The Sheffield Arena was only about three quarters full, perhaps 7,500 which was probably as a direct consequence of the high ticket prices, however, there was a definite atmosphere that something very special was about to be witnessed.

As the lights went down and a movie started on the big screen behind the stage. Geddy Lee was playing the owner of a sausage company, Alex Lifeson was in a fat suit and Neil Peart was a Policeman sitting at the counter. In the corner of the restaurant was the band Rash, playing orchestral instruments. “Fat” Alex had stored a device in Geddy’s basement that was a magical musical machine. Rash started playing “Spirit of Radio” in oom-pah style when Fat Alex said, “Whatever you do, don’t touch this button.” The button inevitably got pushed and Rush appeared onstage and went right into “Spirit Of Radio”.

Two things hit me straight away: firstly, Geddy, Alex and Neil are certainly looking older these days (aren’t we all?) and secondly, the thunderous sound that was emanating from the Canuck three-piece.

“Time Stand Still” was up next and actually featured programmed backing-vocals, however, there was definitely no miming going on here tonight.

“Presto” is my least favourite Rush album but the title track from that album took on a whole new dynamic in the live arena.

“Stick It Out” from the underrated “Counterparts” album was intense and heavy and would have certainly appealed to the Metal fans in the audience. “Working Them Angels” from the last studio album “Snakes & Arrows” continued the heavy theme.

The large screen behind the band was utilised to give close-ups of the band and was augmented with mesmerising video clips that enhanced the performance of already brilliant songs even further.

The first of three instrumentals came in the form of “Leave That Thing Alone” that highlighted the band’s level of musicianship even further, if that was possible?

“Faithless”, also taken from “Snakes & Arrows” was followed by another very heavy track “BU2B” that I knew would be awesome live.

The atmosphere rose to an even higher level of intensity during “Freewill”. Geddy’s vocals did seem a little strained during some of the high parts of this song but certainly not enough to detract from the overall performance.

“Marathon” from the great “Power Windows” followed and the first set was brought to a close with the glorious keyboard driven “Subdivisions”.

The second half of the show began with another video intro and the start of the run-through of the incredible “Moving Pictures”. “Tom Sawyer” was injected with a huge dose humour with the video first showing the song being played by chimps and then by Neil on lead guitar, Geddy on drums and Alex on bass and vocals!

The band tore through crowd favourite “Red Barchetta” and were left awe-struck during the instrumental “YYZ”.

“Limelight” was stunning as usual but felt strange to be played mid-set and not either as an opener or encore.

The videos showing New York and London complimented “The Camera Eye” as did the spectacular lighting rig during the haunting “Witch Hunt” and “Vital Signs”. Most bands can only ever dream of writing songs as strong as these and even those that could would be absolutely terrified of trying to replicate them live!

The second new track “Caravan” from the forthcoming album “Clockwork Angels” was thunderous.

During most drum solos, half the audience normally heads towards the bars but not the case when Neil “The Professor” Peart starts to play. This was as technically superb as one can imagine but also very entertaining. At the end of his solo those not already on their feet rose in unison to give Neil a well-deserved standing ovation!

“Closer To The Heart” begun with Alex playing 12-string acoustic guitar; the end of the song was a different version to normal which was probably due to the fact that Geddy can no longer reach the same high notes that he did in the seventies!

The iconic Starman symbol on the big screen heralded “Overture” followed by “Temples of Syrinx” from “2112” that had the whole arena really rocking.

“Far Cry” is only four years old but is already a Rush bona-fide classic and brought the second half to a fitting climax. The band left, briefly, to tumultuous applause and returned for a two-song encore starting with probably my favourite Rush track, the unparalleled, instrumental “La Villa Strangiato”.

I was not too impressed with the reggae start to “Working Man” but half way through it reverted to the classic hard rock style of the 1974 debut.

There was a long outtake featuring Paul Rudd and Sydney Fife from the film “I Love You, Man”. The fact that virtually no one left early was testament to what a superb show that we had just witnessed.

I would rate this 98/100 and only detract a couple of points for the fact that the set-list or Geddy’s voice was not quite as good as on the “R30 Tour”.