RUSH - Time Machine Tour

For anyone that knows me, or for regular readers of my blog, it is no surprise that I am a huge fan of the band Rush. I have already written two blogs about them: Rush - the biggest band you never heard of and Heroes - Rush.

When I first heard last year that Rush were going to tour the UK, I knew I wanted to go and see them. I've seen Rush twice in concert before. I saw them on their Show of Hands and Presto tours. They were amazing on both occasions. They are one of the best live bands I've ever seen. They are faultless musicians who can play the most complex music to a live audience without missing a single note.

I arranged to go with a friend of mine. I bought two tickets last November for the LG Arena in Birmingham (formerly called the NEC Arena). The date of the concert was 22nd of May 2011. I'd heard from their web site that they would be playing the entire album Moving Pictures from start to finish, as well as playing old and new material. The concert would therefore be around 3 hours.

As the concert got closer, I still hadn't received the tickets, and was getting a bit worried. In the week leading up to the concert, I rang the ticket agency, and they assured me the tickets were on their way. On the Friday before the concert (which was set for the Sunday) I received an email from the ticket agency informing me they would not be able to supply the tickets after all. To say I was frustrated, gutted and disappointed is putting it mildly. I rang up my friend and gave him the bad news.

On the off chance, my friend rang up the venue and asked if they had any tickets left. By a stroke of good luck, they had a handful left! He immediately purchased two of them, and a ticket for parking too.What a result!

We arrived at the concert in plenty of time. We parked up, and then went  for a bite to eat and a drink. There were plenty of people wearing Rush T-shirts from various tours. We made our way to our seats on the Showdesk, which is just above the restaurant. We had plenty of room to sit or stand up, and had a good view of the stage too.

As is usual for Rush, the concert started with a video projected onto the back screen. It was a short comedy spoof about a band manager (played by Alex Lifeson - guitarist) trying to get his band a gig by impressing the venue promoter (played by Geddy Lee - bassist and vocalist). Listening in on the conversation was the unimpressed bystander (played by Neil Peart - drummer).

Eventually, the band came on stage and erupted into Spirit of Radio, to a huge roar from the crowd. At last, our heroes were on the stage! No matter how many times I hear this song, I never, ever tire of it. It is timeless, and judging by the reception from the rest of the crowd, they agreed with me.

They then launched into other favourites including Time Stand Still, Subdivisions, Marathon and Freewill, as well as new tracks including BU2B from the as yet unreleased Clockwork Angels album.

One thing I noticed was an air drummer to the far left of the stage (to the right from the perspective of the band). Rush concerts are the only time where you'll see far more air drummers than air guitarists. What struck me about this particular air drummer was that he air drummed during every single song, and his hands were perfectly mimicking Neil's hand movements (which is not easy as his style of drumming contains many difficult segments and notes, making even air drumming difficult). Not only that, but he was hitting the correct drums and cymbals. When Neil hit a right hand cymbal, the air drummer would be hitting a cymbal to his right. He was perfectly shadowing Neil's every movement, even to the songs that were unreleased. My guess is that he must have been a roadie, or even Neil's drum technician. His enthusiasm and abilities to perfectly shadow Neil were impressive.

There was a short interval, where my friend and I went for a  quick drink. We got back to our seats just as the band were about to come back on stage. When they did, they played the entire Moving Pictures album, including tracks they have never played live before such as Vital Signs (the track was deemed to difficult to play live). They opened the second half of the concert with Tom Sawyer, then straight into another of my favourites - Red Barchetta. Vital Signs was the last track from Moving Pictures.

As the band closed the track, Neil launched into his drum solo - Love 4 Sale. Each tour, Neil adjusts and changes his drum solo. Although I recognised sections of it, much of it was new. Unlike many drum solos (where the drummer just hits everything as hard and as fast as they can), Neil's solo is a musical set piece, with different parts of the kit played in different styles and tempos. Throughout the solo, the cameras gave us close up video shots of him (overhead and side cameras), and played these onto the huge back screen so we could see him playing. His level of technique is phenomenal, and well beyond the skill of most drummers. Most can only sit back, be amazed, and hope to be one tenth as good as Neil.

Other songs played included Closer To The Heart (which my friend betted me they wouldn't play), Caravan (from Clockwork Angels) and 2112. They closed the show with Far Cry.

Naturally, they got huge shouts from the audience to come back and do an encore, which they did. They played La Villa Strangiato (which I've never seen them play live before), Working Man (a rock track which they updated to include a reggae intro - which worked remarkably well) and finally Cygnus X-1.

The concert was amazing, which is what I would expect from a band of the caliber of Rush. As soon as the album Clockwork Angels is on sale, I'll be buying it!

Heroes - Rush

Continuing my series of Heroes blogs, I'm going to do something different and write about a group, rather than an individual. The first group to get this treatment are Rush. I've been a fan of Rush for over 25 years. I've seen them twice in concert and own all of their albums. They fill the world's biggest stadiums and arenas, but unless you're a fan, you've probably never heard of them.

Rush - Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart - are without question one of the most inventive and compelling groups in rock history, equally famed for both its virtuoso musicianship and provocative songwriting. Rush is one of rock’s most influential bands, ranking third for most consecutive gold and platinum albums behind The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The band have engaged legions of devoted fans over the decades and is admired by generations of musicians.

Rush were formed in August 1968 in Toronto, Canada. They are comprised of lead singer, bassist and keyboard player Geddy Lee, lead guitarist Alex Lifeson and lyricist, percussionist and drummer Neil Peart (who replaced original drummer John Rutsey who left after recording their debut, eponymous album).

Since releasing their debut album in March 1974, Rush have become known for their high level of musicianship, complex compositions and eclectic lyrical motifs, drawing from such influences including science fiction, fantasy, philosophy, as well as addressing humanitarian, social, emotional and environmental concerns.

I first came across them when I was about 15, via the live album Exit...Stage Left, which was released in 1982, and is still one of my favourite Rush albums. The album was voted 9th best live album of all time by a 2004 poll in Classic Rock Magazine. The opening track Spirit of Radio is surely one that most people will have heard, they probably just won't know it as a Rush song. I love the opening guitar riff by Alex Lifeson. The final lyrics to the song:

"For the words of the prophets were written on the studio wall,
Concert hall,
And echoes with the sounds of salesmen"

are an allusion to the famous final lyrics from the Simon and Garfunkel classic "The Sound of Silence":

"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence."

What I have always loved about Rush is that they have continually changed their musical style over the years. Their eponymous debut album was very much a blues inspired heavy rock album. They then encompassed progressive rock, and have gone through a period where they made intensive use of synthesisers.

Rush have never been afraid to push musical or lyrical boundaries, and have shied away from mainstream success, instead preferring to write music for its own sake, rather that for any particular mass market. For such independence alone they deserve to be lauded. While so many other bands deliberately set out to achieve and maintain mainstream success, Rush have never been bothered by it. Making music that they enjoy has always been far more important, and this is one of the reasons why they are so widely respected among their peers.

Many groups have cited Rush as an influence, including Metallica, Primus, The Smashing Pumpkins and Dream Theater. In fact, when I played the drums in my own bands when at school / college, we used to play a Rush cover. One of my biggest drumming influences was Neil Peart. His precision style of playing, the way he used the entirety of his impressively large drum set, and his many complex, polyrhythmic patterns were always inspirational. Neil Peart is arguably one of the greatest rock drummers of all time!

At the time of writing they are scheduled to release their next album later in the year called Clockwork Angels. I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to see Rush in concert in May at the NEC in Birmingham, and cannot wait, it's going to be a great concert! I'll post a review here to let you know how good it was.