List of Professionally Recorded Rush Concert Audio: 70s & 80s

[By-Tor X-1]

This is a list of Rush concerts that had audio professionally recorded in the 70s and 80s, all based on what we know from liner notes, old interviews, and matches made between official releases and audience recordings. By "professionally recorded", that means this list is referring only to multi-track recordings done with mobile recording studio units for the ability to mix into live albums. This does not entail standard two-track soundboard recordings, those of which were recorded quite frequently during the 1980s (and may serve for a separate future list).

These are not all released in full, though most have been the source of tracks compiled into various live albums over the decades.

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Recorded and compiled for the All The World's A Stage album, said to mostly be sourced from the second and third show, as the first night was said to have had various issues during the performance. Two unused tracks were later teased in the 2112 40th Anniversary set in 2016.

• 1976-06-11 - Toronto, Ontario
• 1976-06-12 - Toronto, Ontario
• 1976-06-13 - Toronto, Ontario

Intended to be broadcast on radio, it was shelved for decades due to Geddy's cold causing his vocals to sound rough, which he did not like when initially listening back. It was later partially released as the Different Stages bonus disc in 1998, then fully released with a different mix for the A Farewell To Kings 40th Anniversary set in 2017.

• 1978-02-20 - London, England

Completely unreleased, but seemingly confirmed during an early 1980 interview with Alex, this was to be a Live In England album that was ultimately shelved. It is unknown if all or only some of the four nights were recorded. The time frame of publication and the context of the article makes it seem unlikely that the writer conflated this with the planned 1980 UK recordings, but this is theoretically possible.

• 1979-05-04-and/or-05/06/07 - London, England (and filmed)

Rush plans to then take their Permanent Waves tour throughout North American and Europe. Sandwiched in between their touring itineraries will be work on a 'Live In England' album which will be mixed at Morin Heights and released this summer.

Recorded during a string of dates at London's famed Hammersmith Odeon last summer, the concerts were also filmed for a possible feature movie. A project that Lifeson has mixed feelings about.

"We'd like to do a movie but I wouldn't want it to be like the Neil Young or Rolling Stone films that were almost all concert footage. Those things bore me to tears," noted Lifeson. "You've got to be careful how you handle those things. I saw the Gino Vannelli television special and I couldn't believe how bad it was, they had this one bit where they filmed him intently watching his television set. I thought, "Give me a break, this is awful."

Recorded for a promotional live album given to radio stations in 1980, with an extra track later used on the Permanent Waves 40th Anniversary set. It's unknown if only one or multiple nights were recorded.

• 1980-02-11-and/or-12/13 - St. Louis, Missouri

Recorded for a planned 1980 live album, but held off and ultimately used only for Side B of the Exit Stage Left audio album. More tracks were later compiled and released for the Permanent Waves 40th Anniversary set in 2020.

• 1980-06-05 - London, England
• 1980-06-06 - London, England
• 1980-06-07 - London, England
• (maybe 1980-06-04 - London as well?)
• 1980-06-10-and/or-11 - Glasgow, Scotland
• 1980-06-17-and/or-18 - Manchester, England

So we went over to the UK, recorded some shows over there, some of which would make up side two of this live record, notably London, Manchester and Glasgow. The spontaneous choir of Glaswegians singing along with 'Closer To The Heart' is something we particularly wanted to capture, as it is a response native to British audiences, and sounds great! After that, it was - , it was "what"? Why am I asking you?

Wait, I know! We went out on tour again for about a century, through most of the US, and some of Canada. More shows were recorded: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Edmonton, all of which show up on sides one, three and four. We also filmed the Montreal show, which we hope to put together as our first real concert film.

