Looking Back at Rush's First Concert in the U.S. 50 Years Ago Today

May 18th, 1974 was a cold, grey, and rainy day in East Lansing, Michigan. Not exactly ideal conditions for a 12-hour music festival at the Northside Drive-In. That, however, was the dream of 25-year old promoter Tom Demeter; to bring a kind of mini-woodstock to the area with hopes of up to 30,000 people attending. The outdoor concert was to be headlined by American blues singer Dr. John and feature eight additional bands. However numerous problems resulted in the festival being less than the spectacle Demeter was hoping for. First, the rains came. Then several members of the muddy, drug-addled crowd were taken away by ambulance. Finally, the headliner Dr. John never showed up.

That left a bill featuring the still up-and-coming New York Dolls, a Beatles tribute band known as Liverpool, the Cosmic Beam Experience light show, and a trio of then-unknown future prog-rock stars called Rush. At this point in their history, Rush still featured original drummer John Rutsey. A certain Cleveland disc jockey hadn't yet sparked American interest by playing one of their songs, so they had never ventured south of the Canadian border. This would be their first show in the States after nearly 300 performances in Canada over the past six years.

Hopes that the Northside Drive-In could provide a breakthrough moment quickly faded. "I heard the announcer talking to the crowd about this amazing new band from Canada and how they were a great bunch of guys," concert-goer Mark Mondol told the State Journal. Unfortunately, Rush's actual performance is lost to history. One attendee could only remember that it was loud; Mondol said all he recalled was "a lot of hair." There is apparently no surviving setlist and for all intents and purposes, the event flopped. Mondol, who had been asked to film the proceedings for a public-access program sponsored by Michigan State University, estimated that no more than 2,000 attended. Other reports put the crowd at 1,300.

After the show, Rush made the five-hour journey back to Toronto where they continued to perform at numerous venues in support of their debut album. Rush, with John Rutsey, would return one last time to the U.S. a month later when they opened for ZZ Top at the Allen Theater in Cleveland. Two months later, Neil Peart would take the stage with Rush for the first time as the band played their third and to-date largest U.S. show at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. From there, Rush would perform in the United States nearly 2,000 more times during their storied career, including nine more stops in the Lansing, Michigan area throughout the 70s.

The Northside Drive-In is no longer in existence, the memory of this would-be music festival has long faded away from the memories of most who attended, but today as Rush fans we can look back and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band's touring expansion beyond the borders of their homeland Canada. True, it may have been an uneventful premiere for Rush in the United States, but it was the beginning of their global touring adventures.

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