Ok, first off, I have to say this was the greatest concert experience of my life, and if you ever get the chance to see Rush live, by all means, do it!
After hearing horror stories of people unable to get to the Radiohead concert here due to rain, I decided it would best to get going as soon as possible. We actually faced little traffic on the way and managed to get in by 4:45 so we had quite some time to relax before the gates opened at 6:30. I had a nice little place to wait there and I found I nice place in the shade to sit and eat the sandwich I had gotten earlier. Around 5 O'Clock I heard someone banging on the drums inside the Pavillion, so I new it was time for the sound check, so I ran over closer to the gates to hear better. After some standard instrument checks, they went into actual songs, and the "setlist" was as follows:
Ghost of a Chance
Subdivisions
Limelight
Hope
Ghost of a Chance is the only one of these that I wouldn't have expected before, but I now was pretty certain of four of the songs they would play that night. About this time I started a little game with myself to see how many of Rush's albums I could find on people's t-shirts. By the end of the night I had found all of the studio albums except for Fly By Night and Counterparts. I even managed to find shirts for Feedback, R30 and Rush in Rio.
Well, I waited a while and eventually they opened the gates and we were all allowed inside. We went to find the seats (Near the front the 300 section) and sat and to enjoy the music they had playing for us on the PA system. They played some pretty good stuff, including 21st Century Schizoid Man,
Inertiatic ESP, The Sound of Muzak, Time and Crosstown Traffic. Crosstown Traffic was cut short because they were starting the show, which was perfectly fine with me! It began with the same video clip of Alex having nightmares about snakes and then waking up and the same bed with Neil, as well as Geddy's confrontation with his Scottish counterpart. Hilarious stuff.
After the little video intro, they came on with Limelight and got the entire audience into it. As for me, I like the song, but it's not one of my favorites. Still good though. When Limelight was over with, they went straight into Digital Man, but more than half the people decided that it was time to sit down! IMO, Digital Man is a much better song than Limelight, but whatever. The bass on this song is just incredible and I love the reggae feel. Next up was Ghost of a Chance, which was a very nice treat. The riff is insanely badass, while the chorus and solo are insanely beautiful. Awesome song. Next up came Mission, which caused pretty much everyone who wasn't already sitting down to sit down. I really couldn't understand this, as this was, by far, the best song they had played up to this point. Ah well. Next up was Freewill, which once again got the whole pavilion up and rockin' out. It's a pretty good song and I was impressed at the fact that Geddy could still hit those high notes after the solo. The Main Monkey Business was the first instrumental piece they played and it was awesome as always. They had some random clips of monkeys on the screen in the background which was fun, and a cook came out to check on the chickens in Geddy's oven. The Larger Bowl, which came up next, was unbelievably heartbreaking due to the contrasting images of the rich and poor driving across the "some are blessed and some are cursed" message of the song. I seriously screamed when I heard Alex's arpeggiated intro Red Barchetta. I just had to hum and play along when Geddy's bass came in, it was so amazing seeing that song live. Everything about it was perfect from the guitar solo, to the background imagery of set in the view of a car speeding down the road to the little jam session they added in at the end. Just amazing. And then, it was the Trees! This was really an amazing on-two punch that they threw at us right there! I was amused by the guy in front of me who was playing along with every little drum beat in the interlude section. Next up was Between the Wheels, which made everyone sit down again. Pfffft, this audience doesn't know a good song when they hear one. This was one of the best bits of the concert for me, as Grace Under Pressure is one of my favorite Rush albums. Afterwards, the finished the first set with Roll the Bone's Dreamline along with a brilliant light show. Geddy told us "We're not spring chickens, so we need to take a wee brake."
During the break they played some more great music over the PA system, including Porcupine Tree's Anesthetize in its entirety, as well as Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You by Led Zeppelin. The latter was cut short by the intro video to the second set.
After a fairly long video, the band exploded into the opening track from Snakes & Arrows, Far Cry. It was wonderful and also got a great response from the audience. The pyrotechnics after the lyrics "You can almost see the circuits blowing" were absolutely perfect. After this, they continued playing S&A material with Workin' Them Angels, Armor and Sword, Spindrift and finally The Way the Wind Blows. Workin' Them Angels had cool background images of angels doing dangerous jobs(the army among them) and really showed Neil's bitterness to fundamentalist religion. The mandolin solo by Alex was the clear higlight in this song. Armor and Sword was beautiful and brutal at the same time. From the introduction, to the acoustic part, to the crushing power of the heavy bits, this song was killer. Spindrift exploded with more energy than pretty much anything all night.
