RUSH

RUSH

SaratogaPerforming ArtsCenter

July 23, 2010

 photos by Sam Simon, 8.

April 1, 1983, it was five days before my thirteenth birthday.  My best friend, Evan Bernstein, bought us a pair of tickets to see Rush on the Signals tour, a gift for my impending Bar Mitzvah.  The show was in New Haven at the Coliseum (I think!) and we caught a ride with his older sister and her friends, and it was my first indoctrination to probably the biggest cult band of them all.  I borrowed my brother’s copy of Moving Pictures and pretty much wore it out on my Caldor’s record player.  So when it was time to seek out a good gift for my eight year old son, Sam- on the occasion of his birthday and for getting a good report card, I took the opportunity to pass my passion from father to son, and I purchased two tickets to see Rush at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in northern NY.

A few days later, my crazy Uncle Frank called and told me that he noticed that kids get in free to that show, and so Uncle Frank joins the party with the other ticket.  I burn a copy of Moving Pictures for Sam, as the band has announced that they will be playing the album in its entirety.  I also fill a few more discs with the band’s hits, and for the last month Sam is telling everybody how excited he is for the show.  I can hear him telling other people things that I have told him about the band, verbatim, and he knows the band member names- he is showing the same type of excitement I must have been showing in the last days of my twelfth year.

We drove from MA, a good three hour drive through pounding rain.  Luckily, by the time we pulled into the parking lot, the rain had passed, and while it was wet everywhere, it looked like we dodged the weather bullet pretty well.  Frank pulled in a while later; we wolfed down a few sandwiches, and at about 7:30 PM headed into SPAC.  It was pretty easy to deal with Sam’s ‘free kid’s ticket’ and we sauntered onto the lawn and found a perfect spot to occupy with great views of the stage and the screens.

The crowd was pretty decent, especially in this summer of concert failure, but not crowded or overly packed at all.  It was clearly a devoted fan base- I was sporting my Signals tour shirt, and I saw vintage tour shirts all the way back to the seventies with one guy sporting a Caress of Steel tour shirt.  The crowd was probably 90% male, but some of the blankets were occupied by families with kids who were getting their first taste of the power trio from Canada.

At 7:58 PM, 2 minutes early (don’t ever doubt the start times at Rush concerts people, they are punctual!!) the stage went black and a movie started on the video screen.  This hilarious 5 minute movie was set somewhere in space, at an alternative universe diner where a polka band was in the corner playing Rush tunes- the name printed on the drum head- Rash.  The characters were of course band members who were watching Rash and complaining about their quality.  Guitarist Alex Lifeson, dressed in an enormous fat suit, brings out his musical invention, meant to help the band sound better, and called the Gefilter.  Of course mayhem ensues, the wrong button is pushed, and the band is transformed.  The house lights go dark, and the real Rush comes out on stage, with Geddy Lee wearing a great Rash t-shirt. 

The predictability of the opening song, Spirit of Radio, did not remove its epic quality, and the audience and band were instantly transported into their conjoined traditions.  There is no doubt that the audience is devoted, and everyone acts almost like this is one part family reunion and one part church service.

The first set was full of surprises.  Most of the material is from the “new” part of the Rush catalog- songs culled from albums released in the last twenty years.  But I was surprised by the particular songs chosen- not necessarily the hits from those albums, but clearly songs that the band chose to play because they hadn’t played them on recent tours, or that they just loved particular songs.  The second song of the night was Time Stand Still, and interestingly, maybe because I wouldn’t have guessed its inclusion in the set before hand, I’ve been humming the song in the week since.  Immediately following that was Presto, from the album of the same name, and I was stoked because it’s my favorite song from that album but one not likely to be played live recently.  The rest of the set was similarly culled from unusual picks including brand new material like the song Brought Up toBelieve, Stick it Out (Counterpart), and Faithless (Snakes and Arrows).  The final three songs of the first set were more popular songs:  Freewill (Permanent Waves), Marathon(Power Windows) and finally Subdivision (Signals.)  Someone next to us in the crowd, during Subdivisions turned to me and said, “That’s pretty much the story of my life, isn’t it!”  That is something that is definitive about this band and this show, their songbook is the story of the lives of their fans.

Set break was upon us.  The first set was great- filled with interesting tunes, some new material, some material I hadn’t seen or at least not for a long time, and just generally not a ‘best of’ set that one might expect from a band that has been around for now more than three decades.  I was struck that this was not your normal classic rock set, not dependent on the tried and true methods that a band who has toured mostly non stop since I was a toddler might normally depend.  We made a quick run up to the rest rooms, and laughed while I saw the women’s’ line didn’t really exist while there was a 10 minute wait for the men’s room- opposite of nearly any public event that I have been to, ever.

