If you read this blog regularly, you would notice that I started collecting Kiss Tour Books and this collecting is a very recent thing. As a result, I have suddenly had numerous Tour Books fall in to my lap almost literally. First were a couple of Bon Jovi Tour Books and now I stumbled across not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 Rush Tour Books. It is like the Tour Book Gods are speaking to me. I grabbed all 4 as the prices were really great and made it worth owning. This here is the final of the 4 Rush Tour Book posts that have been done. The place I found these was Hardy Boy Records in Mint Hill, NC. I always seem to find some cool stuff from him as I have found numerous Kiss Bootlegs at his shop. His shop is quickly becoming my favorite place to go.
We’ve already covered three tour programs for ‘Power Windows’, ‘Roll the Bones’ and ‘Counterparts’. We are now the final one in this set of tour books I picked up and it is for the Test for Echo Tour which was the band’s first tour without an opening act, and was billed as “An Evening With Rush.” The tour kicked off October 19, 1996 and ran until July 4, 1997. This was the only concert tour in which Rush played the song “2112” in its entirety. The set list was broken in to 3 parts and it is the best yet…
SETLIST
SET ONE
“Dreamline”
“The Big Money”/”Wipe Out” (Replaced with “Limelight” for the second leg)
“Stick It Out” (Second leg only)
“Driven”
“Half the World”
“Red Barchetta”
“Animate”
“Limbo”
“The Trees”
“Freewill” (Second leg only)
“Red Sector A”
“Virtuality”
“Nobody’s Hero”
“Closer to the Heart”
“2112”
SET TWO
“Test for Echo”
“Subdivisions” (Dropped from the second leg)
“Freewill”
“Roll the Bones”
“Resist”
“Leave That Thing Alone”
“The Rhythm Method” (drum solo)
“Natural Science”
“Force Ten”
“Time and Motion” (Moved around the setlist before being dropped on 9 Nov 1996)
“The Spirit of Radio”
“Tom Sawyer”
ENCORE
“YYZ”
“Cygnus X-1” (teaser)
What was really cool about this tour is I actually saw this one. It was also the very first, and sadly, only time I saw Rush in concert. It is one of the best concerts I have ever been to and to have a whole night of only Rush was even better. My brother took me as he got tickets from his fiancee at the time (and now wife) who worked for the company that built the arena. So our tickets were free which is even better. Here is my ticket stub…
I am so excited to actually get a Tour Book from the Tour I saw so that makes this one my favorite of the four Rush programs and the most special of the bunch for me. Also, their art director on this one did a bang up job. This is by the far the best looking of the four. Let us get started…
And like normal, we get the 3 page essay from Mr. Neil Peart…I would be saddened it there wasn’t one by this point…
And in typical fashion, the credits and then the individual band member pictures with commentary from each…
And next are some more individual band member pictures and this are spectacular. I love the black background and the pictures are so crisp (maybe not with my photos, but the actual book are)…
Then we get the Centerfold. No Angel here, just a full page stage shot…awesome!!
Next up are couple full pages shot which they have never done before where the pictures cross from one page to the next…with the exception of the centerfolds…
Lastly, it is page after page of more great band photos…
And now the final shots including the typical album cover page with song titles…
Now, how should this end…well…with the back cover obviously…
That is it. We have now been through all 4 Rush Tour Books that I have in my collection…for now!! I hope you enjoyed scrolling through the book and I hope there will be more in the future to see. Let me know which one your favorite one was…mine was this one as I mentioned earlier. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
2 Loud 2 Old Music 
Nice! I forgot the encore was sdo short that tour.
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Only one i’d seen, so I knew no difference.
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Dropped Subdivisions?!?! Boooooo!
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Ruined the whole show without it!! Ha!!!
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Main thing John is saw them! That’s a great set list and a great looking tour book. A round of cheers for the local record shop as well. Awesome and I bet they are happy you are supporting local.
Thanks for sharing these tour books.
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You are welcome. Yes, I can say I got to see them and my only disappointment is not seeing them more. And yes, buy local when you can!!
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Not the tour I saw but a similar set. We saw the 1997 Retrospective tour.
Test For Echo is a terrible Rush album but the artwork was great and so is this tour book!
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I don’t think I had heard the album prior to the show. I was gong because it was Rush and it was free and since it is one of the best shows I’d seen it was worth every penny and then some.
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Loved this brief series. I have a hardcover book from about 10-15 years ago with reproductions of all their tour programs up to that point. It’s currently on display beneath a framed numbered lithograph of the Feedback EP signed by all three of them and Hugh Syme. It’s my little Rush shrine. I haven’t looked through the tour book in a few years but I will do that soon with a renewed excitement thanks to your posts. I only saw them twice, on the Moving Pictures and Counterparts tours, but I can’t complain having seen them on two incredible tours. I own all of their live albums, DVDs & blu-rays so I feel like I’ve seen them dozens of times. On another note, did Mike really say that Test For Echo is “a terrible Rush album”? Ouch. I respectfully disagree.
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I am going out on a limb and saying your a fan!! Ha! Some cool stuff there. And I don’t know what album so I can’t agree or disagree with Mike, but I am sure he is wrong (Mike, if you read this, Rich is wrong). There covered all my bases.
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So much to take in here, thanks for all the pics! And here I thought I was thrilled finding a t-shirt from the Tool tour I saw in ’08… You know, I love Rush. Love love love. But I never saw them in concert. Oh, they probably came around a ton of times, and they’re based only a couple of hours down the road, but somehow I just never went. Now I can’t. You’re lucky to have seen them, and this book is a great reminder of your night with Rush!
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Great set list and Teat For Echo is a good Rush album. More like prog Metal on some of the tracks than prog rock
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That was a great show. I still remember the feeling I had watching it. A night full of chills.
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One of the bands on my list to watch live that never got crossed off.
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I have so many I never got around to seeing and now too late. Van Halen is one of those.
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I love when shows are a double-set by the band – better yet, a double-set by Rush when they play 2112 & still have time for an encore !
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It was awesome.
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