A year ago, a Rush world tour would have seemed like crazy talk.
Today, we’re talking about Rush playing Sphere, and they’d be crazy not to.
Speculation is bubbling from the Fountain of Lamneth about Rush playing the Bulbous Wonder. This is largely based on the wishes of the band’s unshakable following (I’m in that society), along with informed assessments from the rock community.
My buddy and national rock personality (and fellow Rush expert) Eddie Trunk has noted the Rush-Sphere possibility. I trust his take on this. Trunk can, and has, embarked on a several-minute drill-down on the very weird 1975 release “Caress of Steel,” the inspiration of the Fountain reference above. More importantly, he knows the band.
Trunk told me in a text and subsequently commented on social media that he has heard Rush is in talks, but the intel has not been confirmed in any independent reporting. Sphere does not comment on acts not announced.
But we know the surviving members of Rush are crushing it on their “Fifty Something” tour, after resisting the idea of performing again until about four years ago. That’s when co-founders Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were convinced by a member of rock royalty (see below) to hit the road again.
8 reasons Rush should play the Sphere in Las Vegas
Having sufficiently tuned up, we offer the reasons why Rush should play Sphere next year:
— Nilles for miles. An astonishing performer, Anika Nilles has taken over where the late Neil Peart ruled. Rush fans are tough to persuade that anyone other than Peart should attempt to play the band’s catalog. But Nilles, who has previously backed Jeff Beck, is a joy to watch. Based on the reams of Reels I’ve scrolled, she has mastered the material.
— Paul McCartney’s sage advice. Lifeson has said Sir Paul told him Rush needs to get back (back to where it once belonged). This was during a backstage chat at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in London in September 2022. McCartney’s directive: “You have to do it, man. You have to get back out there, man,” and then quoted Ringo Starr, “It’s what we do.” McCartney is the gift who keeps giving.
— All the world’s a stage. Rush is currently rocking the entire “Moving Pictures” album at the United Center in Chicago. Then it’s on to an angular mass of New Yorkers next week at Madison Square Garden. They would be dialed in for a Sphere sit-down when the tour closes in December at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz.
— The band has never “sat down” in Vegas. Rush most recently played our city in 2015, at MGM Grand Garden Arena, their fourth-to-last show ever with Peart. They played the city many times on tour stops, but never in residency. Promoters tried for years to lock in a Rush series. AEG Presents Senior Vice President Bobby Reynolds once memorably told me, “Rush was my first concert. I put every kind of damn offer you can put in front of Rush.” It remains the unrealized residency.
— The vivid visuals: The side-one “2112” suite would blow minds across Sphere’s curved LED screens. We envision the acoustic guitar discovery. The Priests of the Temples of Syrinx. The Red Star. And, from “Moving Pictures,” the “Red Barchetta” storyline — tires spitting gravel, the gleaming alloy air car screaming through the valley. We could even revive the disquieting, floating band members from the “Hold Your Fire” album’s “Time Stand Still” video, with Aimee Mann joining the party.
— The musical moments: In the opening set, Rush is unleashing “La Villa Strangiato,” the powerful instrumental from “Hemispheres.” In the second set, it’s “YYZ.” Those two vocal-free classics would give the Sphere Immersive Sound system a righteous workout. Activate the haptic seats and hang on.
— “Presto”: Not their best release, IMO. But that themed album carries some Vegas-centric, magic imagery (“If I could wave my magic wand, I’d make everything all right”).
— “Roll The Bones”: I might be the rare Rush fan who has the title song of that album in their top five. I’ve actually tried to convince Las Vegas artists to arrange a swing version, for places like Delilah at the Wynn, the Underground at The Mob Museum, or Bootlegger Bistro. I love it as a title for a Rush at Sphere residency, splashed across Exosphere, with sponge-y dice falling to the crowd. We might see Sphere on the horizon. Maybe “Dreamline,” off that album, is prophetic: “We travel on the road to adventure, on a desert highway, straight to the heart of the sun.”
Cool Hang Alert
Mojo Juju never disappoints, music-wise or energy-wise, in their live performances. The duo of vocalist Lea Cappelli and guitarist Nazim Chambi unspools fantastic covers in their live show, up next at 10:30 p.m.-1 a.m. Saturday at Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails at the Cosmopolitan. Cappelli and Chambi have also built a solid catalog of originals, most recently the single “Misfit” (available on streaming platforms). No cover at Barbershop (where the club is tucked away, behind the functional barbershop); go to mojojujuband.com for intel.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.