Audio 15 November 1975 - Rockford Armory, Rockford, Illinois [Audience]

[Rush Archives]

Downloads:​

• 1975-11-15 - Rockford, Illinois *recommended*
• Stainless Steel
• Stainless Steel (speed corrected)
• Steel Breeze
• The Pretentious Necromancer

Track Listing:​

01 - Bastille Day​

02 - Anthem​

03 - Lakeside Park​

04 - The Necromancer​

05 - By-Tor And The Snow Dog​

06 - Working Man​

07 - Drum Solo​

Notes:​

• This is one of only two recordings from the "Down The Tubes" tour that are known to exist in circulation.
• This features the only known live recording of The Necromancer in its entirety, as all performances of the song from the ATWAS tour omit Part I and half of Part II.
• This recording isn't as bad as you may initially think. It's actually pretty good. All the instruments are loud and present, though the drums occasionally get buried. The main issue, Geddy's voice is quite distant and inaudible during the first couple songs. Luckily, the vocals are much more clear and audible by the time The Necromancer starts.
• Rush was the opening act during this concert, while Kiss was the headlining act. The same person who recorded Rush's performance also recorded Kiss.
• This recording publicly surfaced in December of 1999. Until 2022, no other recordings from the Caress Of Steel tour had yet been reported to exist with any credibility. In 2022, the surfacing of the 5 March 1976 Randhurst Arena recording brought new facts to the surface about the cloudy history of the COS tour, and features I Think I'm Going Bald. Confirmed by Rush's original sound engineer Ian Grandy, I Think I'm Going Bald was played during a small handful of COS tour dates, allegedly usually resulting in a poor reception. While no one knows for sure if parts of The Fountain Of Lamneth were ever played, there have been fan reports claiming that some iteration was played during some COS tour performances.
• You may be familiar with the alleged COS tour footage, however it has been confirmed to actually be from the All The World's A Stage tour at the Dome Arena in Henrietta, New York. According to the original filmer, that footage was captured during two 1976 visits to the Dome Arena, September 22 and December 20. I had my doubts about the COS tour claim regarding the footage for years, as there were clear visual hints it was from '76 or '77, and not from the Caress Of Steel tour. Of course, the footage was originally silent 8mm film, with this Rockford audio added to it creating a really poor out of sync result.
• If you or anyone you know recorded Rush at any point between 1968 and mid-1977, these are very valuable documents of Rush history, and would be very important to be preserved online.

Preview:​

​

 

[By-Tor X-1]

Notes from Original Taper:​

Rockford, Illinois is located about 90 miles northwest of Chicago, Illinois. Rush played a concert at the Rockford Armory on November 15, 1975. The headline act that evening was the notorious Kiss. Rush had been touring with Kiss since early 1975 in conjunction with Rush’s recent signing with Mercury Records. This November concert was heavily attended as the Kiss/Rush tandem had toured through northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin earlier in 1975 and had already developed a large following of intense fans.

Rush had switched drummers in late 1974, when Neil Peart joined the group to form the power trio that exists to this day. 1975 was the maiden year for the reformed group, but even in early 1975, Rush was a very skilled rock-n-roll band. The Rockford Armory was an old cavernous concrete structure with a huge ground floor and limited seating upstairs in the balcony. There were no seats on the ground floor, and no barriers in front of the stage. The fans sat on the floor as the show opened, but were quickly standing once the show began. I recorded Rush with a small mono tape recorder stage center approximately 10 feet from the front edge of the stage. (As stage crew, I was located up front for crowd control purposes.) Not the greatest place to record a concert, but the concert in fact came out excellent all things considered.

Rush played several long numbers during their set in Rockford, featuring songs off of each of their first three albums. The entire Rush performance is here, from the opening riff of Bastille Day to the final crescendos of Working Man, Rush’s closing number.

Looking back, the tandem of Rush and Kiss in concert together is truly remarkable. These 1975 shows have to be considered one of the greatest rock-n-roll tours ever assembled. It was great to be part of those events, and it’s fun to listen to the recordings now, 25 years later. They never sounded better. Enjoy.

 

[Grace :)]

On the note of the rumored Caress of Steel recordings, it was rumored that the Massey Hall show also contained the only known performance of "Making Memories". There was also another show that supposedly played "Rivendell" though there is no evidence to back any of these rumors up. It would be nice to see more recordings (audio and/or video) of this tour show up.

