He had those dryers there because for the last couple of tours, Geddy has been using a mix of three lines - a Sansamp RBI, a Palmer speaker simulator & and an Avalon U5 DI (much the same as in the studio). Simply put, he ditched his amps. But with Alex using such a big Hughes and Kettner backline and Neil having such a huge and ornate drumkit, Geddy's part of the stage looked rather empty so he put down dryers and a beer vending machine to at least have something there where his amps would have been.
It's just his dry humor at work and the dryers and vending machine are fully functioning. At the end of the concert the dryers are opened and the T-shirts inside are tossed into the crowd. As a final stab in the ribs of the connaisseurs, he even has the dryers and the vending machine miked as if they were amps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzQeTjYWfNU
Rush playing "Xanadu" with Geddy's "backline" consisting of two dryers and a vending machine.
He's a real fun guy that Geddy.
