An Impromptu RUSH review, by thoRny

*June 30, 2004, USAna Amphitheater, SLC, UT*

Well RUSH did it: they rocked our collective world for 3 Hours and Twenty Minutes, as Geddy promised. Man what a killer show. I've seen em over a dozen times, but it's like the freshness never fades. They kicked off the show with an extensive "Oldschool Rush Medley", beginning with segments from each of their albums, starting off with Finding My Way from their debut, and seamlessly riffing through Anthem, Bastille Day, parts of A Farewell To Kings (including a kickass foray into Cygnus X-1), and weaving and winding all over their early terrain with wild rocking abandon, for like a good twenty minutes it seemed. Eventually this kickass medley segued into the beginning of The Spirit Of Radio, and finally Geddy began singing for the first time, delivering us avid pack of raving RUSH fans the first official entire full-length song of the set. Talk about an amazing, inspired beginning to what ended up becoming one of the best RUSH shows I ever saw.

For the next 3 hours RUSH rocked us so hard that nobody sat down during the first half of the show, NOBODY. An hour and a half we stood up, fist-pumping, gyrating, dancing about, and singing along at the top of our lungs most of the time. I wish I had written down the setlist but instead I was having a raving good time jamming along on air guitar with Alex, pounding the invisible skins before me with Neil, and singing along with everyone else as Geddy led us through RUSH's inspired lyrics - incidentally the most thoughtful lyrics, IMO, in rock'n'roll (thanks Neil). Halfway through their show, when they launched into Between The Wheels from Grace Under Pressure, I thought to myself "This is my high point of the show, right here", but then directly after that they played Mystic Rhythms from Power Windows, which blew me away even more, and then not long after that, they ripped out an explosive rendition of 2112, keeping the intro and Temples of Syrinx parts fully intact, and bridging the interludes after that to a rousing closer, which sequed into the entire jamathon we RUSH die-hards know as La Villa Strangiata, man halfway through that one I was all "This is the best part of the show!". But then they played Red Sector A and The Trees, both of which feature lyrics chillingly effective in the shadow of September Eleventh.

In short: There were so many "HIgh Points" and pivotal moments scattered throughout the show, that before too long it became evident (especially all throughout the second set) that THE ENTIRE CONCERT WAS A FREAKING HIGH POINT!!!


Geddy picked up an acoustic guitar and joined Alex for a thoughtful duet rendition of Resist, from T4E, and it really was a beautifully moving song, showcasing RUSH's ample songwriting, ballad skills. Then they immediately launched into that Yardbirds cover, with Neil jumping in on the kit (can't remember the name of the song). It was awesome. The RUSHness just kept goin' and goin'......there were some audience members (notably girlfriends of real RUSH fans) who were tiring out towards the end, and sitting down. You could just tell they were thinking "My Lord When Will This Ever End", and I had to laugh and shake my head at the poor weaklings who couldn't take THE ROCK UNT ROLLLLLLL! LOL

Of course Neil launched into one of his standard, awe-inducing, superhuman, quantum-rhythmic, plain GODLY drum soloes which lasted a good ten minutes or more, peaking into a hilarious "chopsticks" segue interpolating classic imagery onscreen of jazz-age drummers & flapper girls dancing hysterically. You had to have been there, leave it said the Neilster proved yet again that there is simply no one on the planet that can hold a candle to his superhuman percussive skills. Fucking mindblowing.

They finished their Godly Set with Limelight, and said Good Night. One of the coolest things Geddy said was something along the lines of "Hope to see you next time around", which confirmed the secret hopes of every true RUSH fan there: these old rockers ain't done with us yet.