For five days next spring, part of Sin City will turn into Megadon when Rush move into the Sphere for a five-night residency. Fresh off the trio’s celebrated comeback tour, the group’s Elevate From the Norm engagement will take place on May 21, 23, 26, 28, and 30. The group’s set lists will include hits and fan favorites, as well as full-album performances of their landmark 2112 and Moving Pictures albums.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, November 13th. Presales begin on Friday. Full details are on the band’s website.
“When I first heard of Sphere, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, what a shame that Rush is no longer touring, because this venue sounds tailor-made for the kind of visual attitude with which we have always designed our shows,'” Geddy Lee said in a statement. “Normally we spend months designing the visual effects for our shows and this scenario seemed like the cherry on top of the ice cream for our design team.
“But life is nothing if not surprising and now, here we are, living and touring in the present tense and we are able to make that particular dream come true,” he continued. “We are presently working hard to expand our touring concepts and concoct some new madness to suit this incredible venue and musically perform the kind of show we’ve been doing in some of our ‘one off’ cities. Meaning playing all of 2112 and all of Moving Pictures along with an array of other songs. We are so effin’ excited to make use of this incredible opportunity to please our fans both visually and viscerally — from wherever they might fly in from. Gonna be so much fun!!”
Since the Sphere opened with U2’s inaugural residency, it’s become the go-to location for spectacle concerts. Metallica’s Life Burns Faster run of shows earned a rave review from Rolling Stone, which reported, “The photos and video people have posted to Instagram do not do justice to what it actually feels like to have the group’s visuals literally surround you while they play.” Other artists who have performed there include Eagles, Phish, Dead & Company, Kenny Chesney, the Zac Brown Band, No Doubt, and Backstreet Boys.
Rush kicked off their Fifty Something reunion tour with four dates in Los Angeles, introducing drummer Anika Nilles who replaced the late Neal Peart. “When we came up onstage and heard the crowd, you start to relax into it,” Lee told Rolling Stone about how h felt on the first night. “I was really proud of us that night because we did one of the best versions of that set that we’ve done yet. And so we just were cruising, and I kept saying to myself after each song, ‘There’s another one down.'”
