Rush Announce R40 Live 40th Anniversary Tour [SPOILERS]

[Powerage5]

Have they been doing the usual start at 7:45 or so if the listed time is 7:30? Trying to figure out what time it's worth checking craigslist/stubhub until tonight to see if maybe I can grab a last minute ticket to Boston.

Yes - every show starts exactly 15 minutes after the time in the ticket.

[Mansin Humanity]

Wasn't able to make it happen for Boston, unfortunately. I'll live vicariously through all of you and the eventual live album/DVD. Are we still calling them DVDs? Blu-ray? Whatever.

[Powerage5]

Bummer - too bad you're missing it. How's it looking for you to make AC/DC?

[Mansin Humanity]

Also not gonna happen. I'm moving to Atlanta before the Foxboro show and there's literally no show south of freaking Chicago (that isn't in LA, at least), or any on a Saturday night in a place that would make sense for me to fly to (aka Moncton). Unfortunate summer for those two and myself but I can take some solace in having seen both of them twice before.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Mansin Humanity

[Powerage5]

Aww man

[Powerage5]

Philly check-in. Had nosebleeds tonight, so the crowd sucked around me. Set C tonight. Natural Science was great to see again. YYZ, Roll The Bones, and One Little Victory were the highlights for me tonight. Animate and 2112 were a little rough. All in all probably my least favorite of the tour. One more gig, Monday at MSG...

[James Bond]

Toronto first night rough or just average? I'm always down for listening to Rush mistakes.

How are the seats for MSG? That should be a great crowd although it's sounding like Montreal had the best crowd so far.

[dalsh327]

[Powerage5]

Toronto first night rough or just average? I'm always down for listening to Rush mistakes.

How are the seats for MSG? That should be a great crowd although it's sounding like Montreal had the best crowd so far.

The crowd? Slightly better than Toronto 1. The band? More on par with the usual performance, but there were still some big "WTF" moments. Geddy didn't sound too good in the first half - I honestly don't know what the fuck he was singing on Animate, he literally sounded like he was in pain. 2112 was the big clusterfuck of the night though. Alex completely botched the bit in the Overture right before the galloping part. Then at the end of the Finale, when they do those ascending chords that keep getting faster until the big ending, I'm not sure if it was Alex or Neil that fucked it up. Either Alex went to the triplets too early or Neil stayed on the half notes too long, they got totally out of sync and collectively just kind of gave up and hit the big ending

Other small flubs - Geddy landed on the wrong chord in Subdivisions at one point, he fixed it really quick though. They seem to be having a lot of problems playing Subdivisions nowadays Neil dropped a stick during his drum solo in Headlong Flight. He covered it extremely well though and you wouldn't even notice if you didn't see him scrambling for another stick on the screen.

For MSG, my mom and I actually couldn't get our seats together, but we're both in halfway back in the lower bowl, but on opposite sides of the arena. I'll let her have her pick if she wants Geddy's or Alex's side. We're hoping there may be another single in one of our rows who would be willing to switch so we can still sit together.

[James Bond]

I remember during of the Snakes and Arrows shows I saw Neil dropped a stick right before the transition in his drum solo. He didn't miss a beat so it was a non-event save for the jumbo tron showing the overhead camera at that point so the whole crowd saw.

Hopefully you can figure something else out with those seats but worst case at least you'll both be there with a decent view.

I decided to create an "alternative R40" set which sees songs from every album included (except Feedback) and without losing the epics. I told P5 that originally my prediction was that the second set would go chronologically and build up to a Moving Pictures encore. Of course I was wrong, but I think if you just reversed the stage videos and the order it'd still be pretty cool and the show would still work as is.

1. Headlong Flight

2. Far Cry

3. How It Is

4. Driven

5. Animate

6. Roll The Bones

7. Show Don't Tell

8. Time Stand Still

9. The Big Money

10. Distant Early Warning

11. Subdivisions

12. Finding My Way

13. Fly By Night

14. Lakeside Park

15. 2112: Overture

16. 2112: The Temples of Syrinx

17. Closer to the Heart

18. Cygnus X-1 Book 1: The Voyage

19. Xanadu

20. Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres Prelude

21. The Trees

22. Jacob's Ladder

24. The Spirit of Radio

25. Tom Sawyer

26. YYZ

27. Limelight

[Powerage5]

I actually prefer your set 1 to what they're actually playing

Your set 2 is maybe a little more "balanced", but I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer the actual set where you literally get every fucking epic, back to back. I would've loved to see The Trees again, and especially Finding My Way though.

