Missives from Samsara

Rush fans were surprised today with the news that Geddy and Alex are going to go on a relatively short tour in 2026 as Rush, with an amazingly talented drummer and even a keyboard player, allowing Geddy to focus on playing bass and jumping around as only Geddy does. Certainly some will disapprove, but I am not one of them. The Rush catalog is absolutely filled with amazing tunes. This is why I fantasize about their concerts for kicks! Here’s to the chance for a tour with different tunes each night! Here’s fantasy show #7, replete with 4 tunes that haven’t shown up yet. Natural Science set closer? Yes please!

I would have loved to see Rush open a show with Out of the Cradle! Lots of other great later Rush in that first set. Chemistry is another great tune that didn’t get played enough over the years. The Camera Eye makes its second appearance as a set two opener. All in all, another great night on the imaginary Rush tour in my head.

Rush Jam Show #5 has some heavy hitters. Best show yet? I always thought The Trees could be jammed out, and I think this first set combo would please the masses. Alien Shore is a hidden gem within Rush’s catalogue.

Show #3 of the infinite fantasy Rush tour that never happened. Lots of relative deep cuts tonight, no repeats from the first two nights (of course), and a show hard core Rush fans would dig. Both of these set closers would blow the roof off. Here’s Vital Signs from Cleveland, a huge Rush town. Elevate from the norm.

Before I became a devoted Deadhead, I was a huge fan of Rush. Many of my Deadhead friends are also huge Rush fanatics. Certainly the two bands cover different sonic territory, though for rock and roll fans, they are both landscapes that our various moods demand that we cover from time to time.

One of the coolest aspects of the Grateful Dead fan experience was that every one of their concerts were unique. On any given night, there were over a 100 different songs they might play and if you saw a run of three shows, you wouldn’t see the same song played twice. This was one of the reasons Dead fans wanted to see so many shows.

Rush on the other hand, was more traditional and tended to play the same set list on any given tour, though they did switch songs out now and again. Nevertheless, if you saw three shows on a particular Rush tour, you’d be seeing the same show each night.

Despite that, Rush never had any trouble selling concert tickets. Their shows were always amazing, creative, well produced, contained elements of humor, and delivered the goods fans wanted to hear.

Nevertheless, as a huge fan of the jamband ethos of different set lists every night, and as a huge Rush fan who loves their entire catalog (and live shows), I find myself wondering about what it might have been like to see Rush drop different set lists on consecutive nights. Their catalog is deep and their virtuosity is without peer. I know the band members adopted the approach they did for a reason, but I’d still like to imagine what Rush shows might look like if they mixed it up night to night. If you are a Rush fan as well, I hope you enjoy thinking about this parallel universe.

I am assuming this is happening at the end of their careers when all their albums are in play. I am also going to have some fun with the possibility of the jamming out of one song and into another. This is the hallmark of ‘jambands’ and Rush certainly could have done this. I don’t know enough about making music to know if these transitions would work (as far as the key of each tune), but I’m going to include some in each show anyway.