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Exit... Stage Left Tour

1981 concert tour by Rush

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
3 min read
Source updated July 21, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

The Exit... Stage Left Tour was a concert tour by Canadian rock band Rush, in support of the band's second live album Exit... Stage Left and its accompanying video.

01Background

The European leg of the tour was supported by Girlschool. Riot was the opening act for the band on the North American leg, performing in arenas.

02Set list

This is an example set list adapted from Rush: Wandering the Face of the Earth, The Official Touring History of what were performed during the tour, but may not represent the majority of the shows. The set list was similar to the setlist from the previous tour, but featured the song "Subdivisions" which would later be featured on the band's 1982 studio album Signals. "New World Man" and "Chemistry" were both performed only at the soundchecks before a show.

  1. "2112: Overture/Temples of Syrinx"
  2. "Freewill"
  3. "Limelight"
  4. "Book II: Hemispheres, Prelude"
  5. "Beneath, Between and Behind"
  6. "Subdivisions"
  7. "The Camera Eye"
  8. "YYZ"
  9. "Broon's Bane"
  10. "The Trees"
  11. "Xanadu"
  12. "The Spirit of Radio"
  13. "Red Barchetta"
  14. "Closer to the Heart"
  15. "Tom Sawyer"
  16. "Vital Signs"
  17. "Working Man"
  18. "Book II: Hemispheres, Armageddon"
  19. "By-Tor and the Snow Dog"
  20. "In the End"
  21. "In the Mood"
  22. "2112: Grand Finale"
    Encore
  23. "La Villa Strangiato"

03Tour dates

List of 1981 concerts, showing date, city, country, venue and opening act(s)
Date City Country Venue Opening Act(s) Attendance Gross
October 29, 1981 Stafford England New Bingley Hall , N/a 16,000 / 16,000 -
October 30, 1981
October 31, 1981 Queensferry Wales Deeside Leisure Centre -
November 2, 1981 Brighton England Brighton Centre
November 4, 1981 London Wembley Arena
November 5, 1981
November 6, 1981
November 8, 1981 Ingliston Scotland Royal Highland Centre
November 9, 1981 Stafford England New Bingley Hall 8,000 / 8,000
November 11, 1981 Hamburg West Germany Musikhalle Girlschool -
November 12, 1981 Neunkirchen am Brand Hemmerleinhalle
November 14, 1981 Rotterdam Netherlands Ahoy Sportpaleis
November 16, 1981 Munich West Germany Circus Krone
November 17, 1981 Rüsselsheim am Main Walter-Köbel-Halle
November 18, 1981 Böblingen Sporthalle
November 19, 1981
November 20, 1981 Karlsruhe Schwarzwaldhalle
November 21, 1981 Essen Grugahalle
November 28, 1981 Pembroke Pines United States Hollywood Sportatorium Riot 12,837 / 12,837 $122,480
November 29, 1981 Jacksonville Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum 9,467 / 11,628 $88,673
December 1, 1981 Birmingham Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center 7,398 / 9,000 $70,281
December 2, 1981 Nashville Nashville Municipal Auditorium 9,900 / 9,900 $83,742
December 4, 1981 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum 12,900 / 12,900 $111,616
December 5, 1981 Fayetteville Cumberland County Memorial Arena 6,500 / 7,000 -
December 6, 1981 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum 8,534 / 11,176 $76,826
December 8, 1981 Knoxville Knoxville Civic Coliseum 8,959 / 10,000 $76,610
December 9, 1981 Atlanta The Omni 13,558 / 13,558 -
December 11, 1981 Greenville Greenville Memorial Auditorium 7,000 / 7,000 $60,735
December 12, 1981 Johnson City Freedom Hall Civic Center 6,802 / 8,500 $60,750
December 13, 1981 Roanoke Roanoke Civic Center Coliseum 7,406 / 11,000 $63,568
December 15, 1981 Norfolk Scope Arena 13,140 / 13,140 -
December 20, 1981 Hartford Hartford Civic Center 12,385 / 12,385 $128,825
December 21, 1981 East Rutherford Brendan Bryne Meadowlands Arena 37,247 / 38,270 $437,743
December 22, 1981

Box office score data

List of box office score data with date, city, venue, attendance, gross, references
Date
(1981)		 City Venue Attendance Gross Ref(s)
December 1 Birmingham, United States Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center 7,398 / 9,000 $70,281
December 2 Nashville, United States Municipal Auditorium 9,900 $83,742
December 4 Charlotte, United States Coliseum 12,562 $111,616
December 6 Greensboro, United States Coliseum 8,192 / 10,000 $76,826
December 11 Greenville, United States Memorial Auditorium 7,000 $60,735

04Personnel

Watch videos about Exit... Stage Left TourExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Exit... Stage Left Tour”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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