Following a highly emotional five-year hiatus, the Vapor Trails Tour marked Rush's triumphant return to the stage. Easing the tension with their classic "Three Stooges Theme" audio intro, the band surprised audiences by placing "Tom Sawyer" in a rare opening slot. The first half balanced aggressive new tracks like "Earthshine" with a career-spanning array of classics, while fully utilizing the extended "An Evening with..." format to systematically alternate several songs from night to night to keep the set list fresh. Set two kicked off with the blistering "One Little Victory" and introduced several memorable new live dynamics: Neil Peart updated his legendary drum solo to feature a vibrant "Big Band" swing section, the band debuted an intimate, acoustic rendition of "Resist," and Alex Lifeson began treating audiences to his bizarre, highly anticipated "Lerxst rants" during "La Villa Strangiato." The celebratory night concluded with a purely nostalgic, old-school encore, rewarding longtime fans with a heavy-hitting 70s run of "By-Tor & the Snow Dog," the "Cygnus X-1" prologue, and "Working Man."