I'll show you a time machine!

[andreww]

Yep, $12.50 is about 50% more than I paid to see them the previous summer if I recall correctly. But it was a different time. Tours were made to sell records. They were cheap cause they wanted to attract more people. Now bands don't make any money from albums, it all comes from tours.

 

If you don't like the prices, don't go. I don't.

The first concert I went to was in 1969 at the Fillmore East. I paid $5.00 for the ticket.

 

What you wrote about all the money being in touring I've been told also - no money is really made from the sale of

CDs/DVDs. If a band wants to make money and continue to live in the style they have become accustomed to over the years, they have to tour.

 

Actually things were pretty stable as far as prices went back then. I saw Kiss two years previous to that Rush show at Varsity and the price was only $6 or $7. So from 1969 (your Filmore show) until 1976, prices were pretty stagnant. Two years after that they had almost doubled. By the 80s, prices were probably over $30. Prices just skyrocketed in a short period of time, and it was well before any internet and record pirating.

 

The big hit to prices came when the Eagles did their "Hell Freezes Over" tour. at the time prices for a concert were probably about $50, so the Eagles asked about $150. When they proved that people would still pay, everybody else jumped on board.

Again I will post this.....The Eagles wre NOT the first ones to take ticket prices from the $50 range to the $150 area! It was Barbara Streisand that did it and once The Eagles saw it work for her, they jumped right on board. Everyone else pretty much followed thereafter.

 

Yeh, but the Eagles were the first rock band to do it. Entertainers like Streisand and Sinatra were always in a different league.

[roodrood]

Thanks a ton for posting these amazingly fantastic vintage Rush photos. I just love the eighties ones. That was my favorite time period for collecting Rush concert pictures. I saw them in 1977 and 1978, then in 1980 and 1982 and that was the last time until 1990 and then 1992. If you have any more from the late seventies and eighties, please post them. Did you take photos of any other bands by the way? Especially of The Who with Keith Moon. I have fantastic Who shots I took at Maple Leaf Gardens on October 21, 1976 if anyone is interested in trading scans of any Who shots they took. And my brother took photos of the 77 and 78 shows. Mostly of Neil. Nice clear photographs for the most part.

[GeminiRising79]

Aha!!! Now I know why what to attribute their success to. Alex owns a pair of ruby slippers.

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH079_zps9a01f7bc.jpg

 

Cocaine's a helluva drug

[EagleMoon]

So maybe he's been to Oz and back. :D

[tsanph]

Okay, the time machine is going back three years, almost to the day. Its March 25, 1978 and I was a 15 year old kid on vacation with his family in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Rush was playing in nearby Hollywood and my dad was cool enough to buy my brother and I tickets and drive us to and from the show. Somehow we ended up in the front row! Anyway, I ad a POS 35mm point and shoot at the time, so these pics aren't the greatest, but decent enough for you guys to catch a glimpse of what they were like back then. Enjoy :)

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH042_zps337130a3.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH063_zps9a9c8cae.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH053_zps64e669d9.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH064_zpse37e2470.jpg

These are suberb - thank you very much for sharing!

[tsanph]

I liked the Toronto pics, but your Double Neck pics are so cool you lucky bastard lol. I wonder if Alex had a streak of Don Cherry in him when it came to clothes for a few years.

 

Ah, if you want doubleneck pictures you'll have to see the Permanent Waves set on the next stop of the time machine. I was pretty lucky as I was able to see four shows between the period of 1977 - 1981 from the front row. In my opinion that was when the band hit their zenith. Still a great band, don't get me wrong, but there was something magical about that period in the bands history.

 

As for the jackets? It was a period in music known as "New Romantic" and bands like Bowie, Roxy Music, Japan, Duran Duran were kind of an underground thing. Alex was always following fashion at the time so I'm pretty sure thats where the jackets and skinny ties came from.

 

At their zenith? You are SO right. I'm thinking the PW tour was the best setlist they ever toured

[tsanph]

Next stop on the Time Machine Tour is September 2nd 1979 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. This was a weird show for the band as it seemed to be put together pretty hastily, and the fact that they were playing a University football field instead of one of the larger arenas or stadiums was a little odd. Also, Permanent Waves was nowhere near release, so the tour really wasn't in support of anything. What made this show interesting was that the weather was not very cooperative. It didn't rain during the show as I recall, the natural turf on the field was very wet, and was soon being hurled around as "sod bombs". The entire field would need to be replaced, and that show was the last ever at that venue. Also, wind and the threat of storms forced the band to scale back on their set up. No video screen were used, the dry ice just blew away, and their was no pyro. Even Howard's light show suffered as the usual "audience smoke" just blew away, leaving nothing for his lights to reflect off of. So the show was pretty basic, reminding me of a club show. Anyway, enjoy the pics :)

