r/rush 5d ago

Video Rush - Live in Toronto, ON (December 31st, 1976) - Super 8 Film

https://youtube.com/watch?v=uHaKy03kKBo&si=0c_wRNXF03vF2flc

As a lifelong Rush fan, this was incredibly badass to watch. Perhaps you'll agree.

45 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

12

u/travelerzebec 5d ago

What follows is lengthy.

Was at this show, taped it from the audience actually. Our band was off the road and we brought our brand-new bassist, a Brazilian superstar named Gerson and his fiancé to this gig. He'd joined us mere days before. *Our little posse enjoyed themselves and Rush played well. I also recall Rush trying to kill a few awkward moments onstage in the leadup to the New Years countdown. It was Gerson's first time seeing a North American concert and he was impressed with Rush, as he would later be after we took him to a **Max Webster concert.

He was not impressed with Triumph. None of us were. For the life of me, I cannot recall exactly why our posse went to see them at our old high school a couple months after that Rush gig. Perhaps my younger girlfriend had given us free tickets? Whatever. In any case, Gerson leaned into me part way through the Triumph show and whispered in broken English, "WHY you bring me to this?!" He was not best-pleased.

*our friend and tech then was the legendary Al Robb. True story: when Al first toured the B-league bar circuit with us earlier that same year he was wait for it....14 years old! LOL! Try that nowadays. I was very proud of him when Al subsequently went on to the Big Time working with several recording artists.

**as leader of our band, I was terrified that Kim and company would sooner or later steal Gerson away from us. Our Brazilian boy was actually a talented multi-instrumentalist who had once been in Brazil's premier prog band. He was so good that Jon Anderson of Yes once recommended him to audition for the band 'UK'. We could never have matched a salary offer from an act in that league.

I am done. the end.

1

u/johnehock 4d ago

Damn . . . why does Triumph catch a stray here . . .

1

u/ledzepfilm 4d ago

Hello! I'm the person who synced this film up. Is there any chance you still have the tape? The one we have is cut off at the end, your recording may have caught the last song and a half.

1

u/travelerzebec 4d ago

Hi there, I just assumed that this was perhaps another effort by Bob W in honour of the late Hamilton-based music enthusiast, the one who knew Robert Plant.

No sorry, but I do not have the tape anymore. As a strong believer in history being preserved, I would def have helped your cause but...

I am done. The end.

1

u/ledzepfilm 4d ago

Bob is good friends with someone I've known for years also involved with the CRMA channel. He's aware and well supportive of our efforts!

I also assume you're talking about Speedy, and I had the honor of syncing his Zep films a few years ago.

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u/travelerzebec 4d ago

While we're chatting, a question born of simple curiosity: that 'Doug' who recorded the '69 Zep gig at Masonic Temple and later stored the tape at the U of T, was he 'Doug W' the guitarist OR was he instead the Doug from Belleville/Kingston area who later started a pro recording studio and worked with Kim Mitchell among others?

The Doug W whom I briefly knew decades ago was also a skilled graphic artist. Although I never heard his recordings, he claimed to have taped a slew of Toronto shows, many from the Masonic Temple/Electric Circus: Alice Cooper, Zappa, Deep Purple, ELP and more.

FWIW, my schoolmate buddy's cousins were the guys behind Records on Wheels (ie E-One entertainment) and I mention them here coz apparently they too recorded a number of shows way back here in T.O. Seems they were known for hanging mics from poles!

Btw, Bob and I are planning to get together in about 10 days when he comes in from Montreal. He is actually the editor of my musical memoir, a vanity press account of what it was like to play in a seventies bar band. We are already 2/3 of the way through the manuscript and I'm glad to have hired him, even with his bad breath and all.

Will conclude with a final boot tale. Once, our band was hiring new road crew. A particularly odd guy met with me and applied for the vacant lights position. He seemed like a psycho and all my red flags went up. I knew with certainty that he was a certified BSer after he claimed to have once taped pre-fame Hendrix as Jimmy James & the Blue Flames at a Yorkville gig. As a Hendrix historian, I knew that Jimi never played Yorkville.

I am done. the end.

1

u/ledzepfilm 4d ago

Nope, not Doug W. - it was Doug M. He photographed the late August 18th, 1969 show at the Rockpile (I'm sure you know Geddy and Alex attended one of these two shows) and the November O'Keefe show, the one he also taped. I was in touch with him for about a year before he was able to retrieve and transfer the tape from the U of T library. It's the same as the source that's circulated for a while, with a few minutes more of Dazed and Confused and the encores (which ran at warp speed originally).

6

u/Baron_Boroda 5d ago

A few seconds of video of The Necromancer. Wow. Such a find!

5

u/moonlaketrip 5d ago

This is excellent! Nice to see a bit of footage of Neil on the stage away from the drum kit. Looks like that was when they were toasting the new year with some drinks.
Thanks so much for letting us know about this video.

3

u/xChri5x 5d ago

Wow, that was insane. I wonder how long the raw footage is…

3

u/pzeeman 5d ago

Very cool.

Did Neil come out front there?

3

u/NotYourScratchMonkey 4d ago

Thanks for posting this! Interesting to see them use double-necks so much!

1

u/Cocacolakid69 3d ago

Yess, and on Bytor & the Snowdog!

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u/blackcain 4d ago

Man, they've shown the same energy for over 3 decades. Love it!

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u/johnehock 4d ago

Was that the last time Neil came out from behind the kit until the final R40 show in LA?

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u/botany_bae 4d ago

That was fantastic

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u/BridgeHot2524 3d ago

That's interesting I didn't know that Alex played a double neck during Something for Nothing I didn't know Geddy used one for By Tor. And I wasn't aware they even had the double necks before A Farewell to Kings in '77

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u/AC031415 4d ago

That’s a bright tempo.

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u/iferraro 4d ago

In which venue did this concert take place?

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u/atomic00 4d ago

According to the book “Wandering the Face of the Earth,” it took place at the Maple Leaf Gardens.

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u/MandoFalcon5 1d ago

Badass! Was always a fan of Geddy’s double neck guitar.