We scurried back to our seats, after meeting some nice people, and settled in for the second set, which started probably no more than 15 minutes from the set break.  Again, don’t dally when going to a Rush show- the do not wait for stragglers.

Set two started, and again the house lights came down and the video screens came alive.  Another Rush produced movie following the antics of Rash.  Now, it’s 20 years later, the band is famous, Fat Alex Lifeson is their manager, there is an entourage at the filming of their latest video.  Geddy Lee is the video director, and Neal Peart is playing the camera man.  Mayhem and hilarity ensues, the wrong buttons are pushed again, and the band morphs and transitions in many hilarious lineups including babies, monkeys, and a bunch of scenes of members of Rush playing the wrong instruments.  The videos are highly produced and playful- these weren’t dashed off in the days before the tour began, money was spent, and the experience did a lot to enhance a great show.  Trust me, you don’t know what funny is until you’ve seen a band of monkeys playing Tom Sawyer.

Rush came back on for set two, and played the album Moving Pictures in its entirety.  The Tom Sawyer opener was as precise and frenetic as you would expect- these were no monkeys playing now.  By mid way through Red Barchetta and heading into YYZ, the band completely locked in to an extent that was far greater than the first set.  They went from being a great band called Rush doing their material, to some sentient being, a band of alien machines so precise and locked in step that they seemed hardly human.  Certainly side one of Moving Pictures is almost a best of album in itself, culminating in Limelight.

Frankly, I was more excited by the prospect of the second side of the album.  The band was taking but five second pauses between songs, as if they were even covering the exact amount of pause on the original record.  The Camera Eye started, and I had not seen them play that song since 1983.  They once described it as the most difficult song that they ever learned to play live, and this version was amazing, perhaps the total highlight of the show for me.  Video images of city life, the mixture of the keys and guitars, the complete precision of the drum fills- the changing time signatures- all came together for the ultimate live music experience.  I was enthralled.  The set continued through Witch Hunt, and then ultimately Vital Signs a song so complicated and intricate that only the band Rush could play it properly.  After what must have been 50 straight minutes of gut wrenching live performance, the band stopped and Geddy Lee walked up to the microphone and said “Whew, that’s like playing a whole album” and then paused frozen for about 20 seconds as if he were animatronics, then broke into a big smile and continued the set.

Many bands might have been satisfied doing that whole album and a couple of hits and then would call it a night.  Not these guys.  They went right into a brand new and unreleased tune called Caravan.  Neal Peart then went through the obligatory drum solo, of course proving once again that not only might he be the best rock drummer ever, but that he is evolving and rounding out his game in ways that couldn’t be imagined twenty years ago, or forty!  Alex Lifeson followed with an extended acoustic guitar piece by himself on stage, showcasing his unique take on the guitar.  His guitar work throughout the whole show was stellar, and he even had broken out a lute for a solo during the first set.

The acoustic guitar gave way to the whole band launching into their biggest commercial hit Closer to the Heart.  After the fourth verse the band got into a straight ahead jam that was totally different from other live versions I had heard of the song.  Though not known for veering from their historic versions of songs or ‘jammin’ Rush does take the effort to change up a few songs per tour, and its always interesting to hear their new takes on songs, to stretch and create.  The set continued seemingly endlessly with the Overture from 2112 into the Templesof Syrinx and the crowd was in a complete frenzy.  The set closed with Far Cry, the opening cut of the Snakes and Arrows album.  Rush walked off stage.

Merely moments later, they returned to the sounds of Rash doing polka Rush hits.  But this was no rash who mounted the stage for their encore.  Not even remotely tired it seemed, they launched into the epic masterpiece La Villa Strangiato, jumping in a few minutes into the song’s original version, but the playful spirit displayed between Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee as they pranced the stage and battled each other on their guitars was just great fun to watch.  To close the show the band did an extended reggae version of their first ever hit, WorkingMan.  Everyone knew that this was it, that their 3 hour Rush pilgrimage was coming to an end, and the appreciation and adulation poured from the audience to the stage in a flood.  The band left the stage and moments later you could see their tour bus pulling away, literally less than 2 minutes from when they left the stage and while the audience was still cheering. 

A final video appeared onscreen.  A hilarious five minute piece with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel doing a great skit about sneaking backstage and meeting Rush.  It was a great way to cool down from the scorching hot show, and to delay our descent into the normal world after what was an interstellar concert experience.

Frank, Sam and I followed the progression back to the parking lot, and hung out for a few minutes at the car.  Sam settled down into his pajamas in the back seat.  As we were pulling away, I was wondering whether or not the experience for Sam was as much of a formative experience as it had been for me almost 30 years ago.  I could tell he was falling asleep as I neared the turn to leave the parking lot when he said, sleepily…  “Papa, next summer, if Rush is playing around my birthday, and if I get another good report card, can we go again?”  Mission accomplished.