Looking for a good picture of what geddy was wearing for the exit stage left tour, specifically the filmed Montreal Gig

I had these albums and CDs constantly spinning...

We're all fans of the band, here, and often interested in adjacent stuff, behind the scenes, innerworkings, etc, so I thought I'd share a story.

Like a lot of you, I've been super happy to see the love this tour has generated.
It's the feel-good story of the year.

I write for a number of outlets, some well-known, some more niche. I've been at it for 25 years. My goal is always to promote and be positive. I don't do reviews because they are subjective, and I'm not interested in perhaps having to generate negative energy about music. I do histories and celebrations so I can avoid putting more criticism out into the world.

I got in touch with Q-Prime about a feature idea I had. There's so much out there related to whether Anika could do it, what the band is playing, and how the reunion/celebration came together.
My idea was to frame this as a universal coming together occasion in a very dark time. How Rush had once again read the moment, as they did in the 80s and 90s, rolled with the times, and so late in their career, masterfully reframed themselves yet again. This "man band" had integrated an exceptionally talented woman, thus shutting down all sorts of stale arguments and criticisms before they could even happen.
And a new generation of people were at shows.
Apparently people like Sabrina Carpenter showed up.
On the other end, I hear Macca showed up.
As fans, we've endured all sorts of nerds jokes, and now we're seeing this band getting the respect they've always deserved, even from outlets that have mercilessly dragged them over the years. I didn't see it coming, but welcome everyone!

I laid all of this out, saying it was ready to go for a beloved, 40 year running punk magazine. I chose that outlet because of a conversation I'd had with Sloan over 20 years ago, where the guys mentioned Rush's "we'll do it how we want to" energy was inspiring to them. It wasn't just a request for a press pass, it was a well thought out outline from someone who saw them many times in the 80s, as a teen, but not since.
A bookend of sorts.
I wouldn't need access to the band, VIP, AAA, or anything, just a show ticket anywhere in the house.

The response was "submit this through the Live Nation portal."
That never instills faith in us. I guess you all know about Live Nation's rep.
But I did that.

For a couple of months my status was "Pending Approval." A week ago I checked in. No response. Two days ago I checked in, no response.
Still "pending approval" at Live Nation.
Today I checked in because the show is tonight and I feel I need to let my editors know. I finally got a curt respose of "we can't accommodate, thanks for reaching out."

For years now I've felt that the people who generate the least excitement for bands are management or adjacent. This of course is at odds with what they are ostensibly supposed to do. Rare exceptions are the bands that structure themselves in a way that they are represented perfectly. REM and Bertis Downs are the benchmark for this. The band manifested this. It was important for them. Everything trickles down from that.
I assume this was the case with Ray Danniels and Rush.
It feels like this era is long gone.

With smaller bands I've had more luck dealing directly with the artist when possible. I was the first person to interview Tame Impala on their first US tour, and it wouldn't have happened had it not been for Kevin pushing back against his management. I can give at least 20 examples of this.

We journalists get paid very, very little, and do this for love. Sometimes you get a truly great artist who understands this, and makes it clear. Daniel Avery comes to mind. That guy is super to writers and takes nothing for granted. I recently had an amazing experience with Al di Meola, who is a total legend and yet still understands the artist-to-fans journalist connection.

Most of the time, though, we're handled like a low-level annoyance, no matter how respectful we are. As if we're being done a favor to honor a band, not that it's some sort of symbiotic lifting of the boats.

I get it that the Rolling Stones of the world get carte blanche to this kind of stuff, but they are also often seen as irrelevant to the new gen. The super fans live in the trenches, and read the alt media. These are the people I like to write to/for/with because they are the last outlets that feel "real" in a fully commodified world.

I was excited to write this and I certainly would have put in five times the effort-to-compensation as I usually do. Rush, REM, the first two waves of Detroit Techno, some key Krautrock bands, and the Danish band Mew all rewired how I thought about music, so I wanted to make this generational connection.
Would it matter in the end? Likely not that much in the greater scheme of things, but the bang for the buck with the 'zine-level outlets is very good. "Fans" is short for "fanatics" and that's where they live.

By no means do journalists think they are owed anything, but we really do exist to celebrate music in an era where this is not a smart way to make a living. I'm sitting here wondering how hard it would be to make a single ticket happen at a show that's not sold out, with many weeks' notice, not some last minute thing.
I'm coming up with nothing.

Kudos to Alex, Geddy, and Anika for the tour. I can't drop $250 for a ticket at this time so I'll just watch the video of it tomorrow.

This isn't some sob story, I just thought I'd share another example of how the modern machine really has sucked the last bits of anything good out of the mega tours. It's my belief that bands like Rush succeed despite, not because of the modern management machine, even though as Pearl Jam's experiment taught us, it's impossible to do without them.

See y'all at the local venues. I think this was the last time I'll pitch for bigger shows, even for some of the larger outlets I work with. It's just not worth it. The good energy is still down in the trenches. I sincerely hope anyone going has the best time, especially the first-timers. This is such a gift to the fans.
xo

Saw at the Seattle show they mentioned they signed some of the posters. Have they been doing this for every show?

No love for San Jose ! Why nothing official about pop up , etc? Other places got announced days before show, we are less than 24 hrs.

If anyone here goes to the San Jose show tonight, can you tell me if the merchandise booth is outside the stadium? I can't go to the show itself, but they posted the poster design on their Instagram, and I LOVE it... I definitely want a shirt and a poster, if I can get it. Since I don't have a ticket, I obviously won't be able to get inside, but their Instagram post implies that their merchandise booth will be outside on the street and open to the public, which seems... unusual. My plan is to stop by 4PM Saturday before the show and get a poster, if I can. Thanks in advance.

We know the four shows in Toronto were filmed. Looking at the setlists it appears most, if not all, of the songs played on this tour were played at least once those four nights.

With such a dynamic, varied setlist I’m trying to picture what the eventual concert film/album would look like. Do they pick just one night and have all the other songs included as bonus tracks and if so, what night? A mixture of multiple nights?

It would be cool if they did like a supercut version where it’s one big megaconcert with all or most of their songs included their approximate spots throughout the setlist. You’d have to get a little creative with it (like taking the full Moving Pictures from one night as the set 2 opener and then using parts of both nights of the full 2112 to make it the set 2 closer) but I think it could work.

Trying to figure out when to leave the house tomorrow haha

Each must know his part.

Has the Toronto Pearson international airport ever played yyz over the speakers or have you ever heard it on a radio there.

From Night 2 in Denver. 10/07/26. Crowd was into it!!

Almost finished. Just need to do some digitizing and some clean up and then it's off to the press!