sun dog

It's shocking to see how many of you are not fans of CA. I had tears streaming down my face in Atlanta, particularly during the part just before the lyric kicks in.

Overall I think it was a pretty ballsy set list for a final big tour.

 

The Anarchist

Clockwork Angels

Headlong Flight

Far Cry

The Main Monkey Business

Ghost Rider or Secret Touch

Animate

Show Don't Tell or Heresy

Mission or Emotion Detector

Distant Early Warning/BTW

Subdivisions

 

Tom Sawyer

Red Barchetta

The Spirit of Radio

Jacob's Ladder

Cygnus X-1 Book Two: Hemispheres - Prelude

Cygnus X-1 Book One - The Voyage: Prologue

Drum Solo

Cygnus X-1 Book One - The Voyage: Part 3

Lerxst Solo

Xanadu

2112 Overture/The Temples of Syrinx/Presentation/Grand Finale

 

Lakeside Park

Anthem

What You're Doing

Working Man

I just did one in Atlanta and I had big ideas about what I was going to say, but when the line was just blasting along and everyone was just saying "hi" and taking a quick pic, my urge to get whatever in sort of faded. It was a bit of a blur, but it turned out perfectly, particularly because Al was as warm as could be. My advice would be that even the simplest of exchanges can be surprisingly satisfying.

Yes, great book. Very comprehensive, and it's interesting to read the perspectives of the various rock writers.

It's tough to figure because it's gotta be something upbeat as mentioned, and it's gotta be bigger. If we toss the medley, along with TS, TSOR, Limelight and Subdivisions---which they've done since '02---it's really tricky. Big Money is big but had slot two last time. Freewill would get the crowd jumping, as would YYZ. I think Dreamline has a shot. If they do something chronological, maybe FBN, Bastille Day, even BBB?

I ran into Ged at the hotel across from the venue in St. Paul in 2008. I was sort of dumbstruck and we exhanged a quick hello, but he looked like he was dealing with something at the time so I thought I'd just leave it at that. Afterwards I wished I had thought of something more but it all caught me by surprise. He was indeed just a tad shorter than me and I'm 6'0".

"We are only immortal for a limited time"

 

 

that is a great lyric... I've always liked "I believe that what I'm feeling changes how the world appears"

 

and

 

Sun dogs fire on the horizon

Meteor rain stars across the night

This moment may be brief

But it can be so bright

Reflected in another source of light

When the moment dies

The spark still flies

Reflected in another pair of eyes

One little but important detail I recall reading was that the tazer was used on Justin first, while Alex was watching.

 

That's when Alex flipped the f*ck out, which is what any parent would do if they saw their child being hit with 50,000 volts.

sorry, have to completely disagree about TSS- unexpectedly, the break got me every single time during the Time Machine tour...

 

and can't say that there's anything that would annoy me... I was thrilled with the deep cuts last tour and I'm happy to hear whatever this time

Kinda pricey but centered, PM me if interested.

April 17, 1986 Baltimore Civic Center -- Baltimore, Maryland

December 5, 1996 The Summit -- Houston, Texas

May 25, 1997 Woodlands Pavilion -- Woodlands, Texas

October 13, 2002 Phillips Arena -- Atlanta, Georgia

November 10, 2002 Verizon Arena -- Manchester, New Hampshire

May 28, 2004 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater -- Charlotte, North Carolina

August 1, 2004 Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater -- Atlanta, Georgia

August 9, 2004 Saratoga PAC -- Saratoga, New York

June 13, 2007 HiFi Buys Amphitheater -- Atlanta, Georgia

June 18, 2007 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater -- Charlotte, North Carolina

June 23, 2007 Nissan Pavillion -- Bristow, Virginia

September 1, 2007 Riverbend Music Center -- Cincinnati, Ohio

April 15, 2008 Amway Center -- Orlando, Florida

April 17, 2008 Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena -- Jacksonville, Florida

May 20, 2008 iWireless Center -- Moline, Illinois

May 22, 2008 Xcel Energy Center -- St Paul, Minnesota

July 22, 2008 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park -- Atlanta, Georgia

June 29, 2010 Hard Rock Casino Pavilion -- Albuquerque, New Mexico

September 29, 2010 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre / Encore Park -- Atlanta, Georgia

March 30, 2011 Bank Atlantic Center -- Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

April 15, 2011 Quickens Loans Arena -- Cleveland, Ohio

June 8, 2011 BI-LO Center -- Greenville, South Carolina

September 7, 2012 Verizon Wireless Arena -- Manchester, New Hampshire

September 13, 2012 Bankers Life Fieldhouse -- Indianapolis, Indiana

October 30, 2012 Time Warner Cable Arena -- Charlotte, North Carolina

November 1, 2012 Verizon Wireless Ampitheater -- Atlanta, Georgia

November 30, 2012 AT&T Center -- San Antonio, Texas

April 26, 2013 BB&T Center -- Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

April 28, 2013 Amway Center -- Orlando, Florida

June 28, 2013 Midwest Bank Amphitheatre -- Chicago, Illinois

July 14, 2013 Halifax Metro Centre -- Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

