The NBA Playoff Switch - April 19 & 20, 2008

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Rush fans who attended the rechecheduled Houston show were given a free Tourbook while entering the venue; a note on the bins said something like "Geddy, Alex and Neil would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused by the rescheduling...."

For Immediate Release
April 17th, 2008

Rush has announced that two of the tour dates on this year's continuation of the Snakes and Arrows tour will be switched. The New Orleans date scheduled for Saturday, April 19th at the New Orleans Arena will be moved to Sunday, April 20th at the same venue. The Houston date originally scheduled for Sunday, April 20th will be held on Saturday, April 19th at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. The reason: The New Orleans Hornets have clinched their first playoff berth in four years and will play their first playoff game at the New Orleans Arena on Saturday, April 19th, the same night that Rush was scheduled to perform.

"You always know that there is a slight possibility that this could happen" says Rush Manager Ray Danniels, "but no one was expecting it to. We have to congratulate the New Orleans Hornets on capturing their first division title in their 20 year franchise history. Concerts are often booked on potential playoff dates using an educated guess at the time, in all our years of touring this is a first time a date has been forced to change. We apologize to any Rush fan who is inconvenienced by this."

This change will not be an easy one for the band as it will necessitate additional travel for band and crew as they bypass New Orleans on their way to Houston, backtrack for the New Orleans show and then head back to Texas for Rush's Austin show on April 23rd. "It's disappointing" says Danniels "we have 40 crew members who are logging a lot of extra miles and additional expense as a result of this shift". Still, Rush is expecting a sold out crowd when they play New Orleans for the first time in 12 years.

Rush also contributed $100,000 from the show in New Orleans to assist in the continuation of revitalizing the city post Katrina. - Rush.com Press Release