Moving Pictures Tour

Moving Pictures Tour

Tour by Rush
Location	North America
Associated album	Moving Pictures
Start date	September 11, 1980
End date	July 5, 1981
Legs	2
No. of shows	95
Rush concert chronology
Permanent Waves Tour (1979–1980) Moving Pictures Tour (1980–1981) Exit... Stage Left Tour (1981)

The Moving Pictures Tour was a concert tour by Canadian rock band Rush in support of their eighth studio album, Moving Pictures .

Background

While preparing to enter the studio to record Moving Pictures, the band performed an isolated number of shows from September 11 to October 1, 1980 with Saxon as a support act. The tour began in Kalamazoo on February 20, 1981 and concluded on July 5 in East Troy. Max Webster, FM, Goddo and The Joe Perry Project were also opening acts for Rush on the tour. ^[1] The March 27, 1981 performance in Montreal was recorded for the band's live album, Exit... Stage Left and its accompanying video. ^{[2] [3]} Each show was estimated to have cost $40,000 and featured back-projected film, pyrotechnics, and dry ice. 905,000 fans attended the shows overall, with the band making an estimated $4 million by the end of the tour. ^[4]

Reception

John Griffin from the Montreal Gazette who attended the performance in Montreal, noted that Geddy Lee's vocals sounded like a guinea pig with an amphetamine habit, but praised both Lifeson, referring to his guitar playing as ordinary at best, and Peart, acknowledging his drumming as an interesting aspect that he made so little of the massive drum kit. ^[5]

Don Adair, a reporter from the Spokesman-Review opened his review of the band's show in Spokane, stating that the band gave the nearly full coliseum their money's worth, stating that it was heavy metal all the way complete with flash pot and thunderous decibels. Adair praised the band as a healthy rock and roll band, stating that it wouldn't bait the kids with pandering Van Halenesque sex and booze references, and healthy to do a two hour show with minimum posturing and carry the show with their orchestrated music. He also praised the lighting and effects that contributed to the dynamics of the performance which were designed by Howard Ungerlieder. He however, criticized that the music took it far too seriously, calling it pretentious. ^[6]

Roman Cooney from the Calgary Herald opened his review of the Edmonton performance, comparing Geddy Lee's vocals to a cat, but continued by stating that the band continued to push the heavy metal tide a little farther from imbecility. He claimed that if the band continued to spoil the heavy metal image and making their concerts more musically arresting than before, the group would be taken more seriously. Cooney commented on Peart's drum solo, noting it as "startlingly innovative". He later commented on the rest of the show with the band switching back and forth between "creative, exciting rock" and "insipid, banal exercises in needless noise and commotion". He concluded his review, stating that the band is becoming more adventurous on stage, being able to recreate the excitement their music had on vinyl. ^[7]

Set list

These are example set lists adapted from Rush: Wandering the Face of the Earth – The Official Touring History of what were performed during the tour, but may not represent the majority of the shows. ^[8]

1980 Setlist "2112: Overture/Temples of Syrinx" "Freewill" "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" "Xanadu" "Limelight" "The Trees" "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres – Prelude" "The Spirit of Radio" "Closer to the Heart" "Beneath, Between and Behind" "Tom Sawyer" "Jacob's Ladder" "A Passage to Bangkok" "Natural Science" "Working Man" "Finding My Way" "Anthem" "Bastille Day" "In the Mood" (with Neil Peart drum solo) Encore "La Villa Strangiato"

1981 Setlist "2112: Overture/Temples of Syrinx" "Freewill" "Limelight" "Book II: Hemispheres – Prelude" "Beneath, Between and Behind" "The Camera Eye" "YYZ" (with drum solo) "Broon's Bane" "The Trees" "Xanadu" "The Spirit of Radio" "Red Barchetta" "Closer to the Heart" "Tom Sawyer" "Vital Signs" "Natural Science" "Working Man" "Book II: Hemispheres – Armageddon" "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" "In the End" "In the Mood" "2112: Grand Finale" Encore "La Villa Strangiato"

