Rush Concert Review, Part II
I'm back from the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord where I saw Rush again. I'm glad I saw a second concert -- I missed quite a bit at the Shoreline show!
Logistical stuff first. My ears were ringing quite a bit after the Shoreline show, so I decided to use earplugs for Concord. This was probably a very good idea -- the volume levels seemed much higher at Concord. I'm not sure if this was due mainly to the much larger overhang at Concord, but it's possible. Even just the roar of the crowd seemed louder at Concord. I've used earplugs at concerts in the past but never liked them -- they always changed the sound characteristics of the music too dramatically. Luckily this show was different -- the music actually sounded great -- each instrument was much clearer, as were the vocals. And my ears aren't ringing now!
The crowd was much more subdued in Concord than at Shoreline. At Shoreline, everyone stood up for the entire show. In our section (204) at Concord, we all stood up for the opening song (Limelight), and everyone sat down after that. People didn't really stand up again until the classics were played -- things like "The Spirit of Radio" and especially "Tom Sawyer." This crowd was obviously there to hear the classics. I got the sense that people were getting restless through some of the newer, less well-known songs such as "Secret Touch." Although the crowd was lower energy, one positive thing came as a result -- I could see the stage! I didn't have to rely on the big video screens to see what was going on onstage. I certainly took in more detail from the stage tonight, like instrument changes. (See below.)
Unlike at Shoreline, Geddy came onstage with his hair in a ponytail, more like how it was during the Presto era. (He let it down during the second set, although I didn't even notice it until several songs into the set.) He replaced the dryers on his side of the stage with these tall "Henhouse" cabinets, full of rotisserie chickens rotating on spits. There's this whole theme of chicken used throughout the concert -- including Alex playing the intro to "Limelight" to start the concert, but having to briefly stop to allow Geddy to wipe his hands clean after finishing a piece of rotisserie chicken immediately before coming onstage... At various points during the show, "chefs" would come onstage in the middle of a song and check on the chickens inside the "Henhouse."
Other things I failed to mention about the shows the other day... At one point in between songs, Geddy pulls out a camcorder and starts recording the audience. He asked the crowd to say "Hi Canada!" while he was taping this and the crowd obliged. We'll see if any of that footage appears on a future video.
They altered the setlist slightly for the Concord show. As they did on the Vapor Trails tour, they are apparently alternating a couple of songs on this tour. At Shoreline, we got "Summertime Blues." At Concord, we got "Distant Early Warning." I much prefer having original Rush material rather than covers, so I was happy with this change in the set list.
One thing I completely missed at the Shoreline show -- Geddy switches basses in "A Passage to Bangkok." He started playing his old trusty Rickenbacker 4001! I've been saying for years and years that he should start playing that bass again. I like the tone of his Fender Jazz basses, but I still prefer the Rick. It has this chunky midrange tone that other basses can't reproduce. Unfortunately for me, the first time I saw Rush was on the Grace Under Pressure tour, which was when Geddy first made his Steinberger his primary bass, so I never got a chance to see him use the Rickenbacker until this week. This is very exciting for me. :-)
Alex is apparently using a different line of Hughes & Kettner amps this tour because they didn't have the cool blue backlighting that he had on previous tours. I know that's not a reason to prefer amps, but... :-) He apparently has these model dinosaurs lined up on top of his amps (according to a friend -- with my poor eyesight, I couldn't really make them out!), kind of like how he had the Mr. Potatohead sitting on his amps before.
I mentioned before that Neil used some new samples during his drum solo. It hit me tonight what his sounds reminded me of. It was a throwback to the 80s -- he was using these electronic and metallic sounds that completely reminded me of the first few bars to "People Are People" by Depeche Mode. One other new part of his drum solo that I thought was cool was he would play over a chord progression on his MIDI mallet keyboard. The section is in 3/4 time and he played this chord progression on the keyboard where each chord is four bars long. The first beat of the four bar phrase is always a chord (well, technically not a chord because he's only hitting two notes, but you know what I mean). The main sequence seemed to at first alternate between C and A minor, then became C, C, A minor, G. Each chord would sustain for four bars and he would play rhythmic patterns on the drums over those chords. Neat.
