Jomboni

Sure you can - practice, practice, practice. :) Edited to ask you, Jomboni, what is it that makes it so hard to play? It's very fast, constantly moves all over the neck and he almost never plays the exact same thing twice!

Digital Man is the one I think I have no hope of ever being able to play correctly :(

Time Machine!

I bet I could tell. If you played me a live track of an existing Rush song, with a different (and very good) drummer, you might trick me, but something new? It would definitely sound different.

^This is all it comes down to. If they play without Neil they won't call it Rush. And I really don't think Geddy & Alex will play together without Neil in any sort of official way.

I seriously doubt it But obviously you don't know that for sure. I'll have to ask around and see what I can find out. I can't remember the forum either, but he would answer certain questions. It was pre-Twitter. That's kind of what I remember but not specifics. I was a member of the My Favorite Headache site back when that album came out. Could also be found at geddylee.net I think. Anyway, it must've been July 29th, 2000, forum members wrote comments wishing him a happy birthday and such. A day or two later he replied saying that he read all the comments (which he easily could've done since there were only maybe 100 or so posts with about 1-3 sentences per member). He did NOT reply to EVERYONE, just one general message. But he was very gracious. Remember, this was a time when he thought Rush was dead AND he was prepping for that one man promo tour of his to record shops. ((Edited to add: I vaguely remember a time when Geddy answered a few select questions. I don't remember if it was the MFH site or not though. Andrew McNaughton [R.I.P.] did so on the Counterparts site at one point)). Yes - the questions were on the My Favorite Headache forum too. He answered maybe 15-20 of them and gave pretty lengthy detailed answers too. I bet the archives are long gone :( And I joined after he had stopped responding :/

Flashlight? http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/m8yzhiBaYe5xsZXW41nD8OQ.jpg

It's not Rush without Neil, and I'm sure Geddy & Alex (and 95% of the fans) agree.

They gave him the stage, but they wouldn't have been on it for 40+ years if it wasn't for Neil. If they didn't do 2112 there's a good chance none of us would be talking about them now. And that album and the 2 leading up to it wouldn't have been possible without Neil. Nobody f***ed anybody over. It's just over. Let it go already!

I like that not only do you not remember what some of the songs sound like, you also didn't remember there's a song called "The Man of Sorrows" right before Empire. (I'm not joking either, I love this album, and Man of Sorrows is the only weak point for me. I honestly do not remember anything about it.)

Balleto Di Bronzo! Parts of this remind me of the Mars Volta, but 35 years earlier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvPRlXwR9zo

This is probably Neil's low point as far as lyrics go, which is a shame because the music across the album is great and a complete change of pace from any other Rush album.

still no guitar! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_mbYzM8axo

Bloodflowers and 4:13 Dream are worth checking out. The self titled album they put out in between those 2 hasn't held up as well to me.

I don't recall getting a download with my copy, but I downloaded a vinyl rip and I agree it sounds a lot better than the cd version!

I am excited! I have never had a chance to see them before. I'm a bit of a latecomer (Bloodflowers was my first album) and the few times they've toured the states since then I haven't been able to go. I got tickets for the 2nd Madison Square Garden so I finally get to see them! And once they announce the rest of the dates I will probably get at least tickets to one more show in the Philadelphia area. They change their setlist up constantly so I want to get at least 2 shows in, because who knows when or if I will get to again? I wish it wasn't all the way in June of next year :(

I think NYC sold out in about hour :( They went on sale at noon on Saturday, I wasn't able to get them until around 1:30, and haven't been able to get any. Now I have to either go to stubhub or hope they announce another date within a few hours of Philly.

I prefer the live solo to the studio version honestly!

I wish they'd play NJ or Philly, I hate going to NYC... but I guess I can make an exception seeing as I have never seen them!

It appears that way. It's most likely that the 2nd night's gonna be the "main" concert with the swap songs from the 1st night being part of the bonus features. Makes sense considering I think the general opinion was that the 2nd night was much better performance wise. Plus Losing It! I don't care which one ends up being the "main" one as long as all the songs played those 2 nights are on there in some form.

Test For Echo just sounds.... uninspired and forced to me, both the music and lyrics. The production is dull and flat. There are a few songs that are decent composition wise but for the most part the album is forgettable. Counterparts is a solid, well written rock album that I can't take seriously because of the horrible lyrics.

Yes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular_rays

Bruce Willis was really dead the whole time!

Godspeed You Black Emperor in Philly next Monday!

I still like it. Clockwork Angels, The Anarchist and Headlong Flight are up there as some of the best songs they've written, and the rest (aside from Wish Them Well & BU2B2) are good to great. Although... I think The Garden is a decent song, but if the album was just 9 songs and ended with Headlong Flight it would have been a better whole package. Either way, the best album since Power Windows.