 

[bean_plant]

I've heard they did Bald and parts of Fountain...if only we could get a tape someday

 

[By-Tor X-1]

There are several old rumors regarding the 10 January 1976 Massey Hall performance, none which have any weight to their credibility. In regards to the rumor of a "secret" audience tape, even long-time bootleg traders have seen no evidence of this and are convinced it is all made up. There was even an old claim that Geddy’s cousin “Alan Weinrib” had a soundboard recording, but it was debunked years later in an interview with Ian Grandy, Rush’s first sound engineer, who said he never heard of the guy. The supposed setlist including Rivendell and Making Memories has equally zero bearing, it’s all made up. The alleged setlist didn’t even follow any known structure, and just had songs all over the place. For example, we know they would’ve opened with Bastille Day, not whatever it was initially claimed to be (I can’t remember). Even though these days setlist.fm places Bastille Day first (not to say that site is ever a reliable resource), the setlist structure proves is clearly made up.

The only part of the COS tour Massey Hall rumors that has any bearing is from a seemingly reputable member on “The Rush Forum”. He claims to have been to a Rush show in Toronto during every tour since 1974. He has repeatedly claimed with certainty that The Fountain Of Lamneth was played in January 10, but not in its entirety, in “a weird kind of medley” with The Necromancer. Most people seem to acknowledge that his story is possible, and I believe it may be, but I do wonder how accurate his memory is about the exact details (or if he really is making it up). He also claimed Making Memories was not played during this show, but claims that it was played at Rush's previous show in Toronto during the FBN tour. However we have a recording of that performance, which proves that claim to be false. So for me that raises a few questions about his stories.

Despite all the various disproven and unconfirmed rumors about the COS tour Toronto concert, I still believe it would be the most likely performance to have featured some iteration of Lamneth. Not only due to being the last show of the tour, but also being one of the few headliners of the tour, and it being Rush's hometown.

Other than the old Toronto rumors, I’ve seen two other unrelated sources claim Lamneth was played at other COS tour shows. One guy I talked with three or four years ago had been to the show at Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas on 29 October 1975, and claims for certain that some iteration of Lamneth was played, but couldn’t remember for sure about I Think I’m Going Bald.

There was also someone quoted in the book “Wandering the Face of the Earth” who claims Lamneth was played on November 28 and 29 in Atlanta, Georgia, at least he specifically remembers hearing them play Bacchus Plateau.

Personally, I believe some iteration was played on the COS tour, but never in its entirety. I'd say at best it may have been In The Valley > No One At The Bridge > Bacchus Plateau > The Fountain. Something like this would have had to have been one of the small handful of headlining shows of that tour, not one of the shorter opening/support performances that occupied the majority during the COS tour. I consider how proud they were of the album at the time, and every other song has been proven to have been played, even Bald, so I don't think they would've left Lamneth completely untouched. I also consider that even 2112 didn't feature Discovery until June 1977, or Oracle until 1996, so I doubt they'd have done Lamneth 100%. Didacts and Narpets seems an obvious part to omit, and while I could see Neil doing a mini drum solo here, I feel the drum solo would've just been reserved for Working Man as usual. Then Panacea seems a bit too soft for something Rush would've attempted to do live during this era, I don't think it would've gone over well with attendees at the time, so it seems like the other clear choice of omission to shorten the suite. At the very least, I imagine Bacchus Plateau has the best chance out of any part to have been played on its own, and that could've been during any show of the tour. It stands well on its own, and is probably the most "commercial" part. To further that point, Bacchus Plateau was part of a compilation promo sent out to radio stations in 1976 sometime after 2112 was released.

I also don’t find it hard to believe more COS tour recordings exist out there. Same goes for the FBN tour. My question is, have the tapes been sitting in a closet or something forgotten about for 40+ years, or are they purposely being kept privately due to the clear rarity they hold?

 

[antrecords]

This is great, Marshalls! Runs about 1/2 step flat or so. Funny, my older friend said he saw Hawkwind in the 70s, and that Rush opened and they sucked (I'm sure they were on fire/Geddy is just not his cup of tea). What a show to see.

 

[By-Tor X-1]

This is great, Marshalls! Runs about 1/2 step flat or so. Funny, my older friend said he saw Hawkwind in the 70s, and that Rush opened and they sucked (I'm sure they were on fire/Geddy is just not his cup of tea). What a show to see.

