Saw Rush tonight, 8/4 near Sacramento

[Mofo-Kang]

...at the Sleeptrain Ampitheater in Marysville (a few minutes north of Sacramento, CA). Awesome show--I've seen them 3 times before, and this one was by far the best. I didn't really notice anything during the show that would be earth-shattering news to anyone here. He used the black/white J-bass for most of the songs, and swapped it out for the red one once or twice, that fretless Jaco relic bass Fender gave him for "Malignant Narcissism." One little detail I noticed...either Geddy actually signed the back of the headstock of his vintage J-bass, or he really does use some of those signature models and swaps them around, because there were some brief glimpses of the backside of his bass's headstock visible on the big screens when he was doing the keyboard riff on "Tom Sawyer," and it definitely had the autograph in place. And yeah, he used one of his Ricks for "Passage to Bangkok" during the encore. The chicken rotisseries were just a LITTLE weird...I see why he wants them there, though...the stage would look really lopsided with Alex's stacks on one side and nothing behind Geddy...


Alex used a couple of acoustics, but the rest of the show he switched between 2 or 3 Les Pauls. They might have been copies by another company--one had a Floyd Rose on it. I looked carefully, but never got a clear view of the headstocks' logos. Oh, yeah, and he used his white Gibson ES-355 during the encore part. After Neil's solo, Alex did a solo himself with a 12-string acoustic that was pretty cool, too. Very clean and clear sound, perfectly in tune, really nice.

Peart's drum solo...well, what can I say? The guy is the freakin' MAN.

Great stuff. The crowd seemed into the new material, but they definitely cheered most enthusiastically for the old hits. The people around me were going berzerk for "Tom Sawyer," "Freewill," and "Subdivisions." The light show looked great, they had 4 big screens set up behind and next to the stage, with close up camera work and various video shorts running. There were some "guest appearances" in the videos--the kids from South Park covering Tom Sawyer, Bob & Doug MacKenzie...

The worst part was getting out of there. The ampitheater is 110 miles from my house, but it took me over 3 hours to get home. Whoever thought it'd be a good idea to have an outdoor concert venue serviced by a two lane road wasn't using his head... The souvineer prices were just crazy, too. 90-freakin' dollars for a PROGRAM? I love you guys, but I'm not paying $90 for your concert program...

[Busker]

They played Marysville? That's not a huge town. I'm surprised.

What do you mean by "chicken rotisseries"?

I wouldn't pay $90 for a program either.

[Dave Siff]

Originally Posted by Busker

What do you mean by "chicken rotisseries"?

On this tour, in place of amps and speaker cabinets, Geddy has three vending machines filled with rotisserie chickens. He used clothes dryers on the last tour.

[Baryonyx]

Man, I cannot wait to see them live!

[Mofo-Kang]

One other thing...they played some older songs I haven't heard them do live, like "Between the Wheels." That's cool, but it means they had to take some songs out of the lineup that I was looking forward to seeing them play, like "Time Stand Still." Ah, well, maybe next time. "One Little Victory" was pretty cool to see/hear, and with a fire-breathing dragon, no less.

[Roger Haworth]

The reason for the signature on the back of the headstock on his main bass is that the neck has been replaced:

http://www.bassplayer.com/story.asp?...torycode=19053

[Foamy]

It wasn't $90 for a program. I believe it was a collection of ALL the programs from all previous tours, plus a carry-bag with them. Still, $90 is a lot of money. But just this year's was $20.
And the minimum was $30 for a T-shirt. It was my son's first concert, and I wanted to get him a souvenir, but I also try to teach him the value of a buck. No shirt.

[Foamy]

Originally Posted by Dave Siff

On this tour, in place of amps and speaker cabinets, Geddy has three vending machines filled with rotisserie chickens. He used clothes dryers on the last tour.

Were they really cooking the chickens though? I was pretty close and on the Geddy side of the stage, and I could smell BBQ'ed chicken all night! I don't know if it was from the machines or from the vendors - but I don't think the vendors were doing BBQ chicken. I was starving though and it was killing me!

[Foamy]

Originally Posted by Mofo-Kang

...

The worst part was getting out of there. The ampitheater is 110 miles from my house, but it took me over 3 hours to get home. Whoever thought it'd be a good idea to have an outdoor concert venue serviced by a two lane road wasn't using his head... The souvineer prices were just crazy, too. 90-freakin' dollars for a PROGRAM? I love you guys, but I'm not paying $90 for your concert program...