I know there was more stuff I was going to talk about, but I'm not remembering what they were so I guess it's time to go to bed. I'll update this entry as I remember things I meant to include.
Logistical stuff first. My ears were ringing quite a bit after the Shoreline show, so I decided to use earplugs for Concord. This was probably a very good idea -- the volume levels seemed much higher at Concord. I'm not sure if this was due mainly to the much larger overhang at Concord, but it's possible. Even just the roar of the crowd seemed louder at Concord. I've used earplugs at concerts in the past but never liked them -- they always changed the sound characteristics of the music too dramatically. Luckily this show was different -- the music actually sounded great -- each instrument was much clearer, as were the vocals. And my ears aren't ringing now!
The crowd was much more subdued in Concord than at Shoreline. At Shoreline, everyone stood up for the entire show. In our section (204) at Concord, we all stood up for the opening song (Limelight), and everyone sat down after that. People didn't really stand up again until the classics were played -- things like "The Spirit of Radio" and especially "Tom Sawyer." This crowd was obviously there to hear the classics. I got the sense that people were getting restless through some of the newer, less well-known songs such as "Secret Touch." Although the crowd was lower energy, one positive thing came as a result -- I could see the stage! I didn't have to rely on the big video screens to see what was going on onstage. I certainly took in more detail from the stage tonight, like instrument changes. (See below.)
Unlike at Shoreline, Geddy came onstage with his hair in a ponytail, more like how it was during the Presto era. (He let it down during the second set, although I didn't even notice it until several songs into the set.) He replaced the dryers on his side of the stage with these tall "Henhouse" cabinets, full of rotisserie chickens rotating on spits. There's this whole theme of chicken used throughout the concert -- including Alex playing the intro to "Limelight" to start the concert, but having to briefly stop to allow Geddy to wipe his hands clean after finishing a piece of rotisserie chicken immediately before coming onstage... At various points during the show, "chefs" would come onstage in the middle of a song and check on the chickens inside the "Henhouse."
Other things I failed to mention about the shows the other day... At one point in between songs, Geddy pulls out a camcorder and starts recording the audience. He asked the crowd to say "Hi Canada!" while he was taping this and the crowd obliged. We'll see if any of that footage appears on a future video.
They altered the setlist slightly for the Concord show. As they did on the Vapor Trails tour, they are apparently alternating a couple of songs on this tour. At Shoreline, we got "Summertime Blues." At Concord, we got "Distant Early Warning." I much prefer having original Rush material rather than covers, so I was happy with this change in the set list.
One thing I completely missed at the Shoreline show -- Geddy switches basses in "A Passage to Bangkok." He started playing his old trusty Rickenbacker 4001! I've been saying for years and years that he should start playing that bass again. I like the tone of his Fender Jazz basses, but I still prefer the Rick. It has this chunky midrange tone that other basses can't reproduce. Unfortunately for me, the first time I saw Rush was on the Grace Under Pressure tour, which was when Geddy first made his Steinberger his primary bass, so I never got a chance to see him use the Rickenbacker until this week. This is very exciting for me. :-)
Alex is apparently using a different line of Hughes & Kettner amps this tour because they didn't have the cool blue backlighting that he had on previous tours. I know that's not a reason to prefer amps, but... :-) He apparently has these model dinosaurs lined up on top of his amps (according to a friend -- with my poor eyesight, I couldn't really make them out!), kind of like how he had the Mr. Potatohead sitting on his amps before.
I mentioned before that Neil used some new samples during his drum solo. It hit me tonight what his sounds reminded me of. It was a throwback to the 80s -- he was using these electronic and metallic sounds that completely reminded me of the first few bars to "People Are People" by Depeche Mode. One other new part of his drum solo that I thought was cool was he would play over a chord progression on his MIDI mallet keyboard. The section is in 3/4 time and he played this chord progression on the keyboard where each chord is four bars long. The first beat of the four bar phrase is always a chord (well, technically not a chord because he's only hitting two notes, but you know what I mean). The main sequence seemed to at first alternate between C and A minor, then became C, C, A minor, G. Each chord would sustain for four bars and he would play rhythmic patterns on the drums over those chords. Neat.
I know there was more stuff I was going to talk about, but I'm not remembering what they were so I guess it's time to go to bed. I'll update this entry as I remember things I meant to include.