Rush's ridiculous philosophy on setlist

[traeplien]

Listen, everyone is entitled to their opinion. We're all Rush fans here. A little respect goes a long way. One point I would like to add. I totally agree with the negative comments about David Lee Roth. The man was a sloppy, drunken, pompous douchebag back in the day but as an old school Van Halen fan who saw them twice during their early years; I can honestly say that there is no band in my repertoire of roughly 100 concerts that I have been to in my life that I have enjoyed more than VH . They were fun to see in concert and if you were not blown away by their stage shows, you were probably not capable of being blown away. The current VH, you can have. Edited April 4, 2013 by traeplien

[traeplien]

Guys, I HATE it when Rush goes up on stage all dressed up in their casual jeans and shirts and their instruments, and Geddy goes up the the mic, and then they play MUSIC. Goddamn it, this isn't what I expected. This is RUSH, not some piece of trash two bit band like Led Zeppelin or The Beatles. Rush doesn't simply PLAY music, surely some of you must know what I'm talking about? I mean, for god's sake, their philosophy surrounding shows is just ridiculous!

 

Led Zep and the Beatles; easily the two most influential bands in music history are two bit trash?? Now that's funny. :laughing guy:

[losingit2k]

The Rush formula has been the same since I first saw them on the 2112 tour, except they are the whole show now and the show is longer. They make a new record. They tour on that material. They play some well received songs from previous tours. They take time off. (more since they have gotten older) They make another new record. They tour on that new material etc...

 

My routine has stayed the same too, like most real old timer fans of all the band does. :codger: I am at the record store the day the new album comes out. I absorb all the new material, trying to figure out what the hell they are doing this time. Then I get it, and I love it. Then they tour and I am there, hoping to hear those new songs. I have heard the older ones plenty. Let me hear the new ones. They deliver. Then throw in some classics cuz I like them and I love the crowd reaction. They deliver. Then hit me with some surprises...the so called deep cuts. They deliver. Then I wait for the new record. (waiting a lot longer these days but...) I'm at the store on release date and here we go again!

 

I think they have done an amazing job of staying true to their roots, their style (or lack there of), their formula and their fans. And to have done it for 40+ years now? Unprecedented, period. The best band ever! :rush:

 

Bravo!

 

:ebert: :clap: :ebert:

[losingit2k]

Very interesting topic. As expected, the opinions are all over the charts. Here's my take, for what its worth. My wife and I met in 1980. We were both already rabid Rush fans. In fact, her entire group of friends were total Rush heads so after I met them; I became an even bigger fan. Thirty plus years and roughly 15 Rush concerts together later; here's my opinion (wife is at work but her opinions on this generally mirror mine). For me, the last Rush album that I truly loved from top to bottom was Power Windows. No album since has lit my fire like PW and the albums that came before PW. We find a few songs we love from each album since PW but find that the majority of the tunes are not nearly as pleasing to our ears as the earlier albums.

Which brings us to the current tour. A few songs from CA would have been great for us, most notably Headlong Flight, my favorite song from CA. An hours worth of the new album though; that doesn't excite us at all. This current tour is the first tour in their history that completely lacks those wonderful songs that just kick your ass when you see/hear them played live i.e.; "Between the Wheels", Natural Science too name but a mere few. As for the 80's period; I love the 80's Rush songs but my absolute favorite from the post Moving Pictures era; Marathon; which they kindly performed for us on the last tour; has been removed from the setlist and Distant Early Warning; another 80's number that my wife and I absolutely love, didn't even find its way on to the setlist so our two favorite 80's, post MP songs are not even included in this "80's tunes" tour.

Outside of Territories; just too many songs that don't give us goosebumps. There were some tunes on the last tour that didn't exactly thrill us either but at least we had Marathon and Camera Eye. On top of that, I'm so sick of the tired staples like Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions (though my wife loves Subdivisions). Even the 2112 teaser gets old. I don't need the Temples and the Grand Finale. 2112 is a special piece of music imo and cutting it short ruins the experience for us.

Bottom line; there are not enough "wow" moments on this tour for us and because of that; were selling our 4 tickets for the Atlantic City show.

