GabesCavesOfIce

I don't think there were any of those accusations here, but it seems like there is a lot of luck involved. I have had some good luck, 11th row center in Newark, but the two NYC shows have been the most difficult tickets in easily 20 years. Immediate sell outs. Server overloads. I know tons of tricks. They have 'added' zero seats so far. Their first solid two night sellout (months before show time) in eons. Very fortunate for the good seats. When I searched for MSG, ticket masher had so much traffic there was smoke coming out of my PC!

Not that I am a huge fan of the record, I would say better than average, better than some of their over synth records. Two distinct groups of people say it has merit. First Rush, as they routinely played three songs from that disc per tour. That was almost unheard of until the Power Windows Fiasco of 2012, which put thousands of Rush fans to sleep up to three/four nights per week. Second, Rush fans, seems to be one of their most popular post 1981 records. I'll turn it over to Wikipedia- . Roll the Bones became Rush's first US Top 5 album since 1981's Moving Pictures, peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200. It also achieved an RIAA certification of platinum, the latest Rush album to date to do so. Over Synth period attacked...BOOM.... ;-)

Steven Malkmus

Tool or Radiohead ;-) . I am big fan of both and agree with Radiohead for skipping Creep. I see TS as a similar song for Rush, it's just not that representative of their catalogue. (Hold on a sec, I am teaching my cat the TS keyboard line). Who cares that it got a lot of radio and the casual fan may want to hear that if they show up- is that who bands play to, their casual fans? I would be surprised if more of the casual fans show up this tour, since prices are through the roof. TS has great drumming(as most Rush songs do, so no big deal there), but TS suffers from exceedingly excessive vamping on the keys and it's light years from Alex' best work. It's also not even close to the best song on side 1 of MP. Of course they will play it, but really, is it so important - for the dude that is only going cuz a Rush fan friend had an extra ticket - that casual fan - to hear TS?

I think it's actually live nation that controls most of the tickets, since they are the promoter, and they have the right to block off tickets for their major customers (ticket brokers). Since live nation merged with ticketmaster, technically they are under the same corporate umbrella. But historically the broker has always had the right to control tickets, since they front large minimum fees to the artists.

Could you imagine attending a Rush show and wait 2 hours and 59 minutes until you heard a song from the 1980s? That is what the last tour was like if you wanted to hear a tune from the 1970s. The early 80s was a popular time for the band, but to almost completely ignore the formative, creative, hard rock and driven years was a harrowing experience for this fan on the CA tour during those 179 minutes waiting for ONE 70s tune (tiny exaggeration)! Didn't they just play Marathon 2 tours ago and half of the record it appears on the last tour? I do not recall fans raving about PoW when it came out, but I do recall Kings and Hemispheres being massively influential and creative records.

Yes Yes Yes (skip!)

Their keyboard material is good, but it's what we are missing when the keys are out front. The guitar is getting pushed to the background ("why do I have to find a new space") and the bass is gathering dust. With spring training here, a baseball analogy - We have two of the best home run hitters in the history of the game and we send them up to the plate to bunt!

Losing It is a decent song, but overloaded with keys, does Alex even play on this song? I know, Ben Mink...CTTC old school, heavy guitars, harkens back to the heavy sound that put Rush on the map. How is this even a close vote? I thought Rush fans like the guitar? It's not that keys are bad, but when they take the place...or space as Alex says...of one of the Shining Guitar Greats of Rock, then the keyboard laced song automatically loses. When the keys are played, that Fender thingie is also gathering dust. I hear that the bass player is fairly decent also? Again, how is this even a close vote? Cut...cut...cut....

Cut To the Chase would be great, but Animate? Haven't they played that a number of times? Alien Shore has never been played. Yes it's lyrics are meh, but it would be interesting to hear the music live.

Panacea would be really cool. Or perhaps Take My Life.

1974 -1979 hands down... No hash pipe (h/t Weezer), but here is the requested Cause Champion: Ged's bass from these years kicks butt over every keyboard he ever touched. Every one. Still waiting for Ged to be on a top three keyboardists of all time list. Ged's power Zeppelinesque emotional screaming in this era is better than Ged's measured, safe nonchalant 80s era singing. Alex' strong, dark, powerful riffs in this era and amazingly insane and creative solo's are much superior to his 80s work. Even he admitted he complained famously about the 80s "...why do I need to find a new space." Neil, well he is amazing on every album he appears... Hemispheres, FTK, 2112...they laid it all on the line for these three and it shows...there is nothing close to any of these albums in the 80s, sorry Ged... I understand where you're coming from. But to take it on a bit more of a tangent, away from strictly about the quality of the songs they recorded, or whether or not you prefer the overall sound of one era versus another- I think they became much, much better live performers and much better musicians overall, during the '80s. It was the decade of their greatest improvement, in terms of perfecting their overall craft as musicians. It is certainly and singularly impressive, to say the least, to have done what they did in the '70s. But I think of an interview that Neil gave around the time of either Power Windows or Hold Your Fire when he said that even though they were not writing and performing the side-long epics anymore, the music they were making then required just as much skill and virtuosity to play. And I believe that's true. I agree with your virtuosity comment. When it's a struggle to hear what Alex is playing with any detail, that needs to be considered in how I would rate them era vs era. Although I did refer to Ged not on top keyboardists lists of all time, my intention was not to say their playing was superior in the 70s(cause it's always superior!)- I was speaking more about the instruments they chose to play back in the 1975-79 era and the ferocity with which they attacked their instruments. A good example is Circumstances. I think most of us would list all of the other songs on Hemispheres as more memorable, but Circumstances brings with it a strong, focused intense rock sound, that tended to get washed out by synths after MP. That speaks to how intense their sound was in that era, and how deep of an album is Hemispheres.

