The 1984 Japan Shows

[NinjaDiscoPunch]

So, Japan. Rush went there once during the 1984 Grace Under Pressure tour. I don't know much about the GUP tour in general, but there seems to be a bit of mystery surrounding the Japan leg of it. What I'm talking about has to do with the equipment used. If this is something I could learn reading the books, I apologize, but I seem to come up with a new question about Neil's kits that needs to be answered every day!

 

This could be something everyone else knows, but here goes...

 

This link

http://broonsbane.tr...om/rushneil.htm

takes us to a webpage detailing the history of Neil Peart's Tama Artstar prototype drums that were used between 1982 to 1985, within the 1984 GUP Japan tour fell. However, the page mentions that "When Rush played their first and only Japanese concerts in late 1984, Hoshino-Gakki spared Neil the travel expense, by building a replica set sans brass-plating and vibra-fibing. Neil needed to only bring his hardware, heads and cymbals."

 

 

http://broonsbane.tripod.com/neilsdrumsbacks.jpg

 

I'm inclined to believe the kit is/was real, since Hoshino-Gakki is the owner of the Tama-brand drum name, but I haven't heard or read anything about them outside that page. So my questions are:

1. Can anyone confirm this?
    
   
2. What became of the kit following those four shows?
   

[Partialgrace]

I was there at the Tokyo show , Nov. 1984. I haven't seen them since. wow, 28 years.

I heard their equipments(amps, speakers etc) was supplied (or borrowed) by the promoter (Udo music) and yes, Neil's drum set was also prepared by the manufacturer, to spare transport expense. The band and crew only brought their instruments and main lighting system. No laser, no pyro. and I heard that is part of the reason why they don't come to Japan again. :(

 

So many years passed, and I can't find the tourbook now. So sorry I can't confirm.

Only my blur memory serves.

[NinjaDiscoPunch]

I was there at the Tokyo show , Nov. 1984.

That's awesome!

I haven't seen them live ever, and they've performed more in my home state of Idaho more than they've visited the reaches of Asia.

(I hope this works)

This is a partial version of YYZ and the drum solo from November 21, which is of course the night they performed at Budokan Hall in Tokyo.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ccf3lKtfqgU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

There it is, that elusive mystery set that was there and then went *POOF!*

I'm fascinated by Neil' Caress of Steel-Presto setup, but especially this four-show kit that seems to be a myth and a reality all at the same time!

 

Sigh...

 

I'll probably end up obsessing over that thing until one day I solve the mystery. I'll spend years talking to people, hunting down roadies and hitting them with 100,000 questions, and wind up marching right up to the owner of Hoshino-Gakki (or whoever) and demanding to see it! For all I know, one of the people in the audience, or the stadium owner, probably packed it away and took it home when the lights went out! Or it was thrown in the trash with that night's soda cups.

 

Then one day, in an awe-inspiring Indiana Jones fashion, I'll find it locked away in a stronghold in some faraway land, dust caked all over the shells and hardware corroding, and take possession of it, only to discover all I had to do was read one of the many biographies about them and *BAM!* there it is. And then I will feel silly. Or someone on the forum will read this and reply stating what happened to it and then tell me what happened to it. Then I'll feel even more silly for writing a novel here.

 

Speaking of books, someone ought to write a book not about their careers (since it's still unfolding today), but the history of all their equipment and instruments they've used over it's entirety, complete with diagrams, 360-degree photos, and what remains of past kits today. Might as well be me!

[Show Don't Tell]

Speaking of books, someone ought to write a book not about their careers (since it's still unfolding today), but the history of all their equipment and instruments they've used over it's entirety, complete with diagrams, 360-degree photos, and what remains of past kits today. Might as well be me!

That would be awesome!

[RUSHHEAD666]

I was there at the Tokyo show , Nov. 1984. I haven't seen them since. wow, 28 years.

