Tag: R40

Rush R40 Lincoln

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music16 Comments

Following in the wake of an epic May snowstorm, high winds, flooding, and tornados, my two oldest kids—Nathaniel (16) and Gretchen (14)—and I began our nearly eight-hour journey across the Great Plains about 8:45 yesterday morning. We arrived in Lincoln around 5, checked into our hotel room, and I immediately had an hour-long radio interview with two wonderful women out of Denver.

Scrambling as Kronos devoured the minutes, we headed across town in search of our pilgrimage site, The Pinnacle Arena.

We found it, and we were in our seats by 7:10. The show was supposed to start at 7:30, but it ran about 15 minutes late.

A nearly packed arena revealed a far more gender-balanced Rush audience then I’d ever seen before. Almost certainly because of Beyond the Lighted Stage, wives and girlfriends (it was pretty obvious that most of them were newbies) made up a significant part of the crowd. I’m sure there were women there on their own as well, of course, but most packs I saw were men only. Still, probably ¼ to a 1/3 of the audience was female. Impressive, to be sure.

1970s classic prog from Kansas, ELP, Jethro Tull, and Yes blared from the speakers as we awaited the Canadians.

Rush, May 10, 2015, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Rush, May 10, 2015, Lincoln, Nebraska.

A typically bizarre video introduced the band, detailing its journey from 1974 to the present, actually having Rush arrive in Lincoln, Nebraska. Alex even showed up on stage in a wheelchair, rather hilariously.

From the opening note to the last, three hours in all, Rush performed without flaws, as tight as ever, and as humorous as ever. I’ve never seen Neil smile so much. Throughout much of the evening, he kept making strange faces at Alex, Alex egging him on. Alex also said several things to the audience, but I couldn’t catch them all. The highlight of his hilarity, though, came toward the end of the evening, when he and Geddy traded places on stage, Alex mocking Geddy’s 1975 Zeppelin-esque screams.

I can honestly write: this was the single finest rock concert I’ve seen in my life. It was the absolute dream of a Rush fan and a prog fan. Everything, simply put, was perfect.

The music, the song selection, the videos, the lights, the lasers. . . . Every. Single. Thing.

Peart's second of two drum solos. As my 14 year old daughter said to me after the concert: Peart was the best part.
Peart’s second of two drum solos. As my 14 year old daughter said to me after the concert: Peart was the best part.

***Here, there be spoilers!***

If you’re not interested in what the band plays, please stop reading here. There be spoilers below! You have been warned.

I made sure NOT to find out what Rush was playing. A close friend had posted the name of one song online, but, otherwise, I refrained from reading anything about the tour. I’m really glad I did. So, again, if you want to be stunned—and you will be—don’t read below.

Geddy. From the Wizard of Oz.
Geddy. From the Wizard of Oz.

The entire show went exactly backwards. Rush started with three blistering songs from CLOCKWORK ANGELS and then progressively (regressively?) worked back to 1974. They played songs from every album except Test for Echo, Presto, Hold Your Fire, and Power Windows. Ten songs long, the first set included the three songs from CA, Far Cry, Main Monkey Business, How it Is, Animate, Roll the Bones, Between the Wheels, and Subdivisions. Amazingly enough, the Rush guys turned the rather geeky rap section from Roll the Bones into one of the best parts of the evening. Even I won’t spoil what they did, but it had all three Birzers in stitches.

As excellent as set one was, it was set two that floored me. Tom Sawyer; The Camera Eye; Spirit of Radio; Jacob’s Ladder; Cygnus X-1(!); Closer to the Heart; Xanadu; and the nearly-complete 2112 made up this glorious set. I actually cried during the middle of Xanadu I was so moved.

Rush departed the stage for probably less than a minute. For the encore, the band came back as though it were 1975, complete with a set from the gymnasium of Rod Serling High School. Geddy even introduced the band as though Caress of Steel had just come out. The encore: Lakeside Park; Anthem; What You’re Doing; and, of course, Working Man.

I’m getting chills just thinking about it all. . . .

I’ll post more photos later.  At the moment, I’m on a terribly slow connection.–BB

[Brad is one of the three founders of Progarchy.  He’s rather goofy, and he has a book, NEIL PEART: CULTURAL REPERCUSSIONS, coming out this fall from WordFire Press]

An Article that Pretty Much Captures Neil Peart

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music6 Comments
Neil Peart: father, drummer, lyricist, motorcyclist, man of letters.
Neil Peart: father, drummer, lyricist, motorcyclist, man of letters.

From yesterday’s major Toronto paper:

The prog-rock trio formed in 1974. To put this longevity in focus: when a 21-year-old Peart drove his mother’s Pinto to Pickering, and nailed his audition with existing band members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Pierre Trudeau was prime minister. Stateside, a scandalized Richard Nixon was about to resign. And Paris was home to the new Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Politicians come and go. Buildings open and close. But one thing that hasn’t changed since that July day more than 40 years ago: Rush is still, first and foremost, a live act. In the same way Corvettes are designed to go fast or the Kardashians were placed on earth to destroy synapses, Rush is all about playing in front of an audience.

“Live shows were always religion for us,” says Peart, sipping his double Macallan. “We never played a show — whether it was in front of 15 people or 15,000 — where it wasn’t everything we had that night.”

Here’s a reissue of it for a smaller paper.

It captures the essence of Peart fairly perfectly . . . at least from what I know and love of the man.

Humor and Rush: Alex Lifeson Reflects on 40 Years

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music1 Comment
Photo, courtesy of Toronto's Q107.
Photo, courtesy of Toronto’s Q107.

