LaVillaSean

I have no idea who is the better violinist....I just watched the MSG and Toronto clips on youtube. Dinklage seemed to nail it much better than Ben. For one, I thought he played with much more emotion. The sound was much better at MSG, at least on the clip I watched. No need to split hairs though...we are very lucky that they are playing this at all!

not sure what amenities this venue has, but Club level usually means updgraded food options in the concourse, possibly a wider/more padded seat. My rule is unless I can be in the first ten rows on the floor, I prefer to be on the side in the lower bowl. In this case, the sweet spots would be Section 117 or 118. Most Rush fans prefer to be on our left (stage right) because you will have a much better view of Neil. The way his drums are set up, if you are on stage left (your right), your view of Neil may be blocked by how high his drums are on that side. Good luck with the ticketmaster game--and don't give up....good seats will likely pop up the day before and the day of the show if you can be patient and not panic.

I was at the Tampa show and was very impressed how huge the crowd was. Packed all the way up to the rafters and not a seat to been seen amty anywhere. In talking to various fans, many from all over the state (and outside of the state) attended as it was the only show on Florida (no West Palm, no Ft Lauderdale, no Orlando shows). I've been to many concerts at Amalie and have never seen a bigger crowd for a concert. It seems like attendance is really up across the board on this tour....

I don't think it's a ripoff, it sounds more like a homage, given the song title and the similarity. And about Rush having the last laugh, Van Halen may somewhat suck these days because of Dave's voice, but they're not exactly struggling, are they? Massive tour coming up, several recent appearances in TV shows and awards... I think the poster meant that VH has not stood the test of time like Rush. Rush and early VH was some of the first music I ever listened to and I was a huge VH fan in the 80s.....they do sound pretty terrible now and I saw them on their last tour and they were a shell of their former selves....it's obvious that the partying and infighting has taken something from them. As for this urban legend, I doubt any fist a cuffs were thrown....maybe a small verbal beef but I don't see Geddy mixing it up like that.

I am sure Houston will be a sellout or close to it....but the low number of seats on stubhub on the floor might be attributed to the fact that the VIP seats were sold as those where you don't know where your seat is until you pick up your ticket at willcall an hour or so before showtime---this really stops brokers in their tracks because they can't list it online without knowing where it is and then once it is picked up, there isn't much time to unload it. I wish all venues would do the VIP seats like this....I've heard plenty of people who did extremely well buying them and it cuts out the brokers from the premium seat game for the most part

I thought the piece was a very candid look at the band. I don't sense any resentment among the three guys from reading the article--just that they are at different mental and physical places with respect to the desire or ability to carry on with future tours. Perhaps I didn't follow enough pre-tour news but I was surprised to hear that Alex sort of had to be talked into the tour also....but it makes total sense now that I heard has has the arthritis. Sh*&, I get tired from a 2-3 business trip on the road so I can't immagine doing it and playing for 3 hours every other night for 3-4 months. While the fan adulation and joy of playing so well on an instrument must be cool, the grind of city to city, hotel to hotel, etc must be really tough--and multiply that exponentially with arthitis and tendinitis. I am very surprised there is even an inkling of a possible Europe set of gigs....if anything, my bet would have been a very outside shot of a second North American leg of R40. As far as I have read, the shows have garnered much better attandance than I can remember on the last few tours. Only time will tell--but I would see them now if you can get to a show or multiple shows....this might be it.

I know people will pine over songs not played at "their" show....I feel the pain but really these sets are clearly designed in large part for the diehard fans. Rush, I mother&^ing salute you...thank you for this tour and whatever you play

all other issues aside, i think we need to applaud these sets....from what I recall, this is way more variation that I can remember. Plus we are getting gems like JL, Xanadu, Prelude, Lakeside (really the whole encore). In sum, these sets are completely kick a%$....

