FRISSONIC

How?

I mean, seriously. These guys are close to 60. You know? What are they still doing on stage?

What they do best: playing insanely incredible music.

I’ve seen some amazing bands. Muse, Tool, Silversun Pickups … Rush tops them all.

They played 2 new tracks, entitled “BU2B” and “Caravan.” Both were unbelievable. Keep in mind that these guys have been around for over 36 years. And they STILL put out amazing music. Not just amazing–phenomenal. Superb. Think of a superlative adjective. It will work.

The opening of the second set is one of the main reasons I went to the show. Moving Pictures is considered their foremost recording to date. To be sure, it stands the test of time extremely well. Released in 1981, it contains some of their best work, like “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight,” “YYZ” (one of the best instrumentals EVER), “Red Barchetta,” but then there are songs like “The Camera Eye” that are probably too long to garnish any radio time but far and away is one of the best songs they’ve ever written. “Witch Hunt” and “Vital Signs” are fantastic. There’s a reason this CD is considered a part of the rock and roll pantheon.

To hear the ENTIRE CD played live is an experience I’m sure that will never be repeated. For one, they have 19 CDs. To isolate one and continuously play it front to back at every show from here forward would, in my mind, diminish the roles of their other works. But for this tour–their “Time Machine” tour, they played every song on that CD, in the order they originally appeared.

And thanks to Steve Jobs and the Apple Family, I got it all in high def 720p. Thank you, iPhone! I will post vids when I can, but for now, know that they’re out there for the finding.

The pics aren’t the greatest, but under such low light, it’s not surprising. Some of them turned out really well though. Again, I’ll post those when I can.

They pulled out some gems for this tour, too. “Marathon” hasn’t been heard since about 1990, but “Presto” has *never* been played live … and we got to hear it!!! WHOO! “Faithless,” off of Snakes and Arrows, wasn’t played last tour, but they played it last night. One of the stand-out songs on that CD.

This is Neil’s drum solo. Shot in HD with my iPhone. I seriously love that thing. I can blog, take pics and vids and post all from the convenience of my phone.

Shot in HD with my iPhone. I seriously love that thing. I can blog, take pics and vids and post all from the convenience of my phone.

Here’s the entire set list, copied in portion from Cygnus X-1′s site:

Set One
Introduction Video – Rash: The Real History of Rush — Episode No. 2 “Don’t Be Rash” — Goofy take on The Spirit of Radio — Polka/Disco/Country Version with Alex in a fat suit, Neil as an Irish Cop and Geddy…oy, you have to see it I say…

• The Spirit of Radio
• Time Stand Still
• Presto — (with vintage magic show footage playing)
• Stick It Out — (with original Stick it Out video playing)
• Workin’ Them Angels — (same video from Snakes & Arrows tour)
• Leave That Thing Alone — (same video from Vapor Trails tour)
• Faithless — (with dream landscape video playing)
• BU2B — (with “old typewriter typing out the lyrics to the song” video playing)
• Freewill
• Marathon — (with extended guitar solo)
• Subdivisions

Intermission

Introduction Video – Rash: The Real History of Rush — Episode No. 17 “And Rock And Roll Is My Name ” — Geddy on Drums, Neil on Guitars, Alex on Bass

Note: Most songs from Moving Pictures is preceeded by a short second Monty Python-esque video featuring the Parliament Building and/or the red-suited movers in one way or another.

• Tom Sawyer
• Red Barchetta – (Ferrarri 166MM pulls up with a race car number 2112 on the door)
• YYZ
• Limelight
• The Camera Eye – (with NYC and London scenes video playing)
• Witch Hunt
• Vital Signs
• Caravan – (Steampunk theme video featuring blimps flying over a burned out world playing)
• Drum Solo (Love 4 Sale) – (Steampunk Robot Drummer video playing)
• Alex Lifeson Solo leading into…
• Closer to the Heart
• 2112 Overture/Temples of Syrinx
• Far Cry — (same video from Snakes & Arrows tour)

Encore

• La Villa Strangiato — (Geddy & Alex Playing a Polka-inspired intro)
• Working Man — (With Reggae-inspired intro)

So, you can see that the set list was spread out. Some CDs weren’t represented, but when you have 19 studio albums to select from, there are going to be some neglected works, obviously.

