RUSH are without a doubt my favorite band to hear live in concert. Before last night's R40 show in New Orleans, I had been to three RUSH tours before that (with two performances caught on the Time Machine Tour where they performed all of "Moving Pictures" live), but none of those shows fully prepared me for what I heard and witnessed last night.
---SPOILERS BELOW---
RUSH delivered a truly unique experience by starting with three of their newest songs off "Clockwork Angels" before slowly working their way back in reverse chronological order covering another 14 of their 20 studio albums. It was a very daring concept as it meant that the audience didn't really hear a classic RUSH hit until the very end of the first hour of the show. On a personal note, I also had to hear "Far Cry" for the 5th time. It's a great song, but I'm convinced they have sufficiently beat that song to death since its premiere on the Snakes & Arrows tour, but thankfully after the first 5 songs of the set, things started to get a little more interesting from then on.
I got to hear two of my favorite RUSH songs from the 90s that I had never heard them perform at any of the other shows I went to. The former was a blistering version of "Animate" from Counterparts, and the latter was "Roll the Bones", complemented by an amazing video of A-list RUSH fans miming along to the skeleton rap in the middle. It provided one of the many humorous moments throughout a show of hardcore prog music.
Two songs from the 80s synth albums followed ("Between the Wheels" and "Subdivisions") before they took a 20 min break.
"Tom Sawyer" began the first half and was swiftly followed by an unbelievable performance of "The Camera Eye" (my favorite RUSH song). "The Spirit of Radio" was performed after that before RUSH unveiled the first major surprise of the evening…"JACOB'S LADDER". To say I was shocked to hear this one was an understatement as they haven't performed it in close to 35 years. From that point on, RUSH had their show set to STUN mode. Next up was a whole lot of Cygnus X-1, starting with the Prelude from "Hemispheres" before performing an instrumental version of "Cygnus X-1 Book 1" from A Farewell to Kings, complete with an incredible Neil Peart drum solo in the middle. "Closer to the Heart" followed that before both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson strapped on double-neck guitars to perform "Xanadu" in one of the most incredible displays of virtuosity from all three members I have ever witnessed. The only thing left for this second half was selections from "2112", including a somewhat rare performance of the "Presentation" section.
Now one thing I should talk about before going on to the encore was the (de)evolution of the stage setup as the show progressed. The show began with a setup very similar to the 'back line' they had for the Clockwork Angels tour. As the first half went on, that was replaced by traditional amplifiers on Alex's side and the clothes dryers on Geddy's side. Then when they came on stage for the second half, each side contained huge stacks of amplifiers that slowly widdled their way down by the time "2112" came along.
The encore began with "LAKESIDE PARK" and "ANTHEM" utilizing a very simple stage and lighting setup before the video screen behind them became an image of a high school gymnasium for the final performances of "WHAT YOU'RE DOING" and "Working Man" from the first album.
Now, why did I take the time to post this very long review? It's very simple. If you are a RUSH fan that especially lives in North America, you MUST find a way to make it out to one of the 25 or so remaining shows on this 2015 tour. I firmly believe that with the possible extension of the tour into 2016, this will be the last time RUSH will ever tour, so do yourself a favor and get to one of these performances while you still can, for once it's over, I truly believe they will call it a day and ride off into the sunset of retirement.
(Thanks for reading!)
---SPOILERS BELOW---
RUSH delivered a truly unique experience by starting with three of their newest songs off "Clockwork Angels" before slowly working their way back in reverse chronological order covering another 14 of their 20 studio albums. It was a very daring concept as it meant that the audience didn't really hear a classic RUSH hit until the very end of the first hour of the show. On a personal note, I also had to hear "Far Cry" for the 5th time. It's a great song, but I'm convinced they have sufficiently beat that song to death since its premiere on the Snakes & Arrows tour, but thankfully after the first 5 songs of the set, things started to get a little more interesting from then on.
I got to hear two of my favorite RUSH songs from the 90s that I had never heard them perform at any of the other shows I went to. The former was a blistering version of "Animate" from Counterparts, and the latter was "Roll the Bones", complemented by an amazing video of A-list RUSH fans miming along to the skeleton rap in the middle. It provided one of the many humorous moments throughout a show of hardcore prog music.
Two songs from the 80s synth albums followed ("Between the Wheels" and "Subdivisions") before they took a 20 min break.
"Tom Sawyer" began the first half and was swiftly followed by an unbelievable performance of "The Camera Eye" (my favorite RUSH song). "The Spirit of Radio" was performed after that before RUSH unveiled the first major surprise of the evening…"JACOB'S LADDER". To say I was shocked to hear this one was an understatement as they haven't performed it in close to 35 years. From that point on, RUSH had their show set to STUN mode. Next up was a whole lot of Cygnus X-1, starting with the Prelude from "Hemispheres" before performing an instrumental version of "Cygnus X-1 Book 1" from A Farewell to Kings, complete with an incredible Neil Peart drum solo in the middle. "Closer to the Heart" followed that before both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson strapped on double-neck guitars to perform "Xanadu" in one of the most incredible displays of virtuosity from all three members I have ever witnessed. The only thing left for this second half was selections from "2112", including a somewhat rare performance of the "Presentation" section.
Now one thing I should talk about before going on to the encore was the (de)evolution of the stage setup as the show progressed. The show began with a setup very similar to the 'back line' they had for the Clockwork Angels tour. As the first half went on, that was replaced by traditional amplifiers on Alex's side and the clothes dryers on Geddy's side. Then when they came on stage for the second half, each side contained huge stacks of amplifiers that slowly widdled their way down by the time "2112" came along.
The encore began with "LAKESIDE PARK" and "ANTHEM" utilizing a very simple stage and lighting setup before the video screen behind them became an image of a high school gymnasium for the final performances of "WHAT YOU'RE DOING" and "Working Man" from the first album.
Now, why did I take the time to post this very long review? It's very simple. If you are a RUSH fan that especially lives in North America, you MUST find a way to make it out to one of the 25 or so remaining shows on this 2015 tour. I firmly believe that with the possible extension of the tour into 2016, this will be the last time RUSH will ever tour, so do yourself a favor and get to one of these performances while you still can, for once it's over, I truly believe they will call it a day and ride off into the sunset of retirement.
(Thanks for reading!)
