R40 Live Tour

Summary

The R40 Live Tour was the final concert tour by Canadian rock band Rush that commemorated the 40th anniversary of drummer Neil Peart joining the band in July 1974. The title hearkens back to Rush's 2004 R30: 30th Anniversary Tour that celebrated the 30th anniversary of the band. The tour grossed US$37.8 million, with 442,337 tickets sold at 35 concerts. Although the tour was shorter than many of Rush’s preceding tours, it was very successful in terms of average concert attendance and gross, which was 12,638 and US$1,080,000 respectively. The tour also saw more sellouts than any other Rush tour in recent memory. With 26 out of the 33 reported shows being sellouts, and the remaining 7 still over 90% capacity, the band felt a taste of their success from their prime years again.[1]

R40 Live Tour
Tour by Rush
LocationNorth America
Start dateMay 8, 2015 (2015-05-08)
End dateAugust 1, 2015 (2015-08-01)
Legs1
No. of shows35
Rush concert chronology

Though their setlist was meant to represent their entire discography in reverse order, no songs from the EP Feedback (2004) or the albums Test for Echo (1996), Presto (1989), Hold Your Fire (1987), or Power Windows (1985) were performed for the entirety of the tour.

Films edit

The shows performed on June 17 and 19, 2015, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto were filmed and released as the concert film R40 Live on November 20, 2015. A documentary titled Rush: Time Stand Still was released in November 2016, dealing with the band's preparations for the tour and their experiences during it.[2] The film was narrated by Paul Rudd and directed by Dale Heslip.

Live album edit

Rush recorded two of their shows in June in Toronto for a live album released on November 20, 2015.[3] They also recorded "The Wreckers" in Buffalo, NY at the show on June 10, 2015 for the album, as well as "The Camera Eye" at the show in Kansas City, MO on July 9, 2015. The live album R40 Live reached number one on Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.[4]

Book edit

Neil Peart released a book about the tour titled Far and Wide: Bring That Horizon to Me! on September 13, 2015.[5]

Set list edit

First set edit

"The World Is... The World Is" (video introduction)

  1. "The Anarchist"/"Clockwork Angels" (only on May 8 in Tulsa, Oklahoma)
  2. "Clockwork Angels"/"The Wreckers"†
  3. "Headlong Flight" (with "Drumbastica", Neil Peart drum solo)
  4. "Far Cry"
  5. "The Main Monkey Business"
  6. "One Little Victory"/"How It Is"
  7. "Animate"
  8. "Roll the Bones"
  9. "Distant Early Warning"/"Between the Wheels"
  10. "Losing It"†
  11. "Subdivisions"

Second set edit

"No Country for Old Hens" (video introduction)

  1. "Tom Sawyer"
  2. "Red Barchetta"/"The Camera Eye"/"YYZ"
  3. "The Spirit of Radio"
  4. "Natural Science" (only when "YYZ" was performed)
  5. "Jacob's Ladder"
  6. "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres"
    1. "Prelude"
  7. "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage"
    1. "Prologue"
    2. "Part 1"
    3. "The Story So Far" (Neil Peart drum solo)
    4. "Part 3"
  8. "Closer to the Heart"
  9. "Xanadu"
  10. "2112"
    I. "Overture"
    II. "The Temples of Syrinx"
    IV. "Presentation"
    VII. "Grand Finale"

Encore edit

"Mel's Rock Pile" starring Eugene Levy (video introduction)

  1. "Lakeside Park"
  2. "Anthem"
  3. "What You're Doing"
  4. "Working Man" (featuring intro excerpt of "Garden Road")

"Exit Stage Left" (video outro)

† "Clockwork Angels" / "The Wreckers" were not played June 19 in Toronto, June 27 in Newark, New Jersey, June 29 in New York, New York, July 17 in Vancouver, BC and August 1 in Los Angeles, California. At those five shows, they were replaced by "Losing It," which was played prior to "Subdivisions."