This will probably happen regardless, but to the extent that it's possible, if we can all just be patient and let all of this resale product languish, it will eventually go down. Right now the resale prices are an unmitigated gangbang and way out of line with what's been available historically. I'm sure that most of you are experienced and pragmatic, and the more that we ignore the product in the coming weeks, the better off we'll all be. It'll be tough, what with the history and the import of the tour, but these three, four, five thousand dollar pairs are amazingly far out of whack and completely unsupportable I think. So it'll probably fix itself anyway.

which might very well be the case- to wit, the latest installment of NEP news

wasn't with you on all of those points but was very much a nice read

a tad not along the beaten path

 

Finding My Way, What You're Doing, Before and After

Anthem, Beneath, Between, and Behind, Fly By Night

Bastille Day, The Twilight Zone, Fountain of Lamneth

2112, The Twilight Zone, Lessons

Xanadu, Closer to the Heart, Cinderella Man

Cygnus X-1, The Trees, La Villa Strangiato

The Spirit of the Radio, Freewill, Natural Science

Red Barchetta, YYZ, The Camera Eye

Digital Man, Losing It, Countdown

Distant Early Warning, The Body Electric, Beneath the Wheels

The Big Money, Middletown Dreams, Emotion Detector

Force Ten, Open Secrets, Mission

Show Don't Tell, Chain Lightning, Presto

Bravado, Heresy, Neurotica

Animate, Cut to the Chase, Alien Shore

Totem, Virtuality, Limbo

Ghost Rider, The Stars Look Down, Secret Touch

Far Cry, Armor & Sword, Workin' Them Angels

Caravan, Clockwork Angels, The Anarchist

When I was about 11 I heard TSOR, fittingly, on a little portable radio tuned to DC101. I remember thinking initially that I couldn't believe that Styx was so good. Not much later I was enamored with TS, but the big moment came when I was at a friend's house in Fairfax, VA, and asked if he had heard TS. He marched me over to the stereo, put headphones on me and fired up side A of MP. 33 years, and I can trace it back to that moment...

He's running to his bus to avoid traffic for the most part

 

I think it's that- some of those venue parking lots can be a cluster, and after decades he probably never wants to be stuck again

I've always loved this one in that wonderful pre-show air, though I think Neil found a different version...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1tFQMjc-IE

just to throw something a little different in, I think the second set solos during the CA tour were phenomenal... I wish I could have them all

nice read and bravo to David Bottril- VT was always a favorite of mine despite it's shortcomings, and now it's just wonderful

The first song I ever heard---and I liked it immediately---was Spirit. I remember thinking that it sounded a little like Styx, but that there was no way that Styx could be that cool. This was 1980 and I was either 11 or 12 years old. I grew up in the Washington, D.C. metro area, and many of my early Rush experiences came piped through the rock radio station there, DC 101.

 

The following year, I was introduced more thoroughly. During the summer of 1981, I was hanging with a friend in Fairfax, Virginia and somehow Rush came up. He told me that his older brother had been a fan for years, and he led me over to the stereo system. I had heard Tom Sawyer on the radio and I'm sure was asking about it. He put Moving Pictures on the turntable, and I grabbed the headphones and sat and listened to all of Side A, and at least a couple of times. It was a revelation, and I can trace my lifelong pursuit back to that one experience. Red Barchetta sealed the deal. KISS was out after that. Nearly 30 years later I visited my friend's parents and told them about about that day. They walked me back through their house to show me the stereo and the headphones, and it was nice to see where it all began.

Did notice that right away--- always loved the "ping, ping, ping"

 

Overall though a brilliant effort and it's so nice to hear it clean

In general I think Rush fans are among the coolest people I've met. I love sharing a little time and space with like-minded people at shows. And most everyone who goes to a show is just there to have a good time and not cramp anyone else's experience. But there are a few things that wear on me a bit, and I suspect that there are others who have some of the same complaints.

 

For me, one of the offenders is smartphones. I usually don't even bring mine to the show anymore, but if I do, I turn it off during the show. I'm certainly not saying that I think everyone should do that, and I think everyone, including myself, understands that people will want some pics or some movies. So for me this is really a matter of degree. Do it some, by all means. No reasonable person could complain about that. Just don't do it all night. More and more I'm hearing a similar sort of response, like the one that Lost in Translation director Sophia Coppola offered a while back:

 

When I go to a concert, everyone is filming and photographing themselves and then posting the pictures right away. It is almost as if your experiences don’t count unless you have an audience watching them.

 

Whatever happened to just enjoying the experience? I'm not a luddite, and I'm not saying that it's always a bad thing. I'm strictly talking about the level of use, which seems to be ever ticking upward. In Cleveland in 2010, I had great seats, but there was a very tall couple in front of me (and I'm six feet tall), both of whom insisted on shooting videos, arms raised high, for most of the night. Why they had to do that when there would be DVD of the show I'll never know. And this kind of thing happens all the time now. What's the big deal, some of you may ask? Well, for one thing, I don't want a bloody screen blocking part of my view of the stage for long periods of time, or for much of the night. It's distracting. And it's only three hours. We live with these machines every hour of every day. Seems to me we could put them away now and again.

