Rush: Classic or Dud?

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

Rush's live medleys are some of my favorite concert experiences ever (I mean the whole shows have been great, but the medleys are like all-time live highlights)

what Moodles said

So sorry I missed this leg. Stupid camping trip ...

So I gotta go with a "meh" on the Clockwork Angels novel.

me too. it's way too young adult. i wanted something more steampunk/clockwork orangey, the way it's been billed. i'm only halfway through, but the interminable kid running away and joining the circus episode would be more fitting for a novelization of brain salad surgery ("karn evil 9") than it is for clockwork angels. still, i love the fact that they did this, and there's no way i wouldn't read a novelization of a rush album, even if the world's worst writer wrote it

oh yeah, which is exactly why i bought it! but its really not that great.

why do I keep avoiding and then giving into this thread?

re: Hemispheres and Farewell to Kings above -- these were my favorite records by the band back when I would consider myself a big fan (mostly high school really). In retrospect, along w/2112, they are far and away their proggiest records, which is probably what I was latching onto. I think I even read (or was it in doc?) Alex Lifeson saying that after Hemisphere, they never wanted to make another record like that -- and then came Permanent Waves, which backs him up.

Still think "Xanadu", "la Villa Strangiato", "Cygnus X-1" among the best stuff they ever did.

hemispheres is by far my favorite of their albums. it's too bad prog has such a bad rep because people are really missing out. the sidelong suite is a major highlight for me in all their stuff

Yeah,.I'm amazed Rush still gets pegged a prog act. It's been decades since they fully embodied the traits people associate with the term. I think the band wanted to move on for the same reason Metallica did. Songs got too long.

aero going to see Rush after complaining about them on the Rush/Dead/Yes thread??

That's the thing about Rush: complain all you want, but when someone gives you tickets, any sensible person says "yes."