[gunsfanoldie]

I like your set, although I think they are smart to go in reverse order the whole time. I like the 70s songs that they haven't played in decades all being in the encore. It keeps me there, whereas the encore would be significantly less satisfying if it was all Moving Pictures songs (even though, as their biggest hits, its a logical ending and encore). I think they nailed the second set for what it is and for what they are able to play. I made my own setlist which changed some stuff around, but really the second set they have is outstanding.

I like your first set probably better than what they are playing but I think many of us could make a better first set. They have a good one, but its way less balanced and I think its too heavy on Clockwork, an album I really like. But I think they could take out two Clockworks, put Between Sun & Moon for Animate (a personal choice for me), keep what they have and add in some other albums they are ignoring. Then again, the fantasy setlist I made from their model ends set one with the Moving Pictures songs, and then set 2 is Permanent Waves and back, allowing 3 more 70s choices and switching out what they are playing for even deeper cuts, so I might be making setlists that no one but myself would enjoy.

[Anguyen92]

Wasn't it Rolling Stone that was one of those music publishers that pretty much neglected Rush and didn't think they would become something around the time 2112 came out? If so, whose laughing now, baby!

[Powerage5]

I like your set, although I think they are smart to go in reverse order the whole time. I like the 70s songs that they haven't played in decades all being in the encore. It keeps me there, whereas the encore would be significantly less satisfying if it was all Moving Pictures songs (even though, as their biggest hits, its a logical ending and encore). I think they nailed the second set for what it is and for what they are able to play. I made my own setlist which changed some stuff around, but really the second set they have is outstanding.

I like your first set probably better than what they are playing but I think many of us could make a better first set. They have a good one, but its way less balanced and I think its too heavy on Clockwork, an album I really like. But I think they could take out two Clockworks, put Between Sun & Moon for Animate (a personal choice for me), keep what they have and add in some other albums they are ignoring. Then again, the fantasy setlist I made from their model ends set one with the Moving Pictures songs, and then set 2 is Permanent Waves and back, allowing 3 more 70s choices and switching out what they are playing for even deeper cuts, so I might be making setlists that no one but myself would enjoy.

Even though I love Clockwork Angels, I'd have to agree with you - especially combined with 2 Snakes & Arrows songs (Which is even more unnecessary). Literally half of the first set covers two albums, and then they gloss over the next 25 years in 5 songs. Admittedly I've ended up loving Animate a lot more live than I expected, but I probably would've preferred to see Between Sun & Moon also. I'm glad they skipped TFE. But then skipping everything from Presto to Power Windows was crazy. Time Stand Still especially would've been extremely fitting for this tour I think.

Tonight I'll sit down and draft my ideal set 1 after work, need to think about it.

[James Bond]

Rush is definitely a fun band to make a fantasy set list with because pretty well any song is a fair dream. Who would have thought they'd ever do an eighties deep cut set list or a set with so many seventies epics crammed in? It must be hell for them to choose from the five hours of material they generally start with when it comes time to plan the tour.

I'm with P5 on set one - it's a shame that they skip so many years in between during set one. I get that they want to keep a few Clockwork songs being that it's the most recent, but then to also throwin two Snakes songs, one of which an instrumental, seems like overkill. Then they totally skip much of the eighties material. I get that maybe they felt they did enough of it last tour, but a song or two wouldn't hurt.

[OmarBradley]

That's annoying, the only two songs I'd really care to see would be Finding My Way and Anthem, and it looks like they won't be played together.

[Powerage5]

Rush is definitely a fun band to make a fantasy set list with because pretty well any song is a fair dream. Who would have thought they'd ever do an eighties deep cut set list or a set with so many seventies epics crammed in? It must be hell for them to choose from the five hours of material they generally start with when it comes time to plan the tour.

I'm with P5 on set one - it's a shame that they skip so many years in between during set one. I get that they want to keep a few Clockwork songs being that it's the most recent, but then to also throwin two Snakes songs, one of which an instrumental, seems like overkill. Then they totally skip much of the eighties material. I get that maybe they felt they did enough of it last tour, but a song or two wouldn't hurt.

That's the best thing about them really. Every tour is radically different than the tour before it, they always bring out at least a few songs that haven't been played in decades, and there aren't really any songs that are potentially off-limits from being played (Different Strings is the only one I can think of, but after Losing It happened I don't think I'd rule anything out anymore). I mean, what other band out there is willing to rehearse a song that requires a guest musician they released 33 years ago, apparently on a nightly basis, to play it live once? That's fucking dedication to what you do.

