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Wow, what a night. It seems every tour I come away after the concert more and more blown away and in awe of these guys and last night was no exception. We live in South Orange County, so it's about a 40 minute drive up to the Honda Center in Anaheim. So we left here at about 5:00. Figured we'd grab a bite at JT Schmidt's across the street and walk to the 7:30 PM show. Well, after we valet our car we discover we have a 75 minute wait. With Rush tunes playing all nigh, and Rush fans that have completely packed the restaurant, I wanted to hang but we were hungry so we had to bolt. Drove around to many restaurants. All the same thing. All Rush fans. Finally, had to settle for Jack in the Box, eating it in the car. Head back to the JT Schmidts valet and walk over to the Arena. Some very crazy security made it a bit too close for comfort, but we finally made it in at about 7:15. I then waited in yet another long line to buy my traditional tour shirt. This year it was the very sweet Rush # 3 World tour jersey for $100. Painful to know I'll be able to buy this online for $20 in a couple months but WTF Inside, at 7:30PM, the arena was about 40% full. Having just come from the overzealous security, I knew they'd be starting late. Usually they are very prompt, but they are quite considerate about no starting until most everyone has arrived. Finally, I would guess at around 7:55PM, the lights go out and the opening video kicks in. I'm not going to go through each song. I will just say that the boys sounded absolutely incredible. I mean I seriously can't believe how good they sounded. I was just in awe and still am. We were in the 3rd row on Geddy's side and the entire floor section we were in was just so into it, which makes the show that much more fun. Everyone seemed to know every word to every song. While the ENTIRE show was absolutely freakin' incredible, I will say that we thought there was quite a stark difference between the 1st and 2nd set. The 2nd set was just breathtaking. I kind of anticipated the crowd being a little more mellow and low key during the new album but quite the opposite. The crowd all seemed to know the album and appreciate it's briiliance, enjoying every minute of each song. Our set included Wish them Well and no 7 Cities, The pyros for Carnies, Clockwork Angels, Caravan, etc were awesome. As usual, the boys spared no expense. The end of Carnies provided the best pyro I've seen from them. Being in the 3rd row, I literally started to sweat. Some observations of the crowd: Noticeably diverse, in ethnicity, gender, and age. While the 40 something white male still is the majority, I don't recall seeing as many kids, hot ladies, and Hispanics before at a Rush show. Our section in particular had some gorgeous girls but I watched them during the show and they weren't there for their boyfriends or husbands, they were singing along to most of the songs. Really impressive to see this. The crowd was so into it, standing for about the entire show. No one sat down. Just so cool to see. The vibe of the Rush faithful is so cool. Some observations of the setlist: Phenomenal. I was a little worried that some of the casuals might be bored, but not even close. I will say that there was a song or 2 in the 1st half that slowed everyone down...in particular it seemed The pass put some people in their seats. Limelight was a very nice surprise and that got the crowd charged up. Even a rather obscure song like Grand Designs got everyone excited. Everyone got excited about that one. Some standouts that sounded great from the 1st half: Without a doubt, the stand out song in the first half was The Analog Kid. That sound just sounded incredible. And Alex smoked it on the solo. And that one in particular had the crowd going spastic. The loudest they may have been was during and after Alex's amazing solo. 1H highlights: Analog Kid Limelight Big Money Far Cry Where's my Thing sounded off. Alex was clearly playing it very differently and I just couldn't get into it. Leave that thing Alone is by far a better tune that comes off better 2nd Half and the album were the peak. It is criminal how good they sound at this stage of their career. And to play an entire new album and have the crowd so into it is unheard of. I just can't get over these guys. No one can touch them. The whole album was just freakin' amazing. Absolutely loved the way it came off live 2H Highlights: Clockwork Angels-Just spot on. Crowd absolutely loved it. Headlong Flight-Without a doubt, the highlight of the whole show, but I almost feel like Neil's solo killed the momentum of such a killer tune. It just so rocked. The Garden-Perfect ending to the album with amazing visuals. Dreamline-Great tune to follow up CA. I can't imagine the set list WITHOUT this classic. I had forgotten how cool it is. And again the whole crowd seemed to know it. What a great freakin's song Then YYZ-WOW. Alex came over to our side and was acting the part of the goofball he is Red Sector A was the only "meh" song, but really still a very good song. Closing with 2112 was brilliant. Grand Finale perfect ending Observations of the boys: Just on their game, having fun, giddy and really sharp. A couple technical flaws here and there. Seemed like a part in Spirit of Radio was a little off, and Alex's backup singing actually overpowered Geddy a few times. Overall, I've never been a fan of the acoustics here. Irvine so much better. Alex's guitar was barely audible at times during the show. Very odd for the guitar to be drowned out by everything else, usually the opposite but that was the case last night (at times). But all and all, they were the sharpest I've heard them in quite some time. As others have observed, Geddy's vocals are better then they've been in a while. Dude has the fountain of youth in his house! The boys are amazing!