They weren't washing machines, they were coin-operated Maytag dryers. Whenever they stopped, a roadie would go out and put quarters in them to get them going again. At the end of every show, the band would take the concert T-shirts out of the dryers and toss them into the crowd.

Geddy Lee jokingly claimed that they were there to add a "warm, dry tone" to his bass (and they are miked up as if they're amplifiers), but I think they were there just to visually balance out Alex Lifeson's Wall-Of-Amps on the other side of the stage.

Thanks for the additional info. I changed it to dryers.

According to Wikipedia, at some point Geddy stopped using traditional amplifiers and decided to start using other things to fill their space. In addition to dryers, he has also used a refrigerator and a vending machine, both fully stocked.

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