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Progressive rock trio Rush kicks off tour

Canadian power rockers Rush are set to perform at the Verizon Wireless Arena at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 7.

Formed in Toronto in 1968, the band is composed of bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist Geddy Lee; guitarist and backing vocalist Alex Lifeson; and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. The band is currently on the road in support of their latest record, the conceptual “Clockwork Angels.”

Of “Angels,” Peart said the idea began with a conversation in 2009.

“We got together in Los Angeles and started to think about our next year,” he has said. “I started to explain this whole ‘steampunk’ thing to the guys, and they seemed kind of intrigued. So I started working, and the story came together organically.”

Lifeson added that normally at the start of a tour, the band has come off a fairly long break.

“We’ll spend two months in rehearsals, between the individual stuff we do, then as a band for three or four weeks,” he has said. “Then full production for 10 or 12 days.”

According to Peart, the band plans on playing a big chunk of this album on tour when they arrive in Manchester.

“On the R-30 tour, we played a lot of older stuff just to celebrate our 30 years,” he said. “And that liberated us on the ‘Snakes and Arrows’ tour, where we just played eight or nine new songs.”

Rush has always enjoyed a certain mystique, though their visibility has been more pronounced in recent years.

“I’m not sure it’s a concerted effort,” Lifeson said some time ago. “I think it’s natural development. We’re a little more confident and comfortable in our skin as we get older and mature. For a long time, we wanted to keep the band a separate issue from our own private, personal lives. And we were really successful at that for a long time; we certainly aren’t in People magazine or anything like that.”

All of the band members agree that Rush has gotten more attention in recent years.

“It is a vindication,” Peart said earlier this year. “I’m ambivalent, personally. Too much attention and hoopla doesn’t agree with my temperament. I’m more introverted and I like to be an observer, so I’m ambivalent about that part of life but it is a great vindication … and for our fans.”

In fact, some critics have noted that Rush has become a reference point for younger bands.

“With a lot of these younger musicians, they look to us as an example of, if you stick what you believe, you can make it,” Lifeson has said. “You don’t need radio and all those other things that are increasingly becoming less important as the industry changes. A lot of young guys look at us and go, ‘These guys are in their 50s and they’re still playing, and playing well. We can do it, too.’ ”

Ultimately, like most bands playing today, the matter of longevity invariably creeps into most conversations.

“I’m glad I’ve been able to hold onto my peak this long,” Peart said. “The next two years are mapped out pretty well, and that’s enough. We usually only plan one year in advance. So that’s the funny thing about longevity – because we watched one year go by, and two, three, four, each one one at a time, but we never planned, ever, more than a year in advance. Now we’re planning the next two years, so that’s more than enough future for anyone to dare to presume.”

The Verizon Wireless Arena is located at 555 Elm St., Manchester. Tickets are $50.50-$96 and are available online at ticketmaster.com, by phone at 1-800-745-3000 or in person at the Verizon Wireless Arena box office.