Rush - By- Tor and The Snow Dog Live | Reaction 

Totally blows away the rather tame studio version. One of Alex's finest moments. It was always great to hear Rush play this one, even in its truncated version of later years.

those of us who are older will remember the old days when Rush was not looked at as cool

Yes All the World's a Stage is an absolute masterpiece. One more thing at the end of By-tor on the live version let me remind you that it's only 3 guys baking that huge absolutely mammoth sound in the songs closing. I love how Geddy lets his open A string ring out under the D major. AWESOME

So happy to see ‘All The World’s A Stage’ (1976) Live album getting some love. This whole album is an experience and often overlooked in place of more recent live shows. I think “Working Man” off this album is THE version. 🤘🏼

When reacting to Rush, always refer to this album! All The World's A Stage is a masterpiece!

By-Tor and the Snow Dog......my all time favorite Rush song ever.

Can never go wrong with the rush

The story about the two names was Rush's road manager at the time was watching two dogs. One was a huge German Shepard that was a barker and apparently a "biter" (By-Tor) and the other was a small furry white dog (Snow Dog). Off the top of my head I can't remember the entire story, but this was where the names came from.

I was fortunate to see this tour in Houston in January, 1977. Made me a life long Rush fan. To this day it is still the most memorable concert I have ever seen.

RUSH The greatest rock band that ever was or ever will be.

That ambient guitarwork in the middle....OMG. i think that is after the carnage, and Alex is creating an incredible atmosphere and it really is a composition on it's own. I wish they had explored more of that, they had a special gift for ambience. And thank you for diving in to All the World's a Stage, the quality is very raw, but it captures the mid-seventies Rush very well. Thid would have been their 2112 tour, so they had just opened up to a much greater fan base, about to conquor the world.

We definitely want to do Rush Rabbit Hold again! Awesome! Also, I saw Rush about a year and a half after the ATWAS shows (June 1976) and I remember the light show completely blowing my mind! Unfortunately, they had changed the set from playing all of BTATSD, as you just heard, to playing half of By-Tor and seguewaying into Xanadu. Don't get me wrong, I love Xanadu but I would have loved to have seen the entire version of By-Tor, like the version you just heard! But I'm not complaining. All that is to say that seeing Rush play live was super-amazing but also take into account that they had one of the best LIGHT SHOWS in Rock music at that time -- on the level that they were, in their career -- and I'm sure it would have been incredible for By-Tor, especially during the atmospheric section in the middle! I've seen pictures of their live show from the 2112 tour, but nothing could compare to being there, to see it live, I'm sure!

As a drummer... this is one of the best songs in the world to learn from..."Fuscking Amsing"

It was crazy. Crazy phenomenal. Saw them in ‘79.

Check out ‘Xanadu’ live Exit Stage Left video, it’ll blow your mind

This live recording, is untouched and raw live rush... Geddy said in an interview, it is their most popular live, with the most album sales

All that live with just 3 guys and in 1976. Wow ! Epic.

Headlong Flight buddy, it’s a Rush song that sums up everything musically about Rush. Hard core banger

Rush - All The World's A Stage is possibly one of the best albums ever made. You should check-out South Park and Little Rush intro to Tom Swayer

Well done for reacting to this absolute gem. Few have reacted to By tor at all, let alone the best version for me and many Rush fans out there. I think it's astonishing. Lifeson was and is pure class. Let's remember that they were all in their early 20s when playing this live.

The reason that the Rio live performance is so good is that the concert tour occurred right after the 5 year absence of Neil when his wife and daughter died. It was the Vapor Trails album and I saw that show at The Woodlands Texas and it was the greatest Rush concert I had ever witnessed. It had all my favorite classics and they played with such intensity that you felt like they still had to prove that they were relevant. I first saw Rush in 1984 at the Texas World Music Festival at the Astrodome where they were touring their Grace Under Pressure album. When I watch that video, I am also impressed with the intensity of their performance, but the Vapor Trails concert took it to another level. Thanks for the reaction. I look forward to more Rush.

I can't believe I call myself a superfan and never made the Smashing Pumpkins connection until you said it lol

I was lucky , I saw Rush in concert in 1975 or 76 in San Diego , it was fantastic, thank you. 🇺🇸⚓️ I’m Subscribed sir.

Brother it was the very first out of 47 times I have seen Rush. I seen them on this concert tour and I also seen them on their last concert tour. So missed they are!

Great request. At the time, the album with "snowdog" on it was not very popular. It was only later when it came back to bite every listener.

Had to listen to Bastille Day from this album last Thu... probably my favorite live album.