Here’s the thing with Rush. You never know what to expect. From the opening videos all the way to the band walking off the stage after the encore … you never know what to expect. Even after the show was over, it still wasn’t over. If you’ve never seen “I Love You Man,” the movie at the end would have made no sense. Thankfully, my brother pointed that out to me, so I watched it the night before the show. Thankfully! It was hilarious. Peter Klaven and Sydney Fife. That’s all I’m going to say. HA HA HA!!

To the band, even though I’m fairly confident you’ll never read this, thank you. You guys are world-class, and I’m glad you guys keep making incredible music. We are the fortunate ones who get to indulge in your offerings for decades to come. For this, we can never repay you other than offering our heart-felt and sincerest thanks.

Here are some pics I snapped last night. Keep in mind, iPhone camera from about 25 yards away in the dark. They’re not the worst, but they’re not the best.

Section 202, row C, seats 1-3.

Can.

Not.

Wait.

They will be playing their entire Moving Pictures album to open their second set. The best song on there is “The Camera Eye,” in my opinion. The whole CD is phenomenal, but that song in particular is just shudder-inducing.

There are many things for which I’m thankful in life: my family, friends, house, working car, job … in my mind, everything is a gift, and I’m grateful for it all because there could come a time that I won’t have these things, so while I have them, I’m extremely happy to have them. One of those things is my passion for music. Just because I don’t write every day doesn’t mean I’m not blasting something or exploring something new.

Today is a day of exploration, of sorts. I’ve been listening to Rush since the late 80s, circa Presto. At first, I didn’t “get it;” I wondered what the mystique was to this band. it took going away to college and meeting James (whose last name escapes me) to really start diving in. Since then, I haven’t looked back. Ever. Yes, other bands have come and gone, but there are few bands that have the staying power Rush has.

So in the spirit of the upcoming show, I’ve been in a Rush mood for about a month. I bought “Beyond the Lighted Stage” and watched it until 1 in the morning while my wife blissfully slept through it. I knew that Alex Lifeson was an amazing guitarist, but … seriously? You listen to songs like “Finding My Way” or “Working Man,” and you know that better things are coming down the pike with the addition of Neil Peart. So this documentary has footage of the band WAY back in their early days, before they even had a contract. To watch Alex on stage was mind-blowing.

If you haven’t gotten into these guys because you “can’t stand that guy’s voice,” I pity you. While I acknowledge that his voice is not everyone’s favorite, you can’t get around the talent.  Especially in the later albums. Everyone will praise and Laud Robert Plant or Dennis DeYoung with their similar high-pitched voices, but mention Geddy Lee and people start cringing–the very same people who will listen to Styx or Zepplin for hours on end. Shame. Both other bands have long ago thrown in the towel. Rush is working on their 19th studio album. They’ve been around for almost 40 years. How can anyone deny their greatness?!

Whatever. Rant over. You can not like Rush all you want. If you want my unbridled opinion (and you might as well accept the fact that I’m going to give it to you anyway: my blog, my rants!), until you recognize their status as “legendary power trio,” you will *never* be able to converse intelligently about music. Sorry … that’s just me. And millions of other fans.

GOT ‘EM!!!

Section 303, row J, seats 12-14. My brother and I are going, and either my wife or an old friend. August 5th cannot get here fast enough!!! WHOO!!!

For those of you who don’t know me (read: pretty much anyone), I came on board late with the whole “Rush” thing. I actually had Presto as a Columbia House SOTM at some point in 1989, but I shelved it because I didn’t “get it.” “Yah … what’s the big deal? These guys aren’t Van Halen. Screw ‘em.” And I walked away.

About a year later, the guy across the hall from me kept playing this amazing music. “What is that?”

“You’re kidding. Right? ‘Who is this?’?!”

“Dude … it’s just a question. Don’t answer it then.”

“It’s *RUSH*. How do you not know who Rush is?!”

So then he shows me his tape collection, which was expansive. He let me borrow and copy all of it (poor college kids … what can you expect?). Between those tapes, I don’t think I swapped out anything else the rest of the semester. I drank it all in as often as I could, which, since I couldn’t have had a much worse GPA for the year, must have been pretty often.

I left for home at the end of the year, wondering if there was anything else out there of theirs. Keep in mind that this was before the advent of the people-friendly internet: I had to scour used record stores for anything I wanted. No surfing to find a complete discography on the band’s official or otherwise page. No wiki. No nothin’. Just me, car keys, and a lot of driving to various used music shops.

