GrandDesigner

Hard to believe CTTC never played live, in some sense can understand why Alien Shore wasn't, not being an expert has a kind of studio feel about it that may have been too difficult to translate live, all kinds of funny little effects in it, i dunno. CTTC doesnt seem to have this problem, didnt go CP tour but i'd have been disappointed not to get it

 

Being a musician.....I can tell you the Alien Shore for Geddy is a very challenging tune. Playing that bass line while singing....really tough. I am sure they rehearsed it for that tour but something was not clicking. Same for Cut To The Chase. Sometimes they are simply studio cuts and they don't capture it live like they want to.

 

It took them 35 years to finally play Jacobs Ladder again. And it was glorious. But something had to not be clicking with all three of them to have it locked up for so long. It was requested all the time.

 

So glad they busted that out on R40. It was the highlight of my night. And one of the best of my Rush concert going experience's.

 

I think it was simply the time factor that kept Jacob's Ladder out of the set list for many years. I'm actually surprised it didn't make a comeback when the started playing "Natural Science" again regularly. They could easily have swapped them out for each other on different nights. It's also a possibility that one of them wasn't very fond of it.

 

It was certainly a gift to the fans to play that it on R40. It was probably the highlight of the night for me also.

 

I can only imagine how awesome the sets would've been if they did Evening With shows back in the 80's. I don't know how or why it happened, but they used to be so rigid with their setlists and song choices, then around S&A, they just started becoming way more interesting and adventurous.

Why would anyone want this? There's so many incredible bands out there making music and touring, go spend your money on them instead.

From a fan's perspective who's seen an excellent Rush tribute on the east coast (kRush), it's a great set but a little too close to what Rush has played over the years. Part of the fun (for me) of seeing tribute bands is seeing songs that the original band have basically ignored or played very little. In that regards, Entre Nous is a great choice, as is The Camera Eye, but I'd personally like to see more in the extreme deep cut category, such as Cinderella Man or Chemistry or Kid Gloves or whatever. kRush plays a lot of the familiar songs too, but they'll throw in random ones like Half The World, Grand Designs, The Enemy Within that make it super interesting. Half The World isn't in my top 100 favorite Rush songs, but it's still exciting to hear something really rare. Just my $.02 but it's definitely a good set and I'd watch it.

1. Speak

2. Suite Sister Mary

3. I Don't Believe In Love

 

I seriously love all the other songs though.

I mean to be fair, they came up with their first band name Majesty while waiting in line to buy tickets for the PoW tour so I’m sure that he remained a fan throughout the years but wasn’t necessarily influenced by them past MP. It’s the same with me and Metallica. I haven’t been musically influenced by them since the Black Album, but I still like a lot of their music that came after.

 

Plus, he was asked to do the liner notes for VT I believe so there’s that. Portnoy is a lot of things, but he’s definitely not a music/prog snob.

Good music, odd singer

Landmark album

Getting heavier/darker

Getting softer/lighter

Recurring themes

Mental illness

Heavy/dark again

Soft/light again

Fantasy

End of an era (+worst story ever)

Landmark album (remix)

Weird production

Ballads

 

It blows my mind that Natural Science was gone for so long. For being such a landmark album, it's amazing that PeW was only represented by Freewill and Spirit for 15 years after the MP tour.

 

Also if you look at percentages of songs played on their respective tours, only 60% of HYF was played, 45% of Presto (on that tour - Presto was played later), 50% of RTB, 54% of CP (on that tour - Between Sun & Moon was played later), 63% of TFE, and 38% of VT (on that tour - How It Is was played later). For being so ignored by the band after its release, TFE actually had the highest ratio of songs played on its tour. I guess that's due to the longer set length, but still. Imagine if they began their Evening With... format during the 80's!

The riff at around 3:18 in Peaceable Kingdom is my favorite. So ballsy and powerful. I also love the main riff to Virtuality.

 

FX has picked the show up for 2 more Seasons

http://money.cnn.com...linkId=24876854

 

Excellent. I'm loving this season so far and am glad for two more. I hope the writers have an ending in mind and will not make any meaningless, filler episodes to kill time, but judging how awesome it's been so far, I think they'll wrap it up nicely in 26 episodes. The next "holy shit" moment is certain to be when Stan finally discovers who they are. I'm guessing that will be season 5's finale, with season 6 being the manhunt.