I was not at Lincoln but felt that Alex was a bit reserved in his demeanor in Tulsa. I too noticed that he was looking down at his playing much more than I can remember...and not much of his jokester/prankster persona. Not sure about the technical issues, but surely they can pop up from time to time. Their show has lots of moving parts. I thought the sound was great and was ecstatic about the show in general.

you might want to check ticketmaster....it was offering me Section 118, Row N....those are very good seats

not sure of the official attendance numbers for Tulsa, but it did not appear that there were any open seats. The upper deck appeared completely full all the way back

the stuff that dreams are made of....

I did buy a generic R40 tshirt from the site, but nothing else is showing

Randy is a very tall dude...he might block a lot of peoples' view

you might be onto something here...

Good question!!! While it may not be ideal for the fans, I can certainly see why they would want to play 4 songs from CA. It's called creative juices and enjoying playing the newer material that has been played only 45 times instead of 2500 times - and it is well documented that the band is extremely proud and fond of CA...I think they have referred to it is their finest album in a longa$# time

wow, this is a pretty sloppy error to make considering he could have done better by spending 30 seconds on wikipedia. Nevertheless, the tone of the article is very positive so cut the writer slack. We've all screwed up before and I doubt many people in Tulsa who read that paper will even know who Rush is

people who have connections (i.e., radio people give to their friends, friends/associates of the band etc). Basically if you know the right people, you can get one.... When they played here in S Fla on Clockwork, I recall a local sports talk radio show guy talking about how he used his connections through the station to get M&G for a bunch of people.

Again, MISSING the point. The ENTIRE alleged leaked list is R30 or current, last 4 tours, sans two songs. After what was promised by the band, its a disappointing list, given its the last tour and they indicated setlist would be special, not repeats. Plus to compare 11 year gap to other eras when albums were released every year is a hugely misleading comment. No...I think you may be missing the point. There are bands that have not changed a thing in their show over the last 11 years. They are still doing an identical performance to what they were doing in 2004. As Rush fans, we got 4 tours in that time that were around 25 songs per show and only about 5 of those songs has been played on every one (and even fewer, I believe the number to be 2, that have been performed at every show). Even though they may not be playing what you (or I) would like to hear most, we still have it really good as Rush fans. And, if you really want to do a fair comparison, the only tour that should be on the table is CA...and we know already that was drastically different. I just looked up the setlists from R30-Clockwork angels and excluding Drum Solos and Feedback covers, Rush played roughly 70 different songs in the last 10 years. Exactly! They've mixed it up CRAZILY over the past bunch of years...no major complaints here! (I wish they had a site that did the break downs of what you saw over the tours like a Dave Matthews site I belong to...they have function that you put in the shows you attended, and it breaks down by album what you saw and didn't see over those shows..pretty neat!) yes, gotta love that DMB almanac....we need that for Rush

pretty impressive numbers if accurate. Maybe NJ is lagging slightly if it is back to back with MSG? That might explain (although I would assume they would always play those venues back to back given the proximity)

i remember watching Limelight opener on this tour and thinking how slow sounded....you are correct OP

given that you have been close before, I would sit tight. Watch ticketbastard and if something pops up that is markedly better, buy them and flip your side seats to a fellow fan. I would never jeopardize my financial situation for one show. Think long term and hope you can upgrade for face value.

judging by what is on the list in terms of chock full of staples, I think Freewill will be played. I love it live so I certainly hope so...like others have said, I am a little annoyed by Roll the Bones, Far Cry and One Little Victory. I can understand that they want to play new stuff from Clockwork, but RTB and Far Cry have been played so much. OLV I think was in the encore on the S&A tour....I would rather hear many other tunes from Vapor Trails. In any event, I'm an optimist and think whatever they play will be great and it will be a great tour. I watched the Clockwork bluray last night and I really thought the CA stuff sounded great live (even though I almost never listen to anything from CA except Headlong)

people can bitch ad nauseum about the setlist...but you know for sure that Rush will put on a very good light/laser/video production. This is a given.

the list obviously looks extremely "safe" in that it is basically a hybrid of Time Machine and Clockwork setlists, plus a couple extras. But it is obvious that there will be more (and maybe a lot more)....the omissions of Limelight and Freewill, which you know will be played, make that obvious. Hopefully, the ommitted songs or songs with no associated video include some of that "deep digging" material.