Last night, Jiffy Lube Live was the place to be if you love Rush as our favorite Canadian rock band will end large-scale touring by the time they reach L.A. Lucky for us, we got to see them before they start their next chapter!

Lead vocalist/Bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart took the hundreds of fans, young and old, in attendance of their R40 Live: 40th Anniversary Tour at Jiffy Lube Live on a journey they will never forget. The journey will take fans through four decades of Rush’s extensive rock repertoire from their last album 2012’s Clockwork Angels to their first self-titled album in 1974.

It’s difficult to believe that a band that mastered the craft of mesmerizing lyrics and beautifully composed instrumentals is saying goodbye to world of large-scale touring. Whether you’re a life-long concert follower or attending your very first LIVE Rush experience, like yours truly, you were certainly in for a treat on Saturday night.

The night started off with a fantastic video detailing Rush’s history from their first adventure to displaying a road sign that states “Bristow – We Were Here First.” One of the coolest things that happened was the stage set kept being changed by the stagehands while the band played, going from a little steampunk at the beginning to a wall of amps by the second act.

For more than two hours, the fans here at Jiffy Lube Live heard hit after hit like the classics of “Tom Sawyer” and “Spirit of Radio” to recent hits like “Animate,” “The Anarchist” and “Headlong Flight” which featured a mean mini drum solo, courtesy of Neil Peart!

The individual solos alone will make you feel blessed to hear Rush live in concert. It truly feels like their solos tell their entire life story. Lee’s vocals are as strong as they were forty years ago. Peart’s drum solos have truly set the bar high as far as rock drummers. He performs complex, amazing combos and makes it look easy.

Before Rush started their second act, they showed a hilarious video called “No Country for Old Hens” that showed the band’s comedic side as they dressed up in silly costumes and played with fellow comedy actors Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Jerry Stiller and the fab four of South Park as Lil Rush who counted down the band into “Tom Sawyer.”

By the end, the fans got an encore of four Rush songs before the band whole-heartedly thanked their fans. It’s so hard to believe that this is their LAST tour. To be honest, this is one of the best concerts I have ever attended and hoped they would come back to the area in the near future. But even though Rush will be leaving the Limelight of grandiose touring, their spirit will continue live on the radio and in the hearts and minds of their loyal fans.

About The Author

Dean Rogers

Editor-in-Chief/Entertainment Reporter

I knew early on that I wanted to take my place among the stars. One day, my mother saw me reading The Washington Post at a very young age. Who would have known that it would be the building blocks of my journey? Since that day, I dedicated my life to learn all that is learnable. I read everything from encyclopedias, to books, to dictionaries, to magazines. I’m also an avid consumer of television, with my favorite genre being game shows. If you’ve seen me on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Wheel of Fortune, then you know that this interest has served me well!

My unique style of reporting began back in junior high school, when I started to chronicle the events that shaped my life. Whether it was the annual family vacation or the local science fiction convention, I shot numerous pictures and recorded my thoughts so I could truly appreciate the history. During my senior year at Friendly High, I wrote what was to be my first masterpiece, “Advanced Space Academy – A One Week Journey.” I sent the eleven-page article back to the U.S. Space Camp staff. The article was highly praised for being “one of the best written articles in the history of U.S. Space Camp.” From then on, I knew what I wanted to do for rest of my life — to be a reporter.

Since then, I have trained in Broadcast Journalism at Bowie State University (2008) in Bowie, MD earning a B.S. in Communications. I gained experience in news production and editing through field experiences with Bowie Community Media Corporation, Prince George’s Community Television, and Bowie State University Television. I also wrote scripts for a variety of quiz shows for over five years.

As a lifelong movie buff, I now see close to 100 films every year. I took this love of movies to the next step when I became a co-host for Eclipse Magazine TV in the fall of 2005. While at EMTV, I interviewed celebrities, worked red carpets, and attended a wide variety of movie screenings. In January 2009, I took a leap of faith and started my own entertainment news magazine, The Rogers Revue. Shortly afterward, my life-long journey of studying the silver screen and writing about what I learned finally earned me a place in the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

All of this has led me here, giving you the latest entertainment news for the DMV and the entire nation, and I am truly excited for whatever will come next.

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