RUSH is one band that can certainly fill an arena, and they certainly did so in Manchester and the faithful fans came out to see their heroes in concert once again.

Both halves of the show (which lasted three hours) started with a short film – featuring the band in acting roles – about the ‘real’ story of Rush.

It was all very tongue-in-cheek and introduced the Time Machine concept which was the title of the tour.

The first track played was their biggest singles hit The Spirit Of Radio, and for the next hour and a bit the rabid audience was treated to the likes of Time Stand Still, Presto, Freewill and the instrumental Leave That Thing Alone amongst others.

They saved the best tracks of the half until the end when they performed their early eighties classic Marathon and Subdivisions.

We were also introduced to some new music – from their forthcoming album (“When we get to finish it.” Sighed bassist and singer Geddy Lee).

B2UB came first and Caravan was performed in the second half.

The pace of the show was pretty much full on and the band reinforced it’s reputation as THE Power Trio with a full sound using pedals, keys and of course the excellent guitar work of Alex Lifeson; all held together by the drumming genius that is Neil Peart.

The second half was even better than the first.

The album Moving Pictures, now 30 years old, was performed in it’s entirety; which meant the fan favourites Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, the amazing instrumental YYZ and Limelight.

Whilst the first half mainly showcased the more recent songs (well, the last 20 years), the reception for the older material was better by far.

There was the obligatory Neil Peart drum solo, and then the classics.

Closer To The Heart, 2112 Overture and Temples Of Syrinx and Far Cry with the band encoring with the sublime La Villa Strangiato and their very early song Working Man (complete with reggae intro and a snippet from Cygnus X-1 in the outro.

As the band left the stage, another short film based in the dressing room was played – no doubt to give the band a chance to get away from the Arena before the crowd.

All in all, a fantastic show. The music, as we have come to expect from such an accomplished band, was excellent.

The three members all seemed to enjoy themselves, which is always good for the tone of the show.

The effects were mind-blowing with some pretty earth-shattering pyros and a lighting rig that looked like the mothership from Close Encounters.

I still haven’t worked out the reason for the tumble-dryers and sausage-maker, but it all added to the experience.

They may have been at the top for almost 40 years now, but on the evidence of this fantastic show, Rush will always be Closer To My Heart.