Seeing as it was my first Rush show, so I have absolutely nothing to compare it to in terms of performance, I'll share my crazed jabberings anyway:
There definitely seemed to be a shift in the sound quality in the first and second halves of the show - in the first half, the sound was somewhat muddy (and still was in the more recent songs in the second half, such as Far Cry and Caravan), but it was fantastic for the second half - it was almost like they flipped up a gear.
The songs in the first half of the set were somewhat of a mixed bag, and felt a teensy bit flat. It was awesome that they opened with TSoR, but after Presto, the songs dragged slightly until Freewill, Marathon and Subdivisions, with Time Stand Still and Faithless sounding a bit lacklustre (I have to admit I never really 'got' Faithless as a song, but I've always really liked Time Stand Still, so to hear it played so foggily was slightly disheartening).
Don't get me wrong, the songs were still a great deal fun, and I love them all, but they seemed to lack a small amount of fizz - I'm not sure whether it was the acoustics of the MEN, but they just seemed to be missing that little bit of 'oomph' - I think with the right balance, they would have all been awesome. (Or maybe they could just replace the songs between Presto and Freewill with tracks off PeW and the unrepresented P/G - that also works for me )
The second half, however, was perfect in terms of song choices (in my eyes at least), and the drum solo blew me away; I'm still having trouble convincing myself that it actually happened. As I've already mentioned, Far Cry and Caravan sounded a little shaky, despite being excellent songs, but that aside, 2112 Overture/ToS, the Moving Pictures album and Closer to the Heart were sensational, with LVS and Working Man as the finale being up to the same standard.
It seemed to be the case that the more recent the song, the more likely it was to sound unbalanced. It felt at certain points like Alex's guitar was overpowering everything, and at others, Geddy's bass was omnipresent (particularly for certain chords, although it was thunderously enjoyable for Witch Hunt), and Caravan/BU2B barely sounded like the originals. However, Neil's drumming always seemed to be spot on soundwise, and he was actually caught on the big screen smiling at the end of his solo (something I don't think I've seen before in footage )
Also, did anyone else notice that even though they were miles away from the stage, they were still getting hit by the heat of the pyrotechnics? The lighting was mesmeric and the skits in between songs were pretty funny, including "Slappin' da bass" after the encore; I didn't realise the guys could act so well.
The show aside, I have to say the yellowcoats irritated me as well, with one woman sending me from block 104 (as was on the ticket I showed to her) to block 110, only for me to be sent back to block 104 and this time being let in without any explanation given for the detour.
However, I'd definitely pay to see that show again, and would quite happily sell body parts to do so. More than worth the 12 hours it took to travel up from the South coast to see them.
EDIT: Spelling and Grammar
