Hold Your Fire Tour

Hold Your Fire Tour

Tour by Rush
Location	Europe North America
Associated album	Hold Your Fire
Start date	October 29, 1987
End date	May 5, 1988
Legs	2
No. of shows	78
Rush concert chronology
Power Windows Tour (1985–1986) Hold Your Fire Tour (1987–1988) Presto Tour (1990)

The Hold Your Fire Tour was a concert tour by Canadian rock band Rush, in support of the band's twelfth studio album Hold Your Fire .

Background

The band continued the trend of their usage of synthesizers, sequencers and onstage automation which continued from their Power Windows Tour, ^[1] also featuring a laser system with red and green beams as well as a video screen that had animated segments of the three red orbs from the cover of Hold Your Fire. ^[2] Opening bands on the North American leg included Chalk Circle, ^[3] the McAuley Schenker Group, and Tommy Shaw. ^[4] Wishbone Ash was the support act for the band's performances in Europe. ^[5] The first three European performances at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England were recorded for the band's live album and video, A Show of Hands . ^[4]

Reception

Reviewing the Lakeland concert on February 15, 1988, Philip Booth of the Lakeland Ledger who had given the concert a 'poor' review, criticized the band's performance, stating that the band "defined itself by self absorption to the max", referring to their music as "hollow" despite the state-of-the-art equipment they had, as well as calling their music "numbingly loud" and "repetitive". He closed his review, stating that the visuals and music couldn't compensate for Rush's musical substance, concluding that they were "overcooked". ^[2] Jane E. Stephenson, a reader who had attended the performance, later sent a response to Booth to criticize him, defending the band's performance with a rebuttal that there were "ten thousand screaming fans" who were moved from the concert. ^[6]

Set list

This is an example set list adapted from Rush: Wandering the Face of the Earth – The Official Touring History of what was performed during the tour, but may not represent the majority of the shows. ^[7]

1. "The Big Money"
2. "Subdivisions"
3. "Limelight"
4. "Marathon"
5. "Turn the Page"
6. "Prime Mover"
7. "Manhattan Project"
8. "Closer to the Heart"
9. "Red Sector A"
10. "Force Ten"
11. "Time Stand Still"
12. "Distant Early Warning"
13. "Lock and Key"
14. "Mission"
15. "Territories"
16. "YYZ"
17. "The Rhythm Method" (drum solo)
18. "Red Lenses" (abridged)
19. "The Spirit of Radio"
20. "Tom Sawyer"

    Encore

21. "2112 Parts I & II: Overture/The Temples of Syrinx"
22. "La Villa Strangiato"
23. "In the Mood"

Tour dates

List of 1987 concerts ^{[8] [9]}

Date	City	Country	Venue
October 29, 1987	St. John's	Canada	Memorial Stadium
October 30, 1987
November 1, 1987	Sydney		Centre 200
November 2, 1987	Halifax		Metro Centre
November 4, 1987	Moncton		Moncton Coliseum
November 6, 1987	Providence	United States	Civic Center
November 7, 1987
November 9, 1987	Springfield		Civic Center
November 10, 1987	Utica		Memorial Auditorium
November 12, 1987	Troy		RPI Fieldhouse
November 13, 1987	Binghamton		Broome County War Memorial Arena
November 14, 1987	Buffalo		Memorial Auditorium
November 25, 1987	Atlanta		The Omni
November 27, 1987	Charlotte		Coliseum
November 28, 1987	Hampton		Coliseum
November 30, 1987	Largo		Capital Centre
December 2, 1987	Worcester		The Centrum
December 3, 1987
December 5, 1987	New Haven		Veterans Memorial Coliseum
December 7, 1987	East Rutherford		Meadowlands Arena
December 9, 1987	Uniondale		Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum
December 11, 1987	New York City		Madison Square Garden
December 13, 1987	Philadelphia		The Spectrum
December 14, 1987
December 16, 1987	Pittsburgh		Civic Arena
December 17, 1987	Richfield		Coliseum

