"Fly by Night" Back in the Set!

[losingit2k]

Fly by Night has not been played live since the Farewell to Kings Tour in 1978. I for one have never heard it played live! It's one of their earlier big hits! I don't understand why they dropped it from rotation? maybe its too high for Geddy to sing? Who knows? Regardless, I don't think there are many out there that wouldn't be glad to see this gem back in the set! What are your thoughts on this?  

[HemiBeers]

they got sick of it. I got sick of it.

[TheAnarchist2112]

17 minutes ago, losingit2k said:

Fly by Night has not been played live since the Farewell to Kings Tour in 1978. I for one have never heard it played live! It's one of their earlier big hits! I don't understand why they dropped it from rotation? maybe its too high for Geddy to sing? Who knows? Regardless, I don't think there are many out there that wouldn't be glad to see this gem back in the set! What are your thoughts on this?  

Geddy hates the song, and Neil did as well

[Lurkst]

According to the guys in "I Love You, Man" they played it at their secret show 

[grep]

Is this factual? If so, how do we know? 

[Brava Doh!]

6 minutes ago, grep said:

Is this factual? If so, how do we know? 

We don’t, title is purposefully misleading.

I hate shit like that.

[thizzellewashington]

Never been a favorite of mine and never once been a song I wished they'd do live. Easily the worst of their "radio" songs, to me. Also doubt Geddy can sing it now. It's a no from me across the board.

[treeduck]

This proves that they're dying to get back to their heavy metal roots! Even Anika is wearing her hair in a Viking-style heavy metal braid to leave no doubt.

[JARG]

12 hours ago, losingit2k said:

Fly by Night has not been played live since the Farewell to Kings Tour in 1978. I for one have never heard it played live! It's one of their earlier big hits! I don't understand why they dropped it from rotation? maybe its too high for Geddy to sing? Who knows? Regardless, I don't think there are many out there that wouldn't be glad to see this gem back in the set! What are your thoughts on this?  

It would be hideous now unless Geddy sang it an octave lower. And maybe even then.

[J2112YYZ]

From what I've gathered over the years, Geddy doesn't care much for the song. Unless his opinion has changed they won't play it.

Edited March 6 by J2112YYZ

[blueschica]

Geddy has said a few times he doesnt care for it and I dont think he's capable of singing it anymore.  It's the song that originally got me into Rush in the 70s but I'm not sure I'd want to hear it now. 

Edited March 6 by blueschica

[Lurkst]

I don't mind it, but it's a very un-Rush song and the lyrics are extremely personal to Neil, so it's one I'd doubt would be revived.

 

[James Bond]

Apparently Alex had suggested it for R40 but they scrapped it:

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/22-things-you-learn-hanging-out-with-rush-20150630?page=5

 

"I was rehearsing it," he says. "I thought it would sound great, like a modern version that would be much heavier and more powerful. I think Geddy felt that he'd really have a problem singing it. He has a challenge with "Lakeside Park" as it is. "Fly by Night" was just in that range, and we didn't want to drop the key on that one. So the consensus was, let's just pass on that."

Edited March 6 by James Bond

[Lurkst]

1 hour ago, James Bond said:

Apparently Alex had suggested it for R40 but they scrapped it:

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/22-things-you-learn-hanging-out-with-rush-20150630?page=5

 

"I was rehearsing it," he says. "I thought it would sound great, like a modern version that would be much heavier and more powerful. I think Geddy felt that he'd really have a problem singing it. He has a challenge with "Lakeside Park" as it is. "Fly by Night" was just in that range, and we didn't want to drop the key on that one. So the consensus was, let's just pass on that."

 

A shame but understandable. Similarly I remember reading they had rehearsed A Farewell to Kings (possibly for the S&A tour) but the vocals were just too extreme 🫤

[TheGhostRider]

I have to agree. I’ve heard the same thing that Geddy is not fond of the song and I don’t think he can sing in that range anymore, not even with the 10 year break on his voice. I think it’s better to just let that song stay retired. The fact that they tried and failed to bring it back for R40 makes it super unlikely as well. 

