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Concert
Review :
Rush Review
Chronicle Pavillion, Concord CA
9-17-02
By Dan Wall
Set 1: Tom Sawyer, Distant Early Warning, New World
Man, Roll the Bones, Earthshine, YYZ, The Pass, Bravado, Big
Money, Between Sun and Moon, Vital Signs, Natural Science.
Set 2: One Little Victory, Driven, Ceiling Unlimited,
Secret Touch, Dreamline, Red Sector A, Leave That Thing Alone,
The Rhythm Method, Resist (acoustic), 2112 (Overture/The Temples
of Syrinx), Limelight, La Villa Strangiato, The Spirit of
Radio.
Encore: By-Tor and the Snow Dog, Cygnus X-1, Working
Man.
Absolutely freakin’ perfect!
That was the response from the bulk of the crowd gathered
at Rush’s Concord show last Tuesday night, and it definitely
was this writer’s opinion.
In what was one of the best shows that I’ve seen in
the last five years, the Canadian supergroup celebrated a
30-year career with a three-hour set that touched on each
and every phase of the band’s career.
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It wasn’t just the music, however, that made
the show so memorable, although it certainly played
a major role. The sound was the best that I have ever
heard at this venue (over 175 shows here and counting)
and should be required at all major outdoor theaters.
The lighting was huge and innovative and the video kept
the show moving along at a nice pace.
It’s a miracle that
the group is here to play this tour at all, considering
the tragedy that drummer Neil Peart has suffered in
the five years since the band’s Test for Echo record and tour. Peart lost his wife to cancer and
his daughter to a tragic car accident that sent the
drummer into an obvious depression that looked like
it might claim the band’s future. Fortunately
for Peart’s own well being and the band’s
many fans, a new wife brought him back to life (along
with help from friends and band mates Geddy Lee and
Alex Lifeson), and the group reconvened over a year
ago to record the new Vapor Trails
album.
You might think it would take the guys a while to get
back into the groove after five years off the road,
but by the looks and sounds of things, Rush is back
and as powerful as ever. The group sounded better here
than I have seen it in years, and I’ve seen virtually
every tour since 1975.
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You could tell from the first few notes of the opening “Tom
Sawyer” that this was going to be a special show and
it stayed that way until the closing “Working Man”
shut the show down after 11 p.m. Along the way there
were many highlights and some observations taken that help
to explain the band’s prowess.
One thing that helps is the fact that Rush is the only band
on the bill. The stage was ready for an 8 p.m. start, and
that’s what we got. The sound was dialed in from the
start and the stage was ready for the headliner, and not three
other bands.
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The stage was typical Rush, with Lifeson’s (the
rock star guitarist) amps stacked stage right next to
Peart’s (the professor) huge drum kit. Lee (the
quirky bassist) had three dryers that actually tumbled
with band t-shirts stage left that looked like his amp
rig. It was even miked.
For most of the first set, Lee was the star. The band
used the first part of the show to showcase some of
its obscure album stuff, and Lee was in fine voice (I
know some of you don’t like his voice, but whether
you like it or not, he sounded great). “The Pass”
and “Bravado,” two album cuts that were
rarely heard on FM radio, were two of the early highlights.
“Vital Signs” was another quirky entry that
had the place going wild, but the ushers scratching
their heads.
The second half took off with “One Little Victory,”
as Peart had the nominal drummers in the audience perplexed
with the jackhammer beat that powers the song. Flames
and a fire-breathing dragon on the video screen brought
a Kiss-like atmosphere to the proceedings.
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The first 45 minutes of the second set belonged to
Peart. The all-world drummer claims he had to re-teach
himself a few things about drumming after the long layoff,
but you would have never known it. He concluded the
instrumental “Leave That Thing Alone,” with
a drum solo that only a few men on this planet could
play. The video of 30’s style dancing that shuts
the solo down always gets the crowd (even a Rush crowd)
up and dancing along with his rhythmic beats.
Lifeson took over from there, powering the early parts
of “2112,” “Limelight” and the
set-closing “Spirit of Radio” with his trademark
riffing and solos. He absolutely aced “By-Tor
and the Snow Dog’s” abstract solo and his
best known piece, the Jimmy Page-like solo that closes
out “Working Man,” sounded better than ever.
As you can see, the band is the sum of its parts, and
that’s what makes Rush so special. This is one
of the rare groups who could not survive without one
of its components, and that’s why it took five
years to overcome the tragedy and sadness of everyday
life to bring this special group of musicians back together.
These guys hardly make a mistake, and each of them
is in my personal top 10 as an individual musicain.
You rarely see one of them motion to the soundman or
the monitor guy to fix something. The light guy knows
the songs as well as the band does. And the group knows
how to build a set from start to finish and still leave
the crowd wanting more. The group even appeared to be
having fun on stage during the set, with Lifeson and
Lee even being able to coax a smile out of Peart (the
shock!) during a blazing “YYZ.”
Rush is a special band, one that you either love or
hate. It’s a band that tends to attract more men
(even though I saw more women at this show than I can
remember at a Rush concert previously) because it is
not a hit machine. Despite all of this, and the fact
that Lee’s voice is an acquired taste, Rush can
still tour by itself and sell more tickets than most
of its contemporaries. It’s all in the presentation,
and on this night, Rush was absolutely freakin' perfect!
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