Pale Facsimile

Sorry for the long, boring story you're about to read...I've been a pretty big RUSH fan since May of 2005, when a friend from college turned me on to them. I obviously started with the big hits, and slowly worked my way deeper into the catalog. A lot of it is tough to digest if you try to do it all at once, so I let myself progress a few songs at a time. Even side 1 of 2112 took me a while to warm up to, having just listened to Overture/Temples for a couple years...purchasing Different Stages was what made me realize the amazing beauty of the full-length 2112 suite. Over the 9 years I've been a fan, my favorite album has shifted from Moving Pictures to Permanent Waves, to Power Windows, then Clockwork Angels, then back to Power Windows...I'm at the point where I love so many RUSH songs, that I don't even HAVE a favorite album. For the most part, I've always liked "side 2" of Hemispheres (though I do prefer the S&A Live version of Circumstances), but Side 1, Cygnus X-1 Book II, has always eluded me. The epic suites have just taken a while for me to absorb. I still am not a Caress of Steel guy at all (but enjoy Bastille Day...and at age 31, I AM going bald, so I'm definitely not a fan of ITIGB!). Anyway, my knowledge of Book II: Hemispheres was, for the longest time, limited to the bit from the R30 medley. I tried a few times over the years, but just couldn't get through all 18 minutes. Then early this summer, I started listening to "Prelude" from the View from the Palace 1994 show on Youtube. I quickly got hooked on that. One day after work, I had some time to kill, and said "what the heck, let's give the full 18 minutes a shot!" Having gone through two break-ups this year (the first of which was the end of a 9-year relationship; the second being an incredibly stupid rebound with 36-year-old alcoholic), and having a history of doubting myself in the eyes of girls, I realized just how much I could relate to "the struggle between brain and heart." Not only was the subject matter close-to-home, but the music effing kicks ass!!! I'd say that for the past month, I've probably listened to the full Cygnus Book II suite once a day. I get it now!

Sort of along the same lines...obviously we won't know without an official announcement, but in you guys's general opinions, will the 2015 tour be a "summer outdoor sheds" tour, like the first leg of Time Machine, or a "fall/winter indoor arena" tour like the first leg of Clockwork Angels?

My ex-gf used to think that in "The Garden" Ged was saying "the measure of a knife"...and then I heard it for like a year before I was able to hear it as "life" again instead of "knife".

Rush: Working Man, Finding My Way, In the Mood Fly by Night: Anthem, By-Tor & the Snow Dog, Fly by Night Caress of Steel: Bastille Day, Lakeside Park... 2112: 2112, A Passage to Bangkok, Something for Nothing A Farewell to Kings: Xanadu, Cygnus X-1, Closer to the Heart Hemispheres: La Villa Strangiato, The Trees, Circumstances Permanent Waves: Natural Science, Jacob's Ladder, The Spirit of Radio Moving Pictures: The Camera Eye, Limelight, Red Barchetta Signals: Subdivisions, The Analog Kid, New World Man Grace Under Pressure: Between the Wheels, The Enemy Within, Red Sector A Power Windows: Middletown Dreams, Grand Designs, The Big Money Hold Your Fire: Prime Mover, Force Ten, Time Stand Still Presto: The Pass, Presto, Show Don't Tell Roll the Bones: Bravado, Dreamline, Where's My Thing? Counterparts: Between Sun & Moon, Leave That Thing Alone, Animate Test for Echo: Driven, Resist, Test for Echo Vapor Trails: One Little Victory, Secret Touch, Earthshine Snakes & Arrows: Far Cry, Workin' Them Angels, Faithless Clockwork Angels: The Garden, Carnies, Clockwork Angels

I think you guys would be awesome at The Lost Horizon. It's been around since the late '70s. I know GnR, Anthrax, Slayer, and many others played there back in the late '80s. Wish I could've been old enough to go to some of those. The relatively-big names I've gone to see there are Taproot (2010), Kittie (2011), and Sense Field (2001). I saw Scott Ian's spoken-word show there in March. My ex-gf saw Reel Big Fish there a couple times within the past five years or so. I know over the years they've also hosted tribute bands of Phish, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, and coming up sometime soon there's a band playing Grateful Dead stuff for two nights. I must admit, I'm not much of a night owl so my knowledge of live music venues is relatively limited...I know my favorite local Syracuse band, Candid, plays a lot at Mac's Bad Art Bar in Mattydale/North Syracuse... Chief Big Way, which is Joey Belladonna's classic rock covers band, plays at Coleman's every couple of months...that's more of a bar than a concert hall though... I was listening to some of you guys' stuff on Youtube last night after dinner...loved Prime Mover!!! My fave from HyF!!! Also thought YYZ/drum solo/Digital Man was a fantastic combination.

