Rush: Classic or Dud?

I do appreciate the fact that a Rush setlist is literally a set list. No messing around with these guys. I saw Springsteen Friday and Saturday night, and the second show featured 15 songs not played the first. But Rush? They're all about a snapshot of a particular time on a particular tour, which I think is kind of cool.

I like the 80s stuff more than Bill does but, wow, is ILM this typical of the Rush fanbase? Are that many people really going to Rush shows to see mid- to late-80s album tracks? One song from Moving Pictures, one from Permanent Waves, one song from the SIX previous albums put together!

Especially surprising since the new album seems to harken back to their 70s material more than anything they've done in ages.

I guess they recently toured Moving Pictures in its entirety? Maybe that's what this is about?

Oh, with the encore, I guess that's two from MP.

With the Time Capsule tour all last year (or was it the year before?) I'm sure they feel they've done that stuff enough for now. Maybe they'll start alternating new & old like Iron Maiden does.

OK, I looked up the Time Machine setlist. I see what you're saying.

It's pretty unusual for them to be doing no Limelight, Freewill, 2112, or Closer to the Heart, to name just a few popular favorites.

(I do like the idea of mid-to late-80s stuff being "new" though!)

:P

Closer to the Heart they haven't done for years.

They played it on the time machine tour

I also saw them do it at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molson_Canadian_Rocks_for_Toronto

I suppose even that is 9 years ago now!

I saw the Time Machine tour and for the life of me don't remember Closer to the Heart, but yeah, I guess they did play it. Anyway, regardless, it hadn't really been played for a long time before that. Same with a lot of other older nuggets, which they sort of scatter throughout each tour. But the focus for a while has been on the early '80s, a smattering of '90s, and whatever latest record they are touring.

Interesting that they are focusing on this one fairly short period of a very long career. Marathon was one of the highlights for me on the last tour, so I guess it's pretty cool that they are doubling down on the Power Windows love. I suspect they look at it as an opportunity to rework those very 80s tunes with contemporary sonics.

It's corny as fuck but I love ”Mission”

Damn this is exciting. I would say that after this tour, it's time to revisit the 70s again...

I agree. I was predicting they'd bring back stuff like Xanadu and Hemispheres this time around, but maybe that will be the next tour.

Pretty sure Geddy can't sing either of those anymore (well, maybe "Xanadu," but definitely not "Hemispheres").

His singing was a bit shrieky, but it was still pretty amazing when they played Hemispheres on the Counterparts tour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH5jYLRcl08

So they've tweaked the setlist tonight, which is interesting. Won't say what was played, but I like it.

Man, looked at the tweaked set and now I'm even more bummed to miss it. :(

Not sure which I like better, both look pretty amazing.

They're gonna be A/B-ing those two set lists all tour, apparently. I am now thinking hard about going to both the Newark and Brooklyn shows, or Newark and Philadelphia, in order to see both.

Because you might know, is the band planning to tour the US again after Europe?

I don't know, actually. I wouldn't be surprised if they do, though, given that they've got a new record to promote for the first time in five years.

Picked up the Clockwork Angels book for some airplane reading this week, interested to see how it stands up.

I'm looking forward to your review, haven't checked it out yet.

I reviewed Sunday's Rush show for MSN:

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/live-music-blogpost.aspx?post=1efe1a16-81a7-45d3-807a-0dc3f9349123

why does rush hate saskatchewan

Nice review!

Great review! I can't believe I still have nearly 2 months before I get to see them.

The new issue of Guitar Player has a really nice cover feature on Alex Lifeson.

Wow "Clockwork Angels" even got a positive review in the Wire. a) Would not have expected it to get reviewed in the Wire b) and yeah, they dug it.

Rush song on a car commercial yesterday. It was a little jarring, I wouldnt think Peart would be up for that.

yeah my roommate was watching football and suddenly i heard FLY BY NIGHT AWAY FROM HERE from the other room and i was like whaaaat

"Tom Sawyer" was used in a Nissan ad about 6-8 years ago.

yeah but at least that one is a classic rock radio staple, 'fly by night' is pretty deep digging commercial-usage-wise

"Fly By Night" was a classic rock staple in MN when I was growing up and to my knowledge is still one of Rush's better known songs

Yeah, heard that one quite a bit on the classic rock station I listened to in the late eighties.

ok i guess its just not played on the stations here then

might have to go see them this time out, I never have, and I like the new album a lot, and haven't liked a rush album since Power Windows.

Yeah, "Fly By Night" is one of the half dozen Rush songs I knew before seeing them live for the first time in 2011, and it was all based on radio airplay.

akm, you should absolutely go. I've seen them many times starting with the Roll the Bones tour and can honestly say that their live show just keeps getting better and better in every way: song selection, sound quality, musicianship, overall spectacle.

I'm looking forward to your review, haven't checked it out yet.

So I gotta go with a "meh" on the Clockwork Angels novel. It does help get a better understanding of the album and the lyrics, a lot of the lyrics I was unsure about snapped into place, but as a sci-fi novel its pretty bland. The story is your fairly standard "lonely boy thinkin' baout things goes on a journey" trope and it unfolds fairly predictably (though a couple plot twists near the end spiced it up a tad). The "moral" of the whole thing is pretty hamhanded, but kinda par for the course for Rush I guess. There are a lot of sly references to other Rush albums and lyrics sprinkled throughout, so kind of a bonus for Rush nerds. Thing is, it just doesn't hold up as a good sci-fi novel.

The art looks pretty cool though.

Is there any greater several minutes of Lifeson than the middle section of "La Villa Strangiato"?

No-that song is a work of genius

I can't stop listening to it

Hemispheres I just picked up the other day; it was the only record (besides the debut) of theirs up through Presto I didn't have on vinyl, and I've really enjoyed just happily grabbing their stuff when I've found it used rather than rabidly seeking it out. I can easily see this record being the one that pushes me from solid fan into crazed fanboy, though. Something about it clicked with me immediately in a way none of their others did; maybe I'm used enough to their sound, their playing, their themes to where I just heard this one in a more "pure" way. It made me go back to A Farewell to Kings, too, which I feel like I heard with new ears...

aerosmith band outing to the Rush show on our night off in Philly tonight, fuck yes

lucky