Rush live at Offenbach Stadthalle (Offenbach Town Hall) in Offenbach, Germany during the Hemispheres tour. This show was recorded by Rush's original sound engineer Ian Grandy (1968-1980), which later somehow unofficially made its way to the public. Ian Grandy also recorded the soundboard at one of the 1979 Hammersmith Odeon shows (May 4, 5, 6, 7), from which he then edited Something For Nothing and Cygnus X-1 into this show. I am convinced that the Hammersmith show Ian recorded was May 6, as these two songs do not match the audience recordings we have for May 4, 5, or 7. Circumstances was dropped from the setlist towards the end of the Hemispheres tour for all European dates, which would have been from April 23 and onward. Something For Nothing and Cygnus X-1 were also dropped from the setlist towards the end of the tour for all continental European dates, which would have been from May 17 and onward.
While Ian Grandy may have edited in Something For Nothing and Cygnus X-1, these songs were apparently not in setlist order, rather at the end of both sides of one of the tapes he made. The original Offenbach recording runs seamless and uncut, indicating no edits had been made accordingly preceding and succeeding The Trees. For historical accuracy, I am uploading two versions. One is the original seamless Offenbach recording, with SFN and CX1 as separate bonus tracks at the end (for the file download, not video). The second version I am uploading is identical, but with SFN and CX1 edited in setlist order, using minor cross-fading to make the song transitions mostly seamless. Ideally I wouldn't want to mix match ANY recordings from different dates, but to upload the two Hammersmith tracks on their own seems kind of pointless unless the full board ever surfaces.
For the record, the version of this recording I am uploading is as close in lineage to the master tape as possible, only featuring very minor adjustments such as speed and pitch corrections. It is a very laborious and careful mastering from the lowest generation source available, done by the Progressive Rock Remaster Project, and yes I believe it beats the other various versions out there. That means it is not layered with all sorts of unnecessary tampering you'll find in old versions, yet still manages to sound amazing while feeling more natural.
This recording has long been known as being from Frankfurt, and Geddy clearly states Frankfurt after Anthem, however the location is a bit more complex to detail. It was recorded at the "Offenbach Town Hall" in the city of Offenbach (also known as Offenbach Am Main), which is in the German state of Hesse and not Frankfurt. However Offenbach is on the Frankfurt border and is considered part of the "Frankfurt urban area", which would likely explain why Geddy refers to Frankfurt during the recording.
Track Listing:
01 - Anthem [0:00]
02 - A Passage To Bangkok [4:12]
03 - By-Tor And The Snow Dog [8:07]
04 - Xanadu [13:49]
05 - Something For Nothing * [26:18]
06 - The Trees [30:29]
07 - Cygnus X-1 * [35:45]
08 - Hemispheres [44:39]
09 - Closer To The Heart [1:04:28]
10 - A Farewell To Kings [1:07:47]
11 - La Villa Strangiato [1:13:25]
12 - 2112 [1:24:00]
13 - Working Man [1:43:49]
14 - Bastille Day [1:47:27]
15 - In The Mood [1:49:12]
16 - Drum Solo [1:51:55]
Downloads:
rush-archives....