Rush Announce R40 Live 40th Anniversary Tour [SPOILERS]

[Powerage5]

Closer To The Heart:

There's certainly no overdubbing/correcting going on with this release - it's audible that Neil dropped a stick during the last verse

[Powerage5]

The Spirit Of Radio:

[Anguyen92]

Tom Sawyer

Yeah, it's a fine video. I think slightly better than the Time Machine version. I just can't enjoy this version a good amount, because the Rush in Rio version has ruined my enjoyment of all other later versions of this song. Man, that Rush in Rio version of Tom Sawyer was great as was the concert DVD in general.

Edited November 6, 2015 by Anguyen92

[James Bond]

I'm not a big fan of Geddy's voice on Rush In Rio. The mix is also pretty thin. I do enjoy the show and realize that the weather prohibited them from doing a sound and video check but I suppose that it comes through too much in the final version. Great set list though and the performance is good. In retrospect I actually find Geddy's voice weaker than it would be a few years later on both the R30 and Snakes and Arrows tour. He went from losing it a bit to being a beast again. I remember reading that he refrained before they hit the road for Snales and Arrows.

[Powerage5]

Snales & Arrows.

[Powerage5]

I'm not a big fan of Geddy's voice on Rush In Rio. The mix is also pretty thin. I do enjoy the show and realize that the weather prohibited them from doing a sound and video check but I suppose that it comes through too much in the final version. Great set list though and the performance is good. In retrospect I actually find Geddy's voice weaker than it would be a few years later on both the R30 and Snakes and Arrows tour. He went from losing it a bit to being a beast again. I remember reading that he refrained before they hit the road for Snales and Arrows.

I never actually responded to this point, beyond pointing out your glaring typo But I agree that the production on Rush In Rio really brings it down. It sounds like it was never mastered - they just took the straight soundboard feed and mixed the crowd really high in the mix (And the crowd noise is way too overbearing most of the time). I don't think their individual tones are particularly good either; Alex's tone is a little too fuzzy for my tastes (It's been much more refined and natural sounding since Snakes & Arrows), while I think Geddy's synth voices are atrociously bad. They just sound so phony - I honestly can't listen to that rendition of Red Sector A because I hate the synth voice so much. The poor voices carried over into R30 too, Between The Wheels sounded so neutered on that one. Aside from all the sound problems, the video is horribly amateurish. I mean, the cameras aren't even all the same aspect ratio! The editing is poor, the video quality is poor (Although that one is semi-excuseable in 2002, but it still looks poor for that time) - it amazes me the difference in quality between Rush In Rio and R30, which were only filmed a year and a half apart. Rush In Rio is definitely my least favorite of their live albums.

On a different note, it seems Sirius XM will broadcast the full R40 Live album tomorrow at 6:

http://www.rushisaband.com/blog/2015/11/05/4520/Rushs-R40-Live-radio-premiere-this-Sunday-on-Sirius-XM-Tom-Sawyer-video-preview-online

[James Bond]

Fucking iPhone. The one time it doesn't autocorrect. What the hell is a snale? Snails and Arrows maybe.

I concur with everything you said. Rio definitely didn't get the TLC that every other Rush release has had. Alex's tone is doable for me (though definitely not as good as Snakes and Arrows) but I couldn't agree more about the synth sounds. Red Sector A and Distant Early Warning are particularly bad sounding in the synth department. Maybe it's for the best that Subdivisions wasn't played. The bass tone is super thin too. It's like the Guitar Pro MIDI slap bass sound. It really does sound like a "straight from the soundboard" gig.

Edited November 8, 2015 by James Bond

[Powerage5]

Subdivisions:

Gotta say, I absolutely love Geddy's tone on the P-Bass.

