With their latest album Clockwork Angels at the top of many 'Best Of' lists for 2012 this was one highly anticipated tour. With tickets on sale a full year before the gigs the diehard fans had to shell out a good £80 for a ticket……but was it worth the money?

As is usually the case there is no support band for Rush, what we get is three plus hours of Canadian progressive pleasure. The first half was a plethora of old material that we haven't had aired for many years live, Subdivision and one of my personal favourites Force Ten got in there early. The Analog Kid was a bit of a surprise but a pleasant one all the same, rounding off the first half with Far Cry the time went far too quickly. First set completed, it dawned on me how much fun the guys were having on stage, not looking or acting their gaining ages and sounding truly fantastic. The stage show was a little subdued however which I thought was really unlike Rush….my fears were soon alleviated in the second half!

Joined for the second set by a string section positioned behind Neil Pearts monstrous drum set, they added a deeper element to the sound than using samples would have. With another Rush inspired film intro these are getting as highly anticipated as what's going to get played in the set. Getting eight songs off Clockwork Angels, together with one hell of a stage set up which sprung into life after teasing us in the first half. Ten screens swung down and combined with back projections to form a visual orgasm and the odd pyro and flame burst just added to the already stunning show. The sound was astounding, crisp, clear and Geddy's voice was stronger than on the last tour in my opinion. However for me was the guitar heroics of Alex Lifeson, Like most I've probably just taken what he plays for granted but he is such an underrated player. The Garden was a magnificent lesson in grandiose, all Rush fans would have left happy with a climax like that but there was a lot more to come. Tom Sawyer, YYZ, Spirit of Radio and the grand encore of 2112 brought Sheffield to its knees.