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Signals Tour Recommendations?
- Thread starter sonof3m
- Start date
CoS
Enthusiast
I've listened to only a couple from this tour, so I can only tell you about those. But I think in terms of sound quality, Countdown to London from May 21, 1983 I believe is widely regarded as the best. You'll see there are different versions of this same show, so maybe one of them may sound better - not sure. There aren't any excellent sounding shows from the Signals Tour from what I know. Music in the Abstract from December 9, 1982 is still decent in terms of sound quality and includes Chemistry in the setlist.
rocky chains
New member
I am in the same boat as CoS - the Signals Tour needs more exploring on my part. The 5/21/83 London show is the best sound I've heard, but lacks some of the blistering racket of a hot audience recording. The Nassau Coliseum show from 12/9/82 has the racket and is a pretty hot show with Chemistry, but the sound isn't great. If you've ever been to the Coliseum you'll understand when I say it's fun to listen to the show and think of Rush, a big arena band by that point, playing in a pretty small hockey rink out on Long Island. If anyone has other suggestions/favorites, it'd be great to hear.
Regarding the tour itself - I wonder how people here feel about the setlist and performances compared to other tours? To me, it represents a big departure for the band. They jettisoned a raft of old stuff, like ballast off a balloon basket and focused on presenting most of Signals/MPs and some persistent old nuggets like In the Mood, 2112 I, ii, Closer to the Heart, La Villa, and Spirit/Freewill.
Regarding the tour itself - I wonder how people here feel about the setlist and performances compared to other tours? To me, it represents a big departure for the band. They jettisoned a raft of old stuff, like ballast off a balloon basket and focused on presenting most of Signals/MPs and some persistent old nuggets like In the Mood, 2112 I, ii, Closer to the Heart, La Villa, and Spirit/Freewill.
Signals suffers really badly from mediocre bootlegs and a severe lack of recordings, much unlike the following Grace Under Pressure Tour where we have many recordings, with a good chunk of them being excellent. I've really only listened to a few Signals shows: mainly the Montreal stuff (because of video being present), a couple of European shows, and the one Dayton, OH show where the Count Floyd intro for The Weapon malfunctions and Geddy adlibs it.
SnowDog2112
New member
1981-04-01 Hartford, CT is, to my ear, equal in quality to Countdown to London. The former has cuts at the beginning of Closer to the Heart and Limelight, where Countdown to London cuts off before the end of YYZ. Hartford has Chemistry and features the NYC verse of The Camera Eye, where London is missing Chemistry (not played in Europe) and features the London verse of The Camera Eye.
I haven't listened to every Signals bootleg, but I listen to these two equally in my rotation and consider them to be a complete-enough representation of the tour. Solid sound quality and performances, short of an unlikely official release/long lost holy grail bootleg.
I haven't listened to every Signals bootleg, but I listen to these two equally in my rotation and consider them to be a complete-enough representation of the tour. Solid sound quality and performances, short of an unlikely official release/long lost holy grail bootleg.
Dave
Enthusiast
The second Uniondale show sounds really great after the second or third song, not that the first one or two are B quality. And, of course, it being Long Island, there’s wonderful audience reaction during “The Camera Eye.” Like someone else mentioned, the version of “Chemistry“ on this recording is amazing, as is most of their renditions on the Signals tour. As much as I love the studio version, Geddy’s performance of the choruses during the tour elevate it. “The Analog Kid” used to be my fave track on Signals, but then it became “The Weapon,” and nowadays it’s tied with “Chemistry.”