Yes, it's that time of year again: the annual Rush-Nerd love in - this time taking place back at the nice and familiar Crewe Limelight Club. For those of you not familiar with the format, it usually takes the form of Rush Idol ( that bit where volunteers have a go at some of the most complicated tracks in rock history - with no rehearsal to speak of) and a tribute band (this year it was Counterparts). 06' saw the addition of special guest Donna Halper (Broadcast Radio legend who first broke the band in the early 1970's when she discovered Working Man) and Rock Covers Band, Joe's Band....

Our Wullie in a pre Rush Idol Soundcheck. I said to him something along the lines of "just look like you know what you are doing".....

Kicking off with Rush Idol - this is the first group of willing volunteers playing Tom Sawyer... are you quite sure those leads are in properly, Wullie? He was reduced to playing around with the keyboards much in the style of a Spinal Tap roadie....

Honestly this is me. Who else do you know with a Toronto Maple Leafs shirt? Hidden behind some Swiss Metal during Subdivisions - despite the train wreck that was the bridge to the first chorus, I really enjoyed myself.... all of those afternoons working on the track using the Roland and the Ipod were not wasted....

Me again from the lense of Mrs Letter R (for the earlier shot of me I just handed my camera to a member of the audience and hoped for the best). This was during Subdivisions - my heavy handed stick-level-with -bonce style is evident....

The guitarist on Subdivisions - just hidden behind him is Kenny Williams who provided vocals on this track....

Hazy - his latest appearance on the site - in addition to last year and his pix in the guest gallery.....

Terr Berr - obviously unphased by jetlag (tough bunch the Canadians), takes the mic.....

During the interval, they wheeled out the DW Neil Peart Snare - £1000 worth. It was suddenly surrounded by drum-nerds (like me) - have you ever seen that bit in 2001 when the monkeys find the monolith? This is a particularly sad shot: my sticks with Neil's snare - I think I will stick with my cheaper Pearl Chad Smith....

Before we kicked off the second half of Rush Idol, Donna Halper gave a talk about Rush. Donna is a music legend and is credited with discovering Rush way back when the first album came out (1974). She thought that Working Man was a real Cleveland song and long enough to be suitable for DJ's toilet breaks.... and the rest is history....

This kind of looks like extreme heckling.... but is actually one Irish guy explaining how he discovered the music of Rush (my story about Rob Strat playing me YYZ was not as good)....

Kicking off another set of Rush Idol tracks - this time it's Dreamline...

Stage Right - Zed's in town... Wullie is now relaxed enough to drink between chords... and on bass is Paul Van Stapele of Rotterdam.... the guys are playing Red Barchetta

The highlight of the day was Working Man - the cornerstone of any day - the drummer on this one made me feel old and ordinary... he was a heavy handed rock monster!

This is Terr Berr again on Working Man, wondering why the stage feels like it is being shaken apart (thank the drummer)...

Sadly 2112 was a little bit of a train wreck - yes it is a bitch to play on guitar if you don't know it. This guy came back and played a top Neil-esque solo (he made me feel very ordinary as well)

Wullie returns with Joe's Band.

This material demands a foot on the monitor stance. And a kick ass voice.

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