theanalogmiddleagedman

I can understand a few attendees not knowing a lot of the material, particularly anything post-'81, but I'll never truly understand some of the animosity that's hurled towards their synth-era material...

 

Wow. "Post-'81".

 

That equates to 33 years of living in more-or-less Rush ignorance while focusing on just seven years of pre-81 music.

 

Yeah, that was the height of the band's popularity. When was the last time you heard anything post-Subdivisions on the radio?

 

When I tell people that I'm going to see Rush, I get a lot of "Wait, they're still around?". If you want to really blow peoples minds, just say "Yeah, they also put out a new album last year, and it completely rules!"

 

I still don't understand why anybody would go see a band that they haven't cared about since the early 80's.

 

I got a similar comment from my boss when I told him what I was doing this week - he said "Rush, that's like going to see the Doobie Brothers?" I almost had a geek freak out ass kickin moment, but thought better of it.

Yes. He was slappin that base. He stood right over us so many times. I wanted to reach out and touch him so badly...

I would like it just from the standpoint of I go to several shows each tour. It would be nice to see something different, but like someone said, that would start a whole new thing to bitch about. Dammit I got Dog Years and last night they played The Necromancer, etc.

All - I am trying to post pictures from Skydrive, but I can't get it to work picture by picture. I hope this link works. BTW - I took these with my crappy iPhone, so they are just ok...

 

http://<iframe src="https://skydrive.liv...EI2fFsGk2OOZT8" width="165" height="128" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Actually, I am going to lower my estimate to 10%.

The other thought is that they might have to ride the wave while they still can. They are on top of the world right now and they may find they need to keep milking the cow while the milk isn't dry. Don't know what that meant, but you know what I mean.

I think it is hard for die hard fans to understand how there are just casual concert goes. There are. I'm not and obviously no one on here is, but I would venture to say that only 25% of the people there fit into the same category of people on this forum.

Not that every Rush fan on earth is on this forum, but how many people on this forum went to this show? 10 out of 10,000 in attendance? Hard for us to make a dent went most people are really just there to party and have a good time, not devote 100% if their attention on the band.

 

I had the same thing happen to my at Buffalo. I think I had 4th row come up. As I was going to purchase them, the system crashed and I lost them. I ended up with 9th row, so can't complain about that, but still, of all the damn times for their website to crap out...

Dummy here - how do you attach pictures?

I wish we could somehow protest the current ticket practices so that you can get good tickets regularly in fan pre-sales. It seems like there are only a few out there by the time the pre-sales start and the best only go to a few.

I don't really think the crowd was that bad. I did see people sitting, but there were tons of people going crazy, too.

I think upstate NY fans are generally some of the wildest around.

You are right. Crossroads is unreal.

I guess I'm a blind lover of the band. They could cover the Bee Gees and the Osmonds all night long and I'd still be rocking and cheering the whole time. :)

I think we did this when they released Feedback!

I'm with you man. I was in the front row and I turned around at one point and there were a ton of people sitting in the pit.

 

I just think there were too many deep tracks plus of all CA. I loved it, but I am a diehard and thought it was neat to see other songs like Grand Designs and The Body Electric. My brother is more into the older material, and he kind of zoned out and just watched Neil during songs he really didn't know too well. He was still rocking out the whole time, but he would have been a lot happier if they broke into The Necromancer instead of Manhattan Project...

 

I am glad they had the balls to do this as it is a huge risk, but it doesn't really seem like it is killing their sales, either.

After being a die hard (bordering on the obsessed) fan for 27 some years, I finally got to see my favorite band from the front row..and I was dead center to boot.

I had asked a question previously if being in the front row is worth it.

 

Let me tell you - it is worth it and I am not sure I will ever be able to not be in the front row again. I can't even really put into words how incredible it was. My wife, my brother and a good friend all went and all felt the same way. They are not as big a fan as I am, but they still had a great time.

