sonik
Motor City Madman
Yes I'm a bit of a fanboi, but this was pretty much the best concert I've ever seen, and I've seen Rush twice prior.
Got there about a half hour before showtime, lots of tailgaters, the smell of herb, beer and grilled meats was thick in the cool evening dusk. Security was a breeze, no asshole guard like last time at the venue (long story). Then the ticket lady scans our tickets and says something about an upgrade and we have to go someplace to check in. I kinda did a double take and said um what? She said to go to such and such a place you are getting upgraded.
I tried to get tickets months ago the moment they went on sale, and ticketmaster and/or the venue has a pretty annoying scheme of sales and well long story short I actually ended up with crappy, very top row seats with a partially obstructed view. Plus it was the first time my girlfriend would be seeing them and didn't want her to have a subpar experience. I was totally bummed about this for weeks, but whatcha gonna do. So when they said ticket upgrade I was a little confused. We walk the concourse and I ask an usher about where to go, they point to this little table with two old ladies sitting behind it. I walk up and they take my crappy tickets, sort through a tiny box of envelopes, pull one out, and say here ya go enjoy the show handing me a new pair of tickets.
I didn't really know what to expect so I look at the section number and waltz over to the area, show the usher and shes like ok go down the stairs. Down? Turns out to be about a 60 row upgrade, slightly off center, isle seats, perfect view, just a few rows above the floor. These seats were over a hundred bucks a pop (my originals were $70) and I guess they had a few left and randomly upgraded people! Fuckin Ace!
So now I'm giddy like a school girl. The place fills up and the intro movie starts, a sorta comedic steampunk collage of rawkdom and then the show began! The first half of what turned out to be a 3 hour set was pretty interesting. The last tour they did was more of a career retrospective so the setlist was vastly different. This time it was very heavy on the 80's synth material, which I'm a big fan of. Pretty bold for them considering it's probably the purists least fav stuff. Didn't matter though as they rocked that shit hard. The sound was impeccable, you could really hear everything clearly, so mad props to Rush's sound team. Often times arena shows have not so good quality, but this proved otherwise. A big benefit I think also was that this was something like the 6th date of the tour so they were warmed up, but not burned out. Geddy Lee can't hit the high notes like he could in the screaming banshee 70's, but he sounded great, and didn't appear to be straining. I could ramble on about how awesome the three of them are as musicians, but I think even the haters know that.
The light show was MASSIVE. Biggest and best I've ever seen. And no I wasn't tripping. Kinda hard to explain, but it had a lot of everything, pyro, fireworks, steam, stageprops, a giant chicken, popcorn, some gargantuan moving spider lighting system, a massive screen, animated films, movie collages, you name it. One of the coolest things was in the second act all these mini screens above the main one appeared and moved around all over the place showing extra material. It was almost overwhelming, but the lights and films were all tasteful, comedic, and fit the music perfectly. Definitely not just some add on attraction, it was a full part of the experience.
About 80 minutes in there was an intermission, I got a good look at the crowd and it was surprisingly diverse, well white person diverse. Lots of kids, teenagers, middle agers, hippies, bikers, Canadians, burnouts, and even a shocking amount of women haha. Of course there was the obligatory way overserved drunk guy flailing about, and somehow managing to navigate the stairs. Really I can't believe they keep shoveling these people drinks. Oh well, seemed mostly harmless, though he almost whacked a kid in the face while he engaged in an extremely drunken dance of exuberance. lulz.
The second set began with a lengthy intro movie that was very Terry Gilliamesque. Basically Brazil, with the Rush lads playing 3 evil Ga'nomes. Pretty funny. It segued into what was the majority of the new album. This time accompanied by a live string section! The new album is really good, check it out if you haven't. Sounded fucking awesome live, and with the strings and the articulate accompanying video and lighting effects it was an awe inspiring experience. They close out the 2nd half with a few oldies featuring the strings, and a blistering Working Man.
Cue another film bit and an encore of Tom Sawyer and 2112, the crowd going apeshit, a giant blast of pyro and effects, and I was a very very happy man! Honestly I kinda feel sorry for people who miss this show, it's that good. Even if you're not a Rush fan this is a serious work of music & art that doesn't take itself too seriously! I've seen Rush 3 times now, and this was easily the best, not bad for 3 guys nearing 60, forty years into a career of rawk. The only other concert that I could say was better, and I've seen a lot, was the first time I saw Paul McCartney, but 2nd best to a Beatle isn't half bad
Bottom line - If you have the chance to see this tour, do it.
