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Setlist Question


kelly leeks
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With the exception of Faithless and reggae intros, IMO the TM tour was perfect in every way. So I'll be looking back on my first Rush concert with memories made of epic.
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QUOTE (kelly leeks @ Jan 31 2011, 10:19 AM)
when RUSH stops touring if fans will look back and say, "I enjoyed seeing RUSH live for 40-plus years, but they never got the setlist right. Not once."

rofl3.gif

 

I find this hilarious, this is the exact opposite of how most fans expect other fans will reminisce!

 

"Man I should have stopped bitching about the setlist and just have been glad they were touring at 78 years of age.."

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They've come very close a few times, and then other times they've really missed the mark. The Hemispheres tour is as close as they've ever come for what I would want to hear, but they closed with "In the Mood" and a drum solo. They could have finished a LOT stronger than that. The Hold Your Fire setlist was horrendous.

 

The recent stuff isn't too bad. The Time Machine setlist is better than average because you don't have a new album clogging up 8-9 slots. I like that Rush is still doing new stuff, but aren't most of us really there for the classics? I thought the Time Machine setlist was really good, but maybe 2-3 songs away from being great. That said, the production is so high and the boys are playing so well these days, it was still one of the best shows I've ever seen, but I think the setlist needs another handful of songs from the vault. They could get rid of Stick It Out, Leave That thing Alone and Faithless and add 3 songs from the Fly By Night - Hemispheres era. I'd also like to see them flip Far Cry and Spirit of Radio.

 

Only a few bands ever get it right. Phish, Pearl Jam, Grateful Dead, Wilco, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and others that play 2.5-3 hour shows and change the setlist nightly will eventually get it right once or twice. Just changing the setlist isn't enough. I've seen a lot of bands come close and I thought they would have played the perfect set had they just played a little longer.

 

All of that said, I don't think it is realistic to ask a band to play the perfect set. "Getting it right" doesn't exactly mean "perfect" to me.

 

The two best examples I can think of where a band "got it right" took more than one show to pull off. At Phish's Coventry festival for the Pharewell tour the last time they broke up, they maybe missed one song I'd like to have heard, but it took them 6 sets over 2 days to pull it off. The other example is Wilco a couple of years ago in Chicago. They played their entire catalog over a 5 night run, but you'd still have to make all 5 shows to hear everything.

 

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QUOTE (Kenneth @ Jan 31 2011, 03:00 PM)
QUOTE (kelly leeks @ Jan 31 2011, 10:19 AM)
when RUSH stops touring if fans will look back and say, "I enjoyed seeing RUSH live for 40-plus years, but they never got the setlist right. Not once."

rofl3.gif

 

I find this hilarious, this is the exact opposite of how most fans expect other fans will reminisce!

 

"Man I should have stopped bitching about the setlist and just have been glad they were touring at 78 years of age.."

Yep.

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I'm just thankful they tour often, and always seem to mix things up a bit from tour to tour.

 

A perfect setlist doesn't exist. Nothing will make everyone happy. A few years ago, they played the entire 2112. Rush fans everywhere wet their pants for about five minutes - and then went right back to complaining about what "they didn't play". The same thing can be said this time now that they're playing all of Moving Pictures. It seems all I hear about nowadays is how bad everyone wants "Jacob's Ladder".

 

What I'd really like for them to do is something similar to what Tom Petty did with his "live anthology" set. Even though Rush has tons of live albums and DVDs, there's still lot of stuff (pre Rush in Rio) that hasn't been released.

 

Maybe when they've finally retired (and I pray that's a long time away) they can release everything they've played live that hasn't been released in a proper format.

 

Hmmmmm....let's see what that would include:

Half the World

Limbo

Double Agent

Cold Fire

War Paint

Where's My Thing

Superconductor

and so on and so on and so on.

 

That would be the closest thing to "Rush Live Perfection" for me. But wanting or expecting a perfect set list? Ain't gonna happen.

 

Clem

 

 

 

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MP's not my favourite album by any means ("Blasphemy!!") but I say that Rush is Rush and that's good enough for me. I still had an amazing time at the concert, even through the songs I'm not so nuts about.

