ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

RUSH's All the World's a Stage is the last entry in a group of what I call "Early RUSH". These albums are: Rush I (1974), Fly By Night (1975), Caress of Steel (1975), 2112 (1976), and All the World's a Stage "Live" (1976).

With the success of "2112", the bands forth album, Rush set off on Tour to showcase their triumphant return to the stage. All the World's a Stage is a document of that tour and was recorded at Massey Hall in Toronto during a 3 night stint in June of 1976. The set list is a cross-section of all the band's previous albums to date and features an abbreviated version of "2112". This single CD version duplicates the original double-LP set. It is the first of many live offerings by the band. Eventually RUSH would release a live set from each of the different RUSH musical eras of the 70's, 80's, and the 90's. If you end up liking the early Rush material, then you will probably want to pick this one up, otherwise, later live recordings are much superior in my opinion.

This live album closes my first chapter on "Early Rush". In fact, Rush felt the same way when it was released, commenting in the liner notes "This album to us, signifies the end of the beginning, a milestone to mark the close of chapter one, in the annuls of Rush."