Thunder Bay Rush

Neil is my favourite drummer, no doubt. Many people believe him to be THE best rock drummer ever, but I'm not sure about that. I think at one time, sure, he probably was. But, there are a lot of unreal drummers today. Thomas Lang, Mike Portnoy, Tony Royster Jr., just to name a few. I stumbled across this guy, Dylan Elise, from New Zealand a year or so ago. The link below is of him playing a solo when he was 16. I think he's 20 or so now... I can't honestly say I've ever seen any drummer play like this guy and at 16... that is scary! When he is 30 or 40... look out. Any drummers on this forum care to comment on his technique?

Force Ten. Never really a fan of it. Also, could do without New World Man. And, Working man. Heard it enough. Believe it or not, I could do without Tom Sawyer at the shows. Make way for something different...

Amy, who is it addressed to on your GUP album cover? Hard to read it... To the ?????

Oh, trust me, if I was working for someone else, I'd quit in two seconds! The problem is that I'm self-employed and I have to make hay when the moon shines, or however the hell that saying goes... If I don't go to do this contract, I'll be turning down $15K... gotta go. But, I'm still going to buy a large pack of Mydol today. SOB! And, I'll be watching my mailbox for a few of those big-ass chocolate chip cookies mentioned above...

No it won't.

I was planning on going to both Minneapolis AND Winnipeg shows, but I just found out that I HAVE to go out of town for work - from Sept 22 - Sept 28!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!! SOB!!!!! So, if anyone has any "pick me up" home brew rememdies, I would sure appreciate it. I think I'll start off with 6 ounces of whiskey, a dozen Mydol, 4 T3s, a six pack of strong Canadian beer and two large pizzas! DAMN! So, I guess I'll have to drive 16 hours to either Saskatoon or Toronto... SO an EXTRA B!

Roger that...

First, NO! This cannot be a serious question - besides, Gedgy can still sing most of the 70s anyway. And, if they had to, they could always drop it down one semi-tone or so, like they did with 2112. Amy is right about bands like Queen and INXS. "Paul Rogers and Queen?" And, INXS brings a guy in who won a singing contest on TV? JFC!

Why does it matter how many seats are sold? As long as enough people are attending to make the tour feasible, who cares "how many" seats are filled or how many shows are "sold out." If Paul McCartney isn't selling out ALL of his shows on this tour, I guess it's reasonable that a lot of other bands aren't also. Aerosmith, Kiss and Motley Crue aren't selling out, not did Van Halen or Iron Maiden last tour. But, who cares? What I'm reading through your post is, "See, I told you do that people won't like this set list, so therefore they're letting the band know about it. I told you so, I told you so..." Find a new subject... please.

Once again, wicked pictures! Great colours (Canadian spelling, eh!!) on that tour and your camera (and you) did a great job of capturing them... NICE!

Yes, I agree, but they play the song way too slow... the album version is more up tempo. The guitar solos on there are hard to beat... Alex's live solos are wild, but the studio version solos are tighter than a frog's ass. And, a frog's ass is pretty tight.

Close to the Edge is maybe the best progressive rock album ever... next to Hemispheres, of course. I used to listen to Yes often and have been to a few shows. But, the CONSTANT line up changes annoys the hell out of me. You never know who is in the band and who isn't from week to week. Oliver Wakeman? The new singer is very good, but he's not Jon Anderson. It's just not the same at all. My favourite line up is Anderson, Howe, Squire, Wakeman and Bruford.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I do believe you just might have a good idea there. I'll give Ray a call on his cell...

I heard that Justin Bieber didn't sell out every show on his last tour... holy SHIT what is this world coming to??????????????????????????????

I sure hope they record a DVD... from any city. I haven't heard anything yet. The live Grace Under Pressure Tour DVD was shot at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I was there that night and it was friggin' wild!

I would love to see the new album done live. Haven't you seen the older songs enough times yet? Given the huge back catalogue it's hard to pick a set that pleases everyone, actually, it's impossible. So, no matter what they play some people will not be happy. But, it's still a Rush concert...

I must be kind of weird because autographs don't do anything for me. A friend of mine (who isn't really a Rush) fan sat beside Geddy on a domestic flight in Canada and he got his autograph for me (thinking I'd go nuts over it) on an Air Canada napkin. But, I don't even know where it is now... Strangely, Rush is my favourite band. If I ever met one of the guys somewhere I wouldn't ask for an autograph or even a picture. I'd just say "thanks for the great music." But, most people must think I'm nuts...

I think The Garden is one of Rush's most original and best composed songs ever. When I first heard it I thought, wow, this is different! Hey, kid... losing a parent is a BIG bummer especially at your age. But, time heals (almost) everything. Chin up!! And, fast healing for you... listen to more Rush and you'll "get well soon!"

I'm probably going have some people planning a trip to Thunder Bay, Ontario so you can throw me into the campfire but - I don't like ANY live version of Working Man, especially this reggae nonsense. First, it seems that they always play it too slow. And, I don't like Neil's choppy drum beats as oposed to the original straight up beat that Rutsey laid down. The original version is such a great rockin' tune... but, live, I could do without it.

I think it's shocking that someone who is called a "columnist" can't spell... holy shit. He probably likes Madonna and Mariah Carrey.

Don't be surprised at all if there is another album and tour in 2015. They obviously like what they do as I'm sure they don't need the money.

I agree totally. Too bad more people didn't see things this way. I think sometimes people get a little "too hardcore" and think they have some kind of right or even a small ownership of the band... kind of ridiculous really. We should be happy that our favourite band is still going strong after 40 friggin' years! And, they're not stuck on the festival / nostalgia tours like a lot of older bands are. I'm with you - any Rush show is a good one. Why? Because it's Rush.

Incredibly, Paul McCartney didn't sell out the O2 Arena in London, England, along with a few other medium-sized venues in the UK. So, a lot of bands are experiencing the bottom line of the crappy economy right now. Paul M almost always sells out every single venue, but when he doesn't on his own home turf, that tells us something, doesn't it?

You are obviously a very skilled photographer... those are some serious pictures and video. I've been working in television for 12 years and I can tell that you know what the hell you're doing. Nice!

It's pretty straight forward. The economy sucks and like a couple people said, if it's a choice between a mortage payment and a concert, even a Rush concert, people need a roof at night and NOT a divorce. Rush normally plays the largest venues next to stadiums and typically there are 12,000 - 25,000 seats available per show. If they were booked into 6,000 - 8,000 seaters every show would sell out. Then, people would be saying, "Hey, every show is sold out!" I don't think many bands today, accept for the really big bands like, U2, the Stones, etc, sell out all their shows. FYI, I just checked both Minneapolis and Winnipeg and unless I'm not reading it right, there aren't many seats left for either 17,000 seat hockey arenas.