I think it's a total honor and a privilege I went at all. I couldn't complain in good conscience. tongue.gif

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QUOTE (Digital_Necromancer @ Jan 31 2011, 03:10 PM)
everything but the 9,000 snakes and arrows songs in a row was perfect on the S&A tour

goodpost.gif

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The M.P. tour in 1981 was perfect yes.gif
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QUOTE (metaldad @ Jan 31 2011, 06:37 PM)
QUOTE (Digital_Necromancer @ Jan 31 2011, 03:10 PM)
everything but the 9,000 snakes and arrows songs in a row was perfect on the S&A tour

goodpost.gif

+3...that was ridiculous. the rest of the setlist was great, far better than the time machine tour.

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QUOTE (greg2112 @ Feb 1 2011, 10:11 AM)
QUOTE (metaldad @ Jan 31 2011, 06:37 PM)
QUOTE (Digital_Necromancer @ Jan 31 2011, 03:10 PM)
everything but the 9,000 snakes and arrows songs in a row was perfect on the S&A tour

goodpost.gif

+3...that was ridiculous. the rest of the setlist was great, far better than the time machine tour.

+4

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QUOTE (metaldad @ Jan 31 2011, 06:37 PM)
QUOTE (Digital_Necromancer @ Jan 31 2011, 03:10 PM)
everything but the 9,000 snakes and arrows songs in a row was perfect on the S&A tour

goodpost.gif

It was Over 9,000. Or At Least 100.

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I was happy to go to my first Rush show last year. I was a little disappointed to not hear The Trees or Xanadu but it was a great show, and it even opened me up to a few songs that I hadnt really "heard" and now they are in my top most listened to Rush songs.

 

Either way, going to see Rush is perfect in itself. Regardless of the setlist!

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QUOTE (amish_ashaman @ Jan 31 2011, 03:23 PM)
They've come very close a few times, and then other times they've really missed the mark. The Hemispheres tour is as close as they've ever come for what I would want to hear, but they closed with "In the Mood" and a drum solo. They could have finished a LOT stronger than that. The Hold Your Fire setlist was horrendous.

The recent stuff isn't too bad. The Time Machine setlist is better than average because you don't have a new album clogging up 8-9 slots. I like that Rush is still doing new stuff, but aren't most of us really there for the classics? I thought the Time Machine setlist was really good, but maybe 2-3 songs away from being great. That said, the production is so high and the boys are playing so well these days, it was still one of the best shows I've ever seen, but I think the setlist needs another handful of songs from the vault. They could get rid of Stick It Out, Leave That thing Alone and Faithless and add 3 songs from the Fly By Night - Hemispheres era. I'd also like to see them flip Far Cry and Spirit of Radio.

Only a few bands ever get it right. Phish, Pearl Jam, Grateful Dead, Wilco, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and others that play 2.5-3 hour shows and change the setlist nightly will eventually get it right once or twice. Just changing the setlist isn't enough. I've seen a lot of bands come close and I thought they would have played the perfect set had they just played a little longer.

All of that said, I don't think it is realistic to ask a band to play the perfect set. "Getting it right" doesn't exactly mean "perfect" to me.

The two best examples I can think of where a band "got it right" took more than one show to pull off. At Phish's Coventry festival for the Pharewell tour the last time they broke up, they maybe missed one song I'd like to have heard, but it took them 6 sets over 2 days to pull it off. The other example is Wilco a couple of years ago in Chicago. They played their entire catalog over a 5 night run, but you'd still have to make all 5 shows to hear everything.

Agreeing with you as well that Hold Your Fire was the worst setlist (and Hemispheres being the best) trink39.gif

 

Good points as well concerning the bands which switch their setlist every night. Although you will never get a perfect setlist on any given night, if you see 3-5 shows in a row, you will most likely hear each and every song you want to hear. If only Rush could do that. I certainly would go to at least 5 shows each tour as opposed to 1 (and I'd eventually get to see/hear Hemispheres, Lakeside Park, Cygnus X1, The Necromancer, Jacob's Ladder, etc.......)

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I was a skeptic about the Time Machine setlist. Yeah, it didn't have nearly enough of what I wanted to hear. But when I saw the concert, I was blown away. The setlist flowed perfectly. I enjoyed what Rush was doing, not what I wanted Rush to do. Artists sometimes do that - challenge a fan's expectations.
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