Audio 24 May 1979 - Chateau Neuf, Oslo, Norway [Audience]

[Rush Archives]

Downloads:​

• 1979-05-24 - Oslo, Norway
• A Passage To Oslo
• A Passage To Oslo PE

Track Listing:​

01 - Anthem​

02 - A Passage To Bangkok​

03 - By-Tor And The Snow Dog​

04 - Xanadu​

05 - The Trees​

06 - Hemispheres​

07 - Closer To The Heart​

08 - A Farewell To Kings​

09 - La Villa Strangiato​

10 - 2112​

Notes:​

• This is easily one of the very best recordings of the Hemispheres tour, not just among audience recordings, but overall alongside the soundboards. It is one of the best in regards to both sound quality and the band's performance. Some of the best live versions I've heard of these songs are from this very concert. Geddy is in strong voice, and also in a very good mood, often speaking in a humorous tone and making silly reactions to the crowd.
• This was recorded via the audience with professional taping equipment and microphones, which were borrowed from a local television station. Two professional microphones were placed in proximity of each side of the soundboard, and suggested that Rush's crew possibly did not react due to assuming the tapers were venue staff. The complete story provided in the words of the original taper can be read in the original notes in the post below.
• The date of this performance has been both labeled as May 22 and May 24. The official updated tour listings in the book "Wandering the Face of the Earth" state it to be May 22, and due to that book's extreme research and accuracy, I'd tend to believe it correct. However, when listening to the concert in Gothenburg on May 23, Geddy states that it is their first date of their Scandinavian part of the tour, therefore Oslo on May 22 can not be correct.
• This recording is missing the encore medley, which would've been Working Man, Bastille Day, In The Mood, and Neil's drum solo.
• Circumstances was dropped from the setlist towards the end of the Hemispheres tour for all European dates, which would have been from April 23 and onward.
• Something For Nothing and Cygnus X-1 were also dropped from the setlist towards the end of the tour for all continental European dates, which would have been from May 17 and onward.

Preview:​

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[By-Tor X-1]

Notes from Taper:​

The show was recorded with two high class Shure microphones. A friend of mine worked at NRK TV Broadcasting at the time, so I borrowed the mics and a tape recorder from him. I can absolutely not remember the brand of the tape recorder. We were two guys with the mics, about five (5) meters to each side of the mixing board about (10) meters from the stage.

We had some kind of mic clip on, a very short microphone stand, that was fastened to a rail about 3 meter up from the floor. I can bet you $100 that the guys behind the soundboard knew what we were doing but they said nothing. Could be they thought we were staff, cause we had these bright yellow jackets that was common among staff as well. The concert took place in a auditorium-like building, which at the time took something like 1,000 - 1,200 people. The place was at the time called Chateau Neuf, very international.

I remember the show as one of the most energetic and electrifying that I have ever seen. I have never ever been so impressed by any other artist as I was that night by Geddy. Seeing him play was the thrill of my life, Unfortunately they have never returned here, so that was the only chance I ever got.

 

[armus2112]

Speed correction is needed on this one.. Honestly I've had this Oslo show in my collection for probably 18 years and I've never seen anyone bother to speed correct it. Myself included, I've just been too lazy I guess..

 

[Grace :)]

I'm listening to this show again and I can definitely hear the pitch is off, but the speed sounds almost correct. It's weird because usually I find it's the speed of the tape being off. I might try to correct this at some point. It doesn't seem to be a very difficult fix.

 

[By-Tor X-1]

Pitch and tempo shouldn't be separate adjustments, it's the speed of the payback of the tape when transferred.
It's quite possible someone improperly tampered with the tempo or pitch of this decades ago, instead of just adjusting the speed.