Amazing they are still recording and touring. The benefit of the trio format really, fewer egos to placate. Not my cup of tea. But heaps of respect for perserverence. When I was a young naive drummer Neil inspired me. Not so much now for his drumming. Now I have more respect for the man, his surving tragedy and moving forward. What a fine individual.
So, where's your review?!?! And just in case you missed it, here is the Commercial of the Year... [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGls1vVq0Dg[/yt] As both a Rush fan and Passat owner, this has been me about 1000 times...
The Boys put on a better show I think than they did with their stop here on the Time Machine tour. Geddy's voice was in better shape, hitting those notes with more verve and substance. We had the A setlist, posted earlier and attached here. And I loved it immensely! Personally, I felt the energy level dropped somewhat in the first half, but it picked up with "Bravado".... and everyone sang along with it. That being my personal favorite Rush song I was in the stratosphere! Interestingly enough, they played nearly all of "Clockwork Angels" in the second half... except for Caravan and BU2B, the two cuts played on last year's tour. It was an intriguing choice, playing "Spirit of Radio" in place of "Working Man". Either one would have gotten the crowd up and moving... but it was almost surreal to see each and every person motioning along with Geddy. Quick side note: saw a lot of families there with young children say, age 12 and under. Curious that. Just goes to show you how multi-generational the Boys have become! The videos were fascinating, especially for the close ups of Neil's drum work and Alex's string work, as well as Geddy's. Speaking of strings the accompanists were rockin along with the CA songs! Almost hilARIOUS to see heads bobbing and broad smiles on each of their faces! They really added to the quality of the set. Imagine the reactions when someone asks them what they do for a living: "Why yes, I'm a violinist. I tour with Rush." I'm easy to please, so it stands to reason I would love the show. But man, these guys know what it's all about. They have such a huge song list that of course some folks won't be happy with what gets left out. Yet this is part of why Rush is still so worshipped today. They keep playing the classics like "2112", and yet work in new material. VERY few groups of similar longevity can claim to be doing just that. The videos played along all had me mesmerized. All of the closeups on the technical prowess displayed, the video stories and more. We had trouble understanding the audio on the clips shown during the intermission, but that was a minor thing to us all. Tremendous show, as always! Worth every penny. Worth my driving 2 hrs to Cincinnati and 2 hrs back to pick up my son for the show that night. You are gonna love it!
Great review! Glad you had a good time. I love 80's Rush, and I love the new album, so this is going to be a real treat. Unfortunately, I still have almost 7 weeks to wait.