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Witnessed
Rush, 2007-06-30
09/08/07 || Global Domination
This coverage was written by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Hanging Limbs.
Venue: SPAC
Where: Saratoga, New York
When: June 30th, 2007
Country: U.S.A
Let’s just say I was more than excited to see these icons in concert. Not only have I never seen them live before, but who knows how much longer they’ll continue to tour. These guys are almost 90 and I’m pretty sure Neil Peart wants to spend the remainder of his golden years making drumming dvd’s and designing Muslim prayer caps. Lucky for me, I was able to nab decent seats and three friends who like (or tolerate) the band.
After driving way too long, sleeping on a deflated air mattress with one of my buddies and his dog, eating a burger that seemed to come out even before it was all the way in, and driving some more, we arrived at the concert with maybe 20 minutes until show time. This was one of those “An Evening with Rush” shows, so there was no opening band. Balls. This means the tailgate party had to be cut severely short: two beers a piece and some weird chicks who wanted to sell us hemp-necklaces. Who buys that shit anyway?
Walking toward the venue, we noticed some things, starting with the obvious:
1) Very few attractive girls. I found myself more attracted to Geddy Lee than most of the flesh lumps in attendance.
2) This was not a buddy concert. All those nerds that liked Rush in high school are now middle-aged and have nerd kids of their own that they brought to the show. Leave the little pooper at home with your wife and go out with your friends! I vow never to bring my bastard offspring to a concert unless they can truly appreciate the music.
3) Who the hell designed this amphitheater? The indoor seating is fine with its traditional two-tier setup, but the lawn seats suck! You are literally out of the venue and looking through a bonafide garage door. Imagine you didn’t have tickets to a show, but had x-ray vision and could look through the wall and see the band playing. It would be ok if the opening were larger, but it was more like a cutout.
Luckily, we didn’t have lawn seats.
Anyway, less than 5 minutes after we sat down, the lights went out, some ridiculous video came on featuring the band members, and then “Limelight” started. One of those catchy singles that you need only hear one note to recognize, “Limelight” is a hit that never wore out its welcome to these ears. I went nuts, suddenly coming to the realization that I was watching one of my favorite bands of all-time play live. Like, right in front of my face live. Only one of my concert buddies was a big Rush fan, but we did the quasi-gay hugging/man-groping/serenading that’s supposed to happen when best friends witness a band they love together. It was beautiful.
I must admit, I was impressed with Rush’s gall. For a band that can make millions playing the same 25 songs over and over each year, they sure had a shocking setlist. They mixed less-than-famous tracks like “Entre Nous” and “Mission” with the standbys “Spirit of the Radio” and “Freewill”. Not to mention, they played NINE songs from the new disc, two from 2002’s “Vapor Trails”, and one awful cover of “Summertime Blues”. Would I prefer a different setlist? Yes, but you gotta respect a band that sticks to their agenda and not what a bunch of fat 50-year olds want.
Rush didn’t disappoint with the stage setup. Much like the washer/dryers from a few years ago, this tour featured random as fuck appliances. Behind Geddy Lee were several rotisseries ovens. Through their bright orange glow you could see real chickens being cooked inside. If that wasn’t retarded enough, a stagehand with a chef’s hat and apron came out twice during the show to baste the chickens. Stupid? Yes, but it went well with the light-hearted goofiness of the show.
The first set ended strong with the one-two punch of “Between the Wheels” and “Dreamline”, two tracks from Rush’s underrated middle-era. After an intermission of about 20 minutes, they came back on and introduced the crowd to the new album. Five straight songs from “Snakes & Arrows” left the crowd much quieter than they were during “Freewill”. By no means was the crowd getting rowdy or booing, but you can tell they wanted to hear something they knew by heart.
The band responded with “Subdivisions”.
Wow. The lights changed to an atmospheric blue, similar to when Iron Maiden plays “Fear of the Dark”. This was the highlight of the show for sure. The whole song was magical. Between Geddy’s haunting keyboard melodies, Alex’s solo, and Neil’s big drum finale… it was almost unreal. The band was on fire during this track and the crowd responded in kind. It was almost anti-climactic, as at least 10 songs followed. Oh well.
Another highlight of course was Neil Peart’s drum solo. He has been playing the same thing since 1934, each tour just adding and rearranging parts. It was a blast to see this old fucker, who looks like he has both constipation and acid reflux, rock out so easily. It’s worth mentioning that he started off the show sort of uptight and looked downright bored up there… dare I say his drumming also sounded rough around the edges. He obviously brought it together after a track or two and by the time the drum solo came around, he was good old Neil.
They ended the second set with “The Spirit of Radio” and “Tom Sawyer”, both of which got the crowd pumped like a penis. “Tom Sawyer” was introduced by a “South Park” spoof video in which the kids’ band is covering Rush. It was hilarious to say the least, with Cartman confusing Tom Sawyer with Huckleberry Finn.
When Rush came back to do their encore, the crowd seemed pretty tired. I saw a lot of people yawning when they came back out and did a song from “Vapor Trails”. That may have sucked, but then they broke out “A Passage to Bangkok”. Finally, “2112” represent!!!!!! That song brought the crowd back into the show and gave them a great opportunity to finish strong. I was hoping for something like “Closer to the Heart” or “Fly By Night”, but instead they played “YYZ”. Nothing against that song, but you don’t do a 3-hour concert justice by ending with it. Regardless, it was still a fun listen and Geddy Lee’s bass licks made the crowd go crazy.
On the way out, I heard lots of people complaining about the setlist. I had my complaints too, but overall I enjoyed the show. Bands like Rush are never going to please all their fans. They have too many songs and have evolved so much over the years. They did the right thing by promoting their newer material while sticking with the songs they NEED to play live.
8 out of 10 fans were hoping Rush would play “Vital Signs”.
- Setlist
- 01. Limelight
- 02. Digital Man
- 03. Entre Nous
- 04. Mission
- 05. Freewill
- 06. The Main Monkey Business
- 07. The Larger Bowl
- 08. Secret Touch
- 09. Circumstances
- 10. Between The Wheels
- 11. Dreamline
- 12. Far Cry
- 13. Workin’ Them Angels
- 14. Armor And Sword
- 15. Spindrift
- 16. The Way The Wind Blows
- 17. Subdivisions
- 18. Natural Science
- 19. Witch Hunt
- 20. MalNar
- 21. Drum Solo
- 22. Hope
- 23. Summertime Blues
- 24. The Spirit Of Radio
- 25. Tom Sawyer
- 26. One Little Victory
- 27. A Passage to Bangkok
- 28. YYZ
