Released 40 years ago today, All the World’s A Stage was Rush‘s first live album of 11 released over the next four decades. The two-record set was taken from a three-night stand in Rush’s hometown Toronto earlier in the year, when they hit Massey Hall in support of their 2112 album. Singer, bassist and keyboardist Geddy Lee loves Massey Hall:
“The first show I saw here was Cream, I believe — don’t ask me what year it was, but it’s a very clear memory,” he recalled. “I couldn’t get anyone to go with me, so I said, ‘Screw you all, I’m going by myself.’ When you are in front of the stage, the place feels huge, but when you stand on the stage, it just feels so much smaller than you remember it. There’s a shift in perspective that happens, and it becomes a different place. You cannot reconcile it’s the same place you used to sit in the audience and watch bands.”
