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Review 1
Saw Rush the other night (Tuesday 6/27/04) at Red Rocks, just outside of Denver. Overall the framework of the set was similar to their last tour- 2002's Vapor Trails.
Before the opener, there was a nifty animation montage featuring references to all the albums. Stuff
like a dalmation running across a set of BRAINS,
the moving pictures guys and even the GIANT NUTS from "Counterparts". It even had the nekkid
guy from "Hemispheres" and "2112"... I always expect him to
turn towards the camera and say "IT'S!" in Monty Python fashion. Then it cut to what I thought was an incredibly UN-funny video with Jerry Stiller to bring the band out.
They opened up with a medley of songs spanning their entire career,as
still pictures of the band faded across the video backdrop. It was like a mini "behind the music" documentary. The songs got progressively
newer, in synch with the pictures on the screen. Nice touch how the first part of the medley was "Finding my Way"... the first song from the first album. They even threw in a little bit of "Bastille Day".
Their initial set featured Rush staples
"Spirit of Radio", "Roll the Bones", "Earthshine", "Subdivisions",
"The Trees(!)" "Force Ten", "YYZ" "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" and "Red Barchetta". I
always like Red Barchetta because it
was the first rock song that I UNDERSTOOD. I remember reading the lyrics one day after
second grade and thinking: "whoa! This song is about some guy in a hot rod getting chased
by giant hovercrafts! Sweet!" (Yeah, yeah....like you understood all those
Ted Nugent songs about FUCKING when you were 8 years old! ). The video screens would return at various points throughout the set. Usually they depicted some nifty designs or relevant graphics (ex: flying along a road for "Red Barchetta", a map of the suburbs for "Subdivisions", etc).
Some interesting selections
included "Between the Wheels", "Mystic Rhythyms" (from
Rush's Police/Mr. Mister tribute album), and their cover of the Who's "The Seeker".
They ended the first half of the show with "One Little Victory" then returned for part two with "Tom Sawyer" (or, the "Kerry Von Erich theme song").
For the second opener, the video was sort of a "Thunderbirds are GO" homage, featuring Rush bobbleheads , flying inside a spaceship marked "Cyngus X-1". The bobbleheads remained and bounced in sequence to "Tom Sawyer".
The crowd went ape-poop when
the first synthesizer "bweeeee" of "2112" resonated from the speakers. Usually, they just play the first two parts of 2112. This time they hit those, then jumped right into the
awesome finale sequence. Whenever I hear that "we have assumed control...we have assumed control."
I get goosebumps.
Oh yes, they even threw in "La Villa Strangiato"...and Alex got to do a vocal ramble. He did a little limmerick about "we have a saying where I come from...fool me once..won't get fooled again", etc. Hmm..I suspect Alex might have seen Farenheit 9/11 over the weekend. Somewhere
in here, an overly zealous audience member jumped on stage. He was immediately
escorted out, but you figure a night in jail (and some new friends) is almost
worth it for being onstage during a Rush tune. "Man, I was onstage for 2112, man.."
The encore set featured "Summertime Blues", "Crossroads" and "Limelight".
(And no, for all you young'uns, "Crossroads" is NOT the theme song from
the Britney Spears movie of the same name!). For years, I always thought the opening
lyrics of Limelight were "living on the fish islands". Hey, I thought Geddy and the boys
were avid fishermen.
Only complaint was that the sound was un-even for the first half. That was most likely due to the rainstorm before the show and the high winds throughout the night. These guys are tremendous
musicians and it amazes me how much sound they produce. Plus, Geddy never
falls into "sing it for me, NAME OF TOWN" mode. These same guys have
been doing this, consistently, for 30 years. There's never been a
"Rush Reunion" tour... same team since 1974. Coincedentally, their
"30th anniversary" coincides with a bigger, more signifcant event--
the eStragand 30th Anniversary Celebration. All in all, it's a good show. Go see 'em!