Just saw kRush in Delaware a few weeks ago. They're better than ever.

What happens in the Gulag, stays in the gulag

 

That WAS NOT cool

 

Her storyline was going nowhere though. I'm glad they wrapped it up so we can focus on things back in America.

The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins come to mind. The Pumpkins recorded 56 songs for their Mellon Collie album and only used 28 of them on the actual album. The b-sides from that album are extremely good and it's crazy how many great songs were left off the official album. Luckily Billy Corgan realizes they're great and regularly plays his band's b-sides along with regular album tracks. Every album between Gish and Machina 2 had a bunch of solid extra tracks, but now that his inspiration is dwindling, b-sides are pretty rare. Lonely Is The Name is the last really good one I can remember.

What do you guys feel is Alex's best moment in a song that isn't talked about very much and isn't a solo? Vapor Trails is my least favorite Rush album, but I've always thought that the riffs at 3:20 in Peaceable Kingdom and 4:00 in Secret Touch were some of the coolest things he's ever done and I never really hear them mentioned.

I don't hear any Rush influence on the early albums (or even the later ones). Their first two albums sound like they were influenced by post-hardcore, pop-punk, and emo bands, with the classic rock sound becoming more evident on Good Apollo I. But even then, the classic rock sound they adopted is more of a Journey/Pink Floyd/Thin Lizzy/Black Sabbath mix rather than a Rush. I think they've always been classic rock fans, and have certainly heard Rush like most classic rock fans, but I doubt they were any real influence on the direction of their music. The vocals are the main source of comparison and even then, I think early Claudio sounds more like Michael Jackson than Geddy.

This is my favorite show on TV right now. So happy it's back!

This has been something I've been curious about too since I'm a setlist-junkie for bands I love. My honest opinion is that it was never played live, as there has just been no indication that it's ever made an appearance. I doubt it'd be a song they'd only play once, so the lack of any sort of historical record or bootleg just seems like too great a coincidence. It's baffling that they've never played it. Imagine being a young band and releasing your first epic and then never even touching a single part of it live. 2112 became a centerpiece for their tours throughout the late 70's, but Lamneth never got a chance.

Megadeth have the worst setlists. It's literally the same 12 older songs, and then whatever 2-3 they decide to play off their newest album. I refuse to see them again until it changes drastically. Rush have done very well lately with playing both older and newer songs.

I love the fact that DT is doing The Astonishing. It's their new album and they've done gigantic "evening with" sets for the last decade where fans could hear tons of other songs. I hate seeing bands tour for their new album and then they just do 3-4 songs off it. As for doing albums in their entirety, if it's an album that has some rarities in it or a bunch of underplayed songs, then I'm for it. But if a band is going to do an album in its entirety of songs that they play regularly anyway, it's a waste of time. MP for Time Machine was an obvious choice, but aside from TCE, it's been played to death and felt a bit superfluous.

General guide to Rush songs live.

Rush: All songs except Take a Friend.

Fly By Night: Making Memories and Rivendell never played live.

Caress of Steel: I Think I'm Going Bald and the Fountain of Lamneth never played live.

2112: Lessons and Tears have never been played.

A Farewell To Kings: Madrigal is the only song never played live.

Hemispheres: All songs played live.

Permanent Waves: Different Strings never played live.

Moving Pictures: All songs played live.

Signals: All songs played.

Grace Under Pressure: All songs played.

Power Windows: All songs except Emotion Detector.

Hold Your Fire: Open Secrets, Second Nature, Tai Shan, and High Water never played.

Presto: Chain Lightning, Anagram (For Mongo), Red Tide, Hand Over Fist, and Available Light never played.

Roll The Bones: Face Up, The Big Wheel, Heresy, Neurotica, and You Bet Your Life never played.

Counterparts: Cut To The Chase, Alien Shore, The Speed Of Love, and Everyday Glory never played.

Test For Echo: The Color Of Right, Totem, Dog Years, and Carve Away The Stone never played.

