First, Spirit of Rush played a show at the Griffin Opera House in Griffin, GA on Friday October 3. This place is really cool. The building dates back to the late 1800s, and it has been beautifully restored, with some of the original fixtures still intact.
Many performers have graced the Opera House stage over the years, including vaudeville, brass bands, opera, and now, The Spirit of Rush!
We’ve played here once before and had an amazing experience. We kicked off the show with A Passage to Bangkok, then onto songs like Freewill, Natural Science, Afterimage, and Witch Hunt.
One of my favorite things about Griffin audiences is their whoops and hollers! They’re vocally enthusiastic, and that gives us loads of energy.
After a day of rest it was on to Madlife Stage in Woodstock, GA, the same place we filmed our video shoot in 2024.
This stage is always incredible, and just when we thought it couldn’t get better Madlife went and topped itself! They put our logo up on three screens, just like last time. But this time they adding moving graphics. Our logo changed colors, sparkled with a border of stars, and spun in different directions. It was spectacular!
We had a technical issue at the start, but the packed house of fans was sweet and patient. Before long we were off. We played songs like Red Sector A, Xanadu, Dreamline, and Analog Kid.
One of the most fun moments of the night was performing our original song Lost and Found. The crowd went wild for it, and that made us so proud.
Another fave moment for me was watching the guys play La Villa Strangiato. I never tire of that one!
The next morning, I posted a thank you to the fans, including a little video clip, then headed out for breakfast with the band.
As I was chowing down on a biscuit, I got a text from a Rush fan friend that said, “Vicki! The news! The news!” My first reaction was fear. I had found out about Neil’s death by text when I was with the band at practice back in 2020. Was this message good news or bad news?
It was great news.
Rush have decided to go back on tour! Their drummer will be Anika Nilles.
I sat there stunned. After grieving the loss of them for so long, I still feel stunned to hear that they are stepping back into the limelight. The shock has turned to excitement. I have missed them SO MUCH!
We'll explore this more in future blogs and chats, but for now, all I can say is that I'm beyond happy to see Ged and Al so happy. This is a dream come true.
Hope to see you at one of the tour's seven cities of gold!
Until then, Rush on!
