professornutbudder

This story mirrors mine so much it's like listening to myself describe how I first discovered them. My first show was the Signals tour. I too bought a baseball jersey(and a tourbook!). I went to the GUP tour next, and have never looked back since. I am so grateful to have had the joy of seeing Rush 18 times since '82. They've been one of the constants in my life, and I will always have a spot in my heart for all three of them. I've been playing bass since I was 14 thanks to Geddy. Now my son, who is 14, is playing bass, because of Geddy. I got to share 2 tours with my boy and he has taken up the mantel of a serious Rush fan like his old man. I hope we get to see them again, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. A new album would be even better in my opinion because it will last forever, unlike another show. Either way, I cannot feel anything but happiness and gratitude to those 3 guys from Canada. They have made my life much more enjoyable, and if I could say just one thing to them, it would be "Thank You."

I think you can throw almost all of Power Windows and Clockwork Angels onto this list. After Neil's comment in the interview the other night that was something like "well that album was well represented last time, so we'll leave it alone this time" I'd be surprised to hear more than 2 songs total from both albums combined.

Is it just me, or is that mallet Kat bigger than usual? And I can't imagine any of us walking out disappointed in what Neil plays on that kit. Which by they way is plenty big enough to play whatever he needs to play.

One of my favorite moments out of all the Rush shows I've seen was them opening with it on the VT tour. Hearing right off the bat with the sun shining on them at Riverbend in Cincinnati is a memory I'll never forget.

I began trying for tickets for Columbus at 10 a.m. I still have not been able to get anything. I tried different number of seats in each section, and nothing! I'm pissed, but hopeful the regular sale will go better. I so wish we could still camp out overnight for tickets. So much easier! I've never been able to get closer than row 20 for Rush and was really wanting to this time so my 13 year old could get close to his new favorite band once. Oh well.

QUOTE (jjgittes @ Oct 17 2012, 06:42 PM) Don't worry about the tears. It is healthy. After Kurt cobain killed himself and there were a couple of suicides as a result, one of the cable news stations had a (hot) psychologist discussing how people get so connected to a band. For whatever reason, they are like family to you. Be happy they only make you cry. But I am worried about the professornutbudder there. Rush second best to his kid being born? My suggestion is tell the wife she was wrong, you were happier than both the kid and seeing Rush when you met her for the first time. Okay, so maybe seeing Rush is better but we won't tell anyone if you don't. Ha! Just told my wife what you said. Her reply; "I know where I stand. I'm glad they make you happy. But you guys(us on this forum) are weird!" See, she understands perfectly!

At the Indy show, at the end of the second verse of Subdivisions(on lighted streets on a quiet night) I had tears in my eyes. The thrill of seeing my favorite band for the umpteenth time overcame me with joy. My wife told me she had never seen me look as happy as I did at that time except for when our son was born. I guess you could say I was pretty damned happy. By the way, i'm 45 yrs old and don't care who hears me say the above!

Not to be a d##k, but I heard a better version of this at the talent show at my kids school.

I've been learning Geddy's bass lines since I started playing back in '82. I can hold my own playing them, but singing them too, never. Throw playing Taurus pedals/keyboards in there too, forget it.

QUOTE (substancewithoutstyle @ Oct 3 2012, 11:28 PM) QUOTE (professornutbudder @ Oct 3 2012, 11:19 PM)The problem is the fans that have aged along with the band but stopped growing and became crotchety old men. Do you mean like this Rush fan who hasn't liked anything since Signals? http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/datura67/3272833e.jpg Yep, that's the one!

The problem is the fans that have aged along with the band but stopped growing and became crotchety old men.

