Writer, I've bookmarked this thread and will keep up with what you're layin' down. I too have gone through my Rush phases over the past 28 years. I stopped listening after Power Windows and didn't tune in again until Test For Echo. I won't go into great detail here but I think a lot of Rushians go through the same phases. I recently got back into Rush due to the fact that I wanted my sons (11 and 13) to listen to intelligent music and not get swept up into the hip hop culture. My 13-year old is a jazz drumming enthusiast. He despises the slick white jazz of Dave Weckl. My son is a purist and heavily into the likes of Art Blakey.
Anyway, I plan to take them to see the guys on this tour. I know they'll love it because they already listen to Rush quite a bit.
No matter what musical phases I've gone through over the past 41 years, I always come back to Rush, or they come back to me.
Thanks for sharing here at Rushaholics anonymous!