[Powerage5]

I was able to pick up my Blu Ray/CD combo today at one of my local indie shops. Unfortunately I got home and there was a defect on the first CD in my set, so I'll need to go exchange that

Only listened to the bonus tracks so far, I wanted to save the main concert for when I could watch it (And again, my CD 1 wouldn't play). The Jonathan Dinklage version of Losing It is from LA - I was hoping it would be NYC, but I guess LA makes more sense. The tracks that come from night 1 in Toronto are pretty rough, even though none of them were the big problem songs that night. Clockwork Angels is the best of that bunch, while Distant Early Warning is completely lackluster and Geddy in particular is rough on it (For what it's worth, Distant Early Warning was always one of my absolute favorites at every gig I saw it at). I know JB wishes more of night 1 was represented on the album, but it really is for the best IMO. Not sure what gig(s) The Wreckers and The Camera Eye are from, but both are solid.

Hopping around the Blu Ray right now - looks excellent. Best cinematography on a Rush release for my money, hands down. Not everything has that bluish tint that most of the preview videos have had. That said there is a heavy gravitation towards blue, but that was very much how the lighting was in the actual show as well. They've really gone for the full-on "warts and all" approach, they've left some really stupid stuff in that would've been extremely easy to fix; for example Alex started Far Cry a major second too high it sounds like Geddy also blew a couple of lines on Far Cry. Then theres some stuff that is, objectively, wrong but it still sort of works - Neil hit the half time after the second chorus of The Anarchist too early. Of course there's also Neil's stick drop in Closer To The Heart that we already know about. I'm all for not doctoring the shit out of a live release, but I think when there's something incredibly easy to fix then it's not an issue to lift it from another performance. The other gripe I have is how bare-bones the release itself is; there's literally the concert and the bonus tracks from night 1 - absolutely no other bonus materials. I wish there had been some sort of featurette about the tour

Obviously I haven't watched the whole thing yet. I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to rank this against their other live releases without bias - of course this will be my favorite since I was at this gig and it's the best seats I've ever had for a Rush gig. I can say it is very,very good though, despite some minor setbacks.

[ZoSoRose]

Can't wait. This tour was amazing

[Powerage5]

Losing It is fucking amazing - worth buying this release just for that.

Neil dropped the beat completely coming off of one of his fills in the trading bass/drum solo section

Hemispheres is great!

Xanadu is excellent - no surprise there.

[Anguyen92]

Well, should I buy this or not? At the very least, is it worth getting the CD for this? I already bought the Clockwork Angels DVD, two years ago, and I dig that a lot in spite of some flaws people may have stated (I got bad ears, I can't tell) so is R40 worth the buy?

[Powerage5]

Well, should I buy this or not? At the very least, is it worth getting the CD for this? I already bought the Clockwork Angels DVD, two years ago, and I dig that a lot in spite of some flaws people may have stated (I got bad ears, I can't tell) so is R40 worth the buy?

Yes, yes, and yes again. The sound mix is exceptional, really flawless honestly barring the performance mistakes. And I'm not saying this release is completely overrun by them, but there are a few which are quite glaring that would've been extremely easy to fix. I mean, they even pointed out where they had to dub in audio from other nights on Time Machine, so what would've been the harm to do the same here in a few of the more obvious spots?

Let me put it like this - if you're happy with the videos posted on their YouTube page so far, you'll be happy with this release.

On a sidenote - I finally found a decent close-up shot I'm in At 2:09:59 (During 2112 Overture) on the Blu Ray, there's a shot moving up the aisle towards the stage with Alex on stage left, you'll see me in the lower left corner. It's a profile shot, but I'm in a white t-shirt taking a picture (No surprise there ) Hoping to find more of myself when I can sit down and really watch the whole concert.

[James Bond]

I very much look forward to checking this out! It's no surprise that the night one tracks came out pretty rough, but at the same time those didn't even seem like problem songs that night. They should have included Subdivisions from night one as a bonus track.

Strange, like you said, that there was absolutely no fixing at all especially when Geddy had the message in the liner notes about patching up Time Machine from another gig.

[Powerage5]

Yeah, that's why I'm so bothered that they didn't touch anything up. I mean it's one thing if things are a little sketchy (like the beginning of Alex's solo in Red Barchetta), it's another if something is objectively wrong - and there's definitely a few of those moments. There's another one in the 2112 Overture where Alex is playing the wrong chords during the gallop before his solo. It's not as bad as if they used Roll The Bones or Headling Flight from night 1, but it's really a head-scratching moment.

