Recorded live on September 24, 2004 at the Festhalle Frankfurt, Germany from Rush's R30: 30th Anniversary Tour. This is from the Blu-ray version of R30, containing the complete concert, which was released on December 8, 2009 in the US, and in late 2013 in Europe. "Working Man" is from their self-titled debut album. The song's guitar solo was voted 94th in Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar solos. In an interview on the Rolling Stone YouTube channel, bassist and lead vocalist Geddy Lee said that "Working Man" is his favorite song to play live.

Rush released their self-titled debut album on their own label, Moon Records, on March 1, 1974. A DJ named Donna Halper at WMMS in Cleveland, Ohio, listened to the last track, "Working Man," and put it on the air, giving the band liftoff. It fit her criteria for three reasons:

1) Cleveland was a working town, and the lyrics were very relatable to their audience.

2) WMMS was an album-oriented rock station, so they looked for songs that other stations weren't playing.

3) Running 7:07, the song gave plenty of time for the DJ to take a bathroom or smoke break.

Immediately, the radio station received calls from people asking when the new Led Zeppelin album was coming out; they were surprised to learn that the vocalist was not Robert Plant, but Geddy Lee, lead singer for a new band called Rush. Thanks to the airplay, the album picked up steam in Cleveland and got the attention of Mercury Records, which signed the band and re-released the album with their promotional might behind it. With the backing of a major label, Rush soon became one of the most popular rock bands in the US and Canada. The band, which gave her special thanks for her part in their early history and dedicated their first two albums to her.

Like all of the songs on the band's first album, the song features original drummer John Rutsey, who was replaced by Neil Peart in 1974. The lyrics for "Working Man" were written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. On the 1976 live album "All the World's a Stage", the song segues into "Finding My Way" and a drum solo by Peart. After not being performed live for most of the 1980s and 1990s, it returned to Rush's set lists during the 2002 Vapor Trails Tour. With the exception of the 2007-08 Snakes & Arrows Tour, the song appeared on every live set list through the R40 Live Tour of 2015, the band's last. It was included on the live albums and videos of the tours in which it was used, except for Clockwork Angels Tour; for R40 Live, it was played as part of a medley with "What You're Doing" and ended with a snippet of "Garden Road," a song from the band's early catalog.

This was the last song Rush played live, using it as the capper to their R40 Live tour, which ended on August 1, 2015 with a show at The Forum near Los Angeles. On the tour, they played songs in reverse chronological order, starting with their newest songs and working backwards, with the backdrops changing to reflect the era. When the show ended, Neil Peart "crossed the back-line meridian" for the first time, joining Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson at the front of the stage to take a bow.

Longtime Rush roadie Ian Grandy once heard Geddy Lee state that if there is one "ultimate" Rush song, it's "Working Man."


Geddy Lee - Bass, Vocals
Alex Lifeson - Guitar
Neil Peart - Drums

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