Spring 1974 - Laura Secord Secondary School, St. Catharines, Ontario [Audio - Video Feed]

[By-Tor X-1]

Download:

1974-00-00 - St. Catharines, Ontario (MP3)

Track Listing:

01 - Need Some Love
02 - Before And After
03 - Best I Can
04 - I've Been Runnin'
05 - Bad Boy
06 - The Loser
07 - Working Man
08 - In The Mood

Notes:
This is the earliest known live recording of Rush, both audio and video.
This is the only known live recording to feature John Rutsey on drums.
This is the only known live recording of Before And After.
This is also the only known recordings of non-album Rush songs I've Been Runnin' and The Loser.
According to the book "Wandering the Face of the Earth: The Official Touring History", it is suspected this recording could be missing a few songs from the entire setlist performed.
This is extremely rare footage of Rush, as there are only a few known examples of sound film of the band from the 70s and early 80s.

These files were dated as April 1st of 1974 when they came into my possession.
However I do not believe that date is accurate as I can not find any official documentation other than "Spring 1974".
The alleged date seems like something someone picked at random since they couldn't figure it out, and called it a day.
These files were already in MP3 format upon receiving them, and originated as an audio rip from the "Canadian Bandstand" footage with Rutsey on drums.
A download for the footage will not be uploaded here due to it having an official release.

YouTube:

 

[Cygnus X1]

I loved watching this show. It is weird to see John Rutsey preform. When I was looking on the Rush website and the tour dates for this tour, I found it says January 1st 1970 for this show. I know that it is wrong since almost everywhere else says Spring 1974. Who knows, even though the year might be wrong, the date could be the right one.

 

[By-Tor X-1]

It’s definitely sometime in early 1974, no documentation was able to be found that pinpointed the exact date. A lot of information from the early years are very loosely documented. The Rush website just uses Jan 1st of 1970 as a placeholder, I’m pretty sure that have a few other shows with that date too. I also recommend the official book “Wandering the Face of the Earth: The Official Touring History”, as it is a much more updated, researched, and accurate upgrade over the old information on Rush’s website. Their website tends to have a lot of errors that are corrected with the book. If you don’t want to buy the book, its contents are reflected on Cygnus-X1.net’s tour listing page, which I reference all the time.

 

[Cygnus X1]

Ok. As I said, I knew that date is wrong. It was just a guess.

 

[Cygnus X1]

I was also on Cygnus-X1's tour list page and saw for October 11, 1974 at Aquarius Theater. It said the other acts were Donovan, Sly and the Family Stone, Minnie Riperton, and it said it was filmed for ABC In Concert. It made me think that the show was filmed.

 

[By-Tor X-1]

I was also on Cygnus-X1's tour list page and saw for October 11, 1974 at Aquarius Theater. It said the other acts were Donovan, Sly and the Family Stone, Minnie Riperton, and it said it was filmed for ABC In Concert. It made me think that the show was filmed.

October 11 was indeed filmed, but the footage has not been able to be found. I did a lot of research on it in the past, and all my notes are found here. I had also talked to someone who tried looking for the original film in physical locations, and was not able to find it. So we assume the original footage is probably long gone, and since recording television was not a widely available practice in 1974, the chances someone taped it are slim. That is how we at least have the audio though, someone recorded the audio during the television broadcast.

 

[Dave]

What’s kinda weird about this footage is seeing the O.G. Rush font (that’s since been appropriated for the sake of merchandising) on John’s bass drum head.

If it wasn’t for these three young Canucks we might never have had the three young Canucks we celebrate today, and on this forum.

 

[Cygnus X1]

It’s definitely sometime in early 1974, no documentation was able to be found that pinpointed the exact date. A lot of information from the early years are very loosely documented. The Rush website just uses Jan 1st of 1970 as a placeholder, I’m pretty sure that have a few other shows with that date too. I also recommend the official book “Wandering the Face of the Earth: The Official Touring History”, as it is a much more updated, researched, and accurate upgrade over the old information on Rush’s website. Their website tends to have a lot of errors that are corrected with the book. If you don’t want to buy the book, its contents are reflected on Cygnus-X1.net’s tour listing page, which I reference all the time.

The best way to find the date is look for someone who went to St. Catharines in 1974 and see if they have their yearbook. Something as big as having a TV show or band play at a school should be documented.