Catch the Spirit…
An Evening Of Rush – Moving Pictures with Clockwork Angels and Leoni Jane Kennedy
The Garage, Glasgow, 19th August 2023
An Evening Of Rush – Moving Pictures with Clockwork Angels and Leoni Jane Kennedy
The Garage, Glasgow, 19th August 2023
An Evening Of Rush, performed in the main hall (such was the ticket demand) of The Garage was, in effect, a mini RushFest, but with a bigger touring picture in the frame for the headline act.
Moving Pictures are, for this writer, reviewer and Rush fan, the best and most authentic Rush tribute currently plying their trade on many a stage – indeed by the time this year is out MP will have played close to 50 gigs up & down the country, from Inverness to Worthing; later this month they will play Lakeside Park in Ontario as invited guests of Neil Peart’s sisters (that’s how far their talents, and ‘Rush family’ connections, which also include Rush producer Terry Brown and cover artist/ musician Hugh Syme, stretch).
At The Garage Moving Pictures biggest show to date (including additional lighting from Kevin Cain, who worked on Rush’s Moving Pictures tour) featured not just a full two hour performance from the trio of Steve Brown (guitars, vocals), Eóin de Paor (lead vocals, bass, keys) and Jamie Dunleavey (drums), but an hour’s worth of Rush from Clockwork Angels and a short, introductory showcase from up and coming singer-songwriter Leoni Jane Kennedy.
Moving Pictures are, for this writer, reviewer and Rush fan, the best and most authentic Rush tribute currently plying their trade on many a stage – indeed by the time this year is out MP will have played close to 50 gigs up & down the country, from Inverness to Worthing; later this month they will play Lakeside Park in Ontario as invited guests of Neil Peart’s sisters (that’s how far their talents, and ‘Rush family’ connections, which also include Rush producer Terry Brown and cover artist/ musician Hugh Syme, stretch).
At The Garage Moving Pictures biggest show to date (including additional lighting from Kevin Cain, who worked on Rush’s Moving Pictures tour) featured not just a full two hour performance from the trio of Steve Brown (guitars, vocals), Eóin de Paor (lead vocals, bass, keys) and Jamie Dunleavey (drums), but an hour’s worth of Rush from Clockwork Angels and a short, introductory showcase from up and coming singer-songwriter Leoni Jane Kennedy.
A major Rush fan since before she was in her teens, the soulfully voiced LJK’s two song set featured the delicately phrased original 'Ammunition' and a jaunty-folk version of 'Kid Gloves.'
The latter is also on her recently released New World Woman album, a collection of acoustic Rush covers, many with a clever/ reimagined twist.
If you want to keep a further eye and ear on Miss Kennedy, she is back out on the road with The Anchoress in September; she also hopes to put out a couple of singles later in the year before looking to release an all-original album in 2024.
Clockwork Angels, like Moving Pictures, have long been accepted as a Glasgow approved Rush tribute, but that doesn’t mean you don’t still have to put in a shift in to convince and impress one of the most dedicated and avid fan-bases in rock.
Other than a couple of not-that-noticeable flubs, a seriously convincing and impressive shift is exactly what a packed Garage crowd got from CA, which was all the more impressive given drummer Micky Kerrigan was deputising for regular drummer, the on holiday Stephen McGoldrick.
To lock down a Rush set in the engine room, after only one rehearsal, was no easy task, but Kerrigan coped admirably as he, singer Andy Dixon (not Geddy-like but impressively voiced), guitarist Lerxst Omega (aka Greig McMillan) and Willie Winsborough (bass, keys, backing vocals) delivered a set that avoided the obvious to concentrate, for the most part, on Rush’s synth textured mid-era period.
Opening with 'Chemistry' from the Signals album was a little left field, but that just made for a more interesting and entertaining set – fan favourite 'Subdivisions,' the AOR-prog of 'Grand Designs' (the crowd in full "woh-oh oh-oh-oh-oh" voice) the grungier 'Driven' and the downtempo poignancy of 'Bravado' (featuring Andy Dixon’s best vocal of the night) were all highlights.