[grep]

20 minutes ago, TheGhostRider said:

I have to agree. I’ve heard the same thing that Geddy is not fond of the song and I don’t think he can sing in that range anymore, not even with the 10 year break on his voice. I think it’s better to just let that song stay retired. The fact that they tried and failed to bring it back for R40 makes it super unlikely as well. 

Sometimes the past just has to stay in the past. 

[grep]

7 hours ago, James Bond said:

Apparently Alex had suggested it for R40 but they scrapped it:

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/22-things-you-learn-hanging-out-with-rush-20150630?page=5

 

"I was rehearsing it," he says. "I thought it would sound great, like a modern version that would be much heavier and more powerful. I think Geddy felt that he'd really have a problem singing it. He has a challenge with "Lakeside Park" as it is. "Fly by Night" was just in that range, and we didn't want to drop the key on that one. So the consensus was, let's just pass on that."

I remember that.  

There was also some noise back then that AF2K was also looked at...if i'm remembering correctly. 

[Todem]

Meh……

[TheGhostRider]

5 minutes ago, Todem said:

Meh……

It is a very meh rush song. Far from their best work.

[grep]

I've asked the guys from Zebra a couple of times if they'd bring AF2K back into their set, or do FBN.  Randy Jackson can still handle these songs.  

But they aren't into it.  Oh well. 

We do have YYNOT. :) 


For the record, I love the song FBN.... it's in my essential songs playlist along with AF2K.  

[snowdog212]

On 3/5/2026 at 1:32 PM, Brava Doh! said:

We don’t, title is purposefully misleading.

I hate shit like that.

Get ready for a ton of these s*** threads leading up to the tour opening night

[Brava Doh!]

21 minutes ago, snowdog212 said:

Get ready for a ton of these s*** threads leading up to the tour opening night

I know, I know…

[grep]

I got some AI slop post in my google feed about 'selist leaks' and a link to a YouTube video. 

No I didn't click on it. FFS. What crap. 

[XanaD.E.W.]

This is what Neil said way back in a Modern Drummer Interview (1984) about playing the older songs live:

 

"When you make a record, it represents only one performance. But when you try to duplicate that performance, that can be hundreds and hundreds of times. Some of the songs that we're playing now are five, six, seven, eight and nine years old. You have to bring something fresh to them every year. And you have to play that with true conviction every night. We've dropped songs that were very popular and people expected us to play forever. There comes a day when we have to say, "We have nothing to say with this song anymore. We can't play it with conviction." Otherwise, it becomes like a joke - like we're taking advantage of people or we're pandering to them. We can't do that, so we drop the song. And we take a lot of flak for it. People say, "Well, why didn't they play more OLD songs?" It's because we can't do that honestly. We can't play "Fly By Night" or "Working Man" anymore with any conviction."

[Lurkst]

12 minutes ago, XanaD.E.W. said:

This is what Neil said way back in a Modern Drummer Interview (1984) about playing the older songs live:

 

"When you make a record, it represents only one performance. But when you try to duplicate that performance, that can be hundreds and hundreds of times. Some of the songs that we're playing now are five, six, seven, eight and nine years old. You have to bring something fresh to them every year. And you have to play that with true conviction every night. We've dropped songs that were very popular and people expected us to play forever. There comes a day when we have to say, "We have nothing to say with this song anymore. We can't play it with conviction." Otherwise, it becomes like a joke - like we're taking advantage of people or we're pandering to them. We can't do that, so we drop the song. And we take a lot of flak for it. People say, "Well, why didn't they play more OLD songs?" It's because we can't do that honestly. We can't play "Fly By Night" or "Working Man" anymore with any conviction."

 

Latter day performances of Working Man certainly dispelled that.

 

1984 was a few years before the band (and to an extent society) embraced nostalgia culture around popular music, and began to realise that you didn't have to change your sound, image, equipment or musical style every couple of years to remain relevant.