What's interesting about Neil's comment in that brief interview snippet, documentation shows Rush had only opened for Hawkwind a handful of times in 1974 during the debut tour, so I imagine by the time that interview was held (I never found the full source) a lot of time had already passed for little facts to have been confused. They're known to forget certain details over time, so it's understandable. Also, while I'm not extremely familiar with Hawkwind, I'm not sure what Neil meant by their "last tour", because it doesn't seem they ever really had any sort of hiatus. Perhaps the departure of Lemmy around that time may be what he was thinking of?

 

[antrecords]

My friend thinks it was '74 yes, well noted. Maybe Hawkwind was going to call it quits idk?

 

[Grace :)]

There are several old rumors regarding the 10 January 1976 Massey Hall performance, none which have any weight to their credibility. In regards to the rumor of a "secret" audience tape, even long-time bootleg traders have seen no evidence of this and are convinced it is all made up. There was even an old claim that Geddy’s cousin “Alan Weinrib” had a soundboard recording, but it was debunked years later in an interview with Ian Grandy, Rush’s first sound engineer, who said he never heard of the guy. The supposed setlist including Rivendell and Making Memories has equally zero bearing, it’s all made up. The alleged setlist didn’t even follow any known structure, and just had songs all over the place. For example, we know they would’ve opened with Bastille Day, not whatever it was initially claimed to be (I can’t remember). Even though these days setlist.fm places Bastille Day first (not to say that site is ever a reliable resource), the setlist structure proves is clearly made up.

The only part of the COS tour Massey Hall rumors that has any bearing is from a seemingly reputable member on “The Rush Forum”. He claims to have been to a Rush show in Toronto during every tour since 1974. He has repeatedly claimed with certainty that The Fountain Of Lamneth was played in January 10, but not in its entirety, in “a weird kind of medley” with The Necromancer. Most people seem to acknowledge that his story is possible, and I believe it may be, but I do wonder how accurate his memory is about the exact details (or if he really is making it up). He also claimed Making Memories was not played during this show, but claims that it was played at Rush's previous show in Toronto during the FBN tour. However we have a recording of that performance, which proves that claim to be false. So for me that raises a few questions about his stories.

Despite all the various disproven and unconfirmed rumors about the COS tour Toronto concert, I still believe it would be the most likely performance to have featured some iteration of Lamneth. Not only due to being the last show of the tour, but also being one of the few headliners of the tour, and it being Rush's hometown.

Other than the old Toronto rumors, I’ve seen two other unrelated sources claim Lamneth was played at other COS tour shows. One guy I talked with three or four years ago had been to the show at Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas on 29 October 1975, and claims for certain that some iteration of Lamneth was played, but couldn’t remember for sure about I Think I’m Going Bald.

There was also someone quoted in the book “Wandering the Face of the Earth” who claims Lamneth was played on November 28 and 29 in Atlanta, Georgia, at least he specifically remembers hearing them play Bacchus Plateau.

Personally, I believe some iteration was played on the COS tour, but never in its entirety. I'd say at best it may have been In The Valley > No One At The Bridge > Bacchus Plateau > The Fountain. Something like this would have had to have been one of the small handful of headlining shows of that tour, not one of the shorter opening/support performances that occupied the majority during the COS tour. I consider how proud they were of the album at the time, and every other song has been proven to have been played, even Bald, so I don't think they would've left Lamneth completely untouched. I also consider that even 2112 didn't feature Discovery until June 1977, or Oracle until 1996, so I doubt they'd have done Lamneth 100%. Didacts and Narpets seems an obvious part to omit, and while I could see Neil doing a mini drum solo here, I feel the drum solo would've just been reserved for Working Man as usual. Then Panacea seems a bit too soft for something Rush would've attempted to do live during this era, I don't think it would've gone over well with attendees at the time, so it seems like the other clear choice of omission to shorten the suite. At the very least, I imagine Bacchus Plateau has the best chance out of any part to have been played on its own, and that could've been during any show of the tour. It stands well on its own, and is probably the most "commercial" part. To further that point, Bacchus Plateau was part of a compilation promo sent out to radio stations in 1976 sometime after 2112 was released.

I also don’t find it hard to believe more COS tour recordings exist out there. Same goes for the FBN tour. My question is, have the tapes been sitting in a closet or something forgotten about for 40+ years, or are they purposely being kept privately due to the clear rarity they hold?