Where do you live? They were at Concord on Friday night - that may've been an easier show to get to. Also, you don't have to go down 65, you can go down some backroads that'll take you all the way out to 5 near SMF if you know your way, or use a GPS, and you'd've avoided all that traffic down through Lincoln.

Nevermind - I see Modesto. Yeah, Concord would've been waaay easier.

[Mofo-Kang]

Originally Posted by Enchanter_Tim

It wasn't $90 for a program. I believe it was a collection of ALL the programs from all previous tours, plus a carry-bag with them. Still, $90 is a lot of money. But just this year's was $20.
And the minimum was $30 for a T-shirt. It was my son's first concert, and I wanted to get him a souvenir, but I also try to teach him the value of a buck. No shirt.

Ah, well, that might have been worth it (I'd have to see how many programs and all that). The stand in Marysville just had "Program $90" on a small sign.

[Mofo-Kang]

Originally Posted by Enchanter_Tim

Were they really cooking the chickens though? I was pretty close and on the Geddy side of the stage, and I could smell BBQ'ed chicken all night! I don't know if it was from the machines or from the vendors - but I don't think the vendors were doing BBQ chicken. I was starving though and it was killing me!

From what I've read, yeah, they're real chickens in there. The crew and band eats them after the shows.

[Mofo-Kang]

Originally Posted by Enchanter_Tim

Where do you live? They were at Concord on Friday night - that may've been an easier show to get to. Also, you don't have to go down 65, you can go down some backroads that'll take you all the way out to 5 near SMF if you know your way, or use a GPS, and you'd've avoided all that traffic down through Lincoln.

I live in Modesto. Yeah, I had one of those sneaky feelings all the way back that there had to be a better way, but it was midnight, in the middle of nowhere (at least that's how it looks at midnight around there...lol), in bumper to bumper traffic. I didn't want to go exploring... hehehe Basically, I just went all the way down 65 til it hit 99, and then kept on that the rest of the way. The good thing is, once we got out of the congested traffic, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way--hardly any cars at all. But the whole way to Lincoln and Roseville was stop and go, with brief periods of being able to get all the way up to 35 or so!

[DubBeats CB]

I saw them on 8/3 in Shoreline Amphitheatre, CA. It was an amazing concert. It was the first time I have ever seen them. The concert was LOUD. I have been to some big concerts nad this one by far was the loudest, almost painful.

The Band was in top form, except Geddy kinda flubbed the lyrics at the end of Tom Sawyer. IT was funny, he looked off stage and kinda giggled and smiled. Other than that, they played flawlessly.

I don't think Alex LIfeson gets enough credit. That guy is a stud. And Neil Peart, he is unreal. He doesn't show any emotion during the performance though, kinda odd. During YYZ at the very end of the concert he smiled and laughed, but other than that he was stone faced.

I highly recommend this concert. The South Park and Strange Brew bits were hilarious.

Great Concert, great band, awesome night.

[Busker]

Originally Posted by Dave Siff

On this tour, in place of amps and speaker cabinets, Geddy has three vending machines filled with rotisserie chickens. He used clothes dryers on the last tour.

OK, I get it now, thanks. LOL

Come to think of it, I saw them on TV a while back. Maybe it was one of those PBS concert programs, but I only saw a bit of it. I seem to vaguely remember clothes dryers behind Geddy and thinking it was odd.

[Mofo-Kang]

Originally Posted by Busker

OK, I get it now, thanks. LOL

Come to think of it, I saw them on TV a while back. Maybe it was one of those PBS concert programs, but I only saw a bit of it. I seem to vaguely remember clothes dryers behind Geddy and thinking it was odd.

He said it's to get a "warm, dry sound."

[flareaga]

I'm digging Farcry, and it's doing good on radio...I'm glad to see Rush doesn't suck still. I hope I get to see them...

[By-Tor]

I was there Mofo-Kang.
Great show. Did you see the Owl fly out from under the roof of the stage area a couple minutes before the show. That was just perfect. As always it was a great show.

[McHaven]

I'm seeing them on the 14th. My first Rush show.

[Foamy]

Originally Posted by By-Tor

I was there Mofo-Kang.
Great show. Did you see the Owl fly out from under the roof of the stage area a couple minutes before the show. That was just perfect. As always it was a great show.

That owl was beautiful; an awesome ting to see for sure. At first I thought it was a trained owl like from Fly By Night - that kind of thing.

[Foamy]

My son and I kinda laughed a bit when Geddy said 'Thanks for coming out on this sweltering night'. We were thankful that it gone down to under 100. Most of us that live in this area are well-adapted to 100-105 late afternoons and 95-100 evenings this time of year.