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The Mighty Dudad

By The Mighty Dudad,
in On The Lighted Stage

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The Mighty Dudad

The Mighty Dudad

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Posted

What a night! When the tour dates were first announced, I was disappointed because I knew that I would not be able to attend either of the two Chicago dates, and try as I might, I couldn't rig my work travel schedule to get to a show in another city. So, imagine my secret delight when the July 7 show was rained out. Rain out means reschedule, and reschedule means I'm back in the game. When the August 23rd date was announced, I was determined to do what it took to be there.

 

THE TICKET: Knowing that I'd be going solo this time around, I wanted to try to get as close to the stage as possible. Given the 7/7 rain out, I thought there may be folks that simply couldn't make the new date and would be looking to sell. I kept looking at Ticketmaster, TicketsNow, and Stubhub. Finally, less than a week ago, I saw a Section 104 Row B ticket on StubHub (2nd row, Alex's side) and immediately grabbed it. Having never been closer than the high 20s before, I couldn't believe I would be in the second row.

 

THE BUMP UP: Got to Charter One and through the gates just after they opened at 6:30. Went to my seat, which was a few feet outside of Alex's microphone and pedal gear setup. Perfect view of everything. There was a group of 5 guys standing in front of me. I joked with them that I hoped they would sit down during the show so I could see. We got to talking and it turned out that they got comp tickets through Anthem (they all work for JBL) and when the five of them showed up and picked up the tickets, there were 6 tickets in the envelope. They gave me their 6th ticket and I moved up the FRONT ROW! Brian, Bob, and all - you guys were awesome. Folks in the front row got special wrist bands that allowed them to stand at the railing. Security did a good job making sure only front row folks were at the railing.

 

THE SHOW: Can't describe how incredibly amazing it was. I'm not going to do a song-by-song recap...no way I could do it justice. Geddy was a mad man on the bass. I wish he came to our side a bit more, but I'm not complaining. Alex more than made up for that, spending alot of time over by us (didn't hurt that there were a couple of attractive ladies along the railing near me). As has been reported elsewhere, Alex absolutely SHREDDED the solo in Working Man. I didn't have that much energy at 26, and have even less at 45...amazing what he can do at 56! Lights, production, etc. were all top notch. However, don't ask me what was on the video screen; other than the opening and closing videos, I don't think I looked at the screen once (I guess that's one difference with being so close).

 

MISCELLANEOUS:

- Got the chance to meet lots of great folks. I spent much of the intermission talking to Chris (Chrxtopher), who some of you may recognize from Beyond the Lighted Stage (Chris is the fan speaking about Subdivisions). He was in front of me in the beer line, and we struck up a great conversation. Nice meeting you Chris! Hope you enjoyed the rest of the show.

 

- At one point during the second set, I got a tap on my shoulder and turned around to stare into the face of Michael Mosbach (Rush's head of security). My first thought was "crap, what did I do??" No worries, though. He had a dad and his young son with him, and was wondering if I'd be willing to give them a little space at the railing. I said no problem, and let them take my spot. Next to me was a guy who wasn't supposed to be at the railing (no wrist band), so when he was finally asked to go back to his seat by security, I was able to take his spot.

 

- Great crowd, especially up front (at least from my perspective). Everyone was there for a great time and was very well behaved. Security did a good job with the few who tried to crash the front row. Didn't see any real security conflicts until after the show when some guy was screaming and swearing at the head security guy in the front row. Looks like it came close to a full blown fight, but I didn't stick around to watch.

 

- Finally, FREE CUSTOM "RAIN DATE" HATS!! How awesome is that??

 

Sorry for the long post. It was an AMAZING night!

 

- TMD

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ILSnwdog

ILSnwdog

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Greatest Rush show ever? no.gif

 

An awesome show that met the high standards that the band has set for themselves? yes.gif

 

And you and I may be the only ones that were happy that the show got rained out. My cousin bought the tickets for the show, and had to go to California on business last minute the week of the show. He couldn't get me the tickets before he left...so we missed the show, and we thought we were going to have to eat the tickets...until the rain fell. laugh.gif

 

When I heard the set list, (SPOILER ALERT>>>DON'T READ ANY FURTHER)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't impressed with the set list when I first saw it, but I have to admit, Stick it out and leave that thing alone sounded great live. And I'm not a big Camera Eye fan, but it was incredible live. I didn't expect that. 1022.gif

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DetachedandSubdivided

DetachedandSubdivided

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I think it's also the best Rush show I've been to, and I've been to a fair number since RTB.

 

Everything you said was spot-on - Alex DESTROYED the second half of "Working Man" (in an awesome way of course), and Geddy tore up "Leave That Thing Alone", and the whole show felt sharp and spot on. I saw them in Chicago on the 5th (The non-rain date), and this show was 100000x better, in my opinion. I think that comes from all the dates they've played in between - plenty of time for them to get back on top of their game! Even Neil's solo felt more energized and 'fresh' than when he performed it back at the July 5th show.

 

Also Dudad - my friend and I were front row on the other side of the stage, and we did see a dad and his young blond son up at the railing during the later part of the show (he put the kid on his shoulders). It was HILARIOUS and totally cool to see the kid with a pair of drumsticks trying to air-drum along with Neil - I really hope Neil was able to see it himself, too. I even saw the kid tossing out the 'devil's horns' several times, as well - totally awesome sight and totally cute - the kid was all of 5 years old? Maybe 6?

 

I also noted that Neil was wearing the BIG black earphones for the show - not the usual small ear-piece he wears. I thought that was an interesting change from what I'd come to be used to seeing over the years.

 

Geddy made comments several times, thanking us for our patience and willingness to come back after the rainout. I don't know if the place was sold-out, but it sure did LOOK packed whenever I examined the crowd.

 

And the free-hats.... at first, I thought the radio guy was going to tell us "These special hats are yours... for ONLY $XX.XX". But to find out they were FREE to everyone??? Wow. And they aren't those cheap hats, either - they're the GREAT quality ones (same as the standard black tour hats). I was pretty amazed. Whoever is handling their marketing deserves a big pat on the back for that one, and if it really was the band themselves, then even more power to them! smile.gif

 

Awesome show. I do hope to have my hearing back to normal in the next few days. smile.gif

 

-Tim

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hilda

hilda

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Yes Hilda in front row I stood next to a real cool chick who knew every rift and line. We were right in front of my beloved geddy. All front row had most excellent time.
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