Fair point, but at least Anthrax isn't as huge of a leap as if I would've said Metallica, Megadeth or Slayer. But then again, I'm 31 and LURRRVE me the Big Four!!! When Joey B. isn't working with Anthrax, he has a local classic rock covers band called Chief Big Way, which is AWESOME. They show up and play for four hours in local bars around the greater Syracuse/Oswego/Auburn area.

Come to Syracuse!!!

Obviously I'd prefer the full "Evening with..." format...but if I had to pick a band, I honestly would love to see Anthrax open up for our boys. They could put on a great 50-60 minute set, and then Joey could come out during Rush's set and do vocals for a couple songs Ged can't do. That way everyone would get to hear a couple of otherwise-difficult oldies. Put Anthrax out there and have them do: Caught in a Mosh Got the Time Madhouse Devil You Know Be All, End All Antisocial Indians Metal Thrashing Mad Anthem (to get the Rush fans pumped up) Then Rush comes out with: Spirit of Radio New World Man Prime Mover The Enemy Within Middletown Dreams Fly by Night (with Joey Belladonna) Bastille Day (with Joey Belladonna) some part of Hemispheres (with Joey Belladonna) Headlong Flight Between Sun & Moon Clockwork Angels Subdivisions Natural Science Xanadu (R30 arrangement) Malignant Narcissism drum solo Jacob's Ladder Tom Sawyer By-Tor & the Snow Dog/ Cygnus X-1/ Working Man THAT would be one hell of a show, in my humble, rockin' opinion! :haz:

Way too many great moments in songs, but I'll try to think of as many as I can... -Natural Science (from Diff. Stages) - the whole "science like nature/the most endangered SPE-CIEEEES" section -2112 (Diff. Stages) - too many goosebump-inducing moments that aren't on the studio version, so I'll just say the whole dang song -TSoR (any version) - from "all this machinery" thru the end of that batch of lyrics -Prime Mover - 'from the point on the compass...' through '...the point of departure is not to return' -Middletown Dreams - "OOOHHHHHHHOOOOOHOOOOOHHOOOOOOOOOOOO..." -Grand Designs - "...wild kinetic dreEEEEEEAMS...OHHHHH" -By-Tor & tSD (Rio) - just love the way Ged sings that whole first line, with the emphasis on "TORCH-light" -Ghost of a Chance - that tinny-sounding guitar bit Alex does in the choruses after "...and make it last" -La Villa Strangiato (Time Machine) - the 'Lerxst in Wonderland' section -Force Ten (studio version) - that cool little bass bit after "...to the rhythms of the night", which they NEVER do live, for some reason -The Camera Eye - "from aaaaa leaden skyyy-YIIII" -Between Sun and Moon - the last chorus, where it almost feels like Ged interrupts himself to sing the first half of the chorus again -Limelight - solo -The Garden - solo -Clockwork Angels - "stars aglow like scattered sparks, span the sky in clockwork arcs"

This is more "what I want" than "what i think we'll get", but... The Spirit of Radio New World Man Presto Ghost of a Chance Prime Mover The Enemy Within Middletown Dreams (kept missing it on the CA tour! All three times!!!) The Trees Far Cry Headlong Flight Driven Between Sun & Moon Clockwork Angels Subdivisions Natural Science Xanadu (R30 arrangement) Malignant Narcissism drum solo Jacob's Ladder Tom Sawyer By-Tor & the Snow Dog/ Cygnus X-1/ Working Man I really, honestly, don't know how they'd be able to play most of the pre-Permanent Waves songs with Ged's voice the way it is. He did a great job with a lot of the stuff they played on the CA tour, but as far as the hits go, Limelight has to be retired, and I can't imagine that Freewill is still do-able. Red Barchetta is starting to get to that point, and Overture/Temples was rough on CA. I also don't think they'll do a lot from CA, given that 1. they just played almost the whole thing on the last tour; 2. the casuals were bored with it; and 3. they presumably won't be touring with the string section again. I also think we'll see a noticeably shorter show. I hope not, but it's a strong possibility.