The song is about two warriors. One from our world Snowdog (champion) one from the Underworld (By-Tor). The instrumental that gets busy after the first couple verses is them fighting. Rush is so good about telling a story through music. The characters were inspired by the two dogs (the shepherd and a white dog). In the end Snowdog wins and saves the day. Evil prince By-Tor is defeated but emerges again in the song “The Necromancer” in the next album, “Caress of Steel”. In which he becomes the hero, defeating the Necromancer

It's amazing that, By tod is from their First Album together!!!

So glad I don't have to imagine at a concert what this was like to experience. :) Fan since 1974... they were fantastic live. RIP Professor.

Great great stuff. This is the first Rush album I ever bought after being introduced to 2112 and I went to the record store figuring for about the same price as a standard LP I could get this which was too albums, and included the 2112 Suite. And I was not disappointed. Been a rush fan ever since. I'm sure someone else probably has mentioned it in the comments here but "ByTor and the Snow Dog "was a staple of their live performances for years with Lee acting out the role of Prince bitor, and life's and acting as the snow dog they would do battle metaphorically and of course ByTor appears again on the subsequent album caressive Steel as the champion that takes down the Necromancer in the song of the same name.

I would love to do a Rush rabbit hole!!

Rush has been going all in for decades which is why Rush Rules still today

First album I bought they are amazing!

You should create a new channel. Call it "Just Rush". I'd watch....

I saw the lead singer of Smashing Pumpkins apologizing to Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson for ripping off By Tor and the Snow Dog on Cherub Rock. Good ear!

My first Rush show was the 27th of March, 1976. Rush was opening for Styx. Such great memories. "Although it's just a memory Some memories last forever" #RushLyricsForEverything 🤘

By-Tor and the Snow Dog is the story of the triumph of good over evil. A battle against good and evil. There is the prelude, the battle, the peace after the battle, and the finale where By-Tor retreats to hell. "Rejoicing echoes as the dawn is nearing By-Tor in defeat retreats to Hell Snow Dog - is victorious The land of the Overworld is saved again" The history about the dogs is just the background story of what they came up with for naming the song. FYI, I also heard that the song was about who would play guitar in Rush but the words have nothing to do with that.

True story...Trigonometry/Analytical Geometry final exam, 1981... jamming on this very song on my Sears knockoff Walkman. Must have had it too loud, (cool ass) teacher sends a note to the back of the class where i'm sitting..."You know you're not supposed to have that in class" I send the note back, "I just aced this test, what does it matter?" She just smiled....I made a 93.

the version of this song on exit stage left is played quite a bit faster with way more chops. exist stage left is a devastating live performance by rush.

I have thought since 75 they're very cool

I saw thisIn Denver... so Badass Alex Lifeson is a Beast/111

Great reaction!! I don't know if you've already reacted to Cygnus X-1: Books 1 and 2....but that's another experience, that you need to go through.

Try Secret Touch live on the R30 tour. I am in for Rabbit Hole if times work out, But individual reactions are sometimes easier because they can fit any schedule! Cheers!

Great reaction you know what you're talking about you know rock n roll you know the s***

In The End is really cool also. One two

Yeah you should do Rush rabbit hole and do Rush in Rio.

This song has nothing to do with dogs, other than where the names comes from. It’s about a fight between a champion for good fighting a champion for evil. You hear the violent battle, then it gets quiet where they fall into a deep chasm. Little bits of the battle drift up, then the guitar (Snowdog) gets louder as he climbs back to the surface, victorious. Enjoy!

Little extra sauce on this one. Each part of the song is amazing in its own way, but it’s a wild swing in tone from beginning to middle to end which I think is part of the reason it didn’t catch on as much as some of Rush’s other tunes.

T duh more rush!

A "wall of sound".

@ 5:34 is Neil not Alex tearing up the drumming

BEST VERSION RUSH LIVE IN RIO CHECK IT OUT.

Hey if you listen to the studio part the studio album. It's actually a lot better but it's still phenomenal

I got into Rush as a teenager in the mid-'70s, and this was the third album of theirs I bought (after 2112 and Hemispheres). I have always thought the versions of By-Tor and Working Man in this album were waaaay better than their studio renditions. The only fault I would find in this otherwise perfect live album is that they snipped out parts of 2112.

3 dudes. 3 dudes only.

Do Neil Peart drum solo

My favorite version! can someone do this with ai generated images please....

No. It's by tour not bit is about a snowdog which is a Alaskan malamute more than likely go in against a probably. Go it against a rottweiler in the pictures and basically what it is. It's a snow. Dog going against a rottweiler so there's no it's not a human shepherd. It's not a biter it's just good versus evil

Not a good live album. They even apologized for this performance in later years. The only live Rush that is worse then this is their final tour R40. It's also the worst live version of the song. Sorry, Huge fan... just sayin'.

I live in Britain and was lucky enough to see Rush perform live on 3 occasions, but I never saw them play this live. It kinda bothers me now that I never will, but I'll always have the consolation of this live recording.