Yer Pal, ES
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Review 2
OK, get the highlights real fast for morons:
- The sound in the first half sucked Red Rocks.
- The sound was a million times better after intermission.
- Yes, they played Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Limelight. You’re
done. Go home.
- The members of Rush are the greatest rock musicians ever.
The opening film, staring the old guy from the TV show “King of Queens” was
a riot. We are supposed to believe that Jerry Stiller is a Rush fan (who
knows, could be). After awaking from a drunken stupor, he looks at the
stage. Staring at Alex’s side of the stage, he says, “Lurch, hit me!”
Then to Geddy’s side, “Hey, where’s the skinny guy?” Then down to the
throne, “And the other guy, the professor, where’s he?” Then rambles about
how they never play “Passage to Bangkok” anymore. The first 10 minutes or
so are a melody of Rush music while a cartoon collage of album covers and
then old pictures of the band are projected in the background. That part
was nearly worth the price of admission alone. The melody started with
“Finding My Way” and meandering through every album. They did play
“Bangkok”, albeit only about 16 bars worth.
A few older songs were played. “Between the Wheels” hadn’t been heard on
tour of a while. “The Trees” ended with a little bit of what sounded like
“Day Tripper” thrown in. Of course, which Rush, nothing is thrown in; it’s
all very planned and that’s how it should be.
A few observations about the crowd: Just because you can play 4/4 time on
the drums does not make you equal to Neil, I don’t want to listen to you
ramble about how you would have played something (STFU). If you are asking
me if Alex and Geddy playing “Resist” on acoustic guitars is a cover song
(don’t laugh, someone did ask me this during the show), you should have
left after “Tom Sawyer”. Most of the crowd had short hair, and the
majority has cashed a paycheck or two in their lives. It was well behaved.
I think one amazing this happened at this show; I wasn’t frisked by a cop
entering Red Rocks. No cops barked menacingly for the crowd to move along.
I only saw three the entire night not counting the ones being employed to
be human stoplights. Have the police matured and realized that a Rush
crowd pays taxes, or where there no knife wielding “special” kids for them
to beat on? Either way this fact alone made is pleasant to be at Red Rocks.
About Red Rocks; it is an amazing place to see a show. It seems every time
that ES and I go, there is lightning over the city. Amazing when the
light show syncs up with the random lightening! It did rain for a while
before the show started, which contributed to the bad sound, but once it
cleared up it was a wonderful night.
And the first half sound sucked, really bad. Like your head was inside an
old MXR 90 Phaser guitar pedal. Sound left then right, back and forth.
Water got into something it shouldn’t have. Got to give props to the boys
to keep playing through it all (I doubt if they knew while it was
happening, they do pay people to fix this stuff after all). All three kept
playing and looked very into what they were doing, smiling and generally
looking like they were having a grand time.
The second half was awesome, Rush at Red Rocks finally! The lights came up
and added to the show. Lights at a Rush concert aren’t random flashes;
everything is orchestrated. The images behind the band were interesting
enough, even if we’d seen most of them before. I don’t think I’d heard
“Mystic Rhythms” in concert since ’91 on the Roll the Bones tour.
The cover songs were fun! It put to rest any question of how Rush would
sound playing someone else’s songs. Most of the crowd was old enough to
know the original (or an earlier cover by someone else) songs. “Sing along
with Geddy” was the loudest during any song from Moving Pictures or the
covers. "Crossroads" was great.
We had a blast. Whether beating an Aqualung joke about McDonalds playland
to death, or discussing what our lives would be as sitcoms ES and I were
having a good time. I think we both left tired and happy.
If you missed Rush at Red Rocks, you may have missed a once in a lifetime
event. If this was the last time I see Rush touring, I’d be happy having
seen them several times. I’d still go again if they toured again, the
point is that if this is the final chapter then it was a great book.
Thanks guys.
Yer Pal, GS
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