Tour dates

List of 1980 concerts, showing date, city, country, venue and opening act(s) ^{[9] [10]}

Date	City	Country	Venue	Opening Act(s)	Attendance / Capacity / Gross
September 11, 1980	Hampton	United States	Hampton Coliseum	Saxon	4,283 / 9,500 / $34,820
September 12, 1980	Charlotte		Charlotte Coliseum		5,047 / 10,000 / $41,638
September 13, 1980	Charleston		Charleston Civic Center		3,068 / 8,000 / $25,894
September 14, 1980	Nashville		Nashville Municipal Auditorium		7,251 / 9,000 / $58,008
September 16, 1980	Baton Rouge		Riverside Centroplex		8,500 / 11,400 / $80,750
September 18, 1980	North Fort Myers		Lee County Civic Center		3,149 / 7,500 / $24,405
September 19, 1980	Pembroke Pines		Hollywood Sportatorium		5,722 / 15,533 / $50,068
September 20, 1980	Lakeland		Lakeland Civic Center		10,000 / 10,000 / $84,600
September 21, 1980	Jacksonville		Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum		3,509 / 12,000 / $28,949
September 23, 1980	Cincinnati		Riverfront Coliseum		4,616 / 12,500 / $35,774
September 25, 1980	Philadelphia		The Spectrum		14,324 / 14,324 / $120,483
September 26, 1980	Landover		Capital Centre		15,895 / 18,000 / $132,723
September 27, 1980	South Yarmouth		Cape Cod Coliseum		7,181 / 7,181 / $61,637
September 28, 1980	Springfield		Springfield Civic Center		2,200 / 8,000 / $20,900
September 30, 1980	Allentown		Allentown Fairgrounds		10,500 / 10,500 / $99,750
October 1, 1980	Portland		Cumberland County Civic Center		??? / ??? / ???

List of 1981 concerts, showing date, city, country, venue and opening act(s) ^{[9] [10]}

