Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

My husband and I were doing an online search trying to find the list of songs on the "Rush in Rio" DVD, without any success.... Does anyone have it? Do they cover any of their older songs? My husband saw them in concert several times in the 70's and thought it would be fun to relive the experience.... Does Geddy even use his 4001 on any of the songs? Does anyone know if there is any video footage of Rush in concert during their earlier days, when he still used the Rics?

I don't know what you consider to be "older", but if memory serves (I'm at work, shhh!) they play some of 2112, Spirit of Radio, The Trees, Closer To The Heart, Working Man (I think), and By-Tor and the Snow Dog. There may be some others. Geddy plays his Jazz basses throughout, although Alex plays one of just about every guitar known to man.

I'm not a huge Rush fan, but I really enjoy it, and they obviously enjoyed making it. The last time I saw them was in 1976,and this show is much more sophisticated than they were back then. I think it's worth it just to watch Neil Peart, how he plays all of that is beyond me.

There is an older film of "By-Tor" hidden in one of the discs; I don't know if it has concert footage because I haven't yet figured out how to access it.

Here's the song list: Tom Sawyer, Distant Early Warning, New World Man, Roll the Bones, Earthshine, YYZ (smokes!), The Pass, Bravado, The Big Money, The Trees, Free Will, Closer to the Heart, Natural Science, One Little Victory, Driven, Ghost Rider, Secret Touch, Dreamline, Red Sector A, Leave That Thing Alone, O Baterista (drum solo), Resist, part of 2112, Limelight, La Villa Strangiato (Alex goes off the deep end), The Spirit of Radio, By-Tor and the Snow Dog, part of Cygnus X-1, Working Man

And yes, sadly Geddy has yet to pull any of his Ricks out of retirement.

I have a VHS copy of Exit Stage Left (I'm almost afraid to play it now it's so old. Here's hoping a DVD version comes out sometime.) Geddy was still using the Ricks then, and the sound is indeed powerful. He's got one of his 4080 doublenecks out for Xanadu too.

Wow, sounds like a great playlist.... No matter what brand of instruments they play, Rush is still an extremely talented band. I started listening to Rush myself in about 1986, when a friend sent me a cassette of "Power Windows," which is probably still my favorite Rush album.... That was way back before I knew or cared what Rickenbackers were! I started listening to Rush even more after I met my husband; he was a huge Rush fan way back when, and still really loves their early works, 70's to early 80's. The Exit Stage Left video sounds cool.... I would love to see it re-released on DVD! Indirectly, Rush is the reason I love Rics now; my husband had a 4001 bass when he was in college because he loved the sound of Geddy Lee.... He eventually sold the bass, but when I started playing guitar he remembered how much he loved that Ric, and knew I would love Rics too if given the chance to play one.... And of course he was right!

The only time I saw Rush was the during the Power Windows tour. I saw them at The Forum in LA with The Steve Morse Band as the opening act. I don't remember what Geddy was playing at that show, unfortunately.

Guys and Gals' To access the 'By-tor and the snow dog' feature on the RUSH DVD, you'll need to watch through the documentary DVD, during an interview with Alex, he mentions playing By-tor, press enter at this time and you'll be sent to it.

It isn't footage of an old live show, it's the animated film they used on the video screen on the last tour. Good fun. Also hidden on the Rush in Rio DVD, is a video clip of the 1975 classic Anthem. Geddy is playing his famous Jetglo 4001.
If you have a look at www.rushinrio.com there are several clues to find this, the bulletin board on the site has full details posted. You have to enter 2112 when at the menu page. I think like this... 2 enter, stop, 1 enter, 1 enter, stop, 2 enter.

As for Geddy's gear. Rickenbackers where his main instruments from the early 70's until 1985, Over the years he's used 4001, 4002, 4080/6 and 4080/12, he's always had the odd Fender knocking about. He has also owned a couple of 3001's which he used for warm-up and sound checks but never performed live or used them to record with. For the 1986 Grace under Pressure tour, he started using a Steinberger L2, with limited use of the 4001 and a Fender Jazz. By the recording of Power Windows in 1985, the 4001's where gone, and a Wal moved in, for live work the Wal and Steinbergers where used. Even though the 4001 did make appearances in videos as Geddy preferred the look. The same gear was used in 87/88 with the addition of a 5 string Wal. During the tours of 1990, 1991/92 only the Wal's remained. When Rush hit the road in 1994 Geddy had pulled out the Fender Jazz and he's used them since, his main bass is his original 1972 Jazz, his back-up's are from 1996.

Rush will tour North America, the UK and Europe again this year for there 30th Anniversary, let's hope the 4001 or even the odd double neck gets a look in.

Here's pic of Geddy from 1980 with his 4080-6...

This place is great.... Thanks, guys! My husband ordered "Rush in Rio," and also "Archives" as well as "Exit Stage Left," over the weekend-- I think he said he found them all on DVD.... Cool! Thanks for the Rush in Rio secrets, Mike! I look forward to watching these DVD's!

Melissa, You'll love the DVD's, the Chronicles one is mainly video's for the'singles' that the record company put out. Geddy's 4001 appears quite a lot on the early stuff. The Exit disc is nearly all Ric's on Geddy's part, and the double neck get a good airing, Lifeson plays a Gibson 6/12 double neck at the same time, The RIR DVD is a great watch, you'll have to put an evening aside for it, watch the documentry disc first and you'll see just what it took to put that show on.

The DVD's arrived today, and the house is rockin'!

Alright!

I saw Rush live for the first time last year. Though Geddy played a J-Bass throughout, and never touched a RIC, it still was a rockin' concert! (I'll never understand the dryers, but I digress ...)

But, the reason I'm a Rush fan is because of the RIC-ness that pulled me in during the "early" days ...

Yep, after watching the first few cuts on "Chronicles" I understand all over again why my husband ran out and bought a 4001 to learn to play bass in his younger days.... RIC makes an incredible bass, and Geddy Lee is an incredible player.... I still think he was crazy to abandon the Rics. The sound of the bass is just so much better on the old stuff.... I think his Fender sounds kind of one-dimensional in comparison. The Ric just has so much more punch, with that legendary tone that is both brighter and richer than anything else out there.

Anyway, watching that made me want to grab my own Ric bass and start playing--even though I could never in a million years play like Geddy!

Do you think playing that heavy 4080-6 has anything to do with the sound of his voice?

You know it sounds like Geddy has his Fender plugged into a Ric effect of some kind. The sound of that Fender doesn't sound natural to me and it sounds a lot like the Ric he played years ago. It is very distinct. I wonder what type of effects he uses and what switch he has it on. Anyone know? Those dryers are whack.

It is a good looking bass even though it is a Fender.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2375029622&category=38079

Geddy's preamp of choice these days is a SansAmp RBI. (http://www.tech21nyc.com/RBI.htm) That's basically where all his twang and crunch comes from.

I have the SansAmp Bass Driver DI which is basically the floor pedal version of the same (no mid control though), and I really dig it.