Neil Ellwood Peart was a Canadian and American musician, known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. He was known to fans by the nickname 'The Professor', derived from the Gilligan's Island character of the same name. His drumming was renowned for its technical proficiency and his live performances for their exacting nature and stamina. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an induction into the Modern Drummer Readers Poll Hall of Fame in 1983 at the age of thirty, making him the youngest person ever so honoured.
Rush was a Canadian rock band that primarily comprised Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson (guitar) and Neil Peart. The band formed in Toronto in 1968 with Lifeson, drummer John Rutsey, and bass guitarist and vocalist Jeff Jones, whom Lee immediately replaced. After Lee joined, the band went through several line-up changes before arriving at its classic power trio line-up with the addition of Peart in July 1974, who replaced Rutsey four months after the release of their self-titled debut album; this line-up remained intact for the remainder of the band's career.
All the World's a Stage is a double live album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in September 1976 by Mercury Records. The album was recorded at Massey Hall in Toronto on June 11–13, 1976, during the band's breakthrough 2112 tour. The title of the album alludes to William Shakespeare's play As You Like It, and would again be referenced by Rush in the 1981 song "Limelight".
Exit... Stage Left is the second live album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released as a double album in October 1981 by Anthem Records. After touring in support of their eighth studio album Moving Pictures (1981), the band gathered recordings made over the previous two years and constructed a live release from them with producer Terry Brown. The album features recordings from June 1980 on their Permanent Waves (1980) tour, and from March 1981 on their Moving Pictures tour.
Rush in Rio is a three-disc live album by Canadian band Rush, released on October 21, 2003. The album is also available as a two DVD set. With the exception of the last two tracks on the third disc, the album was recorded at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on the final night of the Vapor Trails Tour. The other two tracks were taken from previous shows on the same tour. "Between Sun & Moon" was recorded at the Cricket Wireless Pavilion, Phoenix, Arizona, on September 27, 2002, and "Vital Signs" was recorded at the Colisée Pepsi, Quebec City, Quebec, on October 19, 2002.
A Show of Hands is a live album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1989. The band released a video of the same name, originally on VHS and LaserDisc, the same year. A DVD version was released as part of a box set in 2006, and as an individual DVD in 2007. In 2015 it was reissued after being remastered by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios following a direct approach by Rush to remaster their entire back catalogue.
R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour is a live DVD by the Canadian rock band Rush, released on November 22, 2005 in Canada and the US, and November 28, 2005 in Europe. The DVD documents the band's R30: 30th Anniversary Tour, and was recorded on September 24, 2004 at the Festhalle Frankfurt, Germany.
"Limelight" is a song by Canadian progressive rock band Rush. It first appeared on the 1981 album Moving Pictures. The song's lyrics were written by Neil Peart with music written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. "Limelight" expresses Peart's discomfort with Rush's success and the resulting attention from the public. The song paraphrases the opening lines of the "All the world's a stage" speech from William Shakespeare's play As You Like It. The band had previously used the phrase for its 1976 live album. The lyrics also refer to "the camera eye", the title of the song that follows on the Moving Pictures album.
The MalletKAT is a musical instrument in a class of MIDI percussion controllers which also includes the DrumKAT, DK10, and TrapKat.
"Working Man" is a song by Canadian rock band Rush from their self-titled debut album. In an interview on the Rolling Stone YouTube channel, bassist and lead vocalist Geddy Lee said that "Working Man" is his favorite song to play live. "Working Man" became a favourite among Rush fans; the guitar solo appeared on Guitar World magazine's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos list.
Snakes & Arrows is the eighteenth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on May 1, 2007, by Anthem Records. After their R30: 30th Anniversary Tour ended in October 2004 the band took a one-year break, during which they agreed to start work on a follow-up in January 2006. The album was recorded in five weeks with co-producer Nick Raskulinecz, a fan of the group who was praised by each member for his approach and technique. It contains three instrumental tracks, the most on any Rush album.
The Snakes & Arrows Tour was a concert tour by Canadian rock band Rush to promote the studio album Snakes & Arrows. The first leg of the tour began on June 13, 2007, in Atlanta and concluded on October 29, 2007, at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland. The 2008 portion of the tour started on April 11, 2008, in San Juan, Puerto Rico at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum and ended on July 24, 2008, in Noblesville, Indiana at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. The tour was Rush's most successful to date, grossing nearly $65 million. At 114 shows, it is Rush's second-longest tour, after the Hemispheres tour back in 1978 –79.
Snakes & Arrows Live is a live double CD and DVD by Canadian band Rush. The CD was released on April 14, 2008, in the UK and on April 15, 2008, around the world. It was also released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 24, 2008. The material was taken from two performances during the first leg of the Snakes & Arrows Tour, recorded at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands on October 16 and 17, 2007. The album features nine of its 27 tracks drawn from Snakes & Arrows.
"Show Don't Tell" is the first single on Canadian rock band Rush's 1989 album Presto. The song peaked at number one on the U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart, the second of five songs by Rush to top the chart.
The Time Machine Tour was a concert tour by the Canadian rock band Rush that began on June 29, 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and ended July 2, 2011 at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. The tour was notable for featuring the album Moving Pictures played in its entirety for the first time live, as well as material from the band's then upcoming studio album Clockwork Angels. This tour is one of three where the setlist has been consistent throughout the entire tour, the others being the 1987 Hold Your Fire tour and the 2004 R30: 30th Anniversary Tour. This is also the first Rush tour to not include any songs from Roll the Bones in the set list since that album was released in 1991.
"Headlong Flight" is the second single from Canadian rock band Rush's 19th studio album, Clockwork Angels. It was released to radio stations and for online preview on April 19, 2012, and became available digitally and on disk April 24, 2012. A lyrics video was also made available on YouTube. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Geddy Lee commented on the song:
'Headlong Flight' was one of those songs that was a joy to write and record from beginning to end. Alex [Lifeson] and I had blast jamming in my home studio one day before the second leg of the Time Machine tour, and I did not revisit that jam until a year later. Alex and I assembled the song to be an instrumental and its original title was 'Take That Lampshade Off Yo Head!,' but once we saw the lyrics Neil [Peart] had written, I knew that the spirit of the lyrics matched the instrumental perfectly and it was just a matter of making them fit and writing the melodies.
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.
"Witch Hunt" is a song by Canadian rock band Rush. It was released on their 1981 album Moving Pictures, and unlike many other Rush songs it was a true studio production, with a variety of percussion instruments and overdubs, and a separate keyboard player. It is the first of four songs in what has been called the band's "Fear" series, the other three being "The Weapon", "The Enemy Within", and "Freeze", although this song is the third part of the series in order, and went on reverse chronological order by the album.