I really hope at least No One at the Bridge was played live. The vocal performance is just amazing in that part. I could care less about the other parts, to be quite honest. As good as Bacchus Plateau is, No One at the Bridge is the most memorable from this entire song. I can't imagine how the crowd reacted to that section in No One at the Bridge.

 

[kjosef]

I really hope at least No One at the Bridge was played live. The vocal performance is just amazing in that part. I could care less about the other parts, to be quite honest. As good as Bacchus Plateau is, No One at the Bridge is the most memorable from this entire song. I can't imagine how the crowd reacted to that section in No One at the Bridge.

Absolutely agree. Of all the sections of "Fountains of Lamneth," "No One at the Bridge" remains an artistic high point for Rush in its first few records. Ged's vocal just cuts right through, and Lerxst's solo is just harrowing. A very powerful piece.

I think it's a real shame that the "Down the Tubes" tour led Rush to having a seemingly diminished opinion of the material on "Caress of Steel." I wonder if they even realize that that record has the cult following that it does. For myself, I remember having "All the World's a Stage" in the early '80s and it was the songs from "Caress" on that record that led me back to buying it, after which it subsequently became my favorite of their early records, and so remains to this day. I would like to think they might at some point put out a 50th anniversary edition with some sort of supplementary disc of live tour excerpts, or a particularly fine show, but, regrettably, I fear that ship has sailed ... and there's still no one at the bridge.

 

[Grace :)]

Absolutely agree. Of all the sections of "Fountains of Lamneth," "No One at the Bridge" remains an artistic high point for Rush in its first few records. Ged's vocal just cuts right through, and Lerxst's solo is just harrowing. A very powerful piece.

I think it's a real shame that the "Down the Tubes" tour led Rush to having a seemingly diminished opinion of the material on "Caress of Steel." I wonder if they even realize that that record has the cult following that it does. For myself, I remember having "All the World's a Stage" in the early '80s and it was the songs from "Caress" on that record that led me back to buying it, after which it subsequently became my favorite of their early records, and so remains to this day. I would like to think they might at some point put out a 50th anniversary edition with some sort of supplementary disc of live tour excerpts, or a particularly fine show, but, regrettably, I fear that ship has sailed ... and there's still no one at the bridge.

I feel that Rush dumped a lot of good songs over the years and it just breaks my heart that some never got played again. Best example I can see aside from CoS is stuff from Signals through Hold Your Fire. Chemistry and Countdown were excellent songs that were not even played at every show during their debut tour, and then never saw the light of day again. Though at least with the latter, it felt like a song that didn't need more than one tour to be played on. It gets even more sad with Grace Under Pressure where the ENTIRE album was played on its debut tour, only to have a couple songs brought back in rotation. At least we have recordings of those, any FoL recording is sadly nothing more than a dream. I am really hoping it was played and recorded by somebody.

 

[kjosef]

Yeah, I remember when they brought back "Between the Wheels" on the "Snakes & Arrows" tour. I recorded it, and felt fortunate we got that — I would have thought they would have brought back "Distant Early Warning," if anything, so that felt like an interesting choice and a nice surprise, but that was it from p/g in those later years. I'm a huge fan of "Power Windows," and I wish they had brought back some of those songs — "Manhattan Project," "Marathon" or "Territories," maybe — but no dice. I shouldn't complain about that, I suppose — I was at the Milwaukee show on the "Power Windows" tour that got such a nice recording by someone, so that's a really nice memory to have. "Signals" is extra disappointing because the 40th box set was such a missed opportunity. I mean, it LOOKS great, but ... not much meat on them bones. No bonus live stuff apart from the b-sides. As for CoS, there HAVE to be recordings in a shoebox or something somewhere in the official vaults. I just hope that at some point they took the trouble to digitize whatever they had, so the tapes aren't just rotting away in Alex's closet or something. "Eh, that old stuff from the 'Down the Tubes' tour? Feh — who needs it?"

 

[kjosef]

I feel that Rush dumped a lot of good songs over the years and it just breaks my heart that some never got played again. Best example I can see aside from CoS is stuff from Signals through Hold Your Fire. Chemistry and Countdown were excellent songs that were not even played at every show during their debut tour, and then never saw the light of day again. Though at least with the latter, it felt like a song that didn't need more than one tour to be played on. It gets even more sad with Grace Under Pressure where the ENTIRE album was played on its debut tour, only to have a couple songs brought back in rotation. At least we have recordings of those, any FoL recording is sadly nothing more than a dream. I am really hoping it was played and recorded by somebody.

