The Presto Tour began and ended less than five months after it started, going from February 15th, 1990 to June 29th, 1990. Supporting bands this go around included the return of Chalk Circle, joined by Voivod and Mr. Big. Regarding the shortness of the tour, Geddy had this to say:
"The Presto tour was a short one, intentionally, because we weren't so sure about touring anymore. And things worked out so well, we actually finished the tour and everyone was still smiling." - Geddy Lee, "Rockline", May 15, 1992
The Power Windows website adds the following about the setlist:
This is the last tour to include "In The Mood". This is one of only two tours in which "Limelight" was not included in the set, either full time or as an alternate/replacement (the other being the Grace Under Pressure tour). In addition, the first third of this tour are the only tourdates which did not include "The Spirit Of Radio" in the setlist since its inception. This is the first tour to include The Surfari's "Wipe Out" during the encore; it would also be included during the first leg of the Test For Echo tour.
Setlist changes during this tour: "Superconductor" originally followed "Show Don't Tell" and "The Big Money" began the encore. Five days into the tour, "Superconductor" was moved up in front of "Show Don't Tell". One-third into the tour (beginning 4/2), "The Spirit of Radio" replaced "The Big Money".
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Shared from Nick from this tour is quite possibly the most well-known soundboard from the whole tour, a show from Hartford, CT. It is a near-complete show from the tour, marred only by the missing intro and a bit of the beginning of "Force Ten".
Presto Tour -
"The Hartford '90" Hartford, CT on 5/8/90www.nickeh.com/botm/rush1990-05-8.rarBelow is my compilation of a show for this tour, although because a near-complete soundboard already existed for the Presto Tour, the only things I had to fix were the intro/beginning of Force Ten, which I filled in with a bit from a show a week earlier, an audience recording that is pretty good.
Rush - Presto Tour - 120:28
(Live In Hartford, CT on 5/8/90)
(THe Hartford '90 - SBD)
Disc 1 - 60:59
1. Force Ten* 5:04
2. Freewill 4:02
3. Distant Early Warning 4:23
4. Time Stand Still 6:18
5. Subdivisions 5:34
6. Marathon 6:43
7. Red Barchetta 6:57
8. Superconductor 5:16
9. Show Don't Tell 6:43
10. The Pass 5:03
11. Closer To The Heart 4:56
Disc 2 - 59:29
1. Manhattan Project 5:10
2. Xanadu 6:51
3. YYZ 3:18
4. The Rhythm Method 5:11
5. Scars 4:44
6. War Paint 5:53
7. Mission 5:40
8. Tom Sawyer 6:35
9. The Spirit Of Radio 4:55
10. 2112: Overture 3:22
11. La Villa Strangiato 4:51
12. In The Mood/Wipeout 3:00
*Force Ten intro filled in from:
(Target Mass Appeal PE - AUD)
(Atlanta, GA on 5/1/1990)
Missing:
The Big Money - original encore opener
Replaced by The Spirit Of Radio on 4/2/90
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I haven't gotten around to listening to this show lately as I had hoped, but I do remember it. It's a good set list, and there are a few carry-overs from the HYF tour, such as ending the show with "Tom Sawyer", and including "2112 Overture", "La Villa Strangiato" and "In The Mood" in the encore. Of interest to me is the beginning of the second disc, which runs as a near 25-minute medley of music. The ending of "Manhattan Project" goes nearly seamlessly into "Xanadu", which sees it's return to the show since the New World Tour. Then, as done before, "YYZ" goes into Neil's solo, the end of which sets up his electronic-drum intro for "Scars". A great set of songs, and a highlight of the whole show.
As for new songs, the band played only 5 new songs from their new album, and did so in 2 chunks rather than spreading them out over the course of the show, and in fact, they spend 7 songs playing older songs before playing anything new. Then of course, they open with "Superconductor", a song that polarizes many fans, but then they play two of the best songs on the album. Later on, they play the aforementioned "Scars", which sounds great live and I wish they would've brought it back for later tours. "War Paint" is a nice addition as well, but ends the new songs for the tour. They then spend the rest of the show with oldies.
It's a fairly balanced set list, with the return of "Xanadu", the amount of 70's Rush material goes up a bit. They play 7 songs from their synth-era/Sector 3 albums (8 if you count 'The Big Money" from earlier in the tour), 5 from PEW/MOV, and 5 from their 70's material. It's pretty balanced, and probably their most balanced set in years/tours. It's a shame this tour was so short compared to others, but I am glad they enjoyed it enough to realize they couldn't stop touring!
-Marc.