By the end of that summer, I had collected pretty much everything of theirs. Oh, what a music feast it was. I haven’t looked back.

Other bands have come and gone. I’ve had my dabblings with just about every genre of music with the exception of rap. My CD collection is rapidly expanding. My mp3 collection is on the verge of requiring a new hard drive. 4000+ ”CDs” in mp3 format. Close to 700 in actual hard-copy. Amongst it all, there is none that is quite so timeless as Rush’s 19 studio albums and myriad live CDs.

Yesterday, I ordered R30 and their Snakes and Arrows tour videos on blu-ray. I can’t wait to show those to my girls. They’re already in love with Muse (another timeless band that will almost certainly have their place in music history). Now it’s time to step it up and get them some serious me

Tickets for the SLC show go on pre-sale in about 50 minutes. I’m hoping to get front row, but after reading over some of the issues people have had, I don’t know if it’ll even be possible to get tickets at all.

And the prices … what?! $150 for premium seats in some locations, $70 for the same seat in other locations. Why the disparity?! And what is with the state fair gigs? New York AND Minnesota?! That’s … sort of comical. Bands like REO Speedwagon and Styx play state fairs–not Rush. At least it’s not a state fair tour.

It’s like my brother with a new Tragically Hip release: it’s a very slow, lingering, burning process.

It’s also how a long-lasting relationship maintains its fervor and ardor long after the initial burn has faded into abeyance.

I purposefully did not review this CD right out of the gate because of the relationship I have with Muse’s music. It wouldn’t be fair to my readers or to the band to give the CD one pass and review it. With some bands, you can do that. My initial listening to Alice in Chains’ “Black Gives Way to Blue” was a one-pass. It didn’t take me any time to see the musical genius behind their most recent offering.

Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard are true musicians. Their art is not something to be appreciated in the “Oh look … here’s a lovely mountain picture hanging above my hotel bed” kind of way. If there were a Louvre for music, their music would have a wing unto itself. It’s something to be drunk slowly. Sipped, as it were. Appreciated over a long, long period of time. They don’t write music; they compose it. And they do it with such finesse and precision that it simply wouldn’t be right to review their new CD without proper time to digest it.

And no–I don’t consider the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a “Louvre.”

Having said that …

The layering on this is phenomenal. “Uprising,” the anthemic opening track, treats us to Wolstenholme’s thick, prominant bass playing and Dom’s driving drum beat. They start off the track with such energy that you can’t help but get up and move. Bellamy bounces between keyboards and guitar. I don’t know who “they” is supposed to represent–government? media? Whoever the phantom power is, they will not control us; we will be victorious. Hands down. If you don’t believe that by the end of the song, you’re not paying close enough attention.

As is so often the case with many Muse songs, the next track, “Resistance,” lulls you into a trance with some ethereal, soft keyboards, then flows effortlessly into the meat of the song with more of Dom’s bombastic drumming, Matt’s keyboarding, and Chris’ single bass lines.

I’m just blown away by the hooks on this CD. “Undisclosed Desires” has some deep, soul-shaking, bass synth on the chorus that just rocks your ears and has the capicty to turn your innie into an outie. If you don’t think so, get yourself a pair of high-end headphones and listen to this track. Mix in the plucked-strings sound that echoes throughout, layered with the rest of the keyboards and synth … whoa.

One of my favorite tracks is “Unnatural Selection.” It has this completely “Do We Really Need This/Hullabaloo feel to it musically. Lyrically, it’s pretty in-your-face, conjuring protests and rallies. “I am hungry for some unrest; let’s push it beyond a peaceful protest. I want to speak in a language that you will understand …” If you want to hear an amazing live version of this track, check out this site. Download the Admiralspalast show.

Here’s the thing with Muse. I might have said this before, and if I have, I won’t apologize because it’s absolutely true.

Muse is the new Rush. Both 3-piece bands that do more with those 3 pieces than most 5-pieces bands. Their “less is more” approach to music bears the unavoidable comparison. Most want to compare Muse to Queen, and while there is no denying the influence Freddy Mercury et al have on the band, Muse does it better with less. Sorry, Queen fans … that’s just my opinion, and you don’t have to agree with it or like it.

