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A few things tarnished my experience


lemonycake
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The best place to be during any Rush show is on the floor in the first 15 or so rows. That's where you get the fans that are really thrilled to be there. (there are always exceptions, of course) Any time I've been in the seats on the side it's been less than fun.
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Most people were sitting down for long stretches of time at the Boston show too.

 

This is mostly the bands fault for picking several songs to play that the majority of average fans have either never heard before or don't care about hearing. Leaving out fan favorites (and also great concert songs) like Limelight, Freewill, Deeamline, etc dosent help either.

 

People stood up during Roll The Bones, Tom Sawyer, 2112, Spirit of Radio etc

 

Other songs like Jacobs Ladder are not exactly stand up and dance type of songs (even though I love Jacobs ladder and I was psyched to hear it live.

 

Regarding the age of the fans .... Rush was biggest when people who are now in their 40's were your age.... So that is the predominant age group at the shows.

Edited by Boston_E
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Yeah, it's hard to stand and go all-out for three hours once you reach a certain age, but I did pretty well at our show back in May, although I was wiped out the next day. LOL

 

I agree with those saying that it not usually a good idea to bring someone who doesn't know the band to the show. Some think, "Seeing the band will convert them!", but it rarely works out that way. I've seen Rush twice with a friend whose wife at the time was not a fan and she was somewhat of a killjoy.

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Reminds me when I went to see Yes union tour in Oakland. Was a great show but everyone around me just sat there the whole time. When the song Make it Easy started (they always played it as an intro to Owner of a Lonely Heart), I stood up and went crazy and...nothing.

 

Shame, was an incredible show but just sat with a bunch of shlubs. F Em...started going to shows by myself after that.

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It's certainly too bad that you couldn't get on the floor (which is like a mini rush-con, especially when you attend by yourself, and have nothing to do but talk to your seat neighbours). Fact is that a good chunk of people in the bowl are beyond their years of going crazy for concerts, or simply people looking for something to do by going to see a band with enough familiar songs. Its too bad you were at the Vancouver show from an audience perspective. From my experience on the Time Machine Tour, Vancouver Rush fans are more lethargic (cough-cough-pot-cough). Now Winnipeg and Calgary on the other hand have been fantastic, with Winnipeg's strong hipster youth supporting the crowd, and Calgary's general rowdiness, those two shows had the lower bowl standing the majority of the night. Side note, at the recent Calgary show, John Mellencamp was playing the same night, and helped add to the crowded C-Train. Fact is most tour bookers don't look into who else is playing in a night (especially in big cities with 10+ venues, because there are too many touring bands to provide exclusivity, so One Direction played the same night as Rush...I highly doubt there is a large crossover in fan bases there. Welcome to the forum.
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There were 10-15 of us rocking hard in the second tier on Alex's side. You should of been up there.

 

I would've rocked out with you guys if I were up there! Just my luck to end up in the deadest section...

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Too bad you didn't run into me while you were there, I was going nuts the whole time! :LOL:

 

Which section were you in? Pretty sure I just got bad seats :facepalm:

I was on the floor, row 12 on Geddy's side. Although, even down there, I noticed some lame people; the guy next to me and my friend sat down during Xanadu!

 

I almost lost it during Xanadu! I wanted to scream and sing along but felt so awkward because the people next to me had no reaction. We were also the only ones to stand during Natural Science, everyone else took it as a clue to sit down.

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Hello lemonycake. I was at Vancouver show too. and you asked me what section I was in (my section also sat through almost entire show ) in another thread ,so I choose this new thread to respond.(sorry!) I was at almost middle of the center section of the lower bowl. What section were you in? As far as I observed, the center two sections of the lower bowl seemed to almost sat down. Strange.

 

I also used skytrain to get back to my hotel and the Stadium-Chinatown station was like a flood of people! Oh, and As I entered the Arena, I overheard the usher said at the entrance gate "No, One Direction is at the Stadium, Not here!" :eyeroll: Seems some innocent 1D fans wandered into the wrong place.

 

That is very strange indeed! I was in section 109, on Ged's side but pretty close to the centre of the lower bowl. We couldn't have been far from each other! Haha, funny that you mention, when my friend and I entered the arena the usher asked us if we were there for Rush or 1 Direction :eyeroll:

Edited by lemonycake
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I was at Vancouver too! Great show, but these 2 drunk guys ruined about half the show talking through songs and bugging me. I was in the no-alcohol section so my seat neighbours had them removed 3 times :P. Still had a good time though. You shouldn't let your friend dampen your experience though :P

 

Did you have to take transit home? The 1 Direction fans totally f***ed up the whole system for awhile.