Recorded and compiled for the Exit Stage Left audio album (often credited to only Montreal, but definitely at least has some Toronto in it), confirmed in a late 1981 interview with Neil. More of the Toronto recordings were later compiled and released for the Moving Pictures 40th Anniversary set in 2022. Two tracks from Edmonton were also released for the 2112 Deluxe Edition in 2012. (not to be confused with the 2112 40th Anniversary release in 2016)

• 1981-03-24 - Toronto, Ontario
• 1981-03-25 - Toronto, Ontario
• (maybe 1981-03-23 - Toronto as well?)
• 1981-03-27 - Montreal, Quebec (and filmed)
• 1981-03-28 - Ottawa, Ontario
• 1981-06-23 - Vancouver, British Columbia
• 1981-06-25 - Edmonton, Alberta

Recorded and compiled for the Grace Under Pressure Tour release, later recompiled for the Grace Under Pressure Super Deluxe set in 2026.

• 1984-09-21 - Toronto, Ontario (and videotaped)
• 1984-09-22 - Toronto, Ontario (and videotaped)

Recorded for a live album with only two tracks ultimately being used for the A Show Of Hands audio album.

• 1986-03-31 - East Rutherford, New Jersey
• 1986-04-01 - East Rutherford, New Jersey

Recorded and compiled for the A Show Of Hands audio album.

• 1988-01-27 - New Orleans, Louisiana
• 1988-02-01 - Phoenix, Arizona
• 1988-02-03 - San Diego, California
• 1988-04-21 - Birmingham, England (and filmed)
• 1988-04-23 - Birmingham, England (and filmed)
• 1988-04-24 - Birmingham, England (and filmed)

 

[Bacchus Plateau]

In the Different Stages CD Booklet Geddy says "This collection was recorded over a span of 20 years, primarily during 3 tour. Our desire was to record many shows hoping to capture some "magic" performances as naturally as possible. Buts as Murphy's Law would dictate, with well over 60 shows to choose from, we found our selves being drawn to a mere handful.".

Do you think all these were multitracked? Do the ones used for this live album count toward this list? (The shows from counterparts and tfe tour)

 

[wellers73]

In the Different Stages CD Booklet Geddy says "This collection was recorded over a span of 20 years, primarily during 3 tour. Our desire was to record many shows hoping to capture some "magic" performances as naturally as possible. Buts as Murphy's Law would dictate, with well over 60 shows to choose from, we found our selves being drawn to a mere handful.".

Do you think all these were multitracked? Do the ones used for this live album count toward this list? (The shows from counterparts and tfe tour)

I suspect that by the time we get to the Counterparts tour in 1994, the band had added a rack of ADAT recorders to the front of house rig. These would have made it easy to multitrack every show.

I’ve actually wondered if they had something similar in use on the RTB tour, since that’s the tour when we start getting really professional sounding board tapes that sound like they were professionally mixed. According to Wikipedia, the ADAT debuted at winter NAMM in January 1991, but they weren’t really commercially available until early 1992. Perhaps the band had an inside connection and got a few early units in time for the October 1991 launch of the RTB tour? The soundboard boots from this tour don’t sound like board tapes, but more like professional mixes.

 

[By-Tor X-1]

Yeah I really don't think they were still using mobile studio units in the 90s to multitrack live shows. They must've had a bit more streamlined method by then.
Not a whole lot is known about what shows they multitracked in the 90s beyond what was used on Different Stages. But if it was 60+ then it had to have been way easier to do.

I just double checked the Different Stages liner notes, and it don't mention any mobile unit. The recordings are credited to Robert Scoville, who was their main FOH sound guy at the time, so he definitely wouldn't have been able to pull double duty if it weren't streamlined from the FOH desk. These mutitracks were later mixed in a studio for the album.

I doubt though that the circulating 90s soundboards are the same process as that though, they'd have had to be later mixed down, and even some T4E boards do have the typical dry sbd sound. It really depends on how a show was mixed and recorded. For example, I've heard board mixes from various other bands from the early 80s and many have sounded like official albums. On the other hand some boards also have more of a radio feel to them even when they definitely have no broadcast in the lineage. I can't fully explain the science behind why various boards are so different, but beyond every show naturally being mixed differently, I think maybe whatever tapping point a tape deck is plugged into also plays a role.

