Audio 7 May 1979 - Hammersmith Odeon, London, England [Audience]

[Rush Archives]

Downloads:​

• 1979-05-07 - London, England *recommended*
• An Evening In London
• Hammersmith '79
• London Fog

Track Listing:​

01 - Anthem​

02 - A Passage To Bangkok​

03 - By-Tor And The Snow Dog​

04 - Xanadu​

05 - Something For Nothing​

06 - The Trees​

07 - Cygnus X-1​

08 - Hemispheres​

09 - Closer To The Heart​

10 - A Farewell To Kings​

11 - La Villa Strangiato​

12 - 2112​

13 - Working Man​

14 - Bastille Day​

15 - In The Mood​

16 - Drum Solo​

Notes:​

• This is the fourth of four consecutive nights Rush played at the Hammersmith during the Hemispheres tour.
• The first 35 seconds of Anthem are extremely muffled, as if the taper was still hiding the recorder before bringing it in the open. By the 36 second mark during Anthem, the remainder of the concert mostly sounds quite well, about what you'd expect from an average audience recording.
• 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.

Preview:​

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[stevew62]

I was at the gig in Birmingham, UK 10 May 1979 - my 2nd Rush gig - I waited around the back of the hall for the guys. Eventually got invited in & got some autographs ( Unfortunatley, long since gone ). I was gutted that Neil had removed his moustache. I asked him why...... His reply "Because I wanted to !!.". He then turned around & left.

Rush_10_May_79_Birmingham Ticket

 

[rocky chains]

This is such a cool story. Seems like the band was pretty accessible in the old days, even Neil. A long time ago (early 1990s) I found a great rock and roll memorabilia store in England that did mail order overseas to the US. I obtained a couple of tickets like your Birmingham stub, only from my favorite UK tour based on the bootlegs - the 1977 ATWAS. I also purchased UK tour programs from all three tours. Back then, for me at least, such memorabilia was mysterious and terribly rare. I was lucky to have acquired those items for a decent price.

To my incredible joy, the tour program for the AFTK tour was signed in a thin blue ball point pen by all three members. The book came with a ticket stub, and both the stub and program had a big pinhole in their corners, my guess is they were jointly pinned to the wall by the fan who, like yourself Steve, got autographs from the guys right on the tour book with a shoddy ball point pen. But I do feel bad for the bloke who surrendered his possessions to the dealer. I think the signatures are so faint that the dealer didn't even notice!

Regarding your interaction with Neil, --- I was gutted that Neil had removed his moustache. I asked him why...... His reply "Because I wanted to !!.". He then turned around & left. --- maybe you are the inspiration for Limelight!

Cheers and thanks for sharing the story and picture of your ticket.