Craig's Blog of Destiny

As many of you know, I’ve just finished my pilgrimage, my own version of traveling to Mecca, by making my way to seven Rush concerts over the last couple of weeks.  How blessed am I that I’m able to follow them around for awhile.  I’m reminded of one of the t-shirts I saw at one of the shows:  “thank you for being here during my lifetime.”  Also, I have such a great wife that not only allows me to traipse across the country, but also makes so many of the arrangements for me.  She’s a real sweetheart. 

So here’s my review: 

It was very, very good.  They played a good mix of old tunes and plenty from the new album; in fact they did nine of the thirteen songs on Snakes and Arrows.  They opened the show with Limelight, one that everyone knows, then played Digital Man (which prompted me to turn to Kris and say “this would be fun to play, I need to learn it”), then Entre Nous.  Here there was a brief break while Geddy welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming to help celebrate the release of their “millionth album.”  Then they got right back to the music.  I guess I don’t need to run down the whole set list, but the first set highlights included Freewill (still about the best bass solo I’ve ever heard), and Between the Wheels.  It was also great to hear Circumstances (tuned down a little so Geddy could sing it) and from the new album: The Main Monkey Business (or as Geddy introduced it, The MAIN Monkey Business) and The Larger Bowl (introduced by Doug and Bob McKenzie).  Ok, so the only ones from the first set I didn’t mention are Mission, Secret Touch and Dreamline (with those great green laser lights).

After a short break (which they took because as Geddy said, “we’re ancient”) they opened the second set with five straight from Snakes and Arrows, including Sam’s personal favorite: Spendrift, and a great Working Them Angels with a slide show that I really want the pictures from.  I really enjoyed Witch Hunt and Natural Science (another instrumental – they did six instrumentals all together).  It was also particularly great to watch Geddy play Malignant Narcissism on an old, really beat up Fender Jazz Bass.  It sounded great!  Of course, Neil’s drum solo was a highlight, though he’s rewritten it so it wasn’t as familiar as it usually is.  As they often do, they alternated one space in the second set, playing Distant Early Warning one night, then Summertime Blues the next.  I’m always way impressed with Alex’s intro to Spirit of Radio, but this time around I also really enjoyed hearing him all by himself doing Hope on a 12 string Gibson.  Finally, the introduction to Tom Sawyer by the boys from South Park was priceless.

For the encore they did One Little Victory complete with video of the frustrated dragon, Passage to Bangkok (a real crowd favorite) and YYZ.  No, they didn’t even do a little bit of 2112, which may be a first.

The talent of each of these three guys is incredible and to see them perform is a great experience.  Alex is probably underrated as a guitar player, his solos are very emotional, he’s obviously in a zone as he plays.  David mentioned to me he had heard that Neil is the best drummer in the world, and the next closest is about half as good – I would agree.  And his lyrics are exceptional.  Geddy does things with a bass I could only dream of, and he does it while singing!  I have a hard time listening to him and playing the bass at the same time, and he not only plays the bass and sings, he plays keyboards with his feet as well as traditionally with his hands (while not playing the bass).  All three are also triggering the parts of the music that they can’t be playing.  They are very uniquely talented.