The first time I saw Rush, at the height of their popularity, on the Signals tour, the show started at 7:30. Well, that's the time listed on the ticket. First, we were "treated" to 45 minutes of The John Butcher Axis. That was followed by around 30 minutes of watching their gear being broken down and the unexplained nothing after that. Rush came on a little before 9:00 and played til just before 11:00, a few minutes more than 2hrs. This was when they were all still a little less than 30yrs old and like I said above, at their popularity Zenith. Now 29 years later, they are playing longer and better as musicians (IMO). Even though I paid $100 more this time around, I walked out just as impressed and happy as then, and I didn't have to listen to some band that will fade into obscurity 3 months later! That beats the hell out of the 1hr45 minute show I saw the Eagles play on their reunion tour that cost me 40 bucks more. Or the Van Halen show I paid the same amount as I did for these Rush shows I recently saw where the playing was awful, and they were nothing more than shadows of their past selves. I think in this day and age(and especially at their age), Rush shows blow away most everything out there. But I sure would like to pay $12 again to see them play like I did in '83!

QUOTE (drgrendel @ Oct 1 2012, 06:54 PM) to be honest, I think some folks around here embellish things a little. Do the math and you will see that they ain't doin' no 3 - 31/2 hr show with Geddy singing. On average the shows start at 7:45 and are done by 10:45. This has been a posted fact. So there is your 3 hours....drop the 3.5 hrs thing. Next, Factor in about another 1/2 hr for videos and the break between sets. We are down to 2.5 hours. Is it just me or are these Evenings With Rush getting shoerter and shorter by the tour? OOOOOOOPSIE....cannot forget the obligatory Drum Solos and the Instrumerntals....how long is Geddy singing a night now? Longer and better than you, me, or anybody else on here will be when they're pushing 60. Everybody needs to lighten up and enjoy them while we can.

Ok, here we go in no particular order Scars Lessons Test for Echo Red Lenses Chemistry Stars Shine Down Different Strings Cinderella Man Countdown Beneath, Between, and Behind

The crowd definitely erupted after that solo in Indy and Columbus. Actually, that may have been the most raucous the crowd became all night in Indy, except for the opening keyboards to Subdivisions.

You're not crazy, at least no more than the rest of us. I'll admit, when I walked out of the show last week, I felt that same pang of "man, that may be the last time I ever get to see them play". I even felt the sting if a tear in my eye when I started thinking about that possibility. I've been listening to these guys for well over 30 years. To say that their music has been a part of my life is a serious understatement. I endured ridicule in high school for being a fan of "that guy with the big nose", heartbreak in the late 90's when I was sure they were gone forever, and felt elation learning they were coming back with Vapor Trails. I'm sure that someday we'll all wake up to find our favorite band is no more. But until that day, and I'm sure long after, they will continue being a part of my life every day. So, are you crazy? No more than me. I just spent 5 minutes explaining to a group of strangers how crazy I am.

I had the pleasure of getting to meet Alex and Geddy once through some strange circumstance. Some friends and I were parked in a boat on the Ohio river behind Riverbend music center before the RTB show there to try to hear sound check. Not long after we arrived, we noticed two guys playing basketball I. A fenced in area behind the arena who we eventually realized were Alex and Geddy. At one point their ball took a bad bounce off of the backboard and went over the fence. Seeing my chance to meet them, I dove off the boat, swam the few yards to shore and retrieved their ball and returned it to them. They were appreciative and thanked me. Being young and star struck, i did nothing more than say you're welcome and something along the lines of have a good show. Only once I got back on the boat did I realize that all I ever wanted was to thank them for all the great music I love, but instead,they thanked me! Thankfully, Alex stinks at hoops, or I may never have met them!

QUOTE (gorinosho @ Sep 23 2012, 07:34 AM) Here are these three wonderfully talented musicians, now in their sixties, who release an album that is widely considered to be a truly monumental rock album with lasting appeal beyond the fanbase and even the genre, and you fools are sitting around talking about how you might have done it better. Really. So what, there is no instrumental. As a standard formulaic album component for many rock bands, the instrumental has outlived it's usefulness. It just isn't needed when you have expansive and complex songs like The Garden with wonderful long soliloquies where Alex and Geddy get their groove on and play around within the wider musical patterning. I for one believe that the absence of the instrumental track on this album helps it maintain the force and depth of delivery that make it an instant classic while also making it somewhat more accessible to the less Rush-loving wider public. They are Rush, and none of you could improve on it.