Yes; the boys have earned the right to play whatever they wish. I'm not faulting them for that but we too have earned the right to pick and choose who we spend our money on, even though as I stated previously; we did purchase 4 tickets for the AC show. In the end; opinions are subjective and we're entitled to our own so as I said; take mine for what its worth.

 

See, this is what happens when you utilize RUSH as Viagara! Try some coffee next time, maybe that will excite or give you goosebumbs.

 

[traeplien]

Very interesting topic. As expected, the opinions are all over the charts. Here's my take, for what its worth. My wife and I met in 1980. We were both already rabid Rush fans. In fact, her entire group of friends were total Rush heads so after I met them; I became an even bigger fan. Thirty plus years and roughly 15 Rush concerts together later; here's my opinion (wife is at work but her opinions on this generally mirror mine). For me, the last Rush album that I truly loved from top to bottom was Power Windows. No album since has lit my fire like PW and the albums that came before PW. We find a few songs we love from each album since PW but find that the majority of the tunes are not nearly as pleasing to our ears as the earlier albums.

Which brings us to the current tour. A few songs from CA would have been great for us, most notably Headlong Flight, my favorite song from CA. An hours worth of the new album though; that doesn't excite us at all. This current tour is the first tour in their history that completely lacks those wonderful songs that just kick your ass when you see/hear them played live i.e.; "Between the Wheels", Natural Science too name but a mere few. As for the 80's period; I love the 80's Rush songs but my absolute favorite from the post Moving Pictures era; Marathon; which they kindly performed for us on the last tour; has been removed from the setlist and Distant Early Warning; another 80's number that my wife and I absolutely love, didn't even find its way on to the setlist so our two favorite 80's, post MP songs are not even included in this "80's tunes" tour.

Outside of Territories; just too many songs that don't give us goosebumps. There were some tunes on the last tour that didn't exactly thrill us either but at least we had Marathon and Camera Eye. On top of that, I'm so sick of the tired staples like Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions (though my wife loves Subdivisions). Even the 2112 teaser gets old. I don't need the Temples and the Grand Finale. 2112 is a special piece of music imo and cutting it short ruins the experience for us.

Bottom line; there are not enough "wow" moments on this tour for us and because of that; were selling our 4 tickets for the Atlantic City show.

Yes; the boys have earned the right to play whatever they wish. I'm not faulting them for that but we too have earned the right to pick and choose who we spend our money on, even though as I stated previously; we did purchase 4 tickets for the AC show. In the end; opinions are subjective and we're entitled to our own so as I said; take mine for what its worth.

 

See, this is what happens when you utilize RUSH as Viagara! Try some coffee next time, maybe that will excite or give you goosebumbs.

 

I just had a cup. Gotta tell ya; I'm not feeling anything. Wait a second; I think I'm feeling a bowel movement. :drool:

[losingit2k]

Very interesting topic. As expected, the opinions are all over the charts. Here's my take, for what its worth. My wife and I met in 1980. We were both already rabid Rush fans. In fact, her entire group of friends were total Rush heads so after I met them; I became an even bigger fan. Thirty plus years and roughly 15 Rush concerts together later; here's my opinion (wife is at work but her opinions on this generally mirror mine). For me, the last Rush album that I truly loved from top to bottom was Power Windows. No album since has lit my fire like PW and the albums that came before PW. We find a few songs we love from each album since PW but find that the majority of the tunes are not nearly as pleasing to our ears as the earlier albums.

Which brings us to the current tour. A few songs from CA would have been great for us, most notably Headlong Flight, my favorite song from CA. An hours worth of the new album though; that doesn't excite us at all. This current tour is the first tour in their history that completely lacks those wonderful songs that just kick your ass when you see/hear them played live i.e.; "Between the Wheels", Natural Science too name but a mere few. As for the 80's period; I love the 80's Rush songs but my absolute favorite from the post Moving Pictures era; Marathon; which they kindly performed for us on the last tour; has been removed from the setlist and Distant Early Warning; another 80's number that my wife and I absolutely love, didn't even find its way on to the setlist so our two favorite 80's, post MP songs are not even included in this "80's tunes" tour.