Vapor Trails: The least represented album. Peaceable Kingdom, The Stars Look Down, Vapor Trail, Sweet Miracle, Nocturne, Freeze, and Out Of The Cradle all never played.

Feedback: For What It's Worth, Mr Soul, Seven And Seven Is, and Shapes Of Things never played live.

Snakes And Arrows: Bravest Face, Good News First, and We Hold On never played live.

Clockwork Angels: All songs played, except BU2B2.

 

I'm always amazed by how many unplayed songs they have. I wish they had rotated sets and added songs between legs back in the 80's and early 90's so more of these songs could've been played. I mean, on the Presto tour, they only did 5/11 songs from the album! How do you release an album and not even do more than half of it (including the damn title track which is the thematic base for the entire tour). I'm glad they finally pulled it out for TM, but what went through their heads back in 1990 that made them exclude it? Same with Lamneth. How do you release your first epic, a song which must've been the young band's crowning achievement, and then never even touch a single part of it live?

 

Good to see them acknowledge CA live by playing 11/12 of it. Most bands their age release new albums with like 15 mediocre songs on it (don't ask me why bands release longer albums loaded with obvious bland, filler songs as they get older), play 1 or 2 of them live, then fill the set with hits and other tired songs. But Rush's track record of playing new songs from 1987-2002 was pretty disappointing.

This band is great. Heretics is a stunning album and contains so many strong songs. Elizabeth, To Love Is To Leave, and The Name You Fear are my favorites.

At times it was a bit surreal to see U2 in this setting, so close to the crowd, playing a setlist that nodded to the very first tours where venues of this size were the norm.

 

You mean back when they were GOOD? I agree!

 

You know what? Yesterday I was listening to "Like a Song" which is probably my favorite off of WAR. I did a bit of research and apparently they only played it ONCE EVER back in 1983 and hated it and that was that. Looking further, many of their better old songs haven't been played in way more than 20 or 25 years (!) Yet another reason to appreciate RUSH's efforts.

 

Like A Song is great. It's really uptempo and could have been a great War song to bring back. U2 have a bunch of songs that got minimal play before they were forgotten forever. I know they tinkered with Drowning Man on the 360 tour rehearsals, but it never materialized.

 

They DID do a nice job with S&A and CA...but VT is "trickling" out, T4E didn't include too much as did the few albums before them.

 

Actually, T4E had 7/11 songs played live during the tour, a higher percentage than all other albums since the PoW tour and including VT.

 

HYF had 6/10

Presto had 5/11

RTB had 5/10

CP had 6/11

VT had 5/13

Ian's a great drummer but he really has been utilizing the same bag of tricks for about 20 years now. Time to shake up the playing and get interesting again!

 

New songs:California (There Is No End To Love), Cedarwood Road, Every Breaking Wave (full band and acoustic versions), Invisible, Iris (Hold Me Close), The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone), Ordinary Love, Raised By Wolves, Song For Someone, The Troubles, Volcano.

 

Old songs: Bad, Beautiful Day, Bullet The Blue Sky, City Of Blinding Lights, Desire, Elevation, Even Better Than The Real Thing, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, I Will Follow, Magnificent, Miracle Drug, Mysterious Ways, One, One Step Closer, Out Of Control, Playboy Mansion, Pride, Running To Stand Still, Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Electric Co., Until The End Of The World, Where The Streets Have No Name, and With Or Without You.

 

Those are the songs that they have been rehearsing so far. Not trying to spoil for you, just letting you know what you might be expecting when you see them. :)

 

I'm not seeing them this tour unfortunately, but those old songs seem a little "tired and overplayed" and make me feel a bit better about not seeing them. The only rarities are One Step Closer and The Playboy Mansion (the only songs never played live off their respective albums). And for God's sake, drop Elevation and City of Blinding Lights already!!

 

My U2 live wishlist would include Acrobat, Lemon, Sleep Like A Baby Tonight, Discotheque, Drowning Man, Like A Song, Seconds, I Threw A Brick..., Love Comes Tumbling, and Wild Honey.

I mean, how about cutting out the drum solo? It's been pretty stale for about 3 decades now and could definitely give him a chance to rest. Do an acoustic segment or something in its place that doesn't require so many flailing limbs.