The Rush Tribute Project rolls into Houston on Saturday, June 6, and the room choice tells the story before a note is played. 713 Music Hall — a 5,000-capacity Live Nation amphitheater on Franklin Street — is not a club booking. That kind of room for a tribute act says something about how large the appetite for Rush still runs in Texas.
The tour hook sharpens it further: the group is performing Moving Pictures in full, start to finish, in the original track order. That’s the canny center of this whole run. Moving Pictures — the record that contains “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight,” “Red Barchetta,” and “YYZ” — is Rush’s sharpest entry point for a casual listener and the deepest pull for a dedicated fan who’s memorized every time-signature shift. Playing it complete means no editing out the harder pieces. From there, the night extends into hits and deep cuts covering more than forty years of catalog.
The Rush Tribute Project is a three-piece, same configuration as the original band. Sean Jones covers Geddy Lee’s famously layered role — vocals, bass, keyboards — as a classically trained multi-instrumentalist with over twenty years in Rush tribute performance, including RushCon. Bill Heck handles the guitar parts; a 37-year veteran and 2017 Wisconsin Area Music Industry Award winner for best guitarist. Thomas Slawnik has been behind the kit since the group’s founding in 2013, playing a custom setup built in the spirit of Rush’s R30 tour; he’s been drumming since age four with Neil Peart as the reference point. The band won the 2018 WAMI Award for Best Tribute Band. Production: vintage instruments, multi-camera projections, and state-of-the-art lighting built to replicate the scale of a Rush show.
The Houston date is the third stop on a nine-show Texas and Southwest leg — Dallas the night before (Majestic Theatre, June 5), Midland the night after (Wagner Noël PAC, June 8).
About 713 Music Hall
713 Music Hall sits at 401 Franklin Street in downtown Houston. It’s a Live Nation amphitheater with a capacity of 5,000, offering premium upgrades including Kashmere Lounge access and Fast Lane entry. Show time is 7:30 PM.
Tickets
Tickets for The Rush Tribute Project at 713 Music Hall on June 6 are available now through Ticketmaster. For more upcoming shows at this venue, visit the 713 Music Hall page. Find the full Houston concert calendar for more shows in the area.