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Old 08-20-2002, 07:09 PM   #1
RobustoRob
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Dallas
Posts: 78
Just finished a Monte 4 with my Greek coffee, a relaxing afternoon after sleeping late – recovering from An Evening with Rush! What a great day yesterday, several long years of anticipation climaxing in a celebration of one of my absolute favorite rock bands. Some backstory: I’ve been a Rush fan ever since my older hoodlum friends snuck me into the Aragon Ballroom in ’74 to see a new Canadian power trio. Well, lots of years and a couple dozen shows later I’m still as thrilled to see these guys as ever!

It was quite the extended event yesterday. The owner of the Deep Ellum club The Rock is a fan, so he agreed to open his place (normally closed Mon) to host a pre-show party for about 60 fellow fans. CDs blasted, videos played – including a vintage King Biscuit Flour Hour show from the 70s! The party organizer prepared nametags printed with the new CD cover art for all attendees. A couple of ales with a La Aurora Preferido #3 and it was off to the Smirnoff Music Centre for some tailgating action! More music, more great and friendly fans, a Guiness (in a plastic cup, yuk) and a PAM Pricipe while walking to the gate – and then I was There!

After becoming greatly disappointed by the crap seats available during the supposed pre-sale event put on by ticketbastard, I gave the pavilion seats to friends and opted to sit on the lawn. This wasn’t much of a sacrifice for me as I’ve been up close many times and sat 4th row (with backstage!) in Houston for the last tour. So I plopped down in the grass, centerstage and about a quarter of the way up the lawn, and began absorbing the atmosphere! A not quite capacity crowd including mostly older (like me!) guys - admittedly longtime fans - along with an impressive number of younger people including obviously second or even third generation Rush freaks. The evening heat easing, sunlight fading on clear skies, we settled-in before a simple, uncluttered stage containing little more than their equipment, a large video screen, and three Maytag dryers. Cue intro cartoon soundtrack, drop lights, and it was Showtime!

WoooooHoooooo! The Boys are clearly and without doubt Back! From crowd pleasing familiars like the opener Tom Sawyer, to Cygnus X-1/Working Man closing the encore, Rush are as seamless and powerful as I’ve ever seen them. The Dallas crowd was onboard from the first song, and as the energy of the performance built continually over the course of the 3 hour set, so did the audience involvement. The selections from the new disc really harken back to the classic intensity of some older favorites, several of which were included on this tour: By-Tor and the Snow Dog, YYZ, La Villa Strangiato, and The Pass. An amazing acoustic version of Resist in the second half of the show (there was a 20 minute intermission) really highlighted the extraordinary range of music the band have developed in the nearly 3 decades they’ve practiced their art. Geddy Lee’s vocals have matured to an impressive degree, and he hit every note he aimed at like the intervening years only served to mellow and strengthen his oft-maligned voice. Alex Lifeson plays his guitars with the same vengeance and sense of adventure I’ve admired for so long. And Neil Peart, the Professor, the incredible – well, his somewhat revised style of playing his drums still nearly defies understanding. It’s just that damn good. I think the single most gratifying aspect of the performance was that the guys were just having fun. I mean truly enjoying just playing, for themselves and for us equally. A true synergy in the warm Texas night.

As if the rest weren’t already enough, an Exhibition #4 and a Glenlivet on the deck at an after-party capped my experience perfectly.

And, um, in case there may be any lingering doubt, I’ll restate for the record: I’m a Rush freak, and a well sated freak at that! :P



Edited by - robustorob on 08/20/2002 8:18:04 PM
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