List of 1988 concerts ^{[9] [10]}

Date	City	Country	Venue
January 14, 1988	Hampton	United States	Coliseum
January 15, 1988	Raleigh		Reynolds Coliseum
January 16, 1988	Birmingham		Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum
January 18, 1988	Jackson		Mississippi Coliseum
January 20, 1988	Dallas		Reunion Arena
January 21, 1988	San Antonio		Convention Center Arena
January 23, 1988	Oklahoma City		Myriad Arena
January 24, 1988	Shreveport		Hirsch Memorial Coliseum
January 26, 1988	Little Rock		T.H. Barton Coliseum
January 27, 1988	New Orleans		Uno Lakefront Arena
January 29, 1988	Houston		The Summit
January 30, 1988	Austin		Frank Erwin Special Events Center
February 1, 1988	Phoenix		Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
February 3, 1988	San Diego		Sports Arena
February 4, 1988	Inglewood		The Forum
February 5, 1988
February 15, 1988	Lakeland		Civic Center
February 16, 1988	Pembroke Pines		Hollywood Sportatorium
February 18, 1988	Jacksonville		Veterans Memorial Coliseum
February 19, 1988	Pensacola		Civic Center
February 21, 1988	Memphis		Mid-South Coliseum
February 22, 1988	Nashville		Municipal Auditorium
February 23, 1988	Cincinnati		Riverfront Coliseum
February 25, 1988	Rosemont		Rosemont Horizon
February 26, 1988
February 28, 1988	Peoria		Civic Center Arena
March 1, 1988	St. Louis		Arena
March 2, 1988	Indianapolis		Market Square Arena
March 4, 1988	Detroit		Joe Louis Arena
March 5, 1988
March 7, 1988	Toronto	Canada	Maple Leaf Gardens
March 8, 1988
March 10, 1988	Montreal		Forum
March 11, 1988	Quebec City		Colisee de Quebec
March 12, 1988	Ottawa		Civic Centre
April 2, 1988	Omaha	United States	Civic Auditorium
April 4, 1988	Bloomington		Met Center
April 5, 1988	Milwaukee		Mecca Arena
April 7, 1988	Kansas City		Kemper Arena
April 9, 1988	Louisville		Louisville Gardens
April 10, 1988	Dayton		Hara Arena
April 21, 1988	Birmingham	England	National Exhibition Centre Arena
April 23, 1988
April 24, 1988
April 26, 1988	Glasgow	Scotland	Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
April 28, 1988	London	England	Wembley Arena
April 30, 1988
May 2, 1988	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Ahoy Sportpaleis
May 4, 1988	Frankfurt	West Germany	Festhalle
May 5, 1988	Stuttgart		Schleyer-Halle

Box office score data

List of box office score data with date, city, venue, attendance, gross, references

Date	City	Venue	Attendance	Gross	Ref(s)
December 7, 1987	East Rutherford, United States	Meadowlands Arena	14,483 / 17,963	$272,503	[11]

Personnel

• Geddy Lee – vocals, bass, keyboards
• Alex Lifeson – guitar, backing vocals
• Neil Peart – drums

References

Citations

1. Daly & Hansen 2019, p. 278.
2. Booth, Philip (17 February 1988). "Rock loses its way with Rush: Laser show offsets general monotomy of Rush concert". No. 118. Lakeland, Florida: Lakeland Ledger. pp. 1C, 6C. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
3. Popoff 2021, pp. 241–242.
4. Daly & Hansen 2019, p. 280.
5. Popoff 2021, p. 242.
6. Stephenson, Jane E. (February 28, 1988). "Letters to the Editor: Bummed Rush". No. 129. Lakeland, Florida: Lakeland Ledger. p. 10A. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
7. Daly & Hansen 2019, p. 281.
8. Daly & Hansen 2019, pp. 281–284.
9. "Hold Your Fire Tour". Rush.com. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
10. Daly & Hansen 2019, pp. 284–289.
11. "Amusement Business Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 52. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. December 26, 1987. p. 42. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved January 14, 2025.

Sources

• Daly, Skip; Hansen, Eric (2019). Rush: Wandering the Face of the Earth – The Official Touring History. Insight Editions. ISBN   978-1-68383-450-2.
• Popoff, Martin (2021). Limelight: Rush in the '80s. Toronto, Canada: ECW Press. ISBN   978-1-77041-569-0.