OK, so here's my two pennyworth:
- yes I have registered just to make this post
- yes I am aware that Rush themselves may not read this, but am hoping that maybe (a) they or someone close to them will get wind of it and/or ( someone else here can point me to a way of getting the news to them
- for the record (in case it matters) I have been a Rush fan for 30 years (one day maybe I'll be able to say "50 odd years"...), so everything I say here is meant in the spirit not of radio but of genuine surprise, disappointment and constructive criticism...
...but the sound utterly sucked. I was in Block 106 (if the stage was 12 o'clock this would have been about 7 o'clock), maybe 25 rows up the elevation. From the beginning of "Spirit..." I knew something was amiss, I couldn't quite tell what it was but knew that the headache/sickness inducing subsonic standing wave was NOT in the Rush gameplan for the evening. Eventually I figured that it was Neil's kick drum which was just so loud/badly filtered that it was overwhelming everything at the bottom end anywhere its frequency range - Geddy's voice when it dropped into the low registers, Alex's guitar when he played at the bottom of the neck, and any percussion other than the snare or cymbals.
The net of all this was that the first set was virtually unlistenable - I even went to have a word with the sound guy who claimed it was OK...or a "room issue". As someone who has either been to or had reports from friends who have been to everything from Metallica to Prince at the O2, I can confirm that plenty of bands can get the room spot on (Roger Water's The Wall the week before was like listening to the CD). In retrospect I didn't think I was alone - hardly anyone around me was reacting, muted applause, no cheers or whatever, I think mostly because they were all thinking "wtf?", rather than some dodgy set list choices.
The second set was a little better, but by that time we had moved to some spare seats behind the sound desk, so we couldn't see much but at least could hear something. All in all a huge disappointment: having looked forward to this gig for around 6 months (and 6 years since the R30 tour at the toilet bowl that is Wembley Arena) I walked out feeling really flat.
Guys - if you/your management are reading this, some response would be appreciated - there are enough people complaining here to be clear that it wasn't my imagination (or that of my mate who was there and said the same thing).