But that's also why the first set is so boring on this tour - it doesn't have any of that real Rush "magic". It's just a collection of songs that have literally all been played over the last ten years with the exception of How It Is, which is only played every third gig. If I got to write the setlist for this tour, the first set would've been a better mix of "hits" (i.e. crowd favorites) and obscure songs that evenly covered the 1982-2012 timeframe. I couldn't decided which of these I liked better - the first dream set 1 here follows JB's idea of a song from every album. The second one here is what I'd have liked to see if they still wanted to play more/less of some albums.

Set 1 - a song from every album (With a handful of A/B/C rotations built in):

1. Headlong Flight

2. Far Cry

3. How It Is

4. Dog Years / Test For Echo / Driven

5. Animate

6. Roll The Bones / Dreamline / Bravado

7. Show Don't Tell

8. Time Stand Still

9. Marathon

10. The Enemy Within / Distant Early Warning / Red Sector A

11. Subdivisions

Or, an 11-song first set with more/less songs from some albums:

1. Headlong Flight

2. The Wreckers

3. Far Cry

4. How It Is / One Little Victory / Vapor Trails

5. Animate / Between Sun & Moon / Alien Shore

6. Roll The Bones

7. Presto

8. Time Stand Still / The Big Money / Marathon

9. Distant Early Warning

10. The Enemy Within / Kid Gloves / The Weapon

11. Subdivisions

Also, one other highlight of the Philly show I forgot to mention - Closer To The Heart was excellent last night. Anyone who's seen this tour, or watched any recordings, knows the arrangement of CTTH is...pretty bland this tour. Play the song as-is, keep barreling forward to the big punch at the end. Last night they didn't drag it out, but they did this really cool quasi-fade-out and then came back for the big punch at the end. I don't recall ever seeing them change the form of a song mid-tour, so this was extremely cool for me last night. Here's a video, it's easier to hear than imagine:

[gunsfanoldie]

I forgot about The Main Monkey Business. Yeah, I think thats the biggest waste of time in the setlist since it is an instrumental, and altogether not a very interesting one at that. Its waste is only made more apparent as the SECOND Snakes And Arrows song which is followed by THREE Clockwork Angels songs. I don't know their 1982-2008 catalogue well enough to really make an informed first set, but mine would include Caravan (or another Clockwork song) and Headlong Flight, or just Headlong Flight, Far Cry, One Little Victory, Animate rotating with Between The Sun And Moon, obviously Subdivisions has to be there. There's half the set right there. Include one song from the other six remaining albums from that time period, rotate maybe two or three. Or do the 2 Clockwork song set and you include one song from 5 of the 6 albums and one gets left out. I think that would be more balanced and probably get a similar reaction to the current set.

[Zeppelin]

Man, I love The Main Monkey Business. As far as instrumentals go, it's far down on the list for Rush. But it's a really cool piece. As "old person" as this may sound, it reminds me of a simpler time in my life, as it was the summer before my Mom was diagnosed with cancer. So, it brings back some nice memories of the summer in 2007.

[Powerage5]

I don't, like, hate The Main Monkey Business or anything. My real problem with it is seems extremely unnecessary when you look at the first set as a whole. I had no gripes about them playing it on Snakes & Arrows, but here it just feels like filler

If I had to pick a second S&A song for this set, I'd say We Hold On. I think that one would be great live.

[Anguyen92]

I love The Main Monkey Business and the live version from Snakes & Arrows Live was way better than the studio version. I think they wanted to do an instrumental spot like they have been doing during their 1st sets of other tours and didn't felt like doing any of the other instrumentals they've done in that period. Actually, now that I look at it, they could have done Limbo from Test For Echo. It hasn't been played since the album tour.

That stated, if I had the choice between that or something from Hold Your Fire, Presto, or Test For Echo (not going to include Power Windows, since they did play a good amount of it during the Clockwork Angels tour) I would totally fill that slot with a song from one of those albums. They could have done Time Stand Still, Mission, Show Don't Tell, Driven, Half the World, etc.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Anguyen92

[gunsfanoldie]

I made it to fucking Rush and they're playing Losing It!!!!!!!!

[ZoSoRose]

Fucking awesome! With Peter Dinkladge's brother?

[OmarBradley]

That's annoying, the only two songs I'd really care to see would be Finding My Way and Anthem, and it looks like they won't be played together.

I didn't read all of Bond's post, didn't realize the FMW wasn't actually played.

[Powerage5]

I made it to fucking Rush and they're playing Losing It!!!!!!!!

Been reading the violinist tonight is from NYC, hope they do it again at MSG.