Tour dates edit

Date[6] City Country Venue Attendance Gross
North America
May 8, 2015 Tulsa United States BOK Center 9,830 / 10,355 $817,400
May 10, 2015 Lincoln Pinnacle Bank Arena 9,357 / 10,280 $654,434
May 12, 2015 Saint Paul Xcel Energy Center 11,835 / 11,835 $973,166
May 14, 2015 St. Louis Scottrade Center 13,096 / 13,096 $1,092,824
May 16, 2015 Austin Austin360 Amphitheater 12,898 / 12,898 $791,645
May 18, 2015 Dallas American Airlines Center 13,320 / 13,320 $1,032,215
May 20, 2015 Houston Toyota Center 11,202 / 11,202 $1,046,297
May 22, 2015 New Orleans Smoothie King Center 10,786 / 11,547 $884,926
May 24, 2015 Tampa Amalie Arena 13,914 / 13,914 $1,176,535
May 26, 2015 Alpharetta Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park 11,500 / 11,500
May 28, 2015 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum 10,861 / 11,135 $895,380
May 30, 2015 Bristow Jiffy Lube Live 16,579 / 16,579 $1,094,711
June 8, 2015 Columbus Nationwide Arena 14,079 / 14,079 $1,076,164
June 10, 2015 Buffalo First Niagara Center 13,913 / 13,913 $1,132,154
June 12, 2015 Chicago United Center 14,256 / 14,256 $1,450,746
June 14, 2015 Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills 13,083 / 13,083 $1,092,767
June 17, 2015 Toronto Canada Air Canada Centre (R40 Live) 28,364 / 28,364 $2,541,984
June 19, 2015
June 21, 2015 Montreal Centre Bell 13,024 / 13,024 $939,304
June 23, 2015 Boston United States TD Garden 12,953 / 12,953 $1,232,122
June 25, 2015 Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center 13,476 / 13,476 $1,340,006
June 27, 2015 Newark Prudential Center 12,483 / 12,483 $1,289,222
June 29, 2015 New York City Madison Square Garden 13,554 / 13,554 $1,507,393
July 9, 2015 Kansas City Sprint Center 10,629 / 10,736 $914,828
July 11, 2015 Denver Pepsi Center 12,681 / 12,681 $1,119,150
July 13, 2015 West Valley City Maverik Center 9,564 / 10,156 $805,899
July 15, 2015 Calgary Canada Scotiabank Saddledome
July 17, 2015 Vancouver Rogers Arena
July 19, 2015 Seattle United States KeyArena 11,933 / 11,933 $1,055,071
July 21, 2015 Portland Moda Center 12,684 / 12,684 $971,350
July 23, 2015 San Jose SAP Center at San Jose 12,534 / 12,534 $1,210,279
July 25, 2015 Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena 13,434 / 13,434 $1,401,719
July 27, 2015 Phoenix US Airways Center 12,282 / 12,551 $944,212
July 30, 2015 Irvine Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre 14,933 / 14,933 $1,042,380
August 1, 2015 Inglewood The Forum 12,894 / 12,894 $1,406,214

References edit

  1. ^ "Pollstar - Welcome to the New Pollstar!". www.pollstar.com.
  2. ^ Greene, Andy (November 1, 2016). "Rush's revealing new tour doc 'Time Stand Still': 10 things we learned". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  3. ^ "Rush to Release CD/DVD of 'R40 Live' Tour". Ultimate Classic Rock. September 19, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  4. ^ "Rush Debuts at No. 1 on Top Rock Albums With 'R40 Live'". Billboard. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  5. ^ "RUSH Drummer NEIL PEART Chronicles 'R40 Live' Tour In New Book". March 17, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  6. ^ "Rush Announce 2015 Tour Dates". Ultimate Classic Rock. January 22, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2018.

Bibliography edit

  • Daly and Hansen. Rush: Wandering the Face of the Earth: The Official Touring History. Insight Editions, 2019. ISBN 978-1683834502