Date	City	Country	Venue	Opening Act(s)	Attendance / Capacity / Gross
February 20, 1981	Kalamazoo	United States	Wings Stadium	Max Webster	7,888 / 8,596 / $80,852
February 21, 1981	Dubuque		Five Flags Arena		3,945 / 4,500 / $33,533
February 22, 1981	Davenport		Palmer Alumni Auditorium		??? / ??? / ???
February 24, 1981	La Crosse		La Crosse Center		4,608 / 7,000 / $34,560
February 26, 1981	Chicago		International Amphitheatre		39,416 / 39,416 / $450,896
February 27, 1981
February 28, 1981
March 1, 1981
March 2, 1981	Milwaukee		Mecca Arena		9,741 / 9,741 / $98,990
March 4, 1981	St. Louis		Checkerdome		22,788 / 22,788 / $212,824
March 5, 1981
March 7, 1981	Louisville		Freedom Hall		8,145 / 8,145 / $66,670
March 8, 1981	Dayton		Hara Arena		8,000 / 8,000 / $44,000
March 10, 1981	Evansville		Roberts Municipal Stadium		5,054 / 10,000 / $39,585
March 11, 1981	Indianapolis		Market Square Arena		16,000 / 16,510 / $121,363
March 13, 1981	Detroit		Cobo Hall		34,809 / 34,809 / $353,100
March 14, 1981
March 15, 1981
March 21, 1981	London	Canada	London Ice House	FM	6,000 / 6,000 / C$57,000
March 23, 1981	Toronto		Maple Leaf Gardens		39,180 / 39,180 / C$411,390
March 24, 1981
March 25, 1981
March 27, 1981 [11]	Montreal		Montreal Forum	Max Webster	14,055 / 14,055 / C$133,523
March 28, 1981	Ottawa		Ottawa Civic Centre	FM	9,349 / 9,349 / C$88,816
April 3, 1981	Tucson	United States	Tucson Community Center	Max Webster	8,407 / 8,407 / $79,867
April 4, 1981	Phoenix		Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum		??? / ??? / ???
April 5, 1981	Albuquerque		Tingley Coliseum		10,153 / 10,153 / $86,301
April 7, 1981	Houston		Sam Houston Coliseum		18,926 / 18,926 / $189,260
April 8, 1981
April 10, 1981	Dallas		Reunion Arena		15,439 / 15,439 / $154,390
April 11, 1981	San Antonio		Convention Center		14,118 / 14,118 / $137,651
April 12, 1981	Fort Worth		Tarrant County Convention Center		13,766 / 13,766 / $137,660
April 14, 1981	Little Rock		T.H. Barton Coliseum		5,251 / 10,250 / $49,689
April 15, 1981	Jackson		Mississippi Coliseum		6,676 / 10,000 / $62,339
April 16, 1981	Memphis		Mid-South Coliseum		9,537 / 9,537 / $83,523
April 18, 1981	Mobile		Municipal Auditorium	—N/a	9,772 / 9,772 / $92,834
April 19, 1981	New Orleans		Municipal Auditorium		8,100 / 8,100 / $89,100
April 21, 1981	Shreveport		Hirsch Memorial Coliseum		8,182 / 8,182 / $77,729
April 23, 1981	Kansas City		Kemper Arena		24,438 / 24,438 / $230,280
April 24, 1981
April 25, 1981	Oklahoma City		Myriad Arena		13,552 / 13,552 / $135,520
April 26, 1981	Tulsa		Tulsa Assembly Center		5,287 / 8,000 / $50,227
May 6, 1981	Pittsburgh		Civic Arena	FM	13,265 / 13,265 / $140,020
May 7, 1981	Richfield		Richfield Coliseum		30,600 / 30,600 / $275,890
May 8, 1981
May 9, 1981	Buffalo		Buffalo Memorial Auditorium		15,020 / 15,020 / $135,180
May 11, 1981	Binghamton		Broome County Memorial Arena		5,558 / 7,000 / $58,359
May 12, 1981	Rochester		Rochester Community War Memorial		10,130 / 10,130 / $107,100
May 13, 1981	Syracuse		Onondaga County War Memorial Auditorium		7,072 / 8,200 / $63,648
May 15, 1981	Glens Falls		Glens Falls Civic Center		6,759 / 6,759 / $66,000
May 16, 1981	Landover		Capital Centre		37,252 / 37,252 / $348,306
May 17, 1981
May 18, 1981	New York City		Madison Square Garden		17,292 / 17,292 / $195,000
May 20, 1981	Uniondale		Nassau Coliseum		10,567 / 12,500 / $116,237
May 22, 1981	Philadelphia		Spectrum		15,423 / 15,423 / $137,703
May 23, 1981	Boston		Boston Garden		11,406 / 11,406 / $120,391
May 24, 1981	Providence		Providence Civic Center		10,408 / 10,408 / $93,251
June 1, 1981	Denver		McNichols Sports Arena		??? / ??? / ???
June 3, 1981	Salt Lake City		Salt Palace
June 5, 1981	Oakland		Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena		23,752 / 23,752 / $212,668
June 6, 1981
June 7, 1981	Fresno		Selland Arena		6,995 / 6,995 / $66,291
June 9, 1981	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena		12,339 / 12,339 / $114,670
June 10, 1981	Inglewood		The Forum		29,344 / 29,344 / $275,240
June 11, 1981
June 12, 1981	Anaheim		Convention Center		7,321 / 7,321 / $74,884
June 14, 1981	Long Beach		Long Beach Arena		12,796 / 12,796 / $131,438
June 15, 1981	Las Vegas		Aladdin Theatre	—N/a	7,450 / 7,450 / $89,400
June 16, 1981	Reno		Centennial Coliseum		6,500 / 6,500 / $61,750
June 18, 1981	Seattle		Seattle Center Coliseum	FM	24,640 / 24,640 / $237,324
June 19, 1981
June 20, 1981	Portland		Memorial Coliseum		9,780 / 9,780 / $98,944
June 21, 1981 [12]	Spokane		Spokane Coliseum		6,172 / 6,172 / $53,930
June 23, 1981	Vancouver	Canada	Pacific Coliseum	Goddo	11,645 / 11,645 / C$121,668
June 25, 1981	Edmonton		Northlands Coliseum		11,363 / 11,363 / C$129,661
July 2, 1981	Bloomington	United States	Metropolitan Sports Center	The Joe Perry Project	23,691 / 23,691 / $249,390
July 3, 1981
July 4, 1981	East Troy		Alpine Valley Music Theatre		28,211 / 40,000 / $394,900
July 5, 1981

