Rock headed into new territory.

Byline: DEVIN GRANT

RUSH - RUSH IN RIO - (ATLANTIC)

Fact: The soccer stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil holds 60,000 people. Fact: when Rush played that South American venue toward the end of their recent world tour, the Canadian band performed in front of their largest live audience to date. Fact: When reruns of the popular American TV show "McGyver" are shown on Brazilian television, the Rush song "Tom Sawyer" is used as the theme song.

I threw that last little tidbit of information in just to show how much I learned from Rush drummer Neil Peart's liner notes in Rush's latest live CD, "Rush in Rio." As the title to this three-CD live set suggests, Rush was captured live in Rio at the massive Maracana Stadium, which holds 40,000 concertgoers. As Peart reflects on the Brazil shows in those liner notes, it becomes obvious how lucky Rush fans are to have any document of this concert at all. After being hammered by a ferocious rainstorm in Sao Paulo the night before, the plans to film the Rio show were almost scuttled when bad weather caused a delay in the equipment setup. Rush basically had to hit the stage that night without a sound check, something that's annoying if you're simply playing a concert, but …