Outside of Territories; just too many songs that don't give us goosebumps. There were some tunes on the last tour that didn't exactly thrill us either but at least we had Marathon and Camera Eye. On top of that, I'm so sick of the tired staples like Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions (though my wife loves Subdivisions). Even the 2112 teaser gets old. I don't need the Temples and the Grand Finale. 2112 is a special piece of music imo and cutting it short ruins the experience for us.

Bottom line; there are not enough "wow" moments on this tour for us and because of that; were selling our 4 tickets for the Atlantic City show.

Yes; the boys have earned the right to play whatever they wish. I'm not faulting them for that but we too have earned the right to pick and choose who we spend our money on, even though as I stated previously; we did purchase 4 tickets for the AC show. In the end; opinions are subjective and we're entitled to our own so as I said; take mine for what its worth.

 

See, this is what happens when you utilize RUSH as Viagara! Try some coffee next time, maybe that will excite or give you goosebumbs.

 

I just had a cup. Gotta tell ya; I'm not feeling anything. Wait a second; I think I'm feeling a bowel movement. :drool:

 

Nah, That's just the production of Vapor Trail!

 

:outtahere:

[ThinkingBig]

 

What bothers me is the fact that Rush is doing what THEY want, in concert, instead of giving what they know that most fans want to hear.

 

http://cdn2.blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/files/2012/06/spoiled-brat.jpg

[TheBluePhoenix]

I’m really surprised at how much anger the original poster seems to have toward the band. Rush has ALWAYS done what they wanted to do without concerning themselves with what others would think. Isn’t that what we LOVE about them? Their fearlessness is what allowed them to create such a wide variety of unique and interesting music. If they’re going to go on tour and play songs over and over again for months then shouldn’t they be songs that they WANT to play and enjoy playing? As far as the complaint that they’re playing too much new stuff, they’ve ALWAYS played a lot from the latest album. This is not a sudden change so I don’t understand why you’re so upset now.

 

After nearly 40 years of incredible music I feel that what we the fans should be expressing to Rush is gratitude and lots of it.

[Jaminbenb]

I l

I’m really surprised at how much anger the original poster seems to have toward the band. Rush has ALWAYS done what they wanted to do without concerning themselves with what others would think. Isn’t that what we LOVE about them? Their fearlessness is what allowed them to create such a wide variety of unique and interesting music. If they’re going to go on tour and play songs over and over again for months then shouldn’t they be songs that they WANT to play and enjoy playing? As far as the complaint that they’re playing too much new stuff, they’ve ALWAYS played a lot from the latest album. This is not a sudden change so I don’t understand why you’re so upset now.

 

After nearly 40 years of incredible music I feel that what we the fans should be expressing to Rush is gratitude and lots of it.

 

I just like the fact that they don't play the SAME 15-20 SONGS year after year like a lot of other bands tend to do! I've stopped going to see some bands because of that very reason! Some change only one of two songs, others don't change ANY! Rush at LEAST attempts to change things over each tour...

[GeddysMullet]

I respect and can see the point of all differing opinions on this topic. I just feel lucky to be in the "don't care what they play/am excited to hear as much of Clockwork Angels as possible" camp.

[JohnnyBlaze]

I’m really surprised at how much anger the original poster seems to have toward the band. Rush has ALWAYS done what they wanted to do without concerning themselves with what others would think. Isn’t that what we LOVE about them? Their fearlessness is what allowed them to create such a wide variety of unique and interesting music. If they’re going to go on tour and play songs over and over again for months then shouldn’t they be songs that they WANT to play and enjoy playing? As far as the complaint that they’re playing too much new stuff, they’ve ALWAYS played a lot from the latest album. This is not a sudden change so I don’t understand why you’re so upset now.

 

After nearly 40 years of incredible music I feel that what we the fans should be expressing to Rush is gratitude and lots of it.

I doubt the op is angry at all. He always sounds like that. He's simply stating his opinion (though some might say he's f***ing with us)

[Tombstone Mountain]

You gotta give it to GeminiRising...the dude spits out a thread and we're engaged! even though he's churlish and porcine in his commentary I dig the hell out of Gemini

[John V]

Every band plays their latest music to sell albums. Thats why its called an "Album Tour". Rush seems to always include old favorites regardless of the cycle/album they are on.