I heard their equipments(amps, speakers etc) was supplied (or borrowed) by the promoter (Udo music) and yes, Neil's drum set was also prepared by the manufacturer, to spare transport expense. The band and crew only brought their instruments and main lighting system. No laser, no pyro. and I heard that is part of the reason why they don't come to Japan again. :(

 

So many years passed, and I can't find the tourbook now. So sorry I can't confirm.

Only my blur memory serves.

 

Great thread guys! I knew the boys went to Japan but I never knew they saved on transportation expenses!

Flying over to Europe isn't cheap either. Do they transport everything overseas or cut costs on travel expenses by leaving certain equipment behind?

[NinjaDiscoPunch]

Flying over to Europe isn't cheap either. Do they transport everything overseas or cut costs on travel expenses by leaving certain equipment behind?

 

I haven't read of them doing it outside the Japan shows. Those might have been a special case because Tama is based in Japan, sand the drums are harder to move than the guitars and stuff. Not sure about the lighting system though.

 

A fan with his own website here http://www.andrewols...il_drumkits.htm

has an amazing amount of information on each of Neil's kits, using information from the tour books and the Chromey Restoration Project (http://www.andrewols...its/chromey.htm). There's an anecdote by Neil (which I assume also comes from the tour book) on the page about the 30th Anniversary Kit, about what happened after the Rio de Janeiro show involving what appears to be the Vapor Trails kit (which was also used on Test for Echo):

 

"...Even the drum riser had to be rebuilt, after it was demolished during loadout after the Rio de Janeiro show (fortunately the last show of the Vapor Trails tour). Upended on a flatbed truck, the riser was being ferried to the semi-trailers outside the stadium, when the driver failed to notice that his load was higher than the exit. Just like in a cartoon, the whole big assembly flew off the back and went "boom."

 

"After that Rio show (I've been dying to tell this story somewhere), we also had to leave behind the carpet that covered the stage (40' by 24', with the Vapor Trails logo in the middle). It had absorbed so much rain over those three shows in Brazil, it was too heavy to ship back to Canada. Apparently it finally dried out, decorated a Brazilian home awhile, then appeared on eBay."

 

Couple this with the fact that Rush has increased in their popularity, and therefore wealth, it's logical to me that they would have used the Vapor Trails kit in Brasil, a whole 5,100 miles away. They were attempting to transport the drum riser, and the rug, so my guess is they can now afford to move Neil's whole kit.

 

 

They probably could have with the Japan show, too, but y'know. Most certainly Europe.

 

But, wait a minute??

 

Hemispheres was recorded, as far as I know, in South Wales in the United Kingdom. That's about 3,500 miles away from Toronto, and Neil still had his big Blakrome kit from A Farewell to Kings. So here's another possibility, something I hadn't even considered now, is what if Japan's import or shipping laws barred the band from bringing all of their equipment, and therefore had to slim down their show to get into the country?

 

It would make sense to me. Cut the drums, and have another one made at Tama's HQ in Japan. It might have been that in order to have all the drums shipped in, they would have to be done in small groups or individual shipments due to the size of the flight cases, and that might have taken too long and thrown off the tour schedule. But what do I know? Someone else might have a better opinion on this and the whereabouts of the replica.

 

Thoughts?

Edited December 22, 2012 by NinjaDiscoPunch

[NinjaDiscoPunch]

Speaking of books, someone ought to write a book not about their careers (since it's still unfolding today), but the history of all their equipment and instruments they've used over it's entirety, complete with diagrams, 360-degree photos, and what remains of past kits today. Might as well be me!

That would be awesome!

Oh, what the heck! I'll do it, even if it takes me a Xanadu-lifetime to get it done!

[Transparent Green]

I realize this is a LATE reply to one of your questions...but hey, it's a reply, right? The gentleman who could have answered the mystery of the replica kit for you has taken himself entirely out of the game of Rush, Tama, and trivia. He is known within these tight-knit communities to spread disinformation anyway, and that is all that will be said about him (by me). The replica kit was acquired by a private collector in Japan after the shows. To this day, it is still in Japan. There is a guy in Alberta...Al Slark, who claims to have a replica kit given to him by Neil. This kit is stock Superstars with Candy Apple Red lacquer, and chrome hardware. It fits the description of the replica kit. I have not corresponded with Al, so I do not know the validity of his claim(s).