I won’t review each song. I’ve given you enough of a reason to get this CD. This has “stuck on a desert island” potential. Seriously. Soak in it. Drink it in slowly and deliberately. You’ll thank yourself. And me.  

Links:

Official site

Great fan site

In high school, I had some pretty bizarre taste in music. I actually had a tape of “The Sea Hags.” No lie. Quite honestly, I thought they sucked. Their lead singer sounded like someone had put his hand in a blender, but he was too strung out to care much, so he offered this pitiful, semi-screeching, gutteral muttering that just didn’t come across as worthwhile.  Truly, an awful band. After a quick googling, they actually have/had a relatively tiny cult following, comprised of mostly Bay area natives who still remember them.

Anyway, I went in search of something more substantial. I thought joining a tape club would help expand my musical interests. One of the selections of the month was Rush’s new offering, “Presto.” Mind you, this was my Senior year of high school. As of then, my only brush with Rush was some kid on the bus in 10th grade who said that Rush’s new album was great because their drummer had finally transitioned to electronic drums (an accomplishment achieved by “the mighty Alex Van Halen” with the release of “5150″ in 1986–a full year before the release of Rush’s “Hold Your Fire”). Wondering who this Rush band could be, I consciously did not send in my reply card and awaited the arrival of my selection.

To say that I was underwhelmed is like saying that Patriots fans found solace in the fact that 18-1 is still a pretty decent record for a single loss season, or as any Buffalo sports fan will tell you, “There’s always next year.” I had heard all this great stuff about them–the musicianship, the drumming, the incredible bass and guitar … nothing on this new tape lived up to the hype or pre-conceptions. Mind you, at the time, I was heavily into Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin–classic rock titans. This pop-drivel pouring out of my little rickety bedroom stereo didn’t even pale in comparison to “Dark Side” or “IV”; it hung its head in shame and slunked off into the corner to suck its thumb and whimper.

That was 1989 …

Flash foward to my first year of college. I decided to live in the dorms, where I was sure I would be surrounded by a diverse enough group to adequately augment my musical tastes. I was introduced to bands like TMBG, Nitzer Ebb, NIN, and a ton of other groups. One guy across the hall kept playing this one tape over and over, and I always heard it, but I had no idea what it was. Finally, one day around Christmas break time, I wandered over to his room when the door was open and the tape was on. “Dude … who is that?” He stared back at me with a look that said it all …

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Wish I were, now. Seriously, who is it?”

“You’ve never heard ‘Tom Sawyer?’”

“Apparently not. Again … who is that band?”

“Dude … it’s Rush. You know … ’2112,’ ‘Moving Pictures,’ ‘Permanent Waves’ …”

It took a few seconds to process, but it finally sank in. “Wait … did they have a new album out a couple of years ago with a rabbit coming out of a top hat?”

“Yah. ‘Presto.’ So you ARE familiar with them.”

“Kind of … I thought that album sucked.”

“Well, it was definitely a change of pace for them …”

“Do you have anything else by them?”

“Tons, dude. Wanna borrow them?”

“ALL of them. Please …”

In one fell swoop, I was introduced to “Caress of Steel,” “2112,” “Hemispheres,” “Permanent Waves,” “Moving Pictures,” “Signals,” and “Power Windows.” I couldn’t soak it in fast enough. It’s probably a good thing all he had were tapes and that I wasn’t aware of the concept of CD dynamic tracking; I would have been skipping around all over the place.

There was a used music store down the street a bit from campus. I trudged there in one frigid January day with some loose bills and change. I bought everything I could get my hands on. “Hold Your Fire,”  “Grace Under Pressure,” almost all the above-mentioned … I think my tape collection doubled in a single afternoon.

I haven’t looked back since. Say what you want about Geddy Lee’s voice … as a 3-piece band, they have more talent than any 5-member band (I’m looking at you, Steven and Joe …). They’ve experimented with blues, dance, pop, alternative, straight-up rock … they transcend genre.

I won’t go on about their individual accomplishments or awards … you can research that for yourself. I will say that they are heading into their 60s, and they still put out amazing music.

For the newbie to the band, I recommend cutting your teeth on “Moving Pictures,” “Hemispheres,” “Hold Your Fire,” and “Vapor Trails.” Those 4 CDs span about 25 years of style.