I have several live DVD's and I can find the same songs on each one. Some new, some old and some ancient.

I have not seen CA in its entirety. But if its anything like all the other concerts, I will be happy.

[losingit2k]

I wonder if there would be treads like this if Hemispheres were just released:

 

Geminirising:

Despite Rush being my favorite group (since '74), lately I'm having hard time justifying seeing them in concert these days based on their setlist choices. I'm astounded they won't play their essential titles like Working Man and Fly By Night that got them where they are now. Far too many excuses are given for this.

 

:P

[Wingmaster]

Oh and I especially loved the part where David Lee got up with an acoustic and started blabbering about his farm up in Aptos while footage of his dogs running around through fields played behind him, which somehow segued into "Ice Cream Man".

 

 

Please, elaborate....

 

LMAO!! Great post!

 

Reminds me of the Styx/REO/Journey concert I went to years ago in D.C. w/ a friend that wanted to see Journey. I figured I'd go to see Styx. REO was worthless as was Journey w/o Steve Perry, and Styx has been reduced to carnival fair as well.

 

But at one point Kevin Cronin, who's one of the biggest douche bags in the music industry, goes off on this [seriously] 5+ min. story about his "two sons" and how he went to some party at the Playboy Mansion "for them," and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah ... Unbelievable waste of time and so incredibly boring. Some of these assklowns are just so narcissistic that they think anyone cares.

 

Really gotta be careful about which bands one sees as they [those bands] age. One poor geriatric performance erases a lifetime of memories about shows seen in younger years. Kind of like a hot girl you [if you're a guy] used to date, and years later while still single, you see her again but she's fat and fugly. All you can think is wtf happened to her.

Great post! I refuse to go and see some of these older bands that are playing the bottom of the tour venues, with barely any original band members. Most of them aren't even signed anymore and just tour because they need to make a living. Sad... A good example is Boston. Is there anyone left in that "band" from the original line up? Heart played in Thunder Bay a few week ago and I almost went... decided against it.

 

Boston was my favorite band as a yute. They did a good job of touring as Delp's voice diminished by getting Fran Cosmo in there on tours in the '90s. But once Delp killed himself that was it for me. The only one left is Scholz himself, who seems to have some issues, his brilliance aside. The dude from Home Depot I tolerated for half a song on youtube and regretted watching that.

 

Scholz is Scholz, and he's the only one left from Boston original, but the singing IDs the band unless the musicians are ultra talented, and usually the place to look is lead guitar, eh. And while we're at it, that's just one more astonishingly remarkable thing about Rush, that they still have their "original" three members. That is rare for bands that have achieved their level of success or a significant fraction thereof.

 

I saw Kansas in the early '90s in Upstate NY and Steve Walsh sounded like sh!t. Kerry Livgren was no longer w/ the group, which I knew. But I completely regretted going to see them despite the fact that it didn't cost much. If not for the beer that night ... LOL

 

 

... but their musicianship pales in comparison to Rush and they were never in any way original like Rush became ...

 

That right there is the core difference between Rush and most bands out there. All musicians have musical influences, but not all of 'em are nearly as original as Rush in their song writing from music to lyrics. Then when you add in the level of success that they've had, particularly the sustained success, they are definitely amongst the top few best bands of all times to any purist, like their music or not.

 

 

I think they have done an amazing job of staying true to their roots, their style (or lack there of), their formula and their fans. And to have done it for 40+ years now? Unprecedented, period.

 

Nail, meet head, ... head, nail!

 

Spot on!

 

 

Listen, everyone is entitled to their opinion. We're all Rush fans here. A little respect goes a long way. One point I would like to add. I totally agree with the negative comments about David Lee Roth. The man was a sloppy, drunken, pompous douchebag back in the day but as an old school Van Halen fan who saw them twice during their early years; I can honestly say that there is no band in my repertoire of roughly 100 concerts that I have been to in my life that I have enjoyed more than VH . They were fun to see in concert and if you were not blown away by their stage shows, you were probably not capable of being blown away. The current VH, you can have.

