Thunder Bay Rush

I’ve reading most of this thread and there are some very good points / ideas. I now have it figured out… and if this doesn’t work, we’ll go with the strippers I proposed earlier on. All shows would be booked into huge stadiums, one each in Cleveland, Seattle, London and Rotterdam. The final stadium show is in Toronto. Then, the FINAL show is at Massey Hall, stripped down somewhat. I would bet a million dollars each show would sell out in days. Then, we go back to my house for the strippers…

This is when Rush was at their absolute BEST! I remember watching that video on Canadian TV back in ’79. I was amazed… Then I went downstairs to practice.

That’s it… I’ve settled it. The last show will be at my place in Kaministiquia, Ontario. I have 160 acres, so there’s lots of room… I’ll build a big ass stage… with a roof in case it rains. I do live off the grid though, so I’ll be bringing in a huge diesel generator. Oh, and you’re all invited… In case the boys don’t show up, I’ll have 12 strippers standing by… just in case.

If you go to the YouTube, you’ll find some great vintage Max footage… there’s one from Barrie, Ontario, from about 1980 – 81. But, I still say, there was NOTHING like Max live. I might dare say even better than Rush. Not a fair comparison, because they are two different bands. But, holy shit – Kim Mitchell was something to see on the stage. He was about 6’3” and he weighed about 50 pounds or so… ribs sticking out… but what a guitar player! I remember listening to a radio interview back in probably ’79 and it was either Frank Zappa or Alan Holdsworth who said that Kim was one of the best in the world.

The whole album is great, IMO. “Light rock?” Can’t be serious…

I pretended to be Brad Pitt once so I could nail Angelina Jolie. And it worked!!! (She was WILD in the sack…)

I feel bad for you, Ganst’ and any other women out there who go through crap like this. All these birth control hassles just so your men have a place to park their truck at the end of the day… All I know is that women got ripped off in the “girl vs boy” department. Periods, pills, giving birth (shit, that must hurt!), weight gain, hormone stuff, tampons (and occasionally losing the string), maxipads, nursing babies, cleaning up baby puke, having to wear those great big “period panties.” All we men have to do is walk around with our man-gear ready for action… And, it’s so much easier for us men to take a pee in the bush. Hang in there…

I’m in the Grace Under Pressure concert DVD that was taped in Toronto… I’m somewhere mixed in with the 15,000 or so other people. That’s me, way the heck up near the rafters wearing the ball cap and Maple Leafs sweater… you can’t see me, that’s all. One thing I do find kind of interesting, is the night they taped the show, during one of the songs (I think during Red Sector A) one of the two flash pots failed to ignite (there was one set up on each side of the stage.) For some strange reason, I remembered that for quite a while. Being a musician at the time, I used to pay attention to things like that… production, lights, effects, how the stage and speakers were set up. And, years later, when I finally watched the DVD, yep, one of those goddam flash pots failed to “blow up.” That’s the only way of knowing that I was there that night and there wasn’t any swapping of footage to make their movie.

I wouldn’t say ten years… maybe two or three. The point of the question is WHEN the last show takes place, where should it be?

Hmmmm, not a bad idea, Snaked... I'll start making some calls.

GM, I think you're 100% correct... many critics were like that back then.

Whenever that very last show is played (my guess is fairly soon, within two – three years) I say they should go out with guns a’blazin’… Toronto IS the best city for the show, and the Rogers Centre (where the Blue Jays play baseball) should be the venue. The place holds about 60,000 and yes, I know that Rush wouldn’t normally play there. They’d normally play the ACC (hockey arena, 14,000) or the Molson Amphitheatre (outdoor venue, 16,000.) But, I think that since it would be the very last show, people would fly in from all over the planet and they’d fill that place with ease. Probably need 2 or 3 shows. And, a concert video would be a no-brainer. So, whenever the boys finally decide to pack it in, I think they owe to their hometown go out where they first came in…

I don’t think Tom Sawyer played for long… the guitar player went back school if I remember right. I only saw them once, at the old Knob Hill Hotel in Scarborough. They were really good… played ALL of side one, 2112. All of Moving Pictures too.

Hey, thanks!! Pretty small venue, but I’ve heard that many in England were small back then… And, yes, weird review…

Dude, that pic of Geddy facing the crowd on your signature thing - where was that taken? the caption says, "I'm in that lot." Looks like the Hemispheres Tour.

WTF? Above??

I remember when I was living in Toronto and trying to “make it” in the music biz (I got nowhere of course) there was a really good Rush cover band called Tom Sawyer. This would have been 1982. They were SO good it was almost scary. The guy playing Geddy’s parts looked exactly like him only he played his bass left handed… it was weird seeing that, but man, was he a clone to the Geddster.

I probably won’t see many of you agreeing with this, but I’d have no problem if Rush announced that they were retiring. They’ve given us 40 years of wicked music… and tons more. Neil has a little girl now… Big Al is a grampa… Geddy has his wine collection and baseball to keep him company.

Yes, agree. And, Asylum from the same album is pure prog rock at its finest. No weird time signatures or anything, just a good rock tune that would rarely get played on radio.

Gangster… laughing THAT hard causes farts… shits and even those half-way things that Kenny refered to as sharts. I normally just refer to them as a surprise… And for the record, I eat oatmeal with cranberries, raisins, almonds, flax seeds and bran four – five days a week. It’s the laughing I tell you, the laughing… (Ganst’) What were we talking about again? Oh ya, shaved beavers…

I was laughing so hard, I went to fart and I shit my pants... just a tiny bit though... some of you guys (and chicks) are mental...

Ganst' buddy... I'd pay to see that, but I'd pay even more to have Alex and Geddy removed from the aquarium first...

It would have been “cartoonish” if he had taken a wipe out running down those stairs!! He probably figures the quicker he can get to the bus, the quicker the bus can get out of the downtown area and onto the highway… away from traffic jams. I was still pretty surprised to see him run THAT fast though… “Even faster than Britany and she ran full out!”

Um… uh… well… ahhh… um… well… sort of like… um…

A buddy of mine is a trapper and I was at his house yesterday… he was in his shop scraping and cleaning beaver pelts. Is that “basically” the same thing that you guys are talking about or I am lost again as usual?