Living In The Limelight

I have seen Rush at least 10 times. I have a hard time keeping track of the number of times I have seen them in the last 22 years. My first show was on the Presto tour in 1990 at Reunion Arena in Dallas. The last was yesterday evening on the Clockwork Angels tour at Jiffy Lube Live outside DC. They have yet to disappoint.

This might have been the best show ever. Why? Because Jodi and I pretty much won the lottery with our seats:

Close enough for you?

Alex and funny rock-face

Last time we saw them was at the Baltimore Arena. It was a great show but we were far back on the floor. I vowed that I would never again sit that far back. So for this tour, I bit the bullet and got the VIP package. They don't tell you exactly what seats you get but we were guaranteed sitting in the first 15 rows.

We got to the show about two hours early so that we could pick up Tom (from my band and a fellow Rush freak) and get good parking. Yes, we are old. I went to the box office to pick up the tickets and once I got them I didn't open the package. I figured Jodi might bring better luck so I would let her open it. As she did I was hoping that Orchestra 2 would come up, meaning center stage. The verdict: Orchestra 2, row B. B. As in A and then B. I thought "we can't be this lucky." When we got to the seats, I was blown away. Center stage, two rows away from the greatest band on the planet.

Needless to say, the show was seriously awesome. I put the set list down below. It was heavy on mid 80s stuff. At one point I wondering whether this was the Power Windows tour. More so than other tours, they played the hell out of the new album. Nine songs from it. No complaints with that; the new record is really good. To support them for those songs they had a 8/10 piece string section. Very nice addition! Jodi was happy because they did 2112 in the encore and she got to do the "HEY!" part which she likes. She says Geddy Lee smiled at her. I am sure she did because she is a hottie at a Rush show and who wouldn't smile at that!

Geddy doing his thing

I was really excited to hear two of my most favorite Rush tunes: The Pass and The Analog Kid. The latter song is one of Alex's finest moments. He's not a shredder when it comes to guitar playing. I think he's one of the most under-rated guitarists around. But in the solo for TAK he goes nuts. After he nailed every note the crowd let out a roar. That must be a great feeling!

Two quibbles with being up close: one is I had to keep looking back and forth with a goofy grin on my face to see what Geddy was doing then what Alex was doing. Second was anything else in the future will be a let down! HA! Maybe not.

Rush put on a tremendous show. Everybody knows they are phenomenal musicians. It's great to see a band genuinely enjoying themselves, and Rush obviously do. Jodi mentioned they appear to enjoy it when the older songs get such wild reactions. I was glad to see the new songs get a supportive reaction.  It must be much more interesting to play new material than the same hits over and over. That's the cool thing about Rush: their fans actually want to hear the new stuff. The Rolling Stones, nobody gives two shits whether they make a new record and nobody wants to hear them play that instead of "Jumpin Jack Flash."

Hopefully there will be more Rush tours to see. They are getting up there in years, but they still bring it.

The Professor at work!

Here's the set list:
Subdivisions
The Big Money
Force 10
Grand Designs
Middletown Dreams
Territories
The Analog Kid
The Pass
Where's My Thing
Far Cry

Caravan
Clockwork Angels
The Anarchist
Seven Cities Of Gold
The Wreckers
Headlong Flight
Halo Effect
Wish Them Well
The Garden
Dreamline
Red Sector A
YYZ
Working Man

Tom Sawyer
2112 - Overture/Temples Of Syrinx/Grand Finale