GrandDesigner

It was Grand Designs, but lately it has been The Enemy Within. Something about reggae-infused Rush just drives me nuts. Vital Signs is another favorite.

Getting to Baltimore on a Friday night is damn near impossible from NJ! But you guys kill it everytime, good luck!

This would be the best (and most likely) scenario for them playing a song off CoS. By-Tor is a huge fan favorite and it could segue into the final part of The Necromancer quite easily. Two albums in one song, and finally satisfies everyone who's wanted something from CoS since 1981 besides the brief Bastille Day section from 2004.

I'd like to hear a rotation of the "usual suspects" if they decide to play them, that way instead of all of us hearing 10 songs we've all heard a million times before, we only have to sit through 5. Alternate Subdivisions/Limelight, YYZ/La Villa Strangiato, Big Money/Force Ten, The Trees/Closer to the Heart, 2112: Overture & Syrinx/Working Man. Spirit of Radio and Tom Sawyer can both remain as they're too iconic to leave out.

These fake setlists never get the last songs right! Do you really think they'd end the first set with The Larger Bowl?

Why would the creator of this fake setlist think they would possibly use Carnies as the song to close out the first set?

The opening line is just so cringeworthy that it really paints the rest of the song in a negative light. The chorus is fantastic but the heavy-handed nature of the lyrics pushes this song to the very bottom of my song ranking on Counterparts (or a least one above Speed of Love)

I'd take that, but I'm holding out for Emotion Detector. :| Really? Huh. Not sure how well that would come off live, but it'd certainly be interesting. It doesn't seem any harder than the other keybard-heavy PoW songs. It's actually a favorite of mine from that album and I feel like this is the last opportunity to hear it live, so I'd rather them do that than one that's been played and appeared on a live album already.

I'd take that, but I'm holding out for Emotion Detector.

I hope not, since it's been done recently already. I'd hate for them to litter this tour with recently played songs and the "usual suspects" like Subdivisions, CTTH, Big Money, Force 10, LTTA, Red Sector A, DEW, Animate, YYZ, Dreamline, Far Cry, Working Man, The Trees, etc. If this is going to be their last major outing, let them play songs that have gotten little airtime and only play the essential hits like TSoR, Tom Sawyer, and 2112 Parts 1 & 2 to free up space.

I really think if Tai Shan wasn't on it, fans would rate it as the best of the 80's era. That song alone is enough to make people hate it.

I'm going to be the contrarian opinion here. If I had to pick the weakest album from Fly By Night through Test For Echo, it'd either be Permanent Waves, Caress of Steel or 2112. It's definitely a transitional album between the 70's prog sound and 80's keyboard-driven sound and it does feel a bit like the weakest version of both those eras. I like all of the songs, but I could easily list a ton of things that annoy me about them as well, which I cannot do with most of their other albums. Jacob's Ladder is really the only song that feels perfect. Different Strings is also pretty unique, but it doesn't really have much of an impact on me. Had they done a bit more with the ending, I think it'd really be a standout. Natural Science is everyone's favorite, but it just feels "unfinished" to me. The other songs are cool, but Geddy's voice annoys me a bit on Freewill (especially the last verse) and The Spirit of Radio. The intro to TSoR and bridge to Freewill are among my favorite Rush moments. I still love PeW, but the other albums just feel more complete. I definitely don't see how someone could hate it, but it's always one of the last ones I grab to listen to.

I'm going to say Hold Your Fire. Everyone gives it shit for Tai Shan and High Water (which honestly isn't as atrocious as it's made out to be), but this album more than any other Rush album has the highest number of standout songs that could easily be called my favorite from that album. Force Ten, Time Stand Still, Open Secrets, Prime Mover, Lock And Key, Mission, and Turn The Page are seriously awesome songs. They're all standouts. Second Nature is a little goofy lyrically, and the piano sounds really schmaltzy but it's still a decent song. Tai Shan isn't offensive, but more just completely boring. I'd say the same goes for High Water, but Neil's drum pattern is pretty interesting and seemed to usher in his capabilities in world-music drumming that would appear more prominently on the next few albums.

