ragz06

I got a little ahead of myself when I came up with this thought, and put "Geddy and Neil" in the thread topic....hopefully most of you read the post and realized I meant "Geddy and Alex"---ha

Rush peeps, I've been a long time fan of 20+ years, my orig post on this forum was over 10 years ago... but I tend to lurk and read, not post so much. But in my recent lurkings, I've seen several post regarding the band's future, Ged an Alex working together, Neil's role (or not) in future projects, and I have a GREAT IDEA. I believe, like many of you, that Neil is done with RUSH. I hold no negativity about that, and many have made that argument on these boards in the recent past. I do believe that Ged and Alex would like to continue to work. The obvious question is who else to work with them on drums? I've seen several ideas, Matt Cameron, etc... I suggest an absolutely obvious choice in Todd Sucherman. Sadly as a Rush worshiper (my desert island band), I am not positive that Ged and Alex could get Todd to step away from STYX after all these years, although I feel he would much happier playing with Ged and Al, as he is above and beyond the STYX repertoire (no offense intended, I like STYX as well). Todd S. has been killing it for years, and I would love to see a collaboration with the boys and Todd, not only in his interpretations of RUSH work, but maybe even in new stuff. Anybody not familiar with Todd's work, just YouTube. You will not be disappointed. I look forward to any comments, as this seems a perfect fit, from style, to ability, to age, to personality. I know they would not call it RUSH, and I don't want them to. I just want more from Ged and Al!

Best source I've ever seen of they guys in their early days. All three of them just nailing it!

I'm listening to My Favorite Headache today, haven't for a while. I don't know if I just never noticed before, but it really reminds me of Vapor Trails. I know they were done around the same time, but it made me wonder if Geddy has a bigger role in VT as far as musical direction. Although I do feel that the tracks "The Angel's Share" and "Slipping" sound right at home on S&A. Anybody else get the same feeling when listening to MFH that it is oddly similar to VT? Or maybe this is something brought up before and I am just unaware. BTW, I firmly in the camp of "please remaster Vapor Trails". It has grown on me over the years but man it is thick and muddy.

I will say that for my 6th Rush show, I could not have been more pleased. I took my 22 year old nephew (who was blown away, btw!); I thought the venue sounded good--I have seen the band here at the AT&T center before, and the sound is a roll of the dice. I do like that the last couple of times I have seen Rush, the volume has been dialed down just a hair; this is good, as it tends to clear things up a bit rather than just a wall of sound coming at you. The place was packed, if it was not full, it was darn close. And pretty pumped from my perspective. Most folks in my section stood the whole show. I was especially happy that for so many shows into the tour, Geddy sounded fantastic (to my ears at least). I cannot recall a single time where I thought "oops, he missed there", which we all have seen happen before. He seemed really energetic, and did not seem to be struggling at all. Alex was his usual self, shredding, and goofing a bit. Neil is a machine, I cannot see how he keeps it up for 2-3 hours. I did notice at least 1 stick drop, and another which may have been a stick break. Never missed a beat. And so funny--on his stick drop, the stick actually landed out in front of his kit on stage. After a few seconds, Alex noticed it, picked it up, and actually starting playing his guitar with the stick--kind of like the Jimmy Page violin bow trick. After a few seconds of that, Alex tossed the stick out into the crowd. And I can concur with others that the orchestra does not take away from the usual Rush show at all. Don't really notice them as much as you might expect, and their sound just fills in where keyboard triggers would normally hit, so it's not like the band sounds different with them playing. And the boys seem to enjoy the orchestra players, as Geddy mentioned them several times, and more than once, Geddy or Alex would actually go behind Neil's kit and play directly to the orchestra, backs to the crowd. All in all, a fantasatic show. I got Grand Desings, Middletown Dreams, the Pass, Red Sector A, and Manhatten Project! Songs I am sure I will never see them play again.

I was actually listening to this the other day, and thinking about the song in a live setting. I am thinking of of some other "synth" era songs, ala Between the Wheels, and how much better they sound live with Alex guitar being much more prominent and thick in the live performance. I think this song could be really good with the cool tom work from Neil and some heavy guitar chord riffing from Alex. And it is right in Geddy's present vocal wheelhouse.

I am also a little baffled as to why Wish Them Well has gotten so much negative reaction. To me, it sounds very much like Counterparts, which usually gets lots of respect. So it is weird that so many do not care for it (or either I am totally off on the Counterparts similarity).

If you have ITunes, try these settings with the EQ. After many different combinations, I came upon one that sounds really nice (to me at least). What made this work is that it is such a different type of setting from what we normally use, which is middle to high bass settings, lower midrange settings, and high treble settings. try the EQ like this: 32Hz @ -4 64Hz @ +2 125Hz @ -4 250Hz @ -12 500Hz @ -7 1000Hz @ -9 2000Hz @ -9 4000Hz @ -9 8000Hz @ -8 16000Hz @ +12 It seems like much more seperation with these settings, and a lot of the muddiness in the midrange goes away. Much easier to discern what is going on with all of the instruments, and makes me like the album that much more!

I would like to add that on the last several tours (San Antonio outdoors for S&A, Austin indoors S&A, and San Antonio indoors for Time Machine) I felt that the sound system has been too darn loud! Distorts the sound and muddy bottom end. Was describing it to a friend that is is like when you have the audio system in your home/car/earphones, etc... turned up to 10, it can sound distorted. Back it down to 8 and the volume is basically the same loudness, just clears up a lot, if that makes sense. Now the good news...the show indoors in Austin on June 12 sounded frikkin' phenomonal. Did not even need my earplugs, and everything sounded perfect. Best sound I've ever heard at a concert. Alex's guitar was razor sharp, each of Ged's notes rang through loud and clearly, and Neil's drums sounded great, bass drum tight and punchy. And this is in the same venue I saw the band in for the S&A tour in 07 which sounded much, much different/not in a good way! Moral of the story--from my experience last week,along with others at that show, as well as some of the other comments I've read online, something has changed in the sound engineering/setup for the show, and it is awesome. Get to the closest show in your area and enjoy!!!

Could not agree more!! I kept checking here the last couple of days to see who was gonna start the thread, the show was on fire! It was the 6th time I had seen the band, and my major complaint the last few times was the sound quality. Inside in this same venue for S&A, outside in San Antonio S&A, inside San Antonio last year for this tour...all the same problem--too damn loud! Distorts the sound, muddy bottom end. Not so this night in Austin--didn't even need the earplugs. As soon as the first song started, I looked to my girlfriend and said "sounds perfect!" Alex's guitar was crystal clear, Ged's bass notes were very present, and Neil was hitting hard. And the performance itself was the best I've seen them in person. I must say that I was most surprised with Alex, he was killing it all night. Playing with a passion I've not seen in person before. All in all, the best Rush show I've seen myself, hands down! Thank you to the guys for continuing to deliver. On the way home, I was lamenting that I was afraid I may only have one or two more opportunities to witness this again, as I can forsee a Clockwork tour, but after that.....