A Farewell to Kings?
Rush - R40 Live (DVD/ Blu-ray/ 3xCD)
Rush - R40 Live (DVD/ Blu-ray/ 3xCD)
Rush and the FabricationsHQ reviewers have had a long, long relationship; almost as long as the 40 years celebrated on R40 Live.
From those teenage years, when the epitome of school-cool was carrying 70s Rush LPs around, through the band’s 80s period experimenting with synths, into the guitar-driven 90s and drummer Neil Peart’s personal tragedies that put a halt to the band for some five years, before re-emerging in the early Millennium with a series of tours and albums that have continued to reward the fans who have stuck by them.
Hell, they even managed to get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after many years of Rolling Stone magazine deliberately excluding them from consideration.
And now the R40 Live DVD, Blu-ray and 3xCD set, capturing the band on what was another big production tour, performing the kind of set fans have been longing for.
But it's a bittersweet live affair.
When Rush announced a series of 40th Anniversary shows in the US, European fans collectively held their breath hoping for a similar run of dates to see the band one last time – but the hard reality is Rush are now done with full-scale touring, certainly given the credibility of comments filtering out from the inner circle.
And that’s a shame because the R40 show presented on this live release is one of the best Rush have ever delivered and, as musicians, since the Clockwork Angels album and tour, Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson have never played or performed this well.
Following a fun, through-the-eras animation (one of three video features that form part of the performance), the R40 shows kicked off with tracks from the band’s outstanding and most recent album Clockwork Angels.
On R40 Live the blistering brace 'The Anarchist' and 'Headlong Flight' open proceedings before a chronological trip back through musical time ensues, until the show ends where the band’s career began.
The accompanying stage show is equally retro.
Starting off with the impressive state of the art lighting rig used on the Clockwork Angels tour, the backdrops, lights and amplifiers slowly change to reflect the period of the songs being performed.
It’s a cool idea and a clever step back in time visual for the audience and viewer, seeing replicas of the same stage sets the band used during the 90s, 80s and 70s.
By the time the band reach the final encore songs of 'What You're Doing' / 'Working Man,' the stage and video screen have been paired down to depict a high school gym hall with a mirror ball and a couple of amps and speakers balanced on chairs, just as it was when Rush started out in 1974.
The musical back tracking produces highlight after highlight, whether it be a later era numbers such as the punchy and tight rendition of 'Far Cry' or a welcome airing for the vapor trailed, heavy melodic pop of 'How It Is.'
The band’s successful 80s period is, unsurprisingly, well catered for – 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Spirit of Radio' are mandatory inclusions in any Rush set but the "airplay hits" take second place to the musically striking and lyrically poignant 'Losing It.'
The Signals song had never been performed live until the R40 tour and here features Canadian musician Ben Mink on violin.
With a set that pretty much covers all the bases (drums and guitars), it’s great to see and hear a whole chunk of the show focusing on the band’s classic, and earliest, 70s material that first brought them to prominence.
The upside to that 70s showing is an outing for songs such as 'Jacob’s Ladder' and a Hemispheric medley incorporating 'Cygnus Book II : Prelude' and 'Cygnus Book I : Prologue' – and the double-neck guitars are brought out of retirement one last time for the mythical prog classic 'Xanadu' – but the downside is Geddy Lee’s voice can’t carry those high pitched notes any more.
On the 'Lakeside Park / Anthem' encore Geddy Lee comes close to hitting those back in the day notes on one line (albeit from the throat/ in thinner falsetto) but intentionally ducks or sings under them on the next; it all makes for some of the most interesting and unusual vocal passages of Lee's live career.
It’s fitting that R40 Live was recorded and filmed over two sold out nights in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre.
The band's first, four decades earlier live album was also recorded in Toronto (at Massey Hall) and there’s a feeling of a circle being completed, with the band going out on a big stage high in the city where it all started.
If All the World’s a Stage then Rush, for 40 years, performed under the global spotlight as well as any.
And, on their last tour, as R40 Live showcases, better than most.
John Stout & Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
From those teenage years, when the epitome of school-cool was carrying 70s Rush LPs around, through the band’s 80s period experimenting with synths, into the guitar-driven 90s and drummer Neil Peart’s personal tragedies that put a halt to the band for some five years, before re-emerging in the early Millennium with a series of tours and albums that have continued to reward the fans who have stuck by them.
Hell, they even managed to get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after many years of Rolling Stone magazine deliberately excluding them from consideration.
And now the R40 Live DVD, Blu-ray and 3xCD set, capturing the band on what was another big production tour, performing the kind of set fans have been longing for.
But it's a bittersweet live affair.
When Rush announced a series of 40th Anniversary shows in the US, European fans collectively held their breath hoping for a similar run of dates to see the band one last time – but the hard reality is Rush are now done with full-scale touring, certainly given the credibility of comments filtering out from the inner circle.
And that’s a shame because the R40 show presented on this live release is one of the best Rush have ever delivered and, as musicians, since the Clockwork Angels album and tour, Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson have never played or performed this well.
Following a fun, through-the-eras animation (one of three video features that form part of the performance), the R40 shows kicked off with tracks from the band’s outstanding and most recent album Clockwork Angels.
On R40 Live the blistering brace 'The Anarchist' and 'Headlong Flight' open proceedings before a chronological trip back through musical time ensues, until the show ends where the band’s career began.
The accompanying stage show is equally retro.
Starting off with the impressive state of the art lighting rig used on the Clockwork Angels tour, the backdrops, lights and amplifiers slowly change to reflect the period of the songs being performed.
It’s a cool idea and a clever step back in time visual for the audience and viewer, seeing replicas of the same stage sets the band used during the 90s, 80s and 70s.
By the time the band reach the final encore songs of 'What You're Doing' / 'Working Man,' the stage and video screen have been paired down to depict a high school gym hall with a mirror ball and a couple of amps and speakers balanced on chairs, just as it was when Rush started out in 1974.
The musical back tracking produces highlight after highlight, whether it be a later era numbers such as the punchy and tight rendition of 'Far Cry' or a welcome airing for the vapor trailed, heavy melodic pop of 'How It Is.'
The band’s successful 80s period is, unsurprisingly, well catered for – 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Spirit of Radio' are mandatory inclusions in any Rush set but the "airplay hits" take second place to the musically striking and lyrically poignant 'Losing It.'
The Signals song had never been performed live until the R40 tour and here features Canadian musician Ben Mink on violin.
With a set that pretty much covers all the bases (drums and guitars), it’s great to see and hear a whole chunk of the show focusing on the band’s classic, and earliest, 70s material that first brought them to prominence.
The upside to that 70s showing is an outing for songs such as 'Jacob’s Ladder' and a Hemispheric medley incorporating 'Cygnus Book II : Prelude' and 'Cygnus Book I : Prologue' – and the double-neck guitars are brought out of retirement one last time for the mythical prog classic 'Xanadu' – but the downside is Geddy Lee’s voice can’t carry those high pitched notes any more.
On the 'Lakeside Park / Anthem' encore Geddy Lee comes close to hitting those back in the day notes on one line (albeit from the throat/ in thinner falsetto) but intentionally ducks or sings under them on the next; it all makes for some of the most interesting and unusual vocal passages of Lee's live career.
It’s fitting that R40 Live was recorded and filmed over two sold out nights in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre.
The band's first, four decades earlier live album was also recorded in Toronto (at Massey Hall) and there’s a feeling of a circle being completed, with the band going out on a big stage high in the city where it all started.
If All the World’s a Stage then Rush, for 40 years, performed under the global spotlight as well as any.
And, on their last tour, as R40 Live showcases, better than most.
John Stout & Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