LONG MOMENTS OF ANTICIPATION....
Stage Right- the domain of badass bass god, Geddy Lee. Being as random as humanly possible, last year's dryers (Vapor Trails and R30 tours) are ousted for Chicken rotisseries (complete with backstage five-star basting chef's who appear at semi-regular intervals). Wierd. He says the laundary machinary helped him get a crisp dry sound out of his bass. And the chickens? I'll have to wait for the interviews to come out.
Stage Center- the domain of the the Professor. Need I say more? Nay nay. (1st) from the front railing. (2nd) from my seat (not bad, eh?). Yeeeesssss! I can't wait for the drum solo! OK, Chris, calm yourself... slow deep steady breathing now. This year, it is an all new kit with a custom 23in (!) bass drum (to optimize the trade off between depth and punch).
Stage Left- the domain of axe maestro Alex Lifeson. Can's see much for the all is still covered... the crate housing all the elctronic gismoz reads "Big Al's Existential Palace of Pleasures". Behind that is the wall of amperage garnished with dinosaurs toys. Go Al. See the big mean guy in the yellow shirt? He didn't like us taking pictures once the show started.
Stage Left unveiled! "Ohhhh... Alex, we love you!" Alex's Existential Palace of Pleasures unleashed just before showtime. I guess he has a thing for Barbie, or Barbie has a thing for him! Word is you can toss him one to add to the collection. We missed that opportunity. Later in the show, we also missed his guitar pick by one person- drat it all. :( But it was her birthday, so it restores my faith in Karma.
ACT 1
Alex storms the stage with the opening licks to Limelight. The crowd goes crazy. The pix do not do the view nor the experience any justice. We could see the length of his fingernails (uhmm, if we wanted to that is).
Can you say "More Limelight"? Sing it... "Those who wish to be, must put aside the alienation, get on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme." This pix is at the transition to the chorus which is marked by some pretty busy drumming maneuvers followed by an odd time signature with a beautiful bell ride pattern overlay. Neil is pretty serious about the craft of drumming and doesn't smile a whole lot- but given what he has been through in life and love...
Neil makes a hard stop on Limelight- "bahmp bahmp". Then off to the driving bridge between versus with his signature triplet high-hat pattern. Der Professor is in excellent form.
Between the Wheels - "frozen in that fatal climb, the wheels of time just pass you by...You can go from dreams to bust, you can ride that rocket's red flare down to brother can you spare... another war... another waste land... another---- lost generation...". Hmmm sounds kind of depressing, but it is just another Neil Peart commentary on life.
Hmmmm... at this point it is a wash. I am pretty sure this is Entre Nous from Permanent Waves (given the hollow body). "We are islands to each other- Building hopeful bridges on a troubled sea- Some are burned or swept away- Some we would not choose but we're not always free". Ain't that the truth about it.
Subdivisions. Neil is hard to photo in all those lights. This is one of my all time favorite drumming songs. I was shocked when I noticed a miss snare hit only to look his way to see that he had dropped his stick! He IS human. Jaw drop.
INTERMISSION
Ben, "Oh yeah! I think I am gunna hurl.", and Tanya "Ahhhh. OMG, Dad!!!!" Yes, we all needed showers after the show (it is hot and humid in San Antonio!) You Texans can have it all to yourselves. Yuck.
"I love you Dad!"- well, OK... more like... "these seats are awesome Dad!" Intermission was a time to reflect and snap some fun "we were there" mugshots. I was drenched- can you tell? Not a good hair day. Ain't my daughter a cutie, though?
Intermission reprieve with my awesome girl friend Sara. I am already exhausted (bad photo of me- blecchh). Sara looks pretty happy about the whole experience- her first RUSH concert. It was a great summer weekend!
ACT 2: more RUSH ... can life get any better than this?
The 2nd Act teasor... Snakes and Arrows turns out to be an ancient Hindu game that later morphed into Shoots and Ladders. Can't see it too well in this pix, but Alex is on screen, climbing a ladder(!) in one of the game board catagories (and always acting the fool).
Opening with Far Cry. I was air guitaring on the odd time groove and caught Geddy's attention and he gave me that "rock and roll" face (it's a RUSH thing). I peed my pants. An ephemeral connection for the passion of "the craft" with the Great Bassist himself.
"Hey Fred... what song is this? I don't think I know this one." Ahhhh... Rush fans in the front row looking confused as to what they are listening to? There are certain crimes that are unforgivable.
Yes, Alex sings too! Act 2 was marked by blue lighting and highlighted much of the Snakes and Arrows material. (See the big guy to the right in front of me... so, here I am in the 3rd row and the biggest guy in the audience sits in front of me- Doh! Luckily, he vanished to some unknown location for 90% of the show... so it wasn't so bad after all- an empty seat in front of me.)
I wish I could say that this was Workin' Them Angles... but I didn't take any pix during that song because I wasn't going to miss a thing on that one. Workin Them Angels is my favorite RUSH song now. "Driving down the razor's edge 'tween the past and the future- Turn up the music and smile- Get carried away on the songs and stories of vanished times--- All my life- I've been workin' them angels... overtime- Riding and driving and living so close to the edge- Workin' them angels- Workin' them angels - Overtime"
Enter robot voice-- "We are from the planet Malnar" - a self indulgent instrumental par none, Malignant Narcissism.
Spindrift- "As the sun sets along the western shoreline.. it makes me feel uneasy. What am I supposed to say, where are the words to answer you...". This song is also one of my favorites, rivaled only by "Workin' Them Angles" (yes, as I said, my absolute fave on Snakes and Arrows).
Secret Touch... another of my all time favorites. "The way out is the way in..." "You can never break the chain- There is never love without pain- A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart" Geddy on the screen; Alex being the maniacal guitar hero. I think those Barbies are overwhlemed with adulation. (I seemed to be one of the only people that even knew this song, besides my daughter Tanya. I made a real fool out of myself rockin out and singing along on this one. There was one other woman across the row from me- I had an aisle seat- and she was also really jumping around and getting into it... after the song ended, we shared an enthusaistic high five.)
This little ditty is called "Hope". Alex came out solo after Neil's drum solo (where are the pix of Neil's solo you ask... are you crazy?!! I wouldn't dream of taking my attention off of the Professor for a nanosecond to fuddle around with a camera... somethings just need to be taken in 150%). Hope is a real beautiful, richly melodic piece played on a 12 string. It was an amazing privilege to listen and feel the depth of it while watching his fingering and facial expressions. Music is in our souls and bonds us all. I kept thinking about Presentation on 2112 and what that little guitar really can mean and how it can affect our inner beings. No, I was NOT on drugs.
ENCORE (more more more...)
Alex solos on A Passage to Bangkok --- "We're on the train to Bangkok- Aboard the Thailand Express- We'll hit the stops along the way- We only stop for the best". At one point he looks at me and says "Are you having fun?" -- "Uhh.. (let me think). YES!" I scream -- "Good" he says! I peed my pants again, but it was so humid I didn't notice until later. "What's that smell?" (Actually, at first I thought he asked me, "Do you want to fight?", knowing the jokester that he is and thinking that he was refering to my air guitar freak show. I wasn't thinking too clearly!)
Can you rock "YYZ" Morse Code? Geddy can. He came over to Stage Left for his solo trades with Neil. Awesome. YYZ = the call letters for the Toronto airport... a welcome site on the luggage of three weary travelers after months on the road and the sad ending of another RUSH season to the fans (thus, an appropriate last song for the evening). Sigh.
AND FINALLY...
Two very happy concert goers relaxing at the Alamo. Life is beautiful.