 

Aforementioned "Sod Bomb"

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH140_zps40439585.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH130_zpsdac487f9.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH143_zps34676677.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH145_zps262f6427.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH137_zps14b804de.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH135_zps47ba7dc5.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH134_zpsc9d878f4.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH133_zpse4cbeba8.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH132_zps50a8ac47.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH127_zps12d5ab2f.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH139_zps68910c66.jpg

 

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/RUSH144_zpsa42e74ab.jpg

Those are truly magical. About 2/3 weeks later i went to my first ever gig - Rush at Stafford in the UK! As is said elsewhere you didnt have any interenet forums back then - no idea what the setlist would be ..what the band would look like. A handful of bootlegs to base your guesses on. Well ...they always open with Bastille Day or Anthem don't they........lights out....WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!! Not this time buddy! Heaven!

[andreww]

Those are truly magical. About 2/3 weeks later i went to my first ever gig - Rush at Stafford in the UK! As is said elsewhere you didnt have any interenet forums back then - no idea what the setlist would be ..what the band would look like. A handful of bootlegs to base your guesses on. Well ...they always open with Bastille Day or Anthem don't they........lights out....WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!! Not this time buddy! Heaven!

 

I think thats part of the magic that has been lost with MTV and the internet. Back in the day you had no idea what the band would look like, what clothes they would be wearing, what the stage would look like, or what songs they would play. There were just so many "oh my god" moments when you went to a show. In those days you got the album and you got a show when the band came to town. I think thats why so many guys hung on to ticket stubs and newspaper reviews from that era, because you would get nothing more until the next album. Hard to imagine but it was a very exciting time!

 

PS, I remember being disappointed with those varsity stadium shots because Alex's hair was so short!

Edited October 10, 2013 by andreww

[andreww]

At their zenith? You are SO right. I'm thinking the PW tour was the best setlist they ever toured

 

I'd go far as to say the peaked at Moving Pictures. The next couple of albums were good but they had started to move too much in to the keyboards by that point. They went from being a "Power trio" to being more of a "Progressive rock" band. Time Stand Still and songs like that are great, but they're not ByTor and the Snowdog.

[tsanph]

At their zenith? You are SO right. I'm thinking the PW tour was the best setlist they ever toured

 

I'd go far as to say the peaked at Moving Pictures. The next couple of albums were good but they had started to move too much in to the keyboards by that point. They went from being a "Power trio" to being more of a "Progressive rock" band. Time Stand Still and songs like that are great, but they're not ByTor and the Snowdog.

Yeah - I overdid it on the MP tour (or the ESL tour as it was called in the UK) - saw 6 shows and got very tired of it. but that album was a disapointment for me - the end of the classic era . But my favourite album is probably hemispheres, not such a popular choice maybe, so...that's what's good about them..they moved on and changed - we all have our little timeframe we're very precious about. And you seem to have photographed mine!! I still can't get over how INTO it they are in those 79 pics - that connection Geddy and Alex had was magical.

 

And YES!! That was the first thing we said after the shock had worn off- Alex has cut his hair!!! Ha. And the reggae bit in Spirit of radion made everyone scratch their chins a bit - first sign of things to come..

Edited October 11, 2013 by tsanph

[Syrinx]

Great memories guys!

[EagleMoon]

 

And YES!! That was the first thing we said after the shock had worn off- Alex has cut his hair!!!

 

To the strangled cries of anguished fan girls all over the world...and yes there were some. I was one of them. I think his guitar balls were in that hair because he lost something along with that folicular fatality.

[andreww]

And YES!! That was the first thing we said after the shock had worn off- Alex has cut his hair!!!

 

To the strangled cries of anguished fan girls all over the world...and yes there were some. I was one of them. I think his guitar balls were in that hair because he lost something along with that folicular fatality.

 

I think it was about that time that Alex started receiving treatments for his thinning hair. First tim I noticed was about the time of Permanent Waves. But yeh, Alex used to change his look quite often, not only with his clothes and hair length, but he had some funky perms an colourful shoes as well!

[EagleMoon]

And YES!! That was the first thing we said after the shock had worn off- Alex has cut his hair!!!

 

To the strangled cries of anguished fan girls all over the world...and yes there were some. I was one of them. I think his guitar balls were in that hair because he lost something along with that folicular fatality.

 

I think it was about that time that Alex started receiving treatments for his thinning hair. First tim I noticed was about the time of Permanent Waves. But yeh, Alex used to change his look quite often, not only with his clothes and hair length, but he had some funky perms an colourful shoes as well!

 

Yes he definitely did. I loved that hair though. It was really beautiful.

[losingit2k]

Man I do missing seein Neil play that acoustic drum set with all the bells and chimes.