Roadrunner/Warner
RUSH is a time machine! Few bands have been around for so long in intact form. Save one drummer change in 1974, the band has always been around Geddy Lee, bass/vocals, Alex Lifeson, guitars and Neil Peart, drums. Their influence on a wide variety of bands, from virtuosos like DREAM THEATER to METALLICA, has been universally known for long. I wonder if they had the faintest idea of the magnitude they were to achieve when they were still struggling in the early seventies. A virtuoso band that has been around for so long has of cause been through many phases, from their CREAM/LED ZEPPLIN-influenced debut, to their Hard rock/progressive fusion of the seventies, via their trend sensitive eighties, involving both synth and reggae, to their more modern approach 90´s, which continues to this day. We may certainly all have our favorite decades but RUSH on stage has to go through certain classics, while throwing in the odd surprise, like the very modern “Stick It Out” off “Counterparts”. Is this live a true time trip and value for money?
Well, the mix is there, and the band…is…immaculate. With countless tours under their belt the band ought to be truly fed up but you can´t tell. They may look way more distinguished now than in their hippie-like 70´s/80´s, but they are still a progressive rockers wet dream. Their eternal classics like “Time Standing Still”, “Tom Sawyer”, Red Barchetta” etc. are included of cause, but the same also goes for “BU2B” off their soon to be released next album, their 35th all in all. The mix of everything surely opens for disappointments, fans can´t be expected to lover every period in general. At the same time the slightly too well sounding audience cheers every track with exuberant fancy. Some tracks are less prolific, if you like their gentle and experimental era, like I do, you may never fall in love with the newer material, or everything from the mid-nineties. Yet there is so much to rejoice at… Well, well, I might as well surrender to the feeling of the night in question and hail RUSH as an example to follow!
Track List
The Spirit of the Radio
Time Stand Still
Presto
Stick It Out
Workin´ Them Angels
Faithless
BU2B
Freewill
Marathon
Subdivisions
Tom Sawyer
Red Barchetta
XYZ
Limelight
The Camera Eye
Witch Hunt
Vital Signs
Caravan
Moto Perpetuo
O´Malley´s Break
Close to the Heart
2112 Overture
Far Cry
La Villa Strangiato
Working Man
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