Though I will say that while I was glad that they finally brought back "The Camera Eye" when they did "Moving Pictures" on the Time Machine tour, it seemed to me like they weren't so into playing it, and even truncated it a bit, probably to get through it faster. Sometimes it can be a "careful what you wish for" situation, I suppose, but I have to think the CoS stuff from the initial tour would have to be great. What little we've heard so far bears that out.

 

[Grace :)]

Yeah, I remember when they brought back "Between the Wheels" on the "Snakes & Arrows" tour. I recorded it, and felt fortunate we got that — I would have thought they would have brought back "Distant Early Warning," if anything, so that felt like an interesting choice and a nice surprise, but that was it from p/g in those later years. I'm a huge fan of "Power Windows," and I wish they had brought back some of those songs — "Manhattan Project," "Marathon" or "Territories," maybe — but no dice. I shouldn't complain about that, I suppose — I was at the Milwaukee show on the "Power Windows" tour that got such a nice recording by someone, so that's a really nice memory to have. "Signals" is extra disappointing because the 40th box set was such a missed opportunity. I mean, it LOOKS great, but ... not much meat on them bones. No bonus live stuff apart from the b-sides. As for CoS, there HAVE to be recordings in a shoebox or something somewhere in the official vaults. I just hope that at some point they took the trouble to digitize whatever they had, so the tapes aren't just rotting away in Alex's closet or something. "Eh, that old stuff from the 'Down the Tubes' tour? Feh — who needs it?"

Distant Early Warning was back on R40 (maybe Vapor Trails too, I forget though), Between The Wheels was revived for R30, Snakes & Arrows, and R40, The Body Electric was played at a few rare shows on the Clockwork Angels Tour, and Red Sector A was played on at least Vapor Trails, R30, and Clockwork Angels (not sure about S&A).

As for PoW stuff, that got MUCH better treatment in the later years. They played everything but Emotion Detector post-2002. Big Money, Grand Designs, Manhattan Project, Territories, and Middletown Dreams of all songs were played on the Clockwork Angels Tour. Marathon and Mystic Rhythms were played on Time Machine and R30 respectively.

And wow, that's so cool you got to see them in Milwaukee in 1986. That's one of my favorite shows from that tour. It sucks that such little audience video has surfaced from that era, but I'll take what I can get, hehe.

 

[kjosef]

Distant Early Warning was back on R40 (maybe Vapor Trails too, I forget though), Between The Wheels was revived for R30, Snakes & Arrows, and R40, The Body Electric was played at a few rare shows on the Clockwork Angels Tour, and Red Sector A was played on at least Vapor Trails, R30, and Clockwork Angels (not sure about S&A).

As for PoW stuff, that got MUCH better treatment in the later years. They played everything but Emotion Detector post-2002. Big Money, Grand Designs, Manhattan Project, Territories, and Middletown Dreams of all songs were played on the Clockwork Angels Tour. Marathon and Mystic Rhythms were played on Time Machine and R30 respectively.

And wow, that's so cool you got to see them in Milwaukee in 1986. That's one of my favorite shows from that tour. It sucks that such little audience video has surfaced from that era, but I'll take what I can get, hehe.

See, this is really frustrating. I did not get to see the last couple of tours — I can't altogether remember why I didn't see "Clockwork Angels." I think they didn't play by us on that tour, which was really weird for them. But I know that for R40, as soon as the rumors started to fly that they were on their last go-round, ticket prices went through the roof, and I just couldn't afford it. (Honestly, when I see these clips of people saying, "This is my 12th time seeing Rush on this tour," I can't help but wonder how people are able to make that work financially or in terms of time away, y'know?) I do remember them playing "Marathon" on the Time Machine tour — my last time seeing them — which I did record, but I was with a goofy guy from a noted Milwaukee band who just had to shout comments at the band the whole time, so every time I listen to it, I get to hear him complain all over again, so I seldom listen to it and don't bother trading it. Sigh. But I'm not complaining. I was lucky to see them the six times that I did. Not as lucky as some of the people I know who saw them in the '70s, on the "2112" tour, or my wife's cousins from Toronto who got to see them play their high school dance in something like 1970 (had to scrape my jaw off the floor when they told me about that one) but I still feel fortunate. I don't think we'll ever see their like again.