We’ve always spent most of our time together laughing. . . . After sound check, we have dinner together, and it’s just us in the dressing room for about ½ hour or forty minutes. We all catch up on stuff that’s going on day to day or in our lives or whatever. And it’s also a chance for us to have some laughs, and we always do that, every single day that we’re together. We do that. It’s been a very important part of our longevity, for sure.

–Interview with Alex Lifeson, January 26, 2015. Q107/Toronto

The full interview is just under 20 minutes, and it’s a blast.  Well worth your time.  For the full thing, go here.

Review: Rush, R40: The Completist/OCD Set

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music7 Comments

Review: Rush, R40: The Completist/OCD Set (Anthem, 2014).

Birzer Rating: 10/10

R40, Anthem Records, 2014.
R40, Anthem Records, 2014.

I had a very good and hearty chuckle when I saw that Bestbuy and the official Rush website offered not just R40— a 10-disc set of every Rush concert DVD released over the past decade+—but actually offered a “Completist” set. 

The Completist set provides not just the 10 discs, but an extra disc containing roughly another hour-plus of video.  The non-Completist version already includes over two hours of never-before-seen video.  But, what self-respecting Neil Peart fan or Rush fan would not be a Completist.  To be a Rush fan is to be a Completist!  Being OCD comes easily for us Rush fans.

So, of course, I gritted my teeth and started exploring my local Bestbuys.  20 years ago, I loved Bestbuy.  Now, I find it suffocating.  But, it was worth it.  The Bestbuy website claims that R40 Completist set can only be purchased in the stores, not through the website.  Exploring a bit further, I found that the Bestbuy website won’t indicate which stores actually have the Completist edition.  For more than a few moments, I’d assumed Bestbuy had already sold out of it.  And, perhaps playing up on this belief, a number of editions have appeared on Ebay (and other sites) asking for double and some even triple and quadruple what the Bestbuy price is.  Sheesh.  Uncool, folks.

Again, gritting my teeth, I started to explore the Bestbuys across the Colorado Front Range.  I came very close to giving up.  The young guys working at the various Colorado Bestbuys had no idea what I was asking for.  Rush?  Rush Limbaugh.  He has concerts?  Dear God, no!  Even when they looked it up on the website (I assume they’re privy to one the public isn’t), they couldn’t find it.  No, sorry, we don’t have that in our “media warehouse.”  Will you get it in?  I don’t think so. 

Sigh. 

How could I satisfy that perfectionist/OCD nature that has plagued me since 1967???  Heck, Rush is only seven years younger than I am!

Then, after debating whether or not to try one last Bestbuy, I decided to give it a go.  I was tired, disbelieving, and ready to get home.  But, there was the Bestbuy, off to my left.  I even had to swerve into the exit lane, as I couldn’t quite decide whether to try it or not. 

After entering the store, itself overlooking I25, I looked in the music section.  Nothing.  I looked in movies.  Nothing. 

Holiday crowds swirled around me, each with that hungry desperate Holiday look, and insanely bad music blared from the store speakers.  And, then, perhaps guided by a Clockwork Angel, I looked on the floor—a jumble of non-reshelved releases—ready to be stepped on. 

And, lo and behold, there it was.  Huge, gleaming, calling to me—the R40 completist set.  I scooped it up (there were actually two copies, but I decided not to be greedy), and saw that the price was even cheaper than what the official Bestbuy price was supposed to be.  I honestly don’t think these folks know what they have.  And, of course, I bought a copy.

And, now, what do I think?  Holy Moses.  This is great stuff.  Yes, of course, I already have most of what’s being offered.  But, that which I don’t (or didn’t) have— is simply stunning.  I’d expected DVD-size packaging.  No, how could I forget?  This is Rush.  They don’t do anything halfway.  The book is actually a full-size hardback book of the highest quality.  Printing, paper, everything—a gorgeously crafted piece of art.  It even smells good. 

After a nice introduction by one of Rush’s chosen and favorite writers, Martin Popoff, the book presents a series of full-page concert photos.  After two decades or more of just looking at CD and DVD booklets, the full-size photos just pop out of the book.  A flashback to days of immense vinyl collections.  I love the photos.  And, they really do justice to the the three members of Rush.  Geddy at Red Rocks, Alex in full working-man rock mode, and Neil as a G-Nome.  Most importantly, the Rush monkey from Time Machine makes an appearance.  Geddy-monkey never fails to get a laugh out of the whole Birzer family, especially Harry, age 9.  And, our chosen family anthem, appropriately enough, is “The Main Monkey Business.”

After roughly fifty pages of photos, the book presents all 10 main DVDs in very high-quality cardboard.  Indeed, the quality is so high, I have to be careful taking the DVDs out of their firm and tight sleeves.  Very good for the long run.  I was a little surprised that the bonus DVD—“Rush, R40 Completist”—had just been placed in a plain white envelope, stuck haphazardly in the book.  I’ll have to pay special attention to this one so as not to lose it.  Not very Rush-like, but still, overall, an excellent package and worth this one defect.

Rather than describe all of the content, I’ve scanned the content page—complete with the Completist add-ons.  See below. 

Is the set cheap?  No.  Is it of good quality?  Except for the Completist DVD in the white envelope, of the highest quality.  Am I sad to have paid so much for what I already (mostly) own?  Absolutely not.  Some of the best money I’ve ever spent.  I’ll have this set, a thing of beauty until I die.  Then, a little monkey Birzer will get it.

Completist Packaging/Content list, Bestbuy R40.
Completist Packaging/Content list, Bestbuy R40.