On topic of 'Bangkok': I'm sure that's just how they played it during the S&A tour (I don't really remember how it sounded at the two shows I saw in '07-08). As to how he looks during it, it's the next-to-last song of the show, and they filmed the Ahoy shows at the very end of the 2007 part of the tour. Of course they're all tired. On topic of meeting Neil: I'm a big in-person and through-the-mail autograph collector, mainly the minor league baseball teams in the area, but for the most part if certain ones want to be left alone, I just don't bother them. The one reason I would really want to meet Neil is that he and Brutus once stayed in my family's summer cottage on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick (the lady who runs the other cottages rents ours out when we're not there). He actually briefly mentions that visit to the island in the "News Weather & Sports" update this past summer about the Halifax shows (I think he says it was in 1996...?). I would just want to ask him how he enjoyed his stay on GM, and what they did, etc.

This x 1000. It would probably sound a lot better if they record after just a few shows within the tour. I'll re-post here what I posted under that guy's "article" .... " [The author is] taking the past two DVDs and implying that that’s what the entirety of both tours sounded like. The vocals on Time Machine weren’t great because Ged was sick as heck in Cleveland. I was at the show in Hershey, PA about a week prior to that, and it was the best-sounding RUSH show out of the eight I’ve seen. Same thing with the CA tour; I saw them in Bridgeport and Buffalo about a month and a half before they recorded in Dallas/Phoenix, and both were great (Bridgeport especially). Has Ged lost a bit in the vocal department? Absolutely. Age and wear will do that. Should they retire ‘Overture/Temples’? Most likely. But he still sounds pretty good to me, especially on songs like The Garden, Headlong Flight, Analog Kid, Grand Designs, and Far Cry."

Thought of a few more... in Roll the Bones... "who would hold up rice on the heads of the innocent children" in Middletown Dreams... "sales intern to close the blinds..." in Passage to Bangkok... "perfumed by a nipple night..."

The one that comes most quickly to mind for me (though given more time I could probably come up with others) is... in 2112... "their power grows with purple straw..." It sounds even more like that on Different Stages. Listen to the DS version and try to tell me he's not saying "purple straw"! My girlfriend discovered one when we were on vacation listening to my IPod on shuffle mode in the car..."The Garden" came on, and I usually skip over a lot of Rush songs because she can only take so much of them...but TG is one of my favorites, so I let it play. It gets to the chorus and she goes "it sounds like they're saying 'the measure of a knife...'." So from then on, on the studio version, I only hear 'knife.' I only hear 'life' on the live versions.

In my opinion, the intro/main riff guitar strums of "The Wreckers" seem waaayyyy too bright and happy for getting your ship lured aground and people taking your stuff and letting you die. Great song, though.

Rush: In the Mood Fly By Night: By-Tor & the Snow Dog (shortened VT/R30 tours version) Caress of Steel: Lakeside Park (if Ged could sing it) 2112: Tears A Farewell to Kings: Xanadu Hemispheres: Circumstances Permanent Waves: Natural Science Moving Pictures: Camera Eye! Signals: New World Man Grace Under Pressure: Enemy Within Power Windows: Middletown Dreams (I ended up with Night A all 3 times this past tour and never saw it live!) Hold Your Fire: Prime Mover (how am I only the third person to say PM as my HyF song?) Presto: The Pass (see explanation for Middletown Dreams) Roll the Bones: Roll the Bones (so my gf can finally hear it live) Counterparts: Between Sun & Moon Test For Echo: Test for Echo (also would love Resist but I think T4E would be easier for Ged) Vapor Trails: One Little Victory Snakes & Arrows: The Way the Wind Blows Clockwork Angels: Carnies (The Garden is my CA fave, but would only work with the string section)

I saw three shows on the CA tour, and then saw the film in our local theater. Here's my perception from where I was at each venue: 1. 10/10/12 - Bridgeport, CT (forgot the name of the arena) I'd gone to CT to visit a friend I used to work with here in Syracuse (she knew nothing about Rush except Tom Sawyer). She and I were in row 17 on the floor, dead-center. I'd managed to avoid the setlist for the first month, so everything was a surprise to me (other than I knew they'd be playing a lot of CA). Most of the songs were generally well-received, especially within the 15 rows ahead of us. Didn't look behind us at all, so I'm guessing it was quieter and "polite applause" on the sides and way back. There was a guy and his teenage son just to my right, both with the Rush baseball jersey, and were practically comatose until the last few songs. The kid was bored and texting most of the time. 2. 10/26/12 - First Niagara Ctr, Buffalo, NY I dragged my girlfriend to this one, and we were Row 5 on Alex's side (but only paid the MusicToday pre-sale prices...woo!). The crowd was very loud...it seemed deafening after most of the songs, and it was probably the loudest and highest-attended Rush concert out of the 8 I've been to since 2007. 3. 6/25/13 - SPAC, Saratoga Spgs, NY This was the warmest, most humid, and overall physically uncomfortable show I've been to (humid + asthma = not fun!). My buddy and I were up in the balcony because he had to be able to sit. The actual seating was mostly full (couldn't see the lawn from where we were though), but most of the people around us were quiet and didn't seem to know most of the songs after Big Money, until YYZ. Seemed like the first 10 rows downstairs were loud, though. Didn't see too many bored people texting, so at least the quiet ones were at least willing to learn. 4. The film - 11/18/13 - Regal Cinemas, Destiny USA (the former Carousel Mall), Syracuse, NY The movie was only being shown at one time (7:00), in one of the 19 theaters, so it ended up being about 75% full. Most of the theater was loud, as people were actually cheering and clapping. I sat there thinking "you know, the band can't hear you!", but it was cool. There were 3 guys in the row behind me, talking the whole time. One guy claimed to be into CA (after the start of most songs, he'd say "oh, I like this song"), but apparently he hadn't been to any live shows, because the most common thing he said throughout the night was "Wow, what a strange setlist."

