Rush and the Vancouver Games

Neil Peart: Soulscape. Oil on canvas by painter Tom Noll.

Image © 2009 Tom Noll. Available as a limited print from his website

So last night was the opening night of the Olympics. The opening ceremonies consisted of a musical and visual tour across Canada, and backstage rumors (courtesy of the folks at Rush Is A Band) had everyone's favorite Canadian progressive power trio tabbed to play in the "Ontario" section of the show.

That would have been cool, right?

However, the untimely death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili caused the evening's schedule to be changed, and the "Ontario" section was cut out of the show. In other words, there were a lot of disappointed Rush fans, this author included. It is entirely possible that the boys will be asked to play the Closing Ceremony in two weeks.

Meanwhile Rush fans excited about the possibility of the band's plans for a new release in 2010 followed by a tour should check out the Rush Petition site, which allows fans to pick five songs that they really want to hear the band play. These are songs that the band hasn't played recently, although in my 20 years of going to Rush shows, I've seen them do several on the list, including "War Paint", "Scars" and "Marathon". For the record, the top ten Rush requests are:

1. "The Camera Eye" from Moving Pictures
   
2. "Jacob's Ladder" from Permanent Waves
   
3. "Hemispheres: Cygnus X-1 Book II" from Hemispheres
   
4. "A Farewell to Kings" from A Farewell To Kings
   
5. "Middletown Dreams" from Power Windows
   
6. "Marathon" from Power Windows
   
7. "Fly By Night" from Fly By Night
   
8. "Kid Gloves" from Grace Under Pressure
   
9. "The Weapon (Part II of Fear) from Signals
   
10. "Presto" from Presto
    

Guess people want to hear the title tracks.