Rush is on tour to celebrate 40 years as a band and made a stop at Jiffy Lube Live on Saturday.

Getting great seats to a show, especially one at a large venue, is an obvious perk of being a music writer (we certainly don’t do it for the big bucks involved). Sitting in the orchestra section at a performance by a band that’s been around for 40 years brings an extra bonus: the people-watching that comes while being surrounded by a subspecies of human that we will dub the SuperFan. There are no more loyal SuperFans than those that belong to Rush, often labeled the The World’s Biggest Cult Band.

Rush SuperFans were out in force on Saturday night to see rock’s holy triumvirate of bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer Neil Peart, as they celebrated their 40th anniversary together with the R40 Tour. We saw fans with their children—and in a couple cases grandchildren—in tow, tattoos of the band’s album cover art, and most amusingly, a pair of fiery women carrying signs that read, “Proof That Female Rush Fans Do Exist.” For its part, the band delivered to its devoted following, performing a retrospective that covered two sets with nearly three hours of music.

There were a few aspects to the show’s presentation that kept it from being your standard “greatest hits” concert and becoming an exercise in nostalgia, something that is anathema to the members of Rush. First, the band doesn’t actually have that many hits to speak of, though they do have a number of classic rock staples. While standards like “Tom Sawyer” and “The Spirit of Radio” were obvious choices, other fan favorites such as “Limelight” and “Freewill” were left out.

The set list was also presented in reverse chronological order, and as the show progressed, the set was changed to reflect the time period in which any given song was recorded. The stage design at the beginning of the show was built on the steampunk theme of the band’s most recent album, Clockwork Angels, which formed the basis of Rush’s last two tours. After a trio of songs from that ambitious recording, a wall of amplifiers replaced the Jules Verne-esque set to reflect the group’s stage show from the ’90’s through the naughts. During the second set, which focused on material from the ’70s, even Peart’s drumset was changed to incorporate the orchestral percussion and double bass drum setup that he used during that period. By the time the encore ended with “What You’re Doing” and “Working Man,” off the band’s 1974 self-titled debut, the set was dressed like the Toronto high school auditoriums in which the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-ers played their earliest gigs.

There were also surprises peppered throughout the performance. During the often-maligned rap breakdown in “Roll The Bones,” the screen projection offered a host of celebrities lip-syncing along, including Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, and Peter Dinklage. “Animate,” the opening track to 1993’s Counterparts, was grooved out to great effect. Even the band’s approach, which in the past was limited to meticulous recreations of the recorded tracks, has changed. Signature drum and bass fills were replaced with improvised elements. Unafraid to tackle the opus, science fiction-inspired songs that drew much criticism in the mid- and late-70s, Rush dusted off the opening sections of “Hemispheres,” “Cygnus-X-1,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” and “Xanadu” (complete with dueling double-necked guitars). The choices probably alienated the few casual listeners in the audience, but it was heaven for the tried-and-true.

Rush has indicated that it will no longer be touring on this scale, which is forgivable for three men in their early 60s. Still, they can out-rock most groups half their age and haven’t lost a step as players and craftsmen. Peart’s drumming and solos are as grandiose and powerful as ever, Lee’s multi-tasking on keys, bass, vocals, and pedals showed why he is among the most versatile musicians in rock history, and Lifeson effortlessly switched from a supporting rhythm player to face-melting shredder. But this band seems to know that it doesn’t just have fans, it has an army of SuperFans. The loyalty goes both ways and perhaps it’s in everyone’s interest that Rush calls it a day while it can still deliver the goods.