I checked out the 5.1 mixes this morning. The rear speakers aren't very active at all - most of the crowd noise is in the rear but besides that you really just get the room echo, but it's so faint you can't hear it unless you're right up against the speaker. Sounds great though, if not particularly engaging.

[Zeppelin]

It's strange that they wouldn't touch it up a bit, as they make a note of saying how often they hear imperfections in their shows.

[Powerage5]

Who knows - maybe you guys will hear it and think I'm just being overly critical

[Anguyen92]

Who knows - maybe you guys will hear it and think I'm just being overly critical

You're a Rush fan, being overly critical is completely natural.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Anguyen92

[Powerage5]

The other thing I'm still scratching my head over is why Clockwork Angels isn't on the Blu Ray, since the audio version is from night 1 in Toronto. It's a solid performance - all I can figure is maybe there was some sort of technical glitch on the video production side of things

[Zeppelin]

I'm pumped for this release. Xanadu alone does it for me.

[ZoSoRose]

Woohoo cant wait

[Powerage5]

I've compiled a list of all the shots I've found myself in so far. I still haven't watched the entire concert, so it may not be complete yet. Not that anyone here probably cares

Far Cry

21:00

21:32-21:33

Losing It

58:21

The Spirit Of Radio

1:23:02

1:23:05

Jacob’s Ladder

1:39:28-1:39:29

2112

2:09:50-2:09:51

2:09:59

[gunsfanoldie]

http://prog.teamrock.com/news/2015-11-26/rush-future-geddy-lee-hopeful-patient%20

Frontman Lee remains optimistic that they’ll play more shows and make more music

Rush frontman Geddy Lee is remaining optimistic about the band’s future – even though he admits they’ve not been able to agree on the subject yet.

The band undertook what’s thought to have been their final large-scale tour earlier this year, and haven’t reached a decision on what – if anything – is to come after it.

Lee tells SiriusXM: “It’s always emotional. At this point, we’re not able to agree on doing more tours. It doesn’t look possible.

“But I would say that, being an optimist and a patient person, I hope that will change. We’ve talked about more music as Rush. There are other ways of presenting our music to the public. But we haven’t discussed it since the end of the tour.”

Guitarist Alex Lifeson suggested earlier this year that physical issues were affecting his opinions on the future. Now he says: “I felt very healthy, after some issues over the last few tours. I loved playing every night and I loved playing every note of every one of those songs. I still have some in me that I would like to do.”

Drummer Neil Peart’s position is different – he’s wanted to focus on family life for some time, and he’s also dealing with tendonitis. Lee says: “He pays a price. There are times when you see him backstage on the middle of a tour and he’s really suffering. He’s not sure he’s got the fortitude to continue playing like that.”

But he adds: “Maybe there’s an answer down the road, after some time. That’s why we’re trying not to be hasty and making any big conclusions.”

Meanwhile, Rush have released their medley of Mel’s Rockpile, Lakeside Park andAnthem from their R40 Live DVD, which was launched this month.

[Powerage5]

I wasn't even remotely that optimistic after watching/hearing the SiriusXM interview. To me, it sounded like Geddy wants to continue, but really knows it's all over.

[gunsfanoldie]

I wasn't even remotely that optimistic after watching/hearing the SiriusXM interview. To me, it sounded like Geddy wants to continue, but really knows it's all over.

Agreed. The article I posted includes a video from that SiriusXM interview of this moment. What was surprising to me is reading it I assumed Geddy was alone. Talking about how he clearly wants to but no one can agree. Was interesting to see Alex was there too, so thats 2/3 of the band and apparently they can't tell you what's going on. It does seem like Geddy really loved it (and that was clear at the shows that by all accounts he stood out as being superhuman in singing, playing and jumping around more than ever. He was clearly having a ball), Alex is ambivalent but probably would, and Neil is no. Still can't tell whether Alex is saying he would do more stuff just to avoid saying he's like Neil and also doesn't or he actually means it. Seemed odd for Ged to kind of pin the whole thing on Neil, especially when they all seemed clear it was a band decision last year to probably stop. Now it seems like none of them are on the same page.