18 comments

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  dhonigman

  4 months ago

  Whoa, Rush. That takes me back.
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  1Py_Korry1

  4 months ago

  What's interesting is that the concert was attended by people of all ages. There were quite a few kids (and I'm talking 5-7 year olds) as well as teens, and 20 somethings. So, it looks like their fan base is diversifying.
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  Zack

  4 months ago

  When I was in high school (1994) the Rush concert was THE show to go to.
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  1Py_Korry1

  4 months ago

  Man, by 1994 I thought Rush was a band that really only appealed to late 20-somethings and older. Nice to know I was wrong.
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  Zack

  4 months ago

  They didn't appeal to me - I was too busy chasing two-toned skirts around at ska shows.
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  Joe

  4 months ago

  Damn! Iw as onthe fence about seeing that show, as I saw them last year. Sounds like I missed a good one.
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  dpop

  4 months ago

  I took my 10-year old son to his first "real" concert the other night in Concord. He loved it. I was pleasantly surprised how good they were. I saw them back in the early 80's when I was in high school, but not since then. (Nor have I really kept up with anything they've done the past 15-20 years or so). But wow! A good mix of old favorites and new material. And a solid 3-hour performance. I complained about the tickets being so expensive (though mostly that's stupid Ticketmaster fees), but I feel like they gave me my money's worth (and then some). Even into their late 50's, Alex, Neil and Geddy sure can play! Their musicianship is really unparalleled. Granted, Geddy can't quite hit the high notes like he used to, but that's to be expected. One thing that came as a surprise to me though, was how much of a sense a humor they have about themselves - that really came across in the stage show - movies, props, etc. I'm really glad my son provided the impetus for me to go ('casue i wouldn't have if it wasn't for him). But Joe, it was pretty much the same show as last year (I looked at set lists online), so don't feel you missed too much.
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  1Py_Korry1

  4 months ago

  Glad you got to go! Yeah, the setlist changed a bit from 2007.
  
  Out: "Entre Nous," "Secret Touch," Circumstances."
  
  In: "Red Barchetta," "Ghost of a Chance," and "The Trees."
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  J

  4 months ago

  That was indeed an awesome concert...totally fun. :)
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  1Py_Korry1

  4 months ago

  It was a blast! And they certainly worked hard for the money that night.
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  drcastrato

  4 months ago

  pardon the lanuguage, but i F*CKING LOVE RUSH! BEST BAND EVER. the end.
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  1Py_Korry1

  4 months ago

  I'm glad you didn't hold back.
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  eric

  4 months ago

  I too love Rush. I have virtually all their studio albums from 2112 on, minus Test For Echo (a major turd), and the latest one (which exhibits some of the same flaws as Test For Echo, though not as bad).
  
  I really cannot recommend their live albums or videos, with the exception of "Rush 30," a concert taped in Germany, I believe. That's the only one that was done right, sonically and visually. They are great performers, without a doubt. If only they would pay as much attention to the recording and mixing of their concerts as they do to their instrumental technique... If only.
  
  Rush in Rio? Have not seen the DVD, but the album is plagued by crowd noise. It's almost as bad as the Beatles at Shea Stadium. If I was at the Rio concert I would have been furious. Because I go to a concert to hear music, not excited fans who rudely scream and yell to the point of making a constant roar that obscures the musicians. Then again, I am from Iowa, and we are super-polite here, saving the majority of screaming and clapping for the breaks between songs. Some have said that the Rush in Rio DVD is not too bad if you choose the stereo mix on the DVD setup, instead of the 5.1 surround mix -- that this de-emphasizes the crowd noise. I can't vouch for that, but if you get a chance to see the disc, it is worth a try.
  
  I've seen Rush live once. I enjoyed it, but again the sound was pretty bad on an objective basis. You sort of got an impression of what they were capable of, but if you can't hear the finer details, what is the point?
  
  Great drum solos. I totally agree. Peart plays just about the only drum solos in pop/rock music worth listening to. Even the bad recordings can obscure that.
  
  Few will agree with me, I suppose. But if you have even moderate audiophile sensibilities, take note.
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  1Py_Korry1

  4 months ago

  Yeah, Test for Echo was a disappointment, and Snakes and Arrows is lacking, too. The DVD of Rush in Rio is actually really great BECAUSE of the crowd. I probably would have hated it if I was in the audience in Rio because it would have been tough to hear the band with all that singing.
  
  However, the CD has some of the same problems that plagued Different Stages (i.e., the sound mix was muddy).
  
  Given all that, however, I think Rush is able to do a very good job trying to bring some of the sonic subtleties to a live venue -- which are more often than not pretty unforgiving for the kind of music they play.
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  DwDunphy

  4 months ago

  One of my top ten bands, Rush is, by God. And the kind of ambivalence some hold for Test For Echo and Snakes And Ladders I reserve for Vapor Trails (unfocused to the Nth).
  
  My first album of theirs was Signals. Ah, Signals! Love that album. While Bon Jovi and Scorpions and AC/DC and Ozzy and all the other hard rockers were singing about getting screwed, drinking t'il barfing, and going to Hell for drinking and screwing, Rush was always cryptic and slightly political. And who else wrote a song as cool about being an outsider from Teen Nation as "Subdivisions"?
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  steve

  4 months ago

  Great band, awesome musicians! I used to sit by the cassette player boom box for hours listening to The Fly By Night album or Permanent Waves and be amazed at Peart's drumming, or just the complexity of the music. My friends and I would have arguments over who's the best drummer, Peart, Moon, or Bonzo. But, after seeing them live in the 80's, I saw their flaws. They played the songs exactly like they were on the album, note for note. While I appreciate the amazing musicianship needed to replicate studio magic live, it makes a concert experience less than ideal for me. I realize others may actually like that, but I love it when an artist changes songs up during a concert, jams them out, re-does them, adds extended choruses, or throws a cover-tune medley into the middle of a song. If I wanted to hear an exact replication of the music I'd put my headphones on and grab some beers.
  
  I heard later live releases from them and they added a 1 minute 'jam' onto the end of Closer To The Heart, but they started playing that exact same jam at every concert from what I heard. I'd love to see a band like them just improvise up there and feed off each other instead of being so rehearsed.
  
  But still great music and memories!
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  Beau

  4 months ago

  I've seen Rush -- let's see ... Grace Under Pressure tour, Power Windows tour, sometime in the early 90s and then on the Vapor Trails tour.
  
  I like the "post-breakup" albums better than "Test for Echo," but the production really dragged down "Vapor Trails." It's a pity those songs aren't getting more of a live run-through (even on that tour, they played half the album at most) because the songwriting was solid.
  
  "Snakes and Arrows" has two great songs, three terrific instrumentals and a bunch of so-so songs that just don't quite rise to the level I'd like.
  
  All of which I covered in my labor-intensive guide to Rush a while back, available both on my old blog and the new one.
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  David_E

  4 months ago

  Saw them live for Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones and Counterparts. Probably love the keyboard era more than most. Frankly, I gave up on them after the last of these, as I found the songwriting fairly uninspired -- at least from a pop hooks point of view. A great concert draw, though. Even thought they did stick to studio arrangements, it was always magic to me to see them replicate the sounds – without benefit of (too many) recorded tracks or (any) extra musicians.
  
  I saw them in Houston once when Peart's drum mics went south. Geddy and Alex donned cowboy hats and did a cheesy, 2-minute acoustic number to cover the sound tech's furious cobbling – complete with two-steppin' and drawls. Hilarious, and perfect for the moment.
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