One has to admire Rush's moxie.

The Canadian trio has been beating the prog-rock drum, so to speak, for more than 30 years, yet steadfastly refuses to be relegated to nostalgia-act status.

A good many bands with back catalogs as deep as Rush, could certainly learn a lesson from the trio by taking the concert road less traveled. That's because many bands of long standing settle for regurgitating the same songs year after year -- mistakenly believing that simply reshuffling the order of a setlist somehow equates to presenting a different show than the last time they passed through town.

The paint-by-numbers bible to setlist construction for these bands contains the following commandments:

1. Bring along a popular support band or two to help sell tickets and lighten the length of your set.

2. Open with one of your best-known singles to get the crowd rocking.

3. Play as many hits as you possibly can.

4. Throw in an obligatory one or two songs from your new album to feign currency.

5. Close the concert with the same big hit night after night, year after year, tour after tour.

As the members of Rush showed Monday night in concert at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, they do not subscribe to that line of thinking in any way, shape or form.

First of all, the band's setlist was vastly different than it was on its last visit to Utah -- at the same venue in 2004. For those scoring at home, only nine of 27 songs Monday were repeats from the show three years ago.

OK, Rush did comply with rule 2 above by opening with the rocking "Limelight." But that song actually closed the band's 2004 tour, so Rush still gets credit for flipping things entirely upside down.

Rush -- featuring Geddy Lee on bass and lead vocals, Alex Lifeson on guitar, and Neil Peart on drums -- really raised the stakes, though, by giving major play to its new album, "Snakes & Arrows." The band played nine -- count 'em, nine -- tunes off the current release during a two-hour, 45-minute, support-band free performance. It takes a lot of guts for a band to do that, and in this case the gamble mostly paid off.

Rush actually opened its second set with five new songs in a row -- which seemed to hold the crowd's interest, although one couldn't help but notice a spike in applause after the band followed that quintet up with the old favorite "Subdivisions."

Rush has frequently been referred to as a musician's band -- no doubt a reflection on each individual's relative virtuosity on his instrument. It probably also stems from the fact that none of the three really goes out of their way to play up to the crowd with exaggerated stage maneuvers. The playing tends to speak for itself.

Nowhere was that more evident than with drummer extraordinaire Peart. Those that didn't take the time in stretches to watch Peart pound the skins in seeming effortlessness truly missed out on one of rock's great guilty pleasures.

How often can it be said that an eight-minute drum solo is one of the true highlights of a concert? That was the case Monday and, we suspect, during any Rush show. Especially interesting were the different views afforded by the three big screens at the rear of the stage during Peart's solo -- the combined effect of which practically put the viewer right in Peart's seat behind his massive rotating kit.

Watching Peart during the show, I almost got the impression that he went about his business mostly unaware of the audience. He proved me wrong.

Rush was playing "Between the Wheels" near the end of its first set when Barbi and Zane Deweese of Coalville -- sitting on the 12th row in the center section -- held up a sign that said, "Hey, Chef Ellwood, any extra chop sticks?" (Chef Ellwood references a nickname Peart gave himself in his 2002 book "Ghost Rider.")

After the song ended, the couple noticed that Peart called over his drum technician and handed him the pair of sticks he had been using. Midway through the next song, a security guard showed up in the audience and handed the sticks to the Coalville couple.

"It's a dream come true," Zane Deweese said after the show. "I haven't missed a Rush show in Utah since 1984."

Further driving home the "musician's band" label, Rush played four instrumentals Monday, including the lively "The Main Monkey Business," the Lifeson acoustic solo "Hope" and "Malignant Narcissism" -- which, as Dave Barry would rightly opine were he still writing his national humor column, would make a great name for a rock band. Rush even closed the show with an instrumental -- concert staple "YYZ."

Lest anyone think Rush might exhibit a tendency to take itself too seriously, however, there were several moments of humor Monday to offset the notion. There were four pre-produced video introductions, which all displayed a comedic touch -- the funniest of which was a "South Park" take on Rush's hit "Tom Sawyer." Classic stuff.

Rush showed Monday that an old dog is capable of learning new tricks. I only wish others in the rock and roll kennel would follow suit.

Rush

USANA Amphitheatre

Aug. 6, 2007

Set I

1. Limelight

2. Digital Man

3. Entre Nous

4. Mission

5. Freewill

6. The Main Monkey Business

7. The Larger Bowl

8. Secret Touch

9. Circumstances

10. Between the Wheels

11. Dreamline

Set II

1. Far Cry

2. Workin' Them Angels

3. Armor and Sword

4. Spindrift

5. The Way the Wind Blows

6. Subdivisions

7. Natural Science

8. Witch Hunt

9. Malignant Narcissism

10. Neil Peart drum solo

11. Hope (Alex Lifeson acoustic solo)

12. Distant Early Warning

13. The Spirit of Radio

14. Tom Sawyer

Encore

1. One Little Victory

2. A Passage to Bangkok

3. YYZ

Performance time: 2 hours, 45 minutes