Today’s Blimp Time-Hop: Rush at CCCC in 1980

38 years ago today, our favorite Canadian power trio (maybe even our favorite Canadians) rocked us live at the Civic Center!  Rush brought a Moving Pictures Warm-Up Tour to Portland, Maine on Rocktober 1, 1980.

This was the first of 3 appearances at the CCCC in the ’80s. The other two shows were on the Grace Under Pressure tour in ’84 and the Power Windows tour in ’85. Permanent Waves brought in a new direction for Rush early in 1980, which included some reggae and new wave sounds and ushered in the age of more synthesizers.

Blimpsters at this show heard new songs like Freewill and The Spirit of Radio for the first time live in Portland. The band also previewed Limelight and Tom Sawyer  a whole 4 months before the release of Moving Pictures. Nerdgasm!

Here's one of the new songs the Portland fans were lucky to hear that night! The video features  the band working in the studio and live on stage.