Rush Archives
Syrinx Computers
Downloads:
Video:
Audio:
- 1976-12-31 - Toronto, Ontario *recommended*
- Auld Lang Syne
- In The End *recommended*
- Maple Leaf Gardens (sunvenusmoon)
Track Listing:
01 - Bastille Day *
02 - Anthem *
03 - Lakeside Park
04 - 2112 *
05 - The Twilight Zone *
06 - Something For Nothing *
07 - Best I Can *
08 - Intermission: New Year 1977 *
09 - By-Tor And The Snow Dog *
10 - The Necromancer *
11 - In The End
12 - Working Man
13 - Finding My Way
14 - Working Man (Reprise)
15 - Drum Solo *
16 - Fly By Night *
17 - In The Mood (cut)
Audio Notes:
- This recording features one of only three known rare live recordings of The Twilight Zone, which was soon after swapped with an early Xanadu by April 24 of 1977.
- This recording also features one of eight known rare live recordings of The Necromancer. This performance is likely the first or second concert that Geddy used his doubleneck Rickenbacker, which coincides with the reintroduction of The Necromancer into the setlist. Until the debut of Xanadu in April 1977, the only function of Geddy's doubleneck was playing rhythm guitar during the last part of The Necromancer. Geddy would swap to the doubleneck during the calm section of By-Tor and play the regular basslines through the end of the song and into The Necromancer. He would then be able to quickly transition to the guitar neck to play rhythm during Return Of The Prince while Alex played the guitar solo.
- There's a brief intermission following Best I Can to welcome in the New Year of 1977 with a countdown at midnight.
- Best I Can is played much earlier in the setlist in comparison to later headlining dates of this tour, which feature it at the very end as a third encore.
- This recording cuts off about a minute into In The Mood, so is missing What You're Doing from the second encore.
- The recommended download is a more raw source than the "Auld Lang Syne" and "In The End" bootlegs many of us are already familiar with. This version does not cut out any of Geddy's between-song comments, does not have all the random pops or other audible oddities, and has less of a harsh processed sound, despite it still having the same inherit flaws of the recording itself. I can hear comments from both Geddy and the audience more clearly and understand what is being said. This source however does have more hiss, and may appear a slight bit more muffled. For those who can't enjoy the slight muffle and hiss, then I'd recommend "In The End", however it is a tradeoff for the alternate aforementioned issues.
Video Notes:
- This footage was shot by Andy Kaleta. Song segments captured are noted above. (*) Audio sync and color correction by Classic Rock Media Archive.
- In early 2025, with the efforts of Donald Gadziola, CRMA, and the assistance Rush-Archives, Andy's original film was scanned in 4K and given great care to complete the final result.
- As with any 8mm audience footage from this era, full songs and concerts were not able to be captured due to the short length of the film reels.
- Also as is the case with many 8mm reels of the era, the film used did did not concurrently record audio, so the resulting footage was silent. However, in our present day era, it is fairly easy to sync these old silent 8mm film clips with audio recordings. Since we do have an audience audio recording of this date, audio from this very concert was used to sync and bring more life to this very rare footage of Rush.
- There's a brief intermission during the middle of the concert to welcome in the New Year of 1977 with a countdown at midnight, for which Neil is seen at the front of the stage with Alex and Geddy (which can be seen more clearly in a photo from the concert), something he claimed to have never done prior to the final Rush concert in 2015.
Preview:
