The string section was absolutly great. I'd rather see that then have keyboards....
My preferences stem from a lifetime of being a Keith Emerson admirer. The very first "rock concert" I ever saw was ELP's show in 1978 in Phx, Az. I was 17.
The very first recorded music I ever picked out for myself was ELP's very first album (1973). I was 12.
The very first musical instrument I bought for myself was actually two ... a brand new ARP Axxe and a 1967 Hammond M100. I was mondo-hugely into dirtbike racing then (closed course motocross and open desert racing).
But that ELP show was SO intense and created such a profound lightning strike of influence in me, that I actually sold my racebike and bought those two keyboards. Which of course changed my life forever.
I'll feely admit that I am biased. But I've no doubt that the ~right~ KB player would be a great asset to Rush in a live setting.
I understand that a well chosen string section can be an excellent addition to certain bands. Kansas still tours with one (just to throw in the name of another bunch of guys in their 60's still cranking out excellent live shows). Their music has a lot of string sounds anyhow, so it is a perfect match.
So anyhow, perhaps now you see where my bias comes from. I've always thought that Rush would do well to include a good synthesist in their stage show (other than Jack Secret doing things with synths under the stage). In the past, Geddy has ~complained~ that he doesn't like to goof with synths and such on stage in many interviews. So adding someone on the keys would relieve him of that chore. It would also allow for yet another element of improvisational high voltage. As it is, he steps on a foot-trigger .. a sample is triggered or a bass note is droned .. and that's really ~it~. Extended synth solos would simply add to the excitement of their show, or even just the occassional unique riffs here and there (instead of a pre-recorded sample that is always the same for each show) .. the exact same way it's done now with the three of them, but with a fourth element. Providing yet one more element of "the rock concert" energy, and another on-the-fly instrumentalist that could add unique textures to each show ... just like the way the three of them do now ... each show has a little bit different guitar solos/parts/riffs and bass solos/parts/riffs and drum solos/parts/riffs. "Remember that show in Rooster Poop Ohio? Alex had a great night, and La Villa Strangiato was incredible!" .... er whatever. It's part of why we buy live albums, to hear what is done differently and created in realtime. I think I've made my point by now.
When done ~properly~ (that is to say when the keyboard player is as electric and animated as the guitar players are) it can be highly energetic. Emerson was very animated on stage, he didn't just stand (or sit) there banging out his parts. He was very much one of the visual elements, and he used a lot of motion and movement when using his synths. He'd repatch that enormous Moog modular synth in a flash ... pulling patch cords, rejacking and repatching frenetically. And he'd not ~mute~ the synth when repatching during a song .. he'd use the crazy super-intense sounds the synth was making when being repatched as part of the music. Lordy that thing would just SCREAM.
So that is what I visualize in my peanut head when I say things like "Rush needs a good keyboard player". Not just musically accomplished ... but an entertainer as well.
It's all moot daydreaming anyhow .... not even worth arguing over or even discussing, really. Kinda like wishing Geddy could still pull off "Cygnus" .. yea, it would be cool .. but it ain't happening!
I might add that it was Geddy and Rush that influnced my decision to start learning bass guitar. My lovely wife (been with her since 1979 and still am) bought my first bass guitar for me in 1990. It was some sort of Ibanez 4 string .. black. Something like an "SDGR" sunthin sunthin or everwhat. Which was yet another musical milestone for me.
So my apologies if my insistance that adding a well thought out KB player would be a great thing for Rush isn't something most folks agree with. You see, I have no choice in the matter .... those wretched things are burned into my very soul ... it's just who I am.
Thanks for allowing me to ramble and rant.
Fluxtard.