 

Awesome! Hi fellow Vancouver fan, I love your username! :hi: Ahh that sucks, good thing your seat neighbours helped you out! There were these two drunk guys in our row who kept going to the bathroom every 15 minutes and then never came back after the intermission. What's their deal :sarcastic: and yeah I'm just gonna try to forget my friend was even there :P I had to take the Skytrain.. It was insane! Being squished by a 1 Direction backpack on your way home is never fun. Ugh, who was the genius that scheduled both shows on the same night :boo hiss:

 

Thanks! I love your picture! I'm a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn. Hahaha that's really weird. Yeah it was nuts on the train. The weird thing is 1 Direction was there the day after Rush for the Clockwork Angels tour too and the stadium was still crawling with preteens then too. I swear it must be intentional. :P

 

Seriously, what are the chances! It's a conspiracy I swear :P

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I would have rocked out to Rush with you, had I been invited! Alas I'm thousands of miles away and we've never met.

 

Seriously...shows I was at in the northeast US most everyone was standing the entire show. But its nothing like when the band and we were young, wandering the face of the earth. Crowds were lively and intense. Glad you got out to the show and got to enjoy the band live!

 

Thank you! :) It was a fantastic show regardless, and I'm really glad I got to see my favourite band live! Still feels so unreal...

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Well, that sucks. They're never coming to my hometown,,I can't afford to travel, and then I hear that the audiences are dead? Unacceptable, I'd be going .close to overdrive for all 3 hours they are playing, and still nuts for at least the next 24 hours after.

 

Welcome to the forum, Lemonycake. Sorry to hear that the concert had some downs for you.

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Lemonycake, welcome to The Rush Forum!

 

First off, that's awesome you saw Rush and enjoyed them; I envy you, as I live in the U.K. and probably won't get to see the tour at all. I think that's crazy your mate didn't enjoy the show, I mean, how can you not get into Rush when they're playing live right in front of you? The music speaks for itself. :D

 

I completely understand what you mean about dead audiences. I saw Rush in London on the Clockwork Angels tour, and things were a bit tame during certain songs; not quite as how you described, but definitely a lot of sitting down. I was thrilled when The Body Electric and Territories was played and really wanted to get up and dance, but I'd have been the only one doing so. Still, it was great when Tom Sawyer came on, as the whole arena was on their feet!

 

I also find it amusing that One Direction were playing the same night as Rush. All those teen boppers haven't a clue what they were missing out on! Talk about two different extremes in music; reminds me of when I saw Genesis in 2007 and Metallica were playing the same night, and all the metal heads were joking about Genesis when we passed at the train station.

 

Oh and one final thing: total respect to you for liking Rush at your age, and extra points for being female. You wouldn't believe how rare that is, at least from my point of view. And they say it's only old blokes like me who are into the greatest band on earth? :codger: (okay, that's an exaggeration --- i'm only 31) :D

Edited by CountFloyd84
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Welcome

 

So happy that you got to see them live, every Rush fan should be able to do so.

 

Bummer that the people around you were not into it. I was only at 1 show where alot of the fans didn't seem into it, I took myself down to the floor and over to the rowdy sections for certain songs so I could rock with the fun crowd.

 

I don't know if having everyone else not stand would keep me from rocking out it I really wanted to, it is their choice to sit it out or not....

 

"Roll The Bones, Tom Sawyer, 2112, Spirit of Radio", see I like these songs but I really love some of the deep cuts live....can you dance to them...maybe not but you can still rock to them.

 

I'm 50 but managed to stand for the whole show...it does help when you are on the floor, you can't see them unless you stand.

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Too bad you didn't run into me while you were there, I was going nuts the whole time! :LOL:

 

Which section were you in? Pretty sure I just got bad seats :facepalm:

I was on the floor, row 12 on Geddy's side. Although, even down there, I noticed some lame people; the guy next to me and my friend sat down during Xanadu!

 

I almost lost it during Xanadu! I wanted to scream and sing along but felt so awkward because the people next to me had no reaction. We were also the only ones to stand during Natural Science, everyone else took it as a clue to sit down.

That's so weird, I was all stoked to see Rush in their homeland because I thought the crowd would be crazy lol, I guess not! Xanadu and Natural Science were both off the chain; they were the highlights of the show! (along with the Hemispheres Prelude, Losing It, and Jacob's Ladder). How could anyone be sitting down for that?? I guess some Canadians attend Rush shows out of a sense of obligation :LOL:
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I noticed Vancouver crowds were quiet (for Rush anyway) back in '97 when I saw the TFE tour there. Probably not long after you were born lemonycake :D

I think I was actually lucky that my brother who was going to go with me decided to drink in Seattle instead so I ended up going solo. It was really cool and maybe my favorite of the 11 shows I have seen, I could totally focus on the music and not worry about other people at all. Even though crossing the border is a huge hassle, you might want to go to Seattle if Rush ever tour again, I saw the CA tour there a couple of years ago and the crowd seemed nuts the whole time. You would want to avoid Salt Lake City where I saw this tour last week, lots of old people like me. I am 40 something and I think I was one of the younger attendees.

