Bard

This is the one song that will NEVER be skipped. The casual Rush fan MUST hear it. It's just how it is. I'm okay with it. It's still a classic.

The hard truth is, this has turned out to be a high demand tour. Several factors have contributed. Most of us Rush nerds are figuring it might be the last round, and so everyone's scrambling to not only attend, but get decent seats. Demand drives price. Also, Rush is only doing 34 dates. So plenty of folks are having to travel from around the country and world to attend the nearest gig, or their preferred gigs. In hot markets like Vegas, NYC, and LA, it's always pricier. I had to pony up a ridiculous amount of money for the seats I wanted that on the CA or Time Machine tour, would've gotten me front row pit. It's definitely their most coveted tour to date. For obvious reasons.

Yeah, Countdown is never gonna be played. I have forgotten...which one of the guys hates it? Neil or Geddy? Anyway, too bad, be awesome live.

Translation: You want them to tour when they're almost 70 years old. We Rush fans have to stop being so selfish. They've had a magnificent, wonderful career. It's time for them to retire and enjoy life without US. What he said. Alex and Neil are basically saying it's time. Geddy reluctant, but probably near that as well, though he wants to continue making music. They've had a great run. Better to go out on top than to fade as so many bands do milking the cash cow, playing casinos, shadows of their former selves. So Ged is pretty much the only reason why they still tour? And even though they deserve a nice retirement shouldn't mean that they should be forced into it by the fans. I for one really can't stand it when fans do that. It's basically turning your back on your favorite band and playing them off for a bunch of has-beens. LOL, dude, that's not what I said. You're reachin'. I didn't say Ged was the only reason and I dunno many bands that have been 'forced into retirement by the fans.' Another way of saying that is, 'The fans stopped showing up.' Which clearly is not the case for Rush. Fact is, the reason Rush is winding down is simply due to age. They're tired, and 40 years in the touring biz takes a toll. It's just the physical universe, man. :)

Translation: You want them to tour when they're almost 70 years old. We Rush fans have to stop being so selfish. They've had a magnificent, wonderful career. It's time for them to retire and enjoy life without US. What he said. Alex and Neil are basically saying it's time. Geddy reluctant, but probably near that as well, though he wants to continue making music. They've had a great run. Better to go out on top than to fade as so many bands do milking the cash cow, playing casinos, shadows of their former selves.

I would not wager on a European leg. It's possible, as is a short run through South America. But again...best to presume this leg is the only leg of the R40 tour.

Here's a horror story that ended any and all desires for me to ever attend a daylong rock fest again. Monsters of Rock, '88. LA Coliseum. The likes of Kingdom Come, Dokken, Metallica, the Scorpions, and Van Halen. Sounds like a metal heaven, yeah? So me and the gang (about 6 of us) are all about 19, 20. We paid, via a broker, 200 bucks a ticket for 9th row Eddie's side in the pit (take into mind the Coliseum capacity was just short of 100k). 200 bucks in 1988 was a ridiculous amount of money to pay for Van Halen headliners, But that's how hard rock we were even at that tender age. So we're at the hotel and the other boys are doing lots of pre show drugs, so much so we're late getting to the venue and totally miss KC and Dokken. No biggie. Then the security gal patting down our buddy finds our entire concert stash on his person thanks to his lazy attention in hiding it on his person. C'est la vie. We get inside to hear James Hetfield, he of Metallica frontman fame, 1/2 way through their set calling all the nosebleeds down from their perches in the arena loge. So 30k people rush the floor, overwhelming the helplessly looking on cops and yellow jacket security in an insane free-for-all resulting in many a bloody nose and black eye, and, of course, completely destroying any chance of any folks who hadn't yet to made it to their seats to actually retain said seats. No matter how much they paid or how reserved seating was supposedly guaranteed. So we ghost-walk around the stadium coming down from our, uh, pre-show libations. Not in the good way. Hard comedown. Burning out and fading. One of us gets separated from the group, has the misfortune of being too close to a biker gang fight (not kidding), even though looking completely like the blonde surfcat stoner that he was (as in, not a hardcore greasy Hell's Angel whatsoever), and the cops boot him outta the stadium along with the bikers. He was standing about 20 feet from the brawl, that's all. Cue his exit before the Scorpions even hit the stage. Two of us dissapear into the mass swarm that is the front section of the floor now, swearing and sweating and coming down, never to be seen again until the hotel at 2 am. The three remaining survivors bumble and fumble around the back of the stadium, finding vacant nosebleed seats 10 miles from the stage, eternities away from 200 dollar 9th row seats. :) We barely acknowledge the Scorpions's set (Savage Amusement tour) due to our broken hearts. Van Halen takes FOREVER to take the stage. We're hot and completely miserable by the time the crowd starts to near-riot waiting for VH (about two hours between Scorpions and their entry). Chairs and bottles and debri thrown about the arena. Diehard VH fans that we were (even with Sammy) we hardly paid attention to VH's set, wondering where the hell the other three guys were. Post-show, we head over the the 7-11 near USC designated as the place to meet up should we all become separated. After another hour (it's 1 am now), we realized the other three aren't gonna make it. Instead of calling a cab like smart kids, we look over at the deceivingly close spires of the Westin Bonaventure which only seems a few blocks away (actually a few miles). We shrug and say let's walk. Brilliant, if you know the neighborhood between USC the 110 freeway and downtown LA. And sure enough, walking through the barred warehouses and pawn shops and back alleys, a metallic lowrider ambles up, a shotgun cocks and sticks two barrels out the window, and a far too young voice says (you don't belong around here. run motherf**kers run). And sure enough we ran. Two miles from the dark urban landscape through a couple homeless encampments, back to the safety of the Westin finally at 2 or 230 am, where our 3 associates, as well as my waiting gf, are waiting in alternately irritated and panicked states. Ha. I hated that concert with a passion. But I do love telling the tale. True story. Really. :)

