(no subject)
I saw Rush in concert on Friday at the fair, and it was amazing. There are a few reasons why it was so remarkable:
--The music itself was awesome. They played for almost three hours, and absolutely rocked every song they played. The setlist was great...the first half was mostly stuff I wasn't familiar with, but most of it was great. The second half consisted of ALL of Moving Pictures in order, the most ridiculous drum solo I've ever seen by Neal Peart, and a couple other songs.
--I can't believe how talented these guys still are considering how old they are. Geddy mentioned that it was Alex Lifeson's 57th birthday during the show...I mean, these guys are older than my parents and are still doing 3 or 4 or 5 shows a week and producing new music...and playing at a level of musicianship that surpasses pretty much anything I've seen to now. The guitar solos were intricate and epic, the basslines were punchy and precise, and I don't even need to talk about the quality of the drumming.
--Watching Neal Peart play drums, I had one of those moments where I realized I will NEVER be that good at ANYTHING.
--It was my first ever outdoor show, and the weather couldn't have been much better. The wind interfered with the acoustics a few times, but generally it was gorgeous...70s, not humid. They started the show right as the sun set.
--They had cool pyrotechnics! I realized after the show that I don't think I've ever seen another concert with actual live pyrotechnics. It was pretty nice, especially the eruption of flames during the cannon blast in the 2112 overture.
So yeah, that was awesome. I'm on a big Rush kick now, and i'm exploring more of their post-Moving Pictures albums.
Of course I saw this at the Minnesota State Fair, which was alright. It wasn't as good as last time, it seemed more crowded than last year, and I think we got there a little too early (Matt, Mark and i ended up waiting around for an hour or two before the show started when we were done doing what we wanted to do around the fair). I didn't want to do any of the animal stuff this year, and I kind of ODed on cheese curds early, which killed my appetite for other stuff for a while. The concert didn't finish until Sweet Martha's was already closed, so we missed out on getting a bucket of cookies. Oh well. I think I'll probably take a break from the fair next year (unless there's another great concert).
Also, on a weird note...I ran into my college crush again when I was there on Friday. I bumped into him back in March when I went to buy FFXIII...this time we were both waiting in line for the gondola thing that takes you from the north parking lot to the main fair area. I mean, seriously, what are the odds of us going to the fair on the same day, at the same time, standing in the same line at the same time, actually seeing each other in the crowd of people, and having a couple minutes to talk to each other? This is on top of having the same birthday and living less than a mile away from each other now, mind you. It's uncanny.
The Rush concert was just the start to more awesomeness. Tomorrow I am shifting gears completely and seeing Lady Gaga in concert. I mean, can you get more completely, polar opposite to Rush than Lady Gaga--in terms of music, fanbase, fashion, etc!? Then Thursday morning I leave for Seattle and PAX! I still need to do a lot of planning, like figuring out exactly what to bring and which panels I'm going to.
--The music itself was awesome. They played for almost three hours, and absolutely rocked every song they played. The setlist was great...the first half was mostly stuff I wasn't familiar with, but most of it was great. The second half consisted of ALL of Moving Pictures in order, the most ridiculous drum solo I've ever seen by Neal Peart, and a couple other songs.
--I can't believe how talented these guys still are considering how old they are. Geddy mentioned that it was Alex Lifeson's 57th birthday during the show...I mean, these guys are older than my parents and are still doing 3 or 4 or 5 shows a week and producing new music...and playing at a level of musicianship that surpasses pretty much anything I've seen to now. The guitar solos were intricate and epic, the basslines were punchy and precise, and I don't even need to talk about the quality of the drumming.
--Watching Neal Peart play drums, I had one of those moments where I realized I will NEVER be that good at ANYTHING.
--It was my first ever outdoor show, and the weather couldn't have been much better. The wind interfered with the acoustics a few times, but generally it was gorgeous...70s, not humid. They started the show right as the sun set.
--They had cool pyrotechnics! I realized after the show that I don't think I've ever seen another concert with actual live pyrotechnics. It was pretty nice, especially the eruption of flames during the cannon blast in the 2112 overture.
So yeah, that was awesome. I'm on a big Rush kick now, and i'm exploring more of their post-Moving Pictures albums.
Of course I saw this at the Minnesota State Fair, which was alright. It wasn't as good as last time, it seemed more crowded than last year, and I think we got there a little too early (Matt, Mark and i ended up waiting around for an hour or two before the show started when we were done doing what we wanted to do around the fair). I didn't want to do any of the animal stuff this year, and I kind of ODed on cheese curds early, which killed my appetite for other stuff for a while. The concert didn't finish until Sweet Martha's was already closed, so we missed out on getting a bucket of cookies. Oh well. I think I'll probably take a break from the fair next year (unless there's another great concert).
Also, on a weird note...I ran into my college crush again when I was there on Friday. I bumped into him back in March when I went to buy FFXIII...this time we were both waiting in line for the gondola thing that takes you from the north parking lot to the main fair area. I mean, seriously, what are the odds of us going to the fair on the same day, at the same time, standing in the same line at the same time, actually seeing each other in the crowd of people, and having a couple minutes to talk to each other? This is on top of having the same birthday and living less than a mile away from each other now, mind you. It's uncanny.
The Rush concert was just the start to more awesomeness. Tomorrow I am shifting gears completely and seeing Lady Gaga in concert. I mean, can you get more completely, polar opposite to Rush than Lady Gaga--in terms of music, fanbase, fashion, etc!? Then Thursday morning I leave for Seattle and PAX! I still need to do a lot of planning, like figuring out exactly what to bring and which panels I'm going to.