mrfriendly

I remember Geddy saying somewhere how tough a lot of Vapor Trails stuff was to play and I remember before that tour started he made a comment in an interview when asked about new stuff to play he said it depends on what he could sing and play bass at the same time proficiently. Now this is Geddy I know, really what can't he do but maybe that had something to do with it. The only stuff off vapor trails never done live that I would be interested in would be Peaceable Kingdom, VT, Stars Look Down and Freeze. Out of those the only one I wish they would have done was PK. Remember for S&A, there were quite a few instrumentals, a couple were very short which also helped increase the total count from that album. Even though I dug the album at the time its funny because now I feel like it was one of their worst. It just hasn't held up after years.

Honestly the less S&A the better, it really has over time become my least favourite rush album, it didn't age well. TMMB is really one only die hard fans will know, I doubt the average casual fan who knows a decent amount of their catalog will really remember it. They could have played any instrumental in that slot, it should have been Limbo like people said to represent T4E. No one except the diehards would have known the difference. To every one else it would be just another 6-7 minute Rush instrumental.

yes the red jumpsuit brigade is clearly from both the clockwork and r40 shows but also did notice quite a few ladies from the front row on both the cleveland and toronto shows.

I was just rewatching Time Machine show today and I noticed there are quite a few familiar faces from the front row of the R40 show and this cleveland show. How are these people getting all these front row seats and it can't be a coincidence that they happen to get it for shows being filmed for live releases. Are these friends of the band who they want to be in the video of their live releases? lol.

Now that the band is in effect done and the idea of any new releases seems minimal, you think at some point down the future they will release a live album full of deeper cuts. They have several live albums showcasing all the eras, early, 70-80s, synth, 90s and post hiatus. But as far as I know there are certain gems missing front the ATWAS and ESL time period which should be properly documented on a good live recording. I know there is a bonus disc of different stages which is hard to come by that has some great 70-80s stuff that aren't on any other live releases. It would be great to have good official live release of Hemispheres (full), Cygnus (we've only had instrumentals post hiatus), Farewell to Kings, Necromancer?, Twilight Zone. And I wouldn't mind throwing in some of the synth era stuff and early 90s that hasn't been on any official live release.

Exactly! Sure it would be awesome to have more tours and hear deep cuts we never heard before but once you hear it you know people are going to be complaining about something. They even said they tried to work together arrangements for fly by night and farewell to kings but ged said he couldn't do the vocals justice enough to play it live. I think he sang a lot better this tour than people expected he would but clearly there has been a change over the last couple tours. And again its amazing all the effort he puts in for these 3 hour shows but there is no way he can sustain the vocal ability he had even in his late 40s compared to what would be mid 60s if they were to do another tour in the future. Its good they went out on top.

I enjoyed the R40 tour a lot, obviously the setlist was fantastic but I also took another look at the SnA live DVD and realized that there is a such a difference in Geds vocals performance between then and now. Even if everyone wanted to continue with the band I really don't know what else they could do without having the product suffer. I really just feel like Geds vocals are really starting to go out, no complaint of course its amazing everything he's given for all the tours. Yes would have been great if Neil could have completed 20 more shows, but I really don't know how great future tours would have been for this band.

The drama has been there basically since Neil came back from his "hiatus". But being the consummate professionals that they are, it was all kept behind the scenes. So you think for the most part they won't even be on talking terms from here on out? I know, i know why should we care but I think the reason fans find this stuff fascinating is because Rush always seemed to be one of the few bands out there that was drama-less. I guess I should have always read into the fact that they rarely do interviews with neil its always separate. But just found it surprising that all this stuff was going on behind the scenes. I do find it hard to believe that something in the next decade or so won't at least bring him out of retirement for at least a one-off gig. But from the sounds of it they are event on talking terms and it might stay like that permanently?

yeah both songs are pretty strong for what has started to become my least favourite rush album. far cry, way wind blows and especially working them angels are tedious to go through now, which is surprising for me to say as i love the band and am not a very inpatient person when comes to even their lesser appreciated work.

What are your guys' favourite tours production wise, i know, i know we all go in for the music absolutely but I always loved the additional element of their live show which makes the experience even better I think. I'm watching the time machine blu ray now and even though that first set is really strange and the fact they decided to play this exact same set for 80+ shows straight is a little mind boggling. But the whole light show, pyro and visuals for this tour may be the best for any tour. Even compared to R40. No doubt the first set has some lacklustre choices, mainly Workin Them Angels? It kind of felt like each tour they were doing the production got bigger and bigger. On Clockwork can't really tell that well since the blu ray visuals weren't shot great. But I would say that TMT and R40 had the best live production. No doubt R40 had everything both setlist and visuals to clearly make the best set in years.

damn that sucks that it couldnt be on film then for this release, i just got the blu ray not the combo pack, didn't think the extra money was worth it for just a couple songs. but i will try and listen to it somewhere, should be on youtube soon enough.

would have been good to have clockwork angels on the blu ray since the CA tour disc wasn't great. couldn't really care about the wreckers. camera eye looked great on TMT blu ray but since it is such a rarely played song would have also been great to get a different look at that from this tour.

for the anarchist i noticed the intro (world is world is) says go jays go which was from the first show, so I'm thinking anarchist was from the first show?

yeah animate isn't really one of my favourites but it does sound great on this release. far cry, spirit, ctth aren't great to me but could care less they have been played to death and are on plenty of releases. but the important songs form this tour were captured great - losing it, cygnus, hemispheres, jacobs, xanadu, entire encore.