This song, though not incredible on the album, was incredibly strong in a live setting. And finally, The Way the Wind Blows another great S&A track. With its bluesy-yet-heavy introductory solo from Lifeson, its pounding verse and its beautifully soft chorus, this song is just amazing. Next in the show was the fan favorite, Subdivisions. I love this song so much. This was probably the first song that proved to me that synthesizers can be used to make amazing music, instead of just 80s cheese. Everything about this one- the synth, the guitar, the lyrics, the drums, the bass fills(Oh my god, the bass fills!)- is just amazing. After such an amazing performance, Rush manages to outperform themselves by bringing out the monster that is Natural Science! This is an absolutely amazing song. Seeing it live is one of the greatest experiences I've ever had- and I've managed to do it twice already! Damn, I love this song. It's just perfection. The softer acoustic part "Tide Pools" is just beautiful and I especially love when it speeds up at "Wheel within wheels". Part 2-Hyperspace is one of the most epic pieces of music ever and live, it's just breathtaking. Alex's solo was perfect here and it was completely amazing. Part 3-Permanent Waves has some of the greatest lyrics ever penned. In short, this song is just perfect in every single way, and seeing it live is just an unbelievable experience, especially since this already untouchable song is enhanced by beautiful psychedelic on the big screens. Witch Hunt came in next, which is one of the better songs off of Moving Pictures for me. It was pretty good live and nice to see, but nothing insanely special. Next was Malignant Narcissism, and short instrumental piece from S&A. Geddy's bass work on this song is brilliant and he really takes command of the song, especially with his little bass solos. Nice little song, and great live. Next was the part of the show all the drummers were waiting for... the drum solo from the Professor, Neil Peart! I have to say, obviously, Peart is an amazing drummer, but.... wow, his solo here was just incredible. He managed to get the audience clapping along... to something they'd never previously heard before. This guy is just amazingly talented. After Neil's solo, it was Alex's turn to shine with Hope, his beautiful acoustic guitar instrumental piece. After he was done, he went straight into what is probably Rush's single most recognizable riff and started out the Spirit of Radio to the most massive crowd response of the entire night thus far. This one was just great live, especially with the bit were Geddy shouts "Concert hall!" and EVERYONE screamed like the recording! It was awesome. When this one over with, I heard the most bone-chilling synth intro I've ever heard. When I head it, I seriously screamed so loud I nearly passed out. I was so excited. The opening chords of 2112 came in to unbelievable audience reaction. The overture was just breathtaking. The solos, the instrumental vocals that everyone sang along to, the 1812 Overture theme. It was awesome. Temples was a blast as well. Unfortunately they didn't do any other parts of the song, as I had hoped that they would at least do Grand Finale. After Temples of Syrinx was over, the familiar South Park intro to Tom Sawyer came on and the band played Tom Sawyer as the last song of the main set. I have to admit, I'm usually not a huge fan of this one, but they just sold it so well, I had to play along with Peart's drum fills. Well done, guys, well done. And then they left. Everyone in the audience screamed for them to return, of course.
First, Alex came running back on stage, followed by Geddy and finally Neil. Nail started out his exhilarating drum intro to One Little Victory and I was thoroughly pumped. OLV is a great little song and the visuals with the dragon and the pyrotechnics made it even better. Next, they gave us the lost classic A Passage to Bangkok from the 2112 album, complete with visuals of people smoking pot, trains and various exotic locales around the world. Finally, we got to the song that most kids today know as "That hard song on Guitar Hero". Well, I have to say, YYZ live is the most intense experience you can have at a concert. People all around you are going crazy. Everyone has out their air instrument of choice and they're going at it like nothing else matters. Even my dad, who's not really a Rush fan, couldn't help getting caught up in the excitement. Not to mention everyone in the audience is singing- yes singing- along to a fucking instrumental. You just have to
be there to understand how amazing of an experience this is. Top that off with the most baddass bass solo of all time and amazing solo from Lifeson and you've got yourself one hell an experience. Once again, I have to say, if you get the chance to see Rush, please do it! It's the greatest experience on earth.
The Setlist:
Intro Video
LimelightDigital ManGhost of a Chance
MissionFreewill
The Main Monkey Business
The Larger Bowl
Red Barchetta (Highlight)The TreesBetween the Wheels (Highlight)Dreamline
Intermission
PA System:
Anesthetize and Babe, I'm Gonna Leave YouIntro Video
Far Cry
Workin' Them Angels
Armor And Sword
Spindrift
The Way The Wind Blows (Highlight)
SubdivisionsNatural Science (Highlight)Witch HuntMalignant Narcissism
Drum Solo
Hope
The Spirit of Radio2112: Overture/The Temples of Syrinx(Highlight)
Tom SawyerENCORE:
One Little Victory
A Passage to BangkokYYZ (Highlight)Breakdown by album:
Rush: 0
Fly By Night: 0
Caress of Steel: 0
2112: 2
A Farewell to Kings: 0 :(
Hemispheres: 1
Permanent Waves: 3
Moving Pictures: 5
Signals: 2
Grace Under Pressure: 1
Power Windows: 0 :(
Hold Your Fire: 1
Presto: 0
Roll the Bones: 2
Counterparts: 0
Test For Echo: 0 :)
Vapor Trails: 1
Snakes & Arrows: 9