1974 -1979 hands down... No hash pipe (h/t Weezer), but here is the requested Cause Champion: Ged's bass from these years kicks butt over every keyboard he ever touched. Every one. Still waiting for Ged to be on a top three keyboardists of all time list. Ged's power Zeppelinesque emotional screaming in this era is better than Ged's measured, safe nonchalant 80s era singing. Alex' strong, dark, powerful riffs in this era and amazingly insane and creative solo's are much superior to his 80s work. Even he admitted he complained famously about the 80s "...why do I need to find a new space." Neil, well he is amazing on every album he appears... Hemispheres, FTK, 2112...they laid it all on the line for these three and it shows...there is nothing close to any of these albums in the 80s, sorry Ged...

Alien Shore, Cut To The Chase, Double Agent, Sun and Moon, Stick it Out, what great songs that harken back to the 70s on CP. Never understood why it seems CP is not as popular as it should be with the fan base, or why the band keeps picking Animate or Nobody's Hero from this album to play live? Anybody?

Well the venue is about 120 miles away from where I live - wouldn't be that easy to swing by :) Same exact thing happened with my tickets to MSG. Eventually the name of the band and venue appeared on the ticket, a couple weeks after purchasing. Keep checking you tickets in your ticketmaster account, the glitch will probably be corrected before the show, and if the barcode is verified, they should be good either way. But part of what we are paying for is to see RUSH on the ticket?

A good question falling down the list to a distant memory...anyone thoughts on FTK tour or Signals (or any in between)?

The demand to sit closer to the Rush is very high compared to other bands. Another one I see often, Pearl Jam, as we know, sells more tix than Rush, but their fans will gladly sit behind the stage or in the rafters. I do not believe that is the case as much for Rush. It's important to a lot of Rush fans to be able to see the band play, and to do that we want to sit fairly close. Tix in first ten rows for Rush are a lot more than Who tix in NY, for example, and The Who are a legendary seminal band part of the first wave. I never thought I would see Rush cost that much more than The Who.

ESL video, why would they talk over their music, some things are just unexplainable.

Cut to the Chase, Alien Shore, Red Tide!

What section are you referring to? The section where your seat isn't. Simple. Example: if your seat is in section 205, you don't belong on the floor. So if I am in section 205, Would it be against the law to walk up to the lawn section and chat with friends? Or this, my girlfriend and I saw Rush in Florida during the last tour. We sat about 75ft. from the stage. I had an aisle seat. I walked up about 30ft. to get closer view of the band. Is that against the law as well? Not against the law to walk up to chat but it is rude. You are right, it does happen all the time at shows. To talk over bands at concerts is one of the most frustrating things about dealing with John Q. Public- when fans are paying serious cash to see legendary bands that are considering retirement. If folks believe their voice is more important than RUSH music, please go out to the concourse to catch up with buddies. People have the right to hear the music they paid to listen to, not some idle chit chat that has zero relevance. Its the fu****** lawn section! Not a library. You are right, I saw the walk up phrase thinking you were walking closer...The thread was you were gonna walk closer to get a better view? It's not a library, it's a Rush concert. Surprising that Rush doesn't matter that much to some fans, they would actually shout over the band. And of course negate free market supply/demand economics that sets a market price for the closer seats and block a free market American's hard earned closer view of Rush. Sucks that it's so expensive, but we should respect those that choose for themselves to pay for a closer view!

What section are you referring to? The section where your seat isn't. Simple. Example: if your seat is in section 205, you don't belong on the floor. So if I am in section 205, Would it be against the law to walk up to the lawn section and chat with friends? Or this, my girlfriend and I saw Rush in Florida during the last tour. We sat about 75ft. from the stage. I had an aisle seat. I walked up about 30ft. to get closer view of the band. Is that against the law as well? Not against the law to walk up to chat but it is rude. You are right, it does happen all the time at shows. To talk over bands at concerts is one of the most frustrating things about dealing with John Q. Public- when fans are paying serious cash to see legendary bands that are considering retirement. If folks believe their voice is more important than RUSH music, please go out to the concourse to catch up with buddies. People have the right to hear the music they paid to listen to, not some idle chit chat that has zero relevance.

The promoters block out rows of seats to sell on the secondary market. It's been done like this years, except in the old days, there was no legality to it. The established artists earn a fee up front and promoters use their unfortunate tricks to recoup their investments, many shows earn a profit, some do not.

Although they tried to be a bit mysterious, they did use the phrase "of this magnitude" which could mean a hundred different reduced touring options. With them, their words always have meaning, that also applies in this example. No one has said this is the end.

Rush fans tend to be tall. I am 6'2" and get blocked views occasionally. But I am 11th row so you should be ok! As far as people talking over the music, it happens a lot at other rock concerts, less at Rush, but it's still maddening. Perhaps a bigger issue are cell phones. Everyone holds them up now to record parts of the show which makes it tough to see. Confusing how some pay mega dollars for good seats then waste their time and attention on an amateur video. Folks the Blu Ray is 5% the cost of your floor seats and the quality much superior. Despite that, First ten rows at a Rush show are awesome! Decibels never been an issue for me. If loud sounds tend to annoy, then bring a pair, but you will likely want to take them out to hear more Rush! Enjoy the show!

They will tour again, just not "of this magnitude."