 

That's a fair point, but remember to keep it in the context of the discussion. Van Halen's choices for live song options are significantly more limited than Rush's. I mean the one thing that I think that the more astute in this thread have taken away is the overall diversity of songs by Rush, both style as well as other, that make any even moderate consensus as to preferable set-list all but an impossibility.

 

If VH filled as much live play time as Rush, they'd have exhausted the number of tunes, or come very close to doing so, that were halfway decent or better. Most of their later albums, anything after Hagar left, have sucked, and a couple before his arrival sucked too. Most of their good material comes from four or five albums.

 

I hear ya, while I never saw VH live, I heard that their shows were phenominal, but back in the day. Obviously they suck now, and they're five+ years younger than Alex, Geddy, and Neil with infused younger talent.

 

Rush could play for 8 or 10 hours w/ material that no Rush fan would want to leave the show. VH would top out at three hours. Their songs are more the 4-6 minute versions of "made for airplay" types and they have no longer tunes, at all.

 

Rush could fill an hour with a handful of instrumentals alone, likely even more. Entire albums would take nearly an hour to play.

 

Few bands have that much material to draw from. I'd rather see Zeppelin (in their primes of course) than VH any day of the week, but even their material is limited. The Grateful Dead, also a cult band, and the Beatles are two bands that come to mind that would have set-list issues like Rush has.

 

 

I just like the fact that they don't play the SAME 15-20 SONGS year after year like a lot of other bands tend to do! I've stopped going to see some bands because of that very reason! Some change only one of two songs, others don't change ANY! Rush at LEAST attempts to change things over each tour...

 

That's largely been my point throughout this thread, how many other bands have a choice? Some do, but it's very few. The Beatles and Grateful Dead among them.

 

I mean who would want to go see Van Halen if they didn't sing, oh, I'll throw out a number here, their top 10 most notable songs of all time?

 

Most bands don't have the musical arsenal to be able to pull off a show that's going to sell tickets w/o playing their most popular 10 songs. People would be leaving complaining that they didn't do them. Not doing so wouldn't impact Rush turnout in the least. In fact, there's not even close to majority agreement here, amongst hardened fans, what their top-10 songs even are.

 

I know what mine are, but if someone said they're touring but not playing a one of 'em, I'd still buy tix and go!

 

Sheeet, they could not do the top-20 of my personal faves and same thing. As I'd said before, I'd pay the same to go see an unspecified jam session simply due to the talent of the musicians. Most bands don't even write songs showing off the talent of their instrumentalists!

 

The music industry is driven by pop sh!t, that's been the complaint of many a band, few of which, like Rush, have navigated around that. Pink Floyd is another that has along with the Grateful Dead despite the fact that I'm not a huge fan of theirs.

 

There have been Rush concerts where they've played few of what the pop world considers to be their best songs and I don't recall reading about how those tours were a bust.

Edited April 6, 2013 by Wingmaster

[Rushman14]

hell, i have seen 139 rush shows and never heard fly by night live, EVER, and I been seeing them since '83....

 

:o and I thought I was bigshot with 57 shows under my belt starting in '77

[driventotheedge]

hell, i have seen 139 rush shows.........

:notworthy:

[Cygnus 2112]

139 :notworthy: I am beyond jealous.

[upstateNYfan]

You gotta give it to GeminiRising...the dude spits out a thread and we're engaged! even though he's churlish and porcine in his commentary I dig the hell out of Gemini

You done got a vocabulary. :baabaa:

[nhlrush]

hell, i have seen 139 rush shows and never heard fly by night live, EVER, and I been seeing them since '83....

 

:o and I thought I was bigshot with 57 shows under my belt starting in '77

 

I may have some volume of shows, but you have something I can never have....seeing them in the 70s....

 

If I was in Field of Dreams and I was given one wish (besides piles of money).....my wish would be to be able to go back to the mid to late 70s and see Rush live.....that would be my wish....

 

and btw....139 shows = 139 times hearing Tom Sawyer....so.....I'd personally be okay if it ever got dropped..but we know thats not happening...