Holy crap, I don't think I've had more of a journey getting a disc in my life. Just outside toronto went to an hmv and the guy said they were sold out the moment the doors opened at 10:00, luckily another location 20 minutes away had plenty. Needless to say the product of course is well worth the time and money spent, lol. Superb quality both audio/visual, reminds me of the TMT blu ray. Of course would have been great getting some behind the scenes stuff mainly some type of documentary. Could someone refresh my memory on this documentary that was shot during the tour and what exactly it encompassed? The only extras I liked on past dvds were the behind the scenes docs like on rio and clockwork. Could care less when they add all that family guy, south park, funny clips just as add-ons, they are useless. But the clockwork doc was great.

for those in canada or toronto, i don't notice any listings on best buy or hmv canada sites. do they just not put it up until the day of the release? i avoided ordering through amazon because i figured it might come a couple days late and i thought i could just pick it up at one of those stores tomorrow.

I'm no expert with audio/visual things, and i know a lot of people have gone off on clockwork bluray audio, but the video on that release was really bad. I have no idea what happened. The video on snakes and TMT were very good and its great that they captured this tour well since they went all out with the onstage production. Would have been terrible if it looked like the clockwork release.

just a question, how does one know if vocals were altered for this live release? Are you guys comparing to bootlegs that you saw of the show or is there some way that it is obvious to say vocals were corrected with. probably wouldn't notice unless someone told me.

Sucks that clockwork or camera eye aren't represented on the live format, would have been great. Was their a botch on clockwork angels the first toronto show? Surprised they wouldn't put that on. Surprised by the lack of extras but considering it is being released so soon after the tour is over I guess they didn't have time to put together a full on extensive package of material? Quality certainly looks better than the last live release.

FOH, interesting post and thanks for some of that behind the scenes info, fascinating to say the least. Alex throwing the shirt away? Did he do that right in front of neil too? lol. So another thing I am curious about….ok ideally they would have like another couple more months (G&A) to do the proper farewell. But if it were up to them how many more years could they have seen rush going on for? They are in their early 60s I mean if this comes down to just 3 more months of touring I guess I don't really see too much of a big deal. But if you tell me G&A would be willing to continue this into their late 60s thats another thing.

FOH, you said geddy/alex were frustrated, there was animosity… was this like evident with them during the tour? I know you said they won't say anything bad about each other publicly, and I know alex saying something about how he didn't mind the whole situation with neil not wanting to tour in an interview. But you are saying really backstage both guys are pretty pissed at him?

Saw this tour live, but on video looks great and can get a better look at how great the stage and lights are from different angles which you don't necessarily get a sense of when you are watching from one spot live.

So is it just a CD/DVD release? I was hoping for a blu ray.

I think there is no doubt that nothing will come from these guys certainly in the next 3-4 years. But I am wondering within a decade or so or right before they hit 70 if the spark reignites and even Neil decides to do some kind of farewell gig. McCartney and the stones are still touring well into their 70s. They all need a rest no doubt but I have a hard time believing that the LA show is the last time you will see those 3 on stage together. Obviously there won't be another full on tour and I am not even thinking they will do a big final show. They have already done the rock and roll hall of fame so obviously that is out (the way the police reunited for that). But nobody that Zeppelin would ever play a show after bonham died and it happened. I feel like these 3 will be on stage together again for something. Whether thats just a full on concert, small residency at one venue or just one performance for something, I just can't see this being it. But again it definitely won't be for a while.

If I am understanding this right it sounds like people are questioning whether Ged/Al would consider continuing Rush with another drummer. Of course there will never be another drummer playing with Rush besides Neil Peart. But there is definitely a chance of them forming a different group with other people with another band name, like your typical supergroup that exists. Examples that come to mind are bands like Oysterhead, A Perfect Circle, etc. I more than likely expect something like this to happen. Even though they are in their 60s this is not old in rock years. Look at McCartney and the Stones still touring away. Ged is gonna get bored real soon and he will wanna do something. And they have played in a band with another drummer, albeit for one song on a soundtrack (Trailer Park boys). Can't remember his name but he's from that one canadian band lol.