1. There are more casual concert-goers who don't look up the setlist than you think...at SPAC this year, I was up in the balcony (my friend I was with can't stand for long periods of time), and most of the people around us didn't know what they were about to play. The one guy behind me (who looked like he'd taken a time-warp straight from the late '70s) kept saying to his friend "man, I hope they play 2112". 2. The only time "U2" and "near-perfect" can be used in the same sentence is if the sentence was "The members of U2 gathered around the TV to see the end of Yusmeiro Petit's near-perfect game against the Diamondbacks." 3. Rush has always done what they want to do, in a non-destructive way, and that's really refreshing to see, especially these days when every single modern hard rock song on the radio sounds like it could be by Shinedown, Seether, Sick Puppies, or Avenged Sevenfold and no one can tell the difference.

Sorry, man, but she's already married. She mentioned the lucky bastard in the B/W documentary.... Yeah, and besides, you'd have to get in line anyway... :tsk:

I enjoy a lot of songs more on the live albums than the studio versions...some examples... Xanadu (ESL) Passage to Bangkok (ESL) Natural Science (Diff. Stages) ...favorite version of my favorite Rush song 2112 (Diff. Stages) Spirit of Radio (Diff. Stages) By-Tor & the Snow Dog (RiR) La Villa Strangiato (Time Machine) Entre Nous/Mission (S&A Live) ...I have to listen to both, back-to-back...can't have one without the other

I think that what any one given person wants to hear depends on what degree of fandom he or she has. Since we're all Rush-heads on here, most of us would love for them to swap out some of the biggies to get even more deep cuts. But, for example, my girlfriend's sister is obsessed with Lou Gramm, and since I'm not exactly an expert on Foreigner and Gramm solo stuff, when we went to see him this past summer, I wanted to hear all the hits, and we got them. I'm surprised that someone is complaining about this particular setlist's hits, as opposed to, say, R30 or Time Machine. Those were much more laden with familiar songs than CA.

This is based SOLELY on my personal enjoyment of the songs, and not on the technical aspects or how well they executed them. There's not a bad song on this album, so being near the bottom shouldn't be an insult to the songs down there... The Garden (one of their best ever) Headlong Flight (another classic) Carnies (I'm surprised how under-appreciated this song is...it ROCKS!) Clockwork Angels (took me a while to warm up to it, but it's rising fast!) Halo Effect (way underrated) The Wreckers (started higher in 2012, slipped a bit, still a great tune) Wish Them Well (I had this stuck in my head the other day) BU2B (used to be higher but gets kinda forgotten b/c they omitted it this tour) Caravan (was good in 2010, but getting kinda tired of it) The Anarchist (I think I'm the one fan who isn't head over heels for this song...oh well) Seven Cities of Gold (would be better if it were about two minutes shorter...it's kind of like the "Armor & Sword" of this album)

I saw it at the Regal Cinemas here in Syracuse at Carousel Mall (as someone who remembers riding around town with my dad when I was a kid when that area was a field of oil tanks, I absolutely REFUSE to call it by its new moniker "Destiny USA"). Anyway, I was surprised that they didn't show the first set (I personally would have preferred the full "regular" concert without the documentary, and just watch the doc when I pick up the DVD...not complaining though, as the doc was very well-done). I've heard that some people around the country had bad sound at their showing, but our sound was LOUD and pretty much everything could be heard. I look forward to getting out of work today to go pick up the DVD!

What about the middle section of The Big Money sounding like the middle section of Bryan Adams's 'Run to You' which came out before Power Windows?

I'm glad that this would never happen, because most of the show would end up being the obscure songs from Counterparts, Vapor Trails, and Hold Your Fire. No thanks!