It was my privilege to visit Rush's rehearsal space while researching their gear for this month's cover story (“Rush Rolls Again,” p. 30). The band was staging a full dress rehearsal at the Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York, a quiet town just a bit north of Albany. I had a chance to talk to a number of Rush's techs and to check out the setup from up close. I can tell you that it was a pretty awesome assemblage of gear — especially considering that they're only a three-piece band. The P.A. and lighting rigs were first class, and the band members' individual stage setups were quite complex. (Read the story for details and diagrams.)
Although Rush's setups generate a large number of inputs to the P.A., only the acoustic drums and the vocals are miked. Both bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson send multiple DI outputs to the house. Because the band members can hear these direct feeds (as well as all the other sources) through their in-ear monitor setups, Lee decided that he didn't even need to use bass cabinets.
Rather than leave an empty back line where his cabinets would have gone, Lee came up with a humorous solution, filling up the space with several coin-operated clothes dryers. “At one point we wanted a big aquarium,” bass tech Russ Ryan told me, “but we realized with all the water and fish we couldn't do that. Then we were going to use vending machines, and then finally Geddy came up with the idea of dryers.” To make the whole thing even more amusing, the techs even place mics in front of them. (I guess dryers don't sound good direct.)
On a serious note, it's good to see Rush back in the limelight. Considering the tragedies that drummer Neil Peart suffered (he lost his daughter in 1997 and his wife a year later), it's a miracle that he's been able to return to touring and recording. Good luck to him and to the band.