No, they'll never do a residency or the casino circuits. One-offs at festivals and high density markets like NYC, LA, maybe. But this does feel like the last tour. R-40. Still, one wonders why not just call it a farewell tour and make big bank on the way out?

Best read between the lines, boys and girls. He isn't saying it outright, but it's plain enough. Wow. End of an era. My era. Our era. Gosh. Well, I got my VIP silver tix for Irvine. One last time. :)

Regarding standing in front of handicapped folks in wheelchairs...even if you paid a lot of money and are determined to stand and rawk out the whole show....just don't. If you get seats in front of the wheelchair folk, be respectful and chill your jets and sit the f**k down. They can't stand up behind you. Nothing grinds my gears more at shows than seeing that shit.

They might add a SHORT European leg in the fall or early 2015. But it feels like this'll be the only real extended R40 tour. They're coming down to one-offs and the occasional festival, I'd think. Neil and Alex are close to done. It's been a good ride. We all know it. They can't play forever. See 'em while you can, kids.

And I don't see Neil playing Bangkok ever again. :)

LOL. Totes. :)

They just gotta play Digital Man, Distant Early Warning, and Natural Science, and I'm pretty set with whatever else they wanna toss in. :)

Yes, I know. For ten thousand dollars, I can sit in the second row in Newark. LOL. It's crazy pricing, for sure. Basically, since the SnA and CA tours, you can find front row at virtually any show and any venue for anywhere between 500-5000 per ticket. High demand markets like NYC, LA, and Vegas, are going to skew high. Lower demand markets, skew a bit less. And it's pretty clear that Americans are far more willing to spend the rent money on upfront tix or VIP upgrades than Europeans or Canadians. That's cause we're an indulgent country, LOL.

Yeah, massive general admission shows? Always sucked. There weren't any 'good old days' when it came to 20k strong clusterfucks.

Money can still buy you the best seats in the house. It's just a matter of inflation and demand.

Haha, no, there ain't gonna be an opener. They'll start at 8, finish by 11 with a 20 min intermission. As usual. Personally, I think they'd be doing themselves a favor by adjusting the set to one 25 song 2 hour dealio, so they don't get so burnt out. We old guys now. :)

It's a fairly solid method, doing day of show box office online or in person, it does work most of the time. But it is NOT a guarantee. You can usually get in the door, yes. Good seats though, that's a crap shoot. It's fine if you live locally. It's more of a risk if you have to drive 4+ hours round trip to the venue. But it's not foolproof, waiting til day of show. Believe me. Some folks DO get turned away for doing exactly that. It all depends on venue policy/capacity and demand.

Actually, I've found that Rush merch is top drawer compared to most other bands. Good quality, good design, for the last 20 years anyway.

Ugh, the LA shows were, as expected, a tough presale. Sold out in minutes, as many have said, it's a total crapshoot, and yeah, I def think this tour is getting hyped up by the brokers as 'their last,' and worse yet, people are PAYING top dollar for the best seats. Resale tickets in the pit and front row orchestras listed at 2k are going before the general sale even comes up next week. Crazy. I keep thinking of all the Rush nerds now in their middle ages who have the dough to fork over that kinda rate just 'cause they think it's the last tour. I really don't think it's the last of Rush.

It simply means that they've realized they're done doing global yearlong tours. Ged's voice, families, Neil's feelin' the pain (and about time, little wonder). A Rush tour with only 34 dates is already a significant scaling back from their yesteryear tours as we all know. I don't think this tour is the last opp to see Rush, but certain folks might have to travel far and wide to attend future appearances. A festival here. A week of shows there. But it's safe to say you've seen the last of worldwide tour dates. Short runs in Europe, or South America, possibly. I'd wager a safe guess the remainder of their live output will be focused in the States and Canada as one-off shows here and there.

In fact, since the guys at MSG management bought and renovated the LA Forum, it has quite easily become LA's premiere indoor arena. The acoustics are outstanding, nothing like they used to be at 'The Fabulous Forum.' Saw the Eagles there opening night last year, and then Aerosmith and Slash mid-summer. Had upper bowl seats for both. Sound was friggin' spectacular. Whatever they did to improve sound, worked. And it's back to the classic red. The Forum is a GREAT place to listen to music now.

This. The defining core trio of Rush albums. PW, MP, Signals. GUP would almost make that cut were it not for the few weaker tracks on it.

If you're in the first 10 rows stageside, you must stand the whole time. For your own enjoyment as well the band's satisifaction . If you're in the loge or upper mezzanines, you may chill at leisure. If you're on the floor past the 10th row, you will HAVE to stand otherwise you won't see shit unless they have the jumbotron screens.