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Clockwork Angels
Sep. 24th, 2012 09:30 amTwo years ago, Rush toured their Time Machine tour, in advance of their Clockwork Angels album. At the time, they had released two single songs, that would later appear on that album. Not sure why they toured then, except that it had been a couple of years since they toured, and they had a couple of songs in the can. After the tour was over, they went back in the studio... at some point. The album was finally released this June (two years later), and they've been on tour since the beginning of September. This was the ninth show on the tour. So...
I found this show to be rather surprising. The last time, they did Moving Pictures all the way through, plus a good cross-section of their hits all the way through their career. This time, the show was divided into three sections. The middle section was nine songs from the new album. It's a sort of concept album, so that stands to reason. They brought a string ensemble onstage for that section. Pretty wild. Other than the new songs, it was almost all eighties stuff! Very different.
They opened with "Subdivisions." A surprising choice, since I don't think it really rocks. That was followed by "The Big Money," which really rocks. In fact, it was their opener for a couple of tours, back in the day. Phil was really pumped to hear this one, especially right away. It's one of his favorites, and one he hadn't heard for many years. He told me ahead of the show, that he was really hoping to hear it. My favorite of the first set was "The Analog Kid." It's probably my most favorite song between Moving Pictures and Roll the Bones (and it hadn't been played live since 1994). They ended up playing four songs from Power Windows, which was my favorite album between those same two albums. After "Analog Kid," they did two songs from RTB - "Bravado," followed by "Where's My Thing" (not played live since the RTB tour!) The latter included the first drum solo of the night. That solo was very traditional - old school drumming. It sounded good, but I thought it was a drummer's solo. Drummers would probably get the most out of it. The finished up the set with "Far Cry," a dark and rocking song.
Shortly before the band came back for the second set, a string section took the stage. Two cellos and about six violins lined up across the back of the stage. Then Rush came back and launched into Clockwork Angels. I must admit I was not familiar with the album. I had only listened to it a few times, and was not extremely impressed. The show was good, however. It got itself across at least as well as the album did. They did nine of the twelve songs on the album. Phil and I were struck by how many of the songs had the sound or feel of certain earlier albums. One song has a By-Tor kind of riff. Another sounds a lot like HYF-era. Another sounds like it was left off of S&A (okay, that's not a stretch), and another... I forget which album. "Headlong Flight" included a mini drum solo. After the CA songs, they did two more synth-era songs. They did "Manhattan Project." It turns out that they alternate this one with "Dreamline." "Dreamline" is one of my top ten Rush songs, so I'm disappointed to have missed it, but you don't hear "Manhattan Project" very often, so that's pretty cool. Neil led into "Red Sector A" with a unique percussion solo. It was all synth, and was... "melodious" sounds. Spacey. Very cool, I thought, but it sent the usual crowds into the aisles. They finished the set with "YYZ" and "Spirit of Radio," which was my favorite song of the night.
For the encore, they did "Tom Sawyer" (no surprise there) and "2112" (Overture, Temples and Finale).
The string section seemed to be having a great time. They were getting into being rock stars. I think they left the stage after "YYZ" and before "Spirit of Radio." I've probably heard a string quartet version of "YYZ" but not a string ensemble accompanying Rush. It was pretty cool, and it worked well. I'm glad they didn't push it and do SOR. It was the first time the band has ever had other musicians onstage with them. At least on a Rush tour.
Geddy's voice wasn't so hot this time. Last time, I remarked how great he sounded. Better than in many years, I thought. It seems that it's all reversed. He couldn't hit a lot of the higher notes, and his voice just generally sounded tired or something. When the show was over, Neil and Alex ran offstage in a big hurry. They were long gone by the time Geddy was done with his quick thank-yous.
The humor was a miss this time. The films weren't funny, and they had a couple of inexplicable moments based on costume animals.
They had an actual light show, with small, moving screens and lights. The entire back wall was a high-def video screen, sometimes showing animated footage, and sometimes live video.
The sound was mostly good. Geddy's bass was sometime too low and percussive. The guitar sometimes got lost in the mix. These are common problems, and it wasn't like that through the whole show. The strings were sometimes hard to hear, but sometimes they were perfectly audible.
( setlist )
I found this show to be rather surprising. The last time, they did Moving Pictures all the way through, plus a good cross-section of their hits all the way through their career. This time, the show was divided into three sections. The middle section was nine songs from the new album. It's a sort of concept album, so that stands to reason. They brought a string ensemble onstage for that section. Pretty wild. Other than the new songs, it was almost all eighties stuff! Very different.
They opened with "Subdivisions." A surprising choice, since I don't think it really rocks. That was followed by "The Big Money," which really rocks. In fact, it was their opener for a couple of tours, back in the day. Phil was really pumped to hear this one, especially right away. It's one of his favorites, and one he hadn't heard for many years. He told me ahead of the show, that he was really hoping to hear it. My favorite of the first set was "The Analog Kid." It's probably my most favorite song between Moving Pictures and Roll the Bones (and it hadn't been played live since 1994). They ended up playing four songs from Power Windows, which was my favorite album between those same two albums. After "Analog Kid," they did two songs from RTB - "Bravado," followed by "Where's My Thing" (not played live since the RTB tour!) The latter included the first drum solo of the night. That solo was very traditional - old school drumming. It sounded good, but I thought it was a drummer's solo. Drummers would probably get the most out of it. The finished up the set with "Far Cry," a dark and rocking song.
Shortly before the band came back for the second set, a string section took the stage. Two cellos and about six violins lined up across the back of the stage. Then Rush came back and launched into Clockwork Angels. I must admit I was not familiar with the album. I had only listened to it a few times, and was not extremely impressed. The show was good, however. It got itself across at least as well as the album did. They did nine of the twelve songs on the album. Phil and I were struck by how many of the songs had the sound or feel of certain earlier albums. One song has a By-Tor kind of riff. Another sounds a lot like HYF-era. Another sounds like it was left off of S&A (okay, that's not a stretch), and another... I forget which album. "Headlong Flight" included a mini drum solo. After the CA songs, they did two more synth-era songs. They did "Manhattan Project." It turns out that they alternate this one with "Dreamline." "Dreamline" is one of my top ten Rush songs, so I'm disappointed to have missed it, but you don't hear "Manhattan Project" very often, so that's pretty cool. Neil led into "Red Sector A" with a unique percussion solo. It was all synth, and was... "melodious" sounds. Spacey. Very cool, I thought, but it sent the usual crowds into the aisles. They finished the set with "YYZ" and "Spirit of Radio," which was my favorite song of the night.
For the encore, they did "Tom Sawyer" (no surprise there) and "2112" (Overture, Temples and Finale).
The string section seemed to be having a great time. They were getting into being rock stars. I think they left the stage after "YYZ" and before "Spirit of Radio." I've probably heard a string quartet version of "YYZ" but not a string ensemble accompanying Rush. It was pretty cool, and it worked well. I'm glad they didn't push it and do SOR. It was the first time the band has ever had other musicians onstage with them. At least on a Rush tour.
Geddy's voice wasn't so hot this time. Last time, I remarked how great he sounded. Better than in many years, I thought. It seems that it's all reversed. He couldn't hit a lot of the higher notes, and his voice just generally sounded tired or something. When the show was over, Neil and Alex ran offstage in a big hurry. They were long gone by the time Geddy was done with his quick thank-yous.
The humor was a miss this time. The films weren't funny, and they had a couple of inexplicable moments based on costume animals.
They had an actual light show, with small, moving screens and lights. The entire back wall was a high-def video screen, sometimes showing animated footage, and sometimes live video.
The sound was mostly good. Geddy's bass was sometime too low and percussive. The guitar sometimes got lost in the mix. These are common problems, and it wasn't like that through the whole show. The strings were sometimes hard to hear, but sometimes they were perfectly audible.
( setlist )