Got there about a half hour before showtime, lots of tailgaters, the smell of herb, beer and grilled meats was thick in the cool evening dusk. Security was a breeze, no asshole guard like last time at the venue (long story). Then the ticket lady scans our tickets and says something about an upgrade and we have to go someplace to check in. I kinda did a double take and said um what? She said to go to such and such a place you are getting upgraded.
I tried to get tickets months ago the moment they went on sale, and ticketmaster and/or the venue has a pretty annoying scheme of sales and well long story short I actually ended up with crappy, very top row seats with a partially obstructed view. Plus it was the first time my girlfriend would be seeing them and didn't want her to have a subpar experience. I was totally bummed about this for weeks, but whatcha gonna do. So when they said ticket upgrade I was a little confused. We walk the concourse and I ask an usher about where to go, they point to this little table with two old ladies sitting behind it. I walk up and they take my crappy tickets, sort through a tiny box of envelopes, pull one out, and say here ya go enjoy the show handing me a new pair of tickets.
I didn't really know what to expect so I look at the section number and waltz over to the area, show the usher and shes like ok go down the stairs. Down? Turns out to be about a 60 row upgrade, slightly off center, isle seats, perfect view, just a few rows above the floor. These seats were over a hundred bucks a pop (my originals were $70) and I guess they had a few left and randomly upgraded people! Fuckin Ace!
So now I'm giddy like a school girl. The place fills up and the intro movie starts, a sorta comedic steampunk collage of rawkdom and then the show began! The first half of what turned out to be a 3 hour set was pretty interesting. The last tour they did was more of a career retrospective so the setlist was vastly different. This time it was very heavy on the 80's synth material, which I'm a big fan of. Pretty bold for them considering it's probably the purists least fav stuff. Didn't matter though as they rocked that shit hard. The sound was impeccable, you could really hear everything clearly, so mad props to Rush's sound team. Often times arena shows have not so good quality, but this proved otherwise. A big benefit I think also was that this was something like the 6th date of the tour so they were warmed up, but not burned out. Geddy Lee can't hit the high notes like he could in the screaming banshee 70's, but he sounded great, and didn't appear to be straining. I could ramble on about how awesome the three of them are as musicians, but I think even the haters know that.
The light show was MASSIVE. Biggest and best I've ever seen. And no I wasn't tripping. Kinda hard to explain, but it had a lot of everything, pyro, fireworks, steam, stageprops, a giant chicken, popcorn, some gargantuan moving spider lighting system, a massive screen, animated films, movie collages, you name it. One of the coolest things was in the second act all these mini screens above the main one appeared and moved around all over the place showing extra material. It was almost overwhelming, but the lights and films were all tasteful, comedic, and fit the music perfectly. Definitely not just some add on attraction, it was a full part of the experience.
About 80 minutes in there was an intermission, I got a good look at the crowd and it was surprisingly diverse, well white person diverse. Lots of kids, teenagers, middle agers, hippies, bikers, Canadians, burnouts, and even a shocking amount of women haha. Of course there was the obligatory way overserved drunk guy flailing about, and somehow managing to navigate the stairs. Really I can't believe they keep shoveling these people drinks. Oh well, seemed mostly harmless, though he almost whacked a kid in the face while he engaged in an extremely drunken dance of exuberance. lulz.
The second set began with a lengthy intro movie that was very Terry Gilliamesque. Basically Brazil, with the Rush lads playing 3 evil Ga'nomes. Pretty funny. It segued into what was the majority of the new album. This time accompanied by a live string section! The new album is really good, check it out if you haven't. Sounded fucking awesome live, and with the strings and the articulate accompanying video and lighting effects it was an awe inspiring experience. They close out the 2nd half with a few oldies featuring the strings, and a blistering Working Man.
Cue another film bit and an encore of Tom Sawyer and 2112, the crowd going apeshit, a giant blast of pyro and effects, and I was a very very happy man! Honestly I kinda feel sorry for people who miss this show, it's that good. Even if you're not a Rush fan this is a serious work of music & art that doesn't take itself too seriously! I've seen Rush 3 times now, and this was easily the best, not bad for 3 guys nearing 60, forty years into a career of rawk. The only other concert that I could say was better, and I've seen a lot, was the first time I saw Paul McCartney, but 2nd best to a Beatle isn't half bad
Bottom line - If you have the chance to see this tour, do it.