 

[rocky chains]

There was some talk about there being unseen footage from the Ivor Wynne show on August 24, 1979 (pre-Permanent Waves warmup tour). Is there any thought that this show could have been recorded if there was also video being shot? I assume not, and that any video shot was a CBC effort that did not have a concurrent pro-audio recording. Just kicking the tires here, and praying for more historical pro-audio/video to surface some day.

 

[By-Tor X-1]

@rocky chains CBC most definitely would not have recorded the full show. Yes there should be more than just the short bits that have shown up publicly on various sources, but it seems mostly soundcheck, interviews with Ged and Neil, and the first song of the set (2112), meant for use in newscasts. Same thing with Buffalo 1980 when CBC got bits of Temples and Xanadu, and they're often mixed with Ivor Wynne. The raw rushes should have all the raw audio without the reporter overdubs, but we're unlikely to ever see them. This was standard with news companies recording small portions of a show and only ultimately using even less than that.

There's also the 18 seconds from Cincinnati 1977 of Finding My Way in the BTLS doc, which if I recall correctly is about 8 minutes long in totality of various clips of the concert on the raw reel, which is in possession of Anthem, and of course another thing of the many that they'll most likely never release.

 

[rocky chains]

Thanks, that all makes sense.

It seems like the London 1979 recordings, if they exist, and the 1986 PoW shows, are the biggest pre-1990s nuggets out there that haven't been presented to the public, with some hope to be unearthed in the future. That, and maybe a full Permanent Waves tour show. Otherwise, ATWAS 1976, London 1978, Toronto 1981, and Toronto 1984 are essentially complete renditions of shows from the 2112, AFTK, MP, and GUP tours.

It's hard to ask for more from the band. But maybe we'll get Live In London 1979 with the 50th anniversary of Hemispheres (one can dream).

Thank goodness for the intrepid tapers in the 1970s and 80s!

 

[The Letter M]

I would love nothing more than full, complete, professionally mixed/mastered concerts from the PEW Tour and the POW Tour, and eventually the full Birmingham show from the HYF Tour. There's enough 90's soundboards that I am good without having any of those tours released by the band (but I wouldn't say no to them). We were SO close to getting a full PEW Tour show, and honestly, I wouldn't mind it if they did a "Live In The UK" compilation, just as long as every song is there and it flows seamlessly with no fade-outs between songs. The PEW 40 set showed us they have tapes for every UK show they did, and even on ESL they had the Glasgow tracks, so they definitely have all those tapes SOMEWHERE.

I am not holding my breath for a Signals Tour show, though, or anything else new from their first three tours. Honestly, though, I would just want a complete POW Tour show since all of the circulating bootlegs from that tour are all AUD recordings minus one singular SBD, which isn't even a complete show. Maybe my dream will come true if they release a POW 40 box set in the next year or so.

 

[Grommet2112]

@rocky chains CBC most definitely would not have recorded the full show. Yes there should be more than just the short bits that have shown up publicly on various sources, but it seems mostly soundcheck, interviews with Ged and Neil, and the first song of the set (2112), meant for use in newscasts. Same thing with Buffalo 1980 when CBC got bits of Temples and Xanadu, and they're often mixed with Ivor Wynne. The raw rushes should have all the raw audio without the reporter overdubs, but we're unlikely to ever see them. This was standard with news companies recording small portions of a show and only ultimately using even less than that.

There's also the 18 seconds from Cincinnati 1977 of Finding My Way in the BTLS doc, which if I recall correctly is about 8 minutes long in totality of various clips of the concert on the raw reel, which is in possession of Anthem, and of course another thing of the many that they'll most likely never release.

Buffalo has some shots of spirit too which is odd considering how much later in the set it is

 

[Grommet2112]

I personally think there's a good bit of soundcheck footage left that we haven't seen for Ivor Wynne. There is audio taken from a T.V broadcast with a good chunk of Jacob's ladder we don't have video for. As well as the fact we have such a long Geddy interview, vs just seconds of a neil one. As By Tor said though, I truely doubt anything past 2112 was filmed. We are sadly missing audio for a lot of that soundcheck, and the audio used on the circulating clips is rarely correct. But I can say for a fact, spirit, freewill and Jacob's ladder were all filmed in some form.