The Coff-In, St. Theodore's of Canterbury Anglican Church, Toronto, Ontario
Rush's First Paid Show: September 6, 1968
First Show with Geddy Lee: September 13, 1968
.jpg)
Rush, composed of Alex Lifeson, John Rutsey and Jeff Jones, played their first paying gig in the basement of St. Theodore's of Canterbury Anglican Church in Toronto on September 6, 1968. According to Visions, the official Rush biography published in 1988, Geddy replaced Jones after he quit the band a week later to go to a party, but that story has been debunked by Jones himself (who went on to have a very successful career with Red Rider and Tom Cochrane, see below for more).
"I received a call from [Alex Lifeson] about two weeks after he started Rush with our original drummer, John Rutsey. They had an excellent bass player, but he decided to quit the band at the last minute before a gig at a local coffeehouse." - Geddy Lee, Guitar Player, June 1980
Visions confirms the first paying gig was with Jeff Jones on bass, who was replaced by Geddy Lee one week later:
"In August [1968], Jeff Jones came in as bass player and lead singer and a formal line-up of John, Alex and Jeff was formed. They spent their evenings and weekends trying to learn the hard rock songs of the day and scheming for an opportunity to play outside their basements. The boys were soon able to work out an agreement to play in another basement, but this time they would be paid. Their salary was $25. The gig consisted of playing on Friday nights at an oddly named coffee-house located in the basement of an Anglican Church. The Coff-In served coffee, doughnuts and music to local teens for 25 cents a head. The band was excited, but they had a big problem. While they had been dreaming of playing, they had neglected to come up with a name for their group. So a few days before the gig they sat around in John's basement trying to come up with an appropriate moniker. They weren't having much luck when John's older brother Bill piped up, 'Why don't you call the band Rush' and Rush it was. The Coff-In was one of many so-called drop-in centres sprouting up in Canada at the time. By telling friends and acquaintances about the gig they were able to draw in nearly 30 people for the show. They were received pretty well, and with one live performance under their belts, the members of Rush were ready for a return performance. Well, at least two of them were.
"The following Friday saw their new-found careers almost come to a halt. At around 5pm, just a few hours before they were due to perform, Jeff called and canceled because he wanted to go to a party. It was time for some quick thinking, so Alex called up another bass player he had jammed with a few times. 'Often I would call Gedd up to borrow his amp. When I called him up this time, right away he thought, 'Oh, he's going to want my amp', and I said, 'Do you think you could come and play with us, because Jeff isn't coming, we don't have a bass player, and we have this gig tonight. We'll just play the songs'. 'The songs' consisted of half a dozen Cream tunes that most of the neighbourhood players thought they knew by heart. Alex later told Geddy that he would have to sing. Geddy was not thrilled about this, but as the new man on board and with lead singers hard to find, he didn't have much choice...Geddy was excited if a little surprised by the request. He had never met John. 'Alex used to borrow everything,' says Geddy. 'He borrowed my amp regularly and one day he called up to borrow me.'...
"Geddy's debut with Rush in September of 1968 was solid. When they had exhausted their repertoire of the half dozen Cream songs they knew, they played them again, and then again. After the show the trio split the $25 and went out to eat. At the restaurant they decided Geddy was in, and Jeff was out. Their first rehearsal was set for later in the week. Jeff was already playing in another band (Lactic Acid) so his dismissal was not that big a deal at the time."
Alex Lifeson remembering the setlist from Rush's first paying gig:
"Wow. Let's see. We did Jimi Hendrix's 'Foxey Lady,' Cream's 'Spoonful' and 'Crossroads,' the Yardbirds' 'Shapes of Things,' and maybe a few others. We only knew about seven or eight songs back then." - Alex Lifeson, Sound & Vision Online, Feb. 2006
Jeff Jones later clarified how and why he left Rush:
"The part that history always gets wrong - and this is important - is that we were kids. So, what happened was it got to a point where I had to take a long bus ride to get to Alex's house; it was taking me hours round trip. So, I just told Alex, 'Hey, this guy Geddy that you've been hanging around with plays bass. He lives right around the corner. Why don't you ask him to join?' And I guess Alex took that as me leaving, and that was it. Next thing I knew, Geddy was in Rush. There was never any formal conversation beyond that; we just drifted apart...I don't think about it too much. We were so young. We didn't even have a record deal. We never made an album or even got to record anything. And had I stayed on, we would have sounded nothing like Rush did with Geddy. And that's not a bad thing; it's just a fact. I couldn't hit those notes. [Laughs.] With me, in many ways, Rush wouldn't have been Rush. But the funny thing is, our trajectories were so odd. As soon as I left Rush, I joined Ocean at 17 years old, toured the world, and then had a big hit with 'Put Your Hand in the Hand'. But I learned early on how badly record companies can screw you. And I had to come back to earth, and by 21, I felt washed up. But eventually, I joined Red Rider, and things were going well for me again." Louder.com, November 7, 2022