[The Analog Grownup]

I was there at the Tokyo show , Nov. 1984. I haven't seen them since. wow, 28 years.

I heard their equipments(amps, speakers etc) was supplied (or borrowed) by the promoter (Udo music) and yes, Neil's drum set was also prepared by the manufacturer, to spare transport expense. The band and crew only brought their instruments and main lighting system. No laser, no pyro. and I heard that is part of the reason why they don't come to Japan again. :(

 

So many years passed, and I can't find the tourbook now. So sorry I can't confirm.

Only my blur memory serves.

 

Great thread guys! I knew the boys went to Japan but I never knew they saved on transportation expenses!

Flying over to Europe isn't cheap either. Do they transport everything overseas or cut costs on travel expenses by leaving certain equipment behind?

 

As soon as the Clockwork Angels Live DVD comes out I can answer that.

[jnoble]

There was also the incident in a hotel on that tour where they witnessed a man beating up his wife and they tried to break it up but were looked down on as interfering in something that's none of their business. Different culture in Japan when it comes to spousal abuse I guess. Neil said it left a bad taste in his mouth about the whole Japan tour experience.

[PW_Guitarist]

Speaking of books, someone ought to write a book not about their careers (since it's still unfolding today), but the history of all their equipment and instruments they've used over it's entirety, complete with diagrams, 360-degree photos, and what remains of past kits today. Might as well be me!

Robert Telleria's book "Merely Players" is probably the best attempt to catalogue all the band's instruments up to the mid-90's, even if it may contain a few inaccuracies. There also the more recent companion book to "Taking Center Stage" by Joe Bergamini which contains great pictures and diagrams of all Neil's kits with great accuracy. All his past kits' whereabouts are pretty well documented on the Internet, but the Japan kit remains a bit of a mystery because it really was just a loaner kit for a few shows, and is generally believed to be owned by an anonymous private collector in Japan. Given that as far as I know, it was stock and did not have the same customizations as the main kit, and Neil never actually gave it away, so it would be difficult to trace authenticity or chain of ownership for anyone claiming to have it.

[MMCXII]

I realize this is a LATE reply to one of your questions...but hey, it's a reply, right? The gentleman who could have answered the mystery of the replica kit for you has taken himself entirely out of the game of Rush, Tama, and trivia. He is known within these tight-knit communities to spread disinformation anyway, and that is all that will be said about him (by me). The replica kit was acquired by a private collector in Japan after the shows. To this day, it is still in Japan. There is a guy in Alberta...Al Slark, who claims to have a replica kit given to him by Neil. This kit is stock Superstars with Candy Apple Red lacquer, and chrome hardware. It fits the description of the replica kit. I have not corresponded with Al, so I do not know the validity of his claim(s).

 

I'd say his claim is pretty believable if you read the bio on his website http://www.theartofalbertslark.com/bio.html

 

he has a youtube channel too showing his Rush drum covers,I'm assuming they show the kit in question..

[MeanMeanPride]

Wondering if this mystery has ever been solved. I only learned about the second CAR kit yesterday. It would be fascinating if the private owner of the kit would reveal him or herself.

 

My first thought was that since the kit was provided by Tama for those four shows only, the drums would then return to Tama after the show's competition and may have been used for something else? Now, I have nothing to validate that, it's mere speculation on my part.

[JohnnyBlaze]

There was also the incident in a hotel on that tour where they witnessed a man beating up his wife and they tried to break it up but were looked down on as interfering in something that's none of their business. Different culture in Japan when it comes to spousal abuse I guess.

I'm not Japanese. But what you're saying is a misconception. It's not about "a different culture about spousal abuse". It's about the culture of intervening in other's affairs (you can imagine the positives & negatives about this). If someone's being abused, yeah I'd say we should intervene in some capacity (physically, calling the police, etc.). But that's not often the case in Japan...and certainly not back in '84.