No. 990 -- Ghost of a Chance

Performer: Rush

Songwriters: Geddy Lee, Alex, Lifeson, Neal Peart

Original Release: Roll the Bones

Year: 1991

Definitive Version: Roll the Bones bootleg, 1991

With the possible exception of local acts—if you’re in Chicago, you MUST see Patricia Barber at The Green Mill—there is no performer I’ve seen live more times than Rush. At this writing, I’ve seen them 11 times and at least once on every tour since Presto in 1990. And despite that number, each show stands out for one reason or another.

In the spring of 1992, my Dad, who had been in to Rush since New World Man, invited me down to go with him and his secretary, Debbie, to see Rush in Dayton. All I had to pay for was the gas from Flint. Sounded good to me.

Back then, Rush always toured with a warm-up act. And for the second leg of the Roll the Bones tour, they went back to Mr. Big, a Canadian hair band that never made it, well, big. Because I’d seen them in 1990 and wasn’t impressed, I saw no reason to get to the show early, so we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant for eats beforehand. Based on the timing—no rock show ever starts on time and a warmup act always gets at least 30 minutes—I figured we were good to go, even though the other two were dubious.

Well, when we left, the first indication of trouble was that almost no one was outside the Nutter Center. Where were all the other late arrivals? The second—and real—indication of trouble was when we heard the music as we got closer. At first, I assumed—and said—Mr. Big was rockin’ it out. But as we got close to the door and recognized the song as Force Ten—Rush’s opener—we made a mad dash for the doors. Oops!

We got to our seats just about the time the song wrapped up, so fortunately we missed only the one song, but it would appear that Rush in fact started on time. Who ever heard of a punctual rock band? Oh well; the show was great. And afterward, Debbie and I hit it off talking about music on the drive back to Columbus. That would become important 2 years later when I moved to Columbus and we began to date. This was Debbie’s favorite Rush song, and I’ll always think about how we first connected at a Rush concert, of all places.