 

And other thing that surprises me is just using the phones, and in this case specifically when you're sitting right up front. Hey, you guys are cool and everything, but I've really got to check my News Feed. Don't want to miss anything so I'm just going to... oh hey, sweet fill Neil, that's really, uh... check it out, I just got a tweet from... and on and on like that. I have seen that SO many times in the first few rows of shows. I'm not saying that the band should demand our undivided attention for the entire time. Again, I'm talking about the level of use. There's a huge difference between checking it and putting it away... and taking a bunch of pics and vids and sending them out and waiting for the responses and taking some more and sending a text and... being so stuck on those f*cking things that they have to be a part of standing in front of the best band in the world!

 

Also, and this also specifically relates to sitting right up front, is it a little weird to have someone take your picture with the guys playing in the background? Am I the only one who thinks that it's objectifying the band a little, like they're bears at the zoo or something? Just take a picture of them. Do you have to be in it? Maybe they don't give a shit, I don't know, though I have seen Al or Ged back up in those cases, as if to say no thanks.

 

And another thing is crowding and/or crashing. Sometimes it's no problem at all. Two empty seats nearby, somebody grabs them, good. And fitting someone else who's smaller into your space, like your son or your wife/girlfriend? That's cool. But jamming yourself into a space where you really don't fit? Not so much. This just happened to me this year. There were two empty seats nearby, which me and others left alone in case it was just someone who was late. Soon two guys came and all was well for set one. They leave for drinks, set two begins, and two other guys come and fill the spots. Then the first two guys come back, and though they had been snaked, they jam into the same area. So we've got four guys occupying two seats, and none of the four are telling anyone else to leave because, clearly, none of them are holding those tickets. So I'm left to either (a) make a big problem of it and demand to see their tickets, or (b) suck it up and stand there like a sardine, thinking about whether to say piss off in an environment where no one can hear.

 

And another time a guy just wandered across the fourth row, stopping occasionally, taking the temperatures of the people in the row, to see if they would tell him to bugger off. He made it to me and I got right in his ear and politely said "what in the F*CK?" He moves on, tries it again, and again. Look, I know everyone wants a shot at a good seat, regardless of whether they can pay for it, but patience and persistence can accomplish that. And the other side of the coin is that people pay hard-earned money for this tiny little space (and often much more when counting travel expenses), and they should be able to enjoy it without having to fend people off all night. Not everyone who sits up close is loaded. Some people have just decided that if they have any extra money, they're going to spend it on this, because it means that much to them.

 

To reiterate what I said at the beginning, very few Rushies behave this way. Almost everyone is cool and respectful and great to hang with for the night. And I've mostly had great experiences at shows, but, and my Rush bud agrees with this, there is a clear relationship between the level of distraction and the quality of the experience. Fair enough?

When i first heard Chain Lightning i wondered what the heck is a sun dog ? Love the song ! Sparks my heart !

 

have always loved that track but suspect we won't hear it live, understandably... and here's a nice example of sun dogs from ND

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Fargo_Sundogs_2_18_09.jpg/800px-Fargo_Sundogs_2_18_09.jpg

I've seen a lot of VIP success stories here, but I've heard about some real failures too--- one Rushie told me that a friend of hers got in within 3 minutes and got @#$%ing 15th row. I'd be pretty unhappy if that had happened to me. Quite often you can get somewhere near row 15 at face value the day tickets go on sale.

 

After 30 shows I have yet to go the VIP route, just because I'm concerned about putting a lot of time, effort and funds into a show and ending up with 15th row or thereabouts. Plus, I can't always get away from my gig, so it's nice to be able to bail out if necessary. But I've noticed that there is generally less availability in recent years, and I'm sure that's primarily because the VIP tickets are eating up the best seats. I totally get that the band doesn't want all of that higher end ticket money going to brokers, and I don't fault them for that at all. I just wonder if there's a better way to do it--- something that gives fans more control.

 

Certainly platinum seating and/or auctions do that, and I'd rather spend more to know where I'm sitting. But if the VIP thing is here to stay (and it probably is), I think it would be great if they would develop a tiered system, e.g., $400 for rows 1-5, $300 for 5-10, $200 for 10-15. The revenue would then be unchanged, and at least buyers would have a little more certainty. I imagine that many of us agree that $300 is a little steep for 15th row. I'd probably rather be in the first few rows side stage than 15 rows back on the floor (though the sound would be better in the latter case).

 

I know many of you have lucked out, but what about those of you who haven't--- will you do it again?

First time I heard it, I thought he messed up. Then I heard it again, and again, and again, and figured it must be on purpose lol.

 

I'd say that in a more general sense, I often hear changes or accents which I think could be mistaken for errors, when in fact they're just the ventures of incredibly sophisticated musicians; I've heard Al change keys many times, and I've seen Neil throw some wild fills in now and again... fills that might seem off, but I think it's simply that he's so good can work in and around the tempo effortlessly. As far as the changes that I've enjoyed most over 9 shows this tour, I'd have to say it's Alex's solo. Each one is so unique, though you hear a common thread... I'd love to hear a compilation of all of them.