I honestly could see them doing the first 3 parts, but Freeze is never going to happen.

I'm almost positive CA's title track is a definite. The band really seems to love that song, along with Far Cry.

They did a snippet of Red Lenses on the PoW/HYF tours as part of Peart's solo. It wasn't the full song, so you're correct in that it never appeared in full after the P/G and PoW warm-up tours.

That song and Making Memories are the only Rush songs that are perpetually unconfirmed as being performed live. So much time has passed that even people who may have attended a CoS probably don't remember if it was or not. I just can't imagine a band releasing their first epic and never playing it live, no matter how successful or not the album was.

The band really limited their selection of songs from around Signals through Counterparts. The early 80's to mid 90's setlists had the least amount of variation and really didn't see the band breaking out of their comfort zone except for the odd song or two. They stuck to the same 70's songs as encores and played mostly the same 80's material from tour to tour. It wasn't until TFE where they brought back more obscure songs like 2112 and Natural Science, and even moreso with the most recent CA, TM, and S&A tours which show the greatest variation in setlists ever.

Definitely true. Also, despite being one of their biggest hits, Fly By Night has not been played since 1978.

I'm a huge setlist nut and have studied Rush's setlists religiously over the years. The earlier ones are a little difficult to track because who knows if they played certain songs in Omaha or some other horseshit city and it never got documented in the past 40 years? I feel like the setlist reports from 1977 forward are more reliable. I'm guessing on the songs for the CoS and 2112 tours. What songs were only played on tour supporting that album? CoS - I Think I'm Going Bald 2112 - The Twilight Zone (Oracle: The Dream never played until TFE tour) AFTK - Cinderella Man Hemispheres - Hemispheres (Full-Version - an abbreviated version appeared on PeW tour) PeW - Jacob's Ladder MP - N/A Signals - Chemistry, Countdown GuP - The Enemy Within, Afterimage, Kid Gloves PoW - N/A (Grand Designs and Middletown Dreams reappear again only on CA tour) HYF - Prime Mover, Lock And Key, Turn The Page Presto - War Paint, Scars (Presto never played until TM tour) RTB - N/A (Where's My Thing? finally played again on CA tour) Counterparts - Cold Fire, Double Agent (Between Sun & Moon never played until VT tour) TFE - Half The World, Virtuality, Limbo, Time And Motion, Test For Echo VT - Ceiling Unlimited, Ghost Rider S&A - Armor & Sword, Spindrift, The Way The Wind Blows, Main Monkey Business, Malignant Narcissism, The Larger Bowl, Hope (Faithless never played until TM tour)

Alien Shore, Cut To The Chase, or Double Agent would be the only songs I'd like to hear off this album. It's a great one but I can without LTTA, Animate, or Nobody's Hero this time around.

If they would've written some better songs than ITIGB and Lakeside Park to fill out side one, I think it would've fared better. Both of them are extremely weak and The Necromancer is just weird, so Bastille Day really carries the entire first half of the album. Imagine Bastille Day paired with two really strong songs like Passage to Bangkok and Fly By Night, and it'd easily be the strongest album out of the first 4. I don't think the problem with this album is the epics, but the weak shorter songs.

What don't people understand about this? He's said numerous times that he has no plans to restart PT until it feels "right". Considering his solo career has been gaining so much traction and buzz, going back to PT would really be a step backwards in terms of his musical career. It'd only be a cash-grab, which just doesn't fit SW's persona.

I could realistically see all these being played. They'd probably shorten Xanadu like usual. Also, if they pull out more from HYF, I'd prefer it be Prime Mover rather than Lock And Key. As for TTP, it's just a matter of Geddy wanting to put in the effort to rehearse it again as it's probably one of the harder tracks to nail vocally with the bass part. Cinderella Man would be a great, easy choice.

That guitar part always sounds like it would be difficult to play to me. Maybe I'm wrong. I think you're right, if you're talking about the high-pitched looping thing he does. It kind of sounds like the same hammer-on pull-off type thing that Alex does in The Spirit of Radio intro. I'm sure an experienced guitarist could do that part quite easily. But it sounds awesome.