 

And I love lemon cake, my favorite cake flavor and I hate all other cakes :LOL: Great name!

Edited by Apollo
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Every city is different. If your on the floor typically you will be stadning and singing, air playing whatever instrument...going crazy. Lower bowl is always hit or miss. Fortunately at the Tampa show my section was all about standing, singing and cheering. My son and I had the time of our lives.

 

Vegas is Saturday night. I have insane floor tickets and will be with my band mate. Needless to say it will be a rowdy time and a great show.

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Went to the show last night in Portland. Crowd was HORRIBLE. I felt like I was at a movie for most of the show. Most everyone was sitting, being quiet, staring straight ahead. It was only during the radio hits - Tom Sawyer, Spirit of Radio, Closer to the Heart, Working Man - that they showed any life at all. I'm a pretty casual Rush fan and I was totally into the entire show. The kid next to me texted someone and asked "why are there washing machines on the stage?"
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It's certainly too bad that you couldn't get on the floor (which is like a mini rush-con, especially when you attend by yourself, and have nothing to do but talk to your seat neighbours). Fact is that a good chunk of people in the bowl are beyond their years of going crazy for concerts, or simply people looking for something to do by going to see a band with enough familiar songs. Its too bad you were at the Vancouver show from an audience perspective. From my experience on the Time Machine Tour, Vancouver Rush fans are more lethargic (cough-cough-pot-cough). Now Winnipeg and Calgary on the other hand have been fantastic, with Winnipeg's strong hipster youth supporting the crowd, and Calgary's general rowdiness, those two shows had the lower bowl standing the majority of the night. Side note, at the recent Calgary show, John Mellencamp was playing the same night, and helped add to the crowded C-Train. Fact is most tour bookers don't look into who else is playing in a night (especially in big cities with 10+ venues, because there are too many touring bands to provide exclusivity, so One Direction played the same night as Rush...I highly doubt there is a large crossover in fan bases there. Welcome to the forum.

 

Lol tons of hardcore fans sit in the bowl for the fact that they are better seats than the floor past a certain row.

 

I sit or stand during the show but I rarely move around during songs, I'm there to watch and study these guys play TBH.

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Yep, unless you are inside the first 5 rows of center section, floor sucks if you actually wanna see the show. I had 8th row floor for Austin and it ended up being the least enjoyable of the 3 shows I've seen this tour. Too many heads in the way. Give me lower bowl any day, standing or not.
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Yeah, it's hard to stand and go all-out for three hours once you reach a certain age, but I did pretty well at our show back in May, although I was wiped out the next day. LOL

 

I agree with those saying that it not usually a good idea to bring someone who doesn't know the band to the show. Some think, "Seeing the band will convert them!", but it rarely works out that way. I've seen Rush twice with a friend whose wife at the time was not a fan and she was somewhat of a killjoy.

 

Rush is hard enough for a newbie to get used to. Throw them in a concert and they'll revolt. Although at a certain point I'd tell them to shuttup and at least enjoy the light show.

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Yep, unless you are inside the first 5 rows of center section, floor sucks if you actually wanna see the show. I had 8th row floor for Austin and it ended up being the least enjoyable of the 3 shows I've seen this tour. Too many heads in the way. Give me lower bowl any day, standing or not.

 

Works ok if your 6'4" like me. ;)

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Went to the show last night in Portland. Crowd was HORRIBLE. I felt like I was at a movie for most of the show. Most everyone was sitting, being quiet, staring straight ahead. It was only during the radio hits - Tom Sawyer, Spirit of Radio, Closer to the Heart, Working Man - that they showed any life at all. I'm a pretty casual Rush fan and I was totally into the entire show. The kid next to me texted someone and asked "why are there washing machines on the stage?"

 

Seems like tickets would be too expensive for the meh people to bother going.

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isn't that the show that's coming out on dvd? if so, knowing that you were there is pretty special :)
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Yep, unless you are inside the first 5 rows of center section, floor sucks if you actually wanna see the show. I had 8th row floor for Austin and it ended up being the least enjoyable of the 3 shows I've seen this tour. Too many heads in the way. Give me lower bowl any day, standing or not.

 

Works ok if your 6'4" like me. ;)

I'm sure it does. :rage: :P

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