What About YYZ as an Opener??

[Drummerrobin]

What do think about YYZ as an opener? I personally think it would work great and would really get everyone pumped. In fact I'm quite surprised how overlooked this option seems to have been both from the band (obviously for never doing it) and on here too. So wada ya think?

[J2112YYZ]

No, it works too good as a closer or in the middle of the set to let Geddy rest his voice for a few. That's why it's never been an opener and it really should never be.

[HalfwayToGone]

I respectfully disagree. The R30 tour opened with a big long instrumental medley, so the fact that there's no vocals is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. Plus there are plenty of other instrumentals to give Ged's voice a rest if he needs one.

 

The song is perfectly suited to open a show from the little chime at the beginning, to the first burst of guitar, to the featuring of all three members of the band during the bass & drums "trading fours" section and the guitar solo, all the way through to the end. Great closer too.

[J2112YYZ]

QUOTE (HalfwayToGone @ Sep 2 2012, 08:03 AM)

I respectfully disagree. The R30 tour opened with a big long instrumental medley, so the fact that there's no vocals is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. Plus there are plenty of other instrumentals to give Ged's voice a rest if he needs one. The song is perfectly suited to open a show from the little chime at the beginning, to the first burst of guitar, to the featuring of all three members of the band during the bass & drums "trading fours" section and the guitar solo, all the way through to the end. Great closer too.

Well, the R30 Overture was a special circumstance because of the anniversary. So the little instrumedley worked well and made sense as "the opener." Technically Rush was just playing their own intro music on that tour. YYZ as the opener just doesn't make sense to me. I've just never seen the song as an opener.

[OGr8imL84AD8inF8sBlackSedan]

Nope.

 

IMO there is no better opener than TSOR.

[Cyclonus X-1]

Musically, I think it would be pretty cool as an opener. But I think they're placing instrumentals strategically these days with the idea in mind of giving Geddy a break from singing. No break needed at the outset.

 

Yes, there are other instrumentals that can provide the necessary breaks, but I don't think they'll want to use all that many slots on instrumentals. They always talk about wanting to get as much variety into their three hours as possible, without spending too much time on "one thing" (brand new albums and Moving Pictures being recent exceptions for obvious reasons).

 

J2112YYZ already addressed the R30 medley point well, but I'll add that Geddy's voice was in far better shape back then, and "preserving" it throughout the set wasn't quite as much of a priority.

[HalfwayToGone]

If preserving Geddy's voice is a concern, then an instrumental at any point in the show is sparing his vocal chords, whether it's the start, middle or end of the show, so I still feel differently.

 

Apparently Les Claypool and company would agree. "Suck On This" by Primus starts with the beginning of YYZ.

[Cyclonus X-1]

QUOTE (HalfwayToGone @ Sep 2 2012, 10:03 AM)

If preserving Geddy's voice is a concern, then an instrumental at any point in the show is sparing his vocal chords, whether it's the start, middle or end of the show, so I still feel differently.

If we're measuring preservation by amount of time during the show that Geddy doesn't have to sing, that's absolutely correct. But if we're viewing the instrumentals as breaks for the man, then a break would seem more useful right after he has sung five songs in a row rather than right after he was hanging around backstage doing nothing before the show.