QUOTE (jymyben @ Sep 22 2012, 11:36 AM) been with rush since 73 when the first record came out... got to finally see them in 81, and havent missed a tour since... this is my favorite rush setlist of all the yrs i have seen them... why? because it isnt full of the same songs i have been hearing live since 81, it is a fresh set, with lots of deep cuts... i think i would have been given the middle finger more if i went to a show with the same ole same ole set, heavy on moving pictures/permanent waves era songs... the songs are fresh, the lightening/screen images are fresh and even neil has a new drum solo for this tour... i have seen two shows on the tour, and everyone i went to the shows with, or hooked up with after loved the current setlist... rush is evolving and breaking out of the mold... too bad many of their fans are unable to do the same... peace Best post I've read in the ongoing bitchfest about the setlist! I couldn't agree more. While I love Freewill, Limelight, etc. that so many are complaining about not hearing, I've been watching them play those songs for 30 years now. I'm ecstatic about getting to see them play things I never expected to see them play again. As for them not being "able to play the 70's material"...that's a bit if a stretch isn't it? They are playing as good as ever, and I'm sure they would have no trouble playing any of their older, more "complicated" material. Now whether Geddy can sing it....that's another story.

Like everything else I enjoy, I like it when they're firm For example, I didn't get to see them perform The Body Electric, which is one of my favorites. If they're going to switch things out, switch out staples I've heard played every other time I've seen them.

My wife used to work for an outfit known as select-a-seat. Part of her job was liaison to local arenas and also local ticket brokers. She handled paying people to order tickets over the phone and also camp for tickets. They actually used a fairly large number of people to do this. This was all before the internet as we know it, so I'm sure it's all done online these days. It always amazed me that the company selling the tickets made sure the brokers got tickets. But the mighty dollar greases many wheels. Of course her company got paid by the brokers, along with getting paid for the tickets. Hell of a good racket!

I totally agree. I thought the entire Indy show was the best I've heard him sound in years. Of course, it was only a week into the tour, but I thought he killed it all. The line from Carnies "A wheel of fate a game of chance" was where I thought he would fall apart, but he nailed it every time. I only caught two instances where his voice faltered at all, and one of those was him shooting for a real high note in Working Man, something be originally did when he was what, 20!?! Not too shabby for a guy pushing 60

QUOTE (presto123 @ Sep 18 2012, 04:48 PM) There is no best only favorites. Bingo! That is the correct answer to any "best of" question! But....I think the best song is still to come as long as they continue to record as they just keep getting better with each album.

QUOTE (trenken @ Sep 19 2012, 10:29 AM) Of course those 80s songs are going to sound heavier now. Those albums were recorded to sound like 80s albums. You know what I mean, kind of that thin overproduced sound, guitars kept in check since it just wasnt in style then. When they play them now Alex is playing with a normal live distortion, and Geddy's playing style is VERY different now than it was in the 80s. In the 80s he bailed on his old powerful attack just abusing the strings, in favor of a more lighter, tightly controlled jazz style. But when back to the heavier attack with Counterparts and it hasnt changed since, so when he plays those songs now even the bass is much stronger live than it was on those albums. What you said about Geddy's playing is true. Add that to him using a Jazz as opposed to the Wahl bass along with the amount of distortion he adds to his sound now, everything has a heavier sound. I really became aware of this first when they pulled out Natural Science on the Vapor Trails tour. It sounded like a song done by a modern metal band with the new sound.

QUOTE (Astroboy2112 @ Sep 16 2012, 08:49 PM) Love the strings and i think they need to turn their volume up ASAP! They seem pretty low in the mix on most songs i seen on youtube. I want to hear them loud and clear when they play in NJ-NY. I felt that way about their volume at times too. Overall I enjoyed the strings, though I was distracted at times by how hard the dude playing violin on the far stage right side. He was seriously rocking out...bobbing and weaving, his bright white hair shaking wildly, he at times kept me from keeping my eyes glued on Neil playing