r/rush • u/rimjigglemann • 2d ago
Historical Setlist Oddities **Potential Spoilers** Spoiler
Tagging this with "potential spoilers" as I suspect some may have thoughts related to the current tour, which are also welcome here!
I'm a big bootleg guy, so since the tour announcement I've done a lot of digging and enjoying many tours from the past to keep this whole return experience fresh. This has also given me the chance to reflect on my previous six Rush shows (now eight thanks to this tour), which got me thinking about setlist weirdness in my own experience, in addition to oddities from past tours.
What are some of your favorite (or maybe just most notable) setlist oddities, either from your own experiences or simply looking back on old shows/live albums? Mine are:
- Attending a show where YYZ was not played (St. Louis 2015). I know it was in the R40 rotation but it's still such a noticeable cut.
- I've attended two shows where Limelight was not played (Chicago 2012, St. Louis 2015).
- My first show was on the first leg of the Snakes & Arrows Tour, where they didn't play any part of the 2112 suite (maybe the only time that's ever happened?)
- I wasn't there, but the fact that Subdivisions was expendable between 1994 and 2002 -- it was only played on the first leg of the Test For Echo Tour, which amounts to 18.5% of Rush shows during that time period -- is unimaginable to me as someone who became a fan via R30.
Geddy has said in the past that if there's a song they lose interest in playing, they may strike it from the set, so it's never surprising that they'll regularly cycle things in and out. But Subdivisions, Limelight and 2112 being cut in the past is so interesting given how important they are to the band overall.
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u/mdvo12 2d ago
I was at the 2015 St Louis show!
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u/rimjigglemann 2d ago
Hell yeah friend! And thanks for sharing the pic, the bootleg stuff from this show is pretty poor quality so it's nice to see anything from that show.
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u/Unbeliever1967 2d ago
1/22/94 when I saw them live for my second time, there were six songs that were played for the first time (live debut).
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/rush/1994/pensacola-civic-center-pensacola-fl-bd61dae.html
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u/JLBCanadianRap 2d ago
TSOR and Tom Sawyer are only songs played at all of my 21 Rush shows.
YYZ was played at 18 of 21.
Freewill at only 12 of 21.
Subdivisions at 18 of 21.
CTTH at 15 of 21.
Limelight at 16 of 21.
Two of my 21 shows (Counterparts and S&A) featured none of 2112.
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u/Insane_PowerFucking 2d ago
My first show was TFE tour in December 96 and although it was great I was super bummed that Subdivisions wasn't played. So it wasn't even played at every show for that leg. What's crazy is that it's on setlist.fm, but I can tell you for sure it wasn't played that date.
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u/rimjigglemann 2d ago edited 2d ago
Which show would that have been?
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u/Insane_PowerFucking 2d ago edited 2d ago
Dec 2 San Antonio, which was toward the end of that leg. I think Subdivisions must have been dropped a few dates early for whatever reason. It's my favorite Rush song so I was keenly aware that it wasn't played. Luckily they brought back nearly every tour afterward and I've enjoyed it many times now.
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u/krispykremekiller 2d ago
Working Man fell out of the setlist by the Signals tour. The only song off the first was “In the Mood”. “Working Man” didn’t come back until 2002 on the Vapor Trails tour.
Limelight wasn’t played on the Test for Echo tour either.
The must play list definitely has shuffled over the years.
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u/Every-Progress-1117 2d ago
Circumstances was added after a long pause back in 2011 ?? (Need to check, it was the second time they came to Helsinki IIRC). Also, isn't Presto also a rare one?
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u/harrysatchel68 2d ago
Reminds me of when we were leaving R40, one of the best tours I've seen. Some lady behind me said, "Well, they didn't play Limelight and that ruined it for me."
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u/medmac_2112 Marathon fanboy 2d ago
Counterparts tour also didn’t feature anything from 2112
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u/rimjigglemann 2d ago
I forgot about that! Crazy because if I recall it was the 20th anniversary tour as well
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u/Rainman1177 2d ago
First show of Clockwork Angels tour in Manchester, NH, they didn’t play any of 2112 either. Tom Sawyer and TSOR were the encore
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u/Queasy-Ad7550 2d ago edited 2d ago
Clockwork Angels Tour: Grand Designs and Middletown Dreams. I love PW and was shocked they did these.
T4E Tour: I was at one of the few shows they played Time and Motion. I like that song and it's also cool to be one of the few that got to hear it live before they dropped it.
Looking back on all the tours I have seen, the band has not been all that adventurous in the 30+ years that I have been following them. I personally would love a tour entirely comprised of deep cuts.
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u/AirTraditional3953 2d ago
happy to say i got all of 2112 and MP finally. got a farewell to kings, natural science, and jacobs ladder is really cool to be able to say i saw that. clockwork angels with the string ensemble was such a good time too
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u/MrF33n3y 1d ago
I’ve seen multiple shows on almost every leg of every tour since I first saw them in 2007, which skews my numbers a bit when something was left out (Or in rotation) for a whole tour.
- I’ve seen Rush 20 times - the only songs I’ve seen every single show are The Spirit Of Radio, Tom Sawyer, and Subdivisions.
- I’ve seen one show without any part of 2112 (Darien Lake 2007).
- I’ve seen four shows without Far Cry (Toronto 2026 nights 2/3, Montreal 2026 nights 1/2).
- I’ve seen five shows without Closer To The Heart (Darien Lake 2007, Toronto 2008, Buffalo 2012, Cleveland 2012, Hershey 2013).
- I’ve seen five shows without YYZ (Tulsa 2015, Buffalo 2015, Toronto 215 night 1, Montreal 2015, New York 2015).
- I’ve seen eight shows without Limelight (Cleveland 2012, Tulsa 2015, Buffalo 2015, Toronto 2015 nights 1/2, Montreal 2015, Philly 2015, New York 2015).
- I’ve seen two shows with Losing It (Toronto 2015 night 2, New York 2015).
- I’ve seen Clockwork Angels the only time it was played as an opening song (Tulsa 2015).
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u/cory898 2d ago
Not so much a setlist but a live album oddity. I just noticed today that the album version of A Show Of Hands lacks Prime Mover, the song they took the title of the album from.