 

It was like you were watching them from your living room on a DVD. They were so close. If I was just a little crazy, I might have jumped up on the stage and hugged them. It was amazing to see their fingers moving and music actually coming from them as you saw their fingers.

 

We made eye contact several times and I think they could tell that we were having a great time. Geddy kept coming over and playing right in front of us and we would go crazy!

 

The one strange thing I felt was this...I feel like I know them - does anyone know what I mean? They have been in my life for so long, and such a big part of it. I was half expecting them to be like - Hey, what's up man? Good to see you again. Here's a t-shirt and pick for being such a super fanboy. Unfortunately, that fantasy was not fulfilled!

 

Big picture - I think they were on fire. It was the A3 setlist, which we saw in Buffalo, except we got to see The Body Electric, which I had a minor freak out over. I had to laugh at my wife, when she sadly asked if this meant we did not get to see Limelight, which is her favorite song, but TBE was well worth it for me!

 

There seemed to be a flub in The Spirit of Radio. We all knew it happened, but I can't tell you who came in early. All I know is that they just kept right on going like nothing happened and covered it perfectly.

 

Big picture, I would spend the money again and again...

 

If I can figure out how to upload pictures, I will.

I saw them twice on that tour, but don't remember being overly emotional. The funny thing for me was, I really didn't notice that they were gone for that long at the time. I had just met my future wife in 1999, we got married and moved between then and 2002. Those 3 years were a blur. I can't remember, but I think MFH came out in that time frame and that kept me going for a little while.

I don't really remember how I found out about Neil's tragedies, but I don't recall thinking about it much at the time.

I do remember getting an illegal copy of VT a few weeks before it came out and just being amazed at how awesome it was. It was heavy and Neil's lyrics were amazing.

When I was a silly youth of 11, I listened to pop radio and Casey Casum's Top 40. I remember hearing this song that I just got hooked on and that started my obsession with Rush. It was New World Man and I will never forget how incredible I thought it was the first time I heard it and still do today.

I think I like Vapor Trails better overall. At the time it came out, I really like TfE, just because it was another heavy album (departing from RtB and Presto), but it hasn't aged as well with me as Counterparts.

 

Driven is one of my all time favorite songs. I really like Half the World, Totem (which could have been fantastic if it wasn't for the 1000's Geddys parts).Carve Away the Stone and The Color of Right. I also like Dog Years and Virtuality, which most people hate. They have good groves.

 

On VT, you can't beat Earthshine, OLV, Secret Touch and Ceiling Unlimited.

Planning to attend my first show this year! What do you guys think will be the BEST show out of the remaining tour dates? Coolest venue, best crowd etc? Is it possible to choose??

 

I am going to SPAC next week. A really cool venue and I think Upstate NY fans are some of the best fans. I haven't been to any of the other remaining venues to compare venues, but I have been to shows in the midwest, south and Canada, and you can't beat NY fans...

Next week will be 20 for me. Same as the about poster, I spent most of the 90's and 2000's in TN, or my count would have been much higher. I had to travel back to upstate NY to see them most of the time.

Now that I live back here, they are not coming around as much as they used to, so I am doubly screwed.

Can you say all of them? It is hard to pick as I find that I really get into one for a while then I find something of interest in another.

 

If I had to say the top 5:

Permanent Waves

Hemispheres

Fly by Night

Signals

Moving Pictures (it is hard to say MP as the songs are so oversaturated on multiple live albums, tours, radio, etc, but it is an incredible album)

2112 - ok 6.

I'll make a simple comment:

Some of my favorite tunes are on VT - OLV, Secret Touch, Ceiling Unlimited. I think Earthshine is just unreal. The fact that he took a cool phenomenon and wrote about literally, but then also figuratively is awesome.

A lot of the songs not played live or mentioned much are really neat, too, like How it Is.

I think it is awesome just from the standpoint that it seems like it is about something else on the surface, but really is about a life's quest.

I sing as loud and high as I can, but I probably sound more like Alvin than Geddy.

No. She is a young girl with dark hair. Shame on you all for noticing her:-)!