Rush - Tweeter Center - Mansfield, MA - June 27, 2007
Posted by Jesse Coy on 07.02.2007
More than thirty years, and these Canadians are still at it and going strong. Rush performers live on a humid night in Massachusetts.
Preludes to show… due to family issues, and I’d already factored that, I’d be going to Rush alone. Here’s a new venue. We call it Tweeter. I took I-93 down, which goes into the heart of Boston, which also means an hour’s worth of a delay. Two days later, I’d learn the better route to take for any band performing anywhere south of the city. Live and learn.
No complaints about this show, though, because from Roger Waters, I learned about a bigger band’s start time. Likely, there are no openers, and likely, the band will start soon after the venue opens or show starts (7:30 for this one). I brought a huge bottle of cheap white wine with me (no, not Gallo) (not that cheap)… chilled and still cool when I got there. I’d gotten the rental car that I needed late that afternoon, so I’d had no time to eat. Here’s the deal… if you’re on the east coast, you’ll know that between June 25th and the 27th, it was as humid as hell here. The major chain sub sandwich store? A sign read, no air conditioner. We’re closed. Doh! No grub for me. I had beef jerky.
Actually, before you get to the Tweeter Arena, there's a supermarket. Pre-made sandwiches… yeehaw! This particular concert was a matter of perfect timing. From the supermarket, there was a slight backup to get to Tweeter’s parking lot area (free… kudos there), and as I waited in the snail crawl line of traffic, I had my breakfast, or brunch, or first meal, or whatever you want to call it (tuna finger sandwiches). Upon parking, I cracked open my wine, and hurriedly downed a couple cups, while scarfing down the chocolate covered cashews I’d gotten. Too rushed, I felt a bit nauseous (pounding down a third of the big bottle). Thank god it was cold. And as I walked to the venue upon hearing a whooping cheer from the crowd gathered inside (likely a sound check guy fiddling around), I saw snack grub prices. Thank goodness I adequately prepped (fried dough should not cost $7, unless there are gold nuggets in there).
Basically, I needed no booze for the rest of the night (despite getting a buzz high from lots of smoke vapors floating around). It was perfect. We call it comedown. Come down from your buzz. And I couldn’t have timed it more perfectly. I rounded the corner, entered the stadium, found my seat, and within two minutes (or maybe as I found my seat), Rush started.
Okay, so here’s the deal with me and Rush… I’d always wanted to see them live while I could, which was why I was so psyched that they were playing. They’re not a hugely favorite band of mine, but I’ve got nearly all of their albums. All except the last two and their EP of covers (oh, and their triple disc live album). So I end with Test for Echoes.
In my mind, I equate Rush to AC/DC, the Ramones, and Motorhead. Please, Rush-heads, don’t stone me to death, because I know they have their immense following as devoted as the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd followers, only Rush is still around and playing. Going off that premise, what I mean to say is that the band has issued so many albums that they have a distinct sound. Like AC/DC, Motorhead, and the Ramones, that similar sound vibe persists, although listening to their span of albums as I have, they’re also kind of like a chameleon, as David Bowie is… only with Bowie, it’s album to album, or every other album, and with Rush? Well… they’re a really SLOW chameleon. But really, listen to Rush from the 70’s, and then the 80’s, and then their newer stuff. Change is there, just very gradual. Anyway, I really wanted to see them, at least once.
What does Rush evoke for me? Precision. Technocrats. Rock philosophers. A weird, good vibe, I’d say.
And all along, I was hoping that it’d pour. I thought it would pour. Geddy Lee even called it “a bit schmaltzy out.” Damn straight (we're talking humid, though finally, after days, a nice breeze had hit).
So anyway, the show’s intro bit had a very comedic element to it.
I really think I need a scattershot approach to this one. What old Rush tunes were in attendance? Their oldest, via their encore, was “Passage to Bangkok” (which I’ve read they haven’t done in a dog’s age, and which I wasn’t expecting, and was happily surprised). They did “Circumstances” and “Spirit of the Radio”… “Entres Nous” and “Digital Man,” too (always messes me up because of “New World Man,” which I like more, both on the same album).
You can of course check the set list on the net. It’s there, and I confirmed a few tracks over which I was a bit fuzzy. That’s why prelude and epilogue notes interest me so much via a concert review. Anyway, during their synth rock era of the 80’s (and boy, it struck me… wasn’t Van Halen’s 1984 immensely influenced by Rush as far as keyboards go), they kicked off with “Limelight,” performed “Subdivisions,” and of course, “Tom Sawyer.” That was the closing before the encore, and wasn’t this funny… ‘Lil Rush via South Park. On the big screen, we saw them, and heard Cartman singing, “my name’s Tom Sawyer, sailing down the river on a raft with a black man” (“that’s not how it goes!”) (“I read the book!”).
And by the way, that screen had some really funny stuff (SCTV’s brew brothers… “hey, hoser” or the bit playing during the “Main Monkey Business” instrumental) and also really trippy stuff (like the carriage motif nicely surreal in its placement for the band’s newest “Far Cry” video track). Stick with old songs first, though… they closed it all out with “XYZ” (it would have been funny if they threw in a half nod riff to Primus, I think, for Primus using their riff), “Witchhunt,” and “Natural Science” (dang, I forgot how old that one was). Uh… “The Mission” is from the 80’s, and I think that’s all the old tracks they did.
Tracks off the last two albums that I didn’t recognize, because I don’t have those albums? “Armor and Sword,” “Spindthrift,” “The Large Bowel,” “Workin’ the Angels,” “Way the Wind Blows,” “Hope,” “Malignant Narcism”… and off Vapor Trails, “Secret Touch” and “One Little Victory.” Sheesh, that’s a lot. Well, it’s the same old argument. If you like the old stuff, you want to hear more of that and less new stuff. Yet the band’s interest is to promote their new stuff.
They did “Summertime Blues,” off their cover album, which I’d quite like to get. Neil Peart did an impressive drum solo (I’d never been one much for drum solos, but this went from Rush style, to industrial style, to big band swing). Alex did an extended acoustic number. “Dreamline” is from Roll the Bones (though I would’ve preferred the title track or “Neurotica”), “Between the Wheels” is from Grace Under Pressure (though I would’ve much more preferred “Distant Early Warning” or “Red Sector A”), and “Freewill” (oops… that’s quite older, from Permanent Waves).
There’s your song list, scattered throughout a bunch of my junk. Hey, that’s how it goes. In addition to those few tracks I’ve already indicated, I would have also liked to hear “Animate,” “Stick It Out,” or “Driven” (newer wise), “Working Man” (way old), anything else off 2112 (classic), “The Pass” (a personal favorite, or even “Show Me Don’t Tell Me”), or maybe “Big Money” (fitting, since election '08 time is in way too early swing nowadays).
(Geddy Lee filmed us all saying hello to Canada).
Of course, with so many albums, chances are you won’t get to hear all your main picks. Anyway… the show was really good, as I expected it to be. There was no disappointment. For a band that’s been doing their thing for so long, with the same three members since nearly the beginning, and to still be having such a great time doing it… excellent.
The 411: Rush wouldn’t be on my list to rush out (‘scuse the pun) and see again. Great show, though. If you’re a Rush-head, and see them every time they come around, nothing I say will matter much to you when it comes to seeing them again. If you’ve never seen Rush before, now is as good a time as any to catch them live while they’re still hot (though knowing them, they’ll still probably be doing their thing at 90 years old).