Box office score data

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

Date	City	Venue	Attendance	Gross	Ref(s)
September 11, 1980	Hampton, United States	Coliseum	4,287	$34,820	[13]
September 13, 1980	Charleston, United States	Civic Center Coliseum	3,198	$25,894
September 20, 1980	Lakeland, United States	Civic Center	10,000 / 10,000	$84,600	[14]
September 25, 1980	Philadelphia, United States	The Spectrum	14,500	$120,483	[15]
September 27, 1980	South Yarmouth, United States	Coliseum	7,200 / 7,200	$61,637
June 18–19, 1981	Seattle, United States	Coliseum	24,641	$237,325	[16]
June 20, 1981	Portland, United States	Coliseum	9,780	$98,944
June 21, 1981	Spokane, United States	Coliseum	6,172	$53,930
June 23, 1981	Vancouver, Canada	Pacific Coliseum	11,408 / 11,408	$121,668	[17]
June 25, 1981	Edmonton, Canada	Northlands Coliseum	11,285	$129,661
July 2, 1981	Minneapolis, United States	Met Center	23,691	$249,390	[18]
July 4–5, 1981	East Troy, United States	Alpine Valley Music Theatre	40,000 / 40,000	$394,900

Personnel

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

References

Citations

1. Popoff 2021, pp. 90–92.
2. Mobley 2014.
3. Body 2019.
4. Popoff 2021, p. 93.
5. Griffin, John (March 28, 1981). "Rush: Pomp-rock trio hot on tedium". The Montreal Gazette. Montreal, Quebec. p. 117. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
6. Adair, Don (June 22, 1981). "No one accused Rush of subtlety". No. 35. Spokane, Washington: The Spokesman-Review. p. 13. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
7. Cooney, Roman (June 26, 1981). "Canning heavy metal moves Rush towards sanity". Calgary, Alberta: The Calgary Herald. p. D1. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
8. Daly & Hansen 2019, pp. 199, 205.
9. Daly & Hansen 2019, pp. 197–213.
10. "Moving Pictures Tour". Rush.com. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
11. "Friday: Evening". No. 336. Rome, Georgia: Rome News-Tribune. May 30, 1986. p. 6. Retrieved May 12, 2022. This concert filmed in 1981 at the Montreal Forum
12. "Day by Day: Today". No. 34. Spokane, Washington: The Spokesman-Review. June 21, 1981. p. D10. Retrieved May 16, 2022. Concert - Rush, 7:30 p.m., Spokane Coliseum
13. "Top Box Office". Billboard. Vol. 92, no. 39. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. September 27, 1980. p. 37. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved April 30, 2022.
14. "Top Box Office". Billboard. Vol. 92, no. 40. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. October 4, 1980. p. 37. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved April 30, 2022.
15. "Top Box Office". Billboard. Vol. 92, no. 41. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. October 11, 1980. p. 41. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved May 6, 2022.
16. "Top Box Office". Billboard. Vol. 93, no. 26. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. July 4, 1981. p. 53. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved May 12, 2022.
17. "Top Box Office". Billboard. Vol. 93, no. 27. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. July 11, 1981. p. 48. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved May 12, 2022.
18. "Top Box Office". Billboard. Vol. 93, no. 28. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. July 18, 1981. p. 51. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved May 12, 2022.

Sources

• Mobley, Max (2014). Rush FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Rock's Greatest Power Trio. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN   978-1-61713-604-7.
• Body, Alex (2019). Rush: Song by Song. Fonthill Media. ISBN   978-1-78155-729-7.
• 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.