My fantasy Rush tour turned into the real thing last week in Toronto. The band did not disappoint. My buddy and I had tickets to the Sunday, August 9 show with plans to try and pick up tickets to the show on the 7th. The morning of the show, we went online and lo and behold there were some great tickets available. Being far from home, we bit the bullet and got the tickets, which ended up being great. We were straight back, with a clear sightline of the stage about 10 rows back so that we were basically looking straight ahead. The sound was great and there ended up being some space around us. My friend informed the nice Canadians behind us that we had come from Oregon and would definitely be standing, and they, being Canadian, said that would not be a problem. That first show was fun, though the set list wasn’t an A+ for me.

That said, I want to acknowledge how happy I am with Geddy and Alex that they took a page from the stalwart jam bands that I love seeing and mixed up their set lists from show to show. On Sunday, we heard many of the same songs, but we also heard 8 different songs plus all of 2112! Needless to say, I was satisfied. Indeed, the only songs I was dying to hear that I didn’t see them perform (that are being played on this tour) were The Camera Eye and A Farewell to Kings.

Our seats the second night were very different, too. We were side stage on Alex’s side. It was much louder and it was cool to be close enough to the stage to watch all the musicians. We also had a very lively, engaged group of fans around us that added to the good vibes, including another Oregonian (a professor from Oregon State). In line on Sunday we met a lovely family from Birmingham in the UK.

These were my 15th and 16th Rush shows.