was also headed to the car and also by this time there was no path to speak of. The flow of the crowd was such that it was clear Alex would not be passing close enough to me for him to autograph my guitar, so I summoned my own Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie and yelled "King Lerxst!" and for a moment everyone went quiet (they probably thought I was gonna' shoot the guy or something). That got Alex's attention and he looked over at me. I took advantage of the hush in the crowd and said, "Would you please sign my guitar". He smiled a big smile and said, "Of course, my loyal subject".

 

He made his way over to me and I handed him my guitar and then offered him the brand new Sharpee I had brought with me. He instead grabbed someone else's Sharpee, which wasn't new at all. He turned my guitar over in his hands a couple of times and asked, "where should I sign it?" I said, "anywhere is fine, as long as it's visible". He then chose a spot, signed it, and handed it back to me. "Thanks man", I said. He said "you're welcome" and then proceeded on to the car which now was only a few yards away.

 

The next day I took my guitar to Guitar Resurrection and asked what I could do to preserve the autograph, which, because it was signed with an old Sharpee, wasn't particularly bold. They suggested I cover it with some clear pick guard material which I promptly did. Over the years the autograph has faded even more, but the memory of that day is still as sharp as ever.

 

Yours is way better than mine.