The band closed out by taking a 'Headlong Flight' into the album that gave Clockwork Angels their name, followed by a band introducing 'Grand Finale' (preceded by a miscued blast of the 2112 intro that gave those stage managing the set-length time an absolute fit).
The latter is also on her recently released New World Woman album, a collection of acoustic Rush covers, many with a clever/ reimagined twist.
If you want to keep a further eye and ear on Miss Kennedy, she is back out on the road with The Anchoress in September; she also hopes to put out a couple of singles later in the year before looking to release an all-original album in 2024.
Clockwork Angels, like Moving Pictures, have long been accepted as a Glasgow approved Rush tribute, but that doesn’t mean you don’t still have to put in a shift in to convince and impress one of the most dedicated and avid fan-bases in rock.
Other than a couple of not-that-noticeable flubs, a seriously convincing and impressive shift is exactly what a packed Garage crowd got from CA, which was all the more impressive given drummer Micky Kerrigan was deputising for regular drummer, the on holiday Stephen McGoldrick.
To lock down a Rush set in the engine room, after only one rehearsal, was no easy task, but Kerrigan coped admirably as he, singer Andy Dixon (not Geddy-like but impressively voiced), guitarist Lerxst Omega (aka Greig McMillan) and Willie Winsborough (bass, keys, backing vocals) delivered a set that avoided the obvious to concentrate, for the most part, on Rush’s synth textured mid-era period.
Opening with 'Chemistry' from the Signals album was a little left field, but that just made for a more interesting and entertaining set – fan favourite 'Subdivisions,' the AOR-prog of 'Grand Designs' (the crowd in full "woh-oh oh-oh-oh-oh" voice) the grungier 'Driven' and the downtempo poignancy of 'Bravado' (featuring Andy Dixon’s best vocal of the night) were all highlights.
The band closed out by taking a 'Headlong Flight' into the album that gave Clockwork Angels their name, followed by a band introducing 'Grand Finale' (preceded by a miscued blast of the 2112 intro that gave those stage managing the set-length time an absolute fit).
As warmly received as Leoni Jane Kennedy’s mini-set was, and as vociferously acknowledged as Clockwork Angels were, there’s no question The Garage spotlight was on Moving Pictures as they continue to slowly but assuredly take their Rush show to bigger halls, bigger audiences and out beyond the fandom of RushFest events.
While CA cover Rush material with passion and aplomb, MP, under the founding and managerial guidance of Steve Brown (whose aforementioned RushFest events, which will celebrate their tenth anniversary next year, have thus far made £101,000 for charity) do their damnedest to catch not just the spirit of Rush but every note, nuance and beat of the songs they perform from that revered band’s stellar catalogue.
Opening with a truncated 'R30' medley of 'Finding My Way' and 'Anthem,' the band then switched up to an unabridged 'La Villa Strangiato;' no easy three-piece feat to pull off, but the MP version of the classic, multi-part instrumental was none too shabby, with some seriously nifty six-string play from Steve Brown.
Given the band are named after one of Rush’s finest ever works (and one of the greatest, progressively constructed rock albums of the 80s) it was a no brainer to feature the Moving Pictures album in its entirety for this special gig.
Each of that classic album’s song were played authentically and performed at a high level, but special mention to 'Tom Sawyer' (The Garage choir in full decibel raising voice, not for the first or last time) and a ridiculously well-handled 'YYZ,' which included the crowd doing their best Rush in Rio "dah da-da-da-da doh" impression (and serious nods here to the bass and drum work of Eóin de Paor and Jamie Dunleavey, the latter doing more on a kit smaller than Neil Peart’s percussive armoury than should be possible).
While CA cover Rush material with passion and aplomb, MP, under the founding and managerial guidance of Steve Brown (whose aforementioned RushFest events, which will celebrate their tenth anniversary next year, have thus far made £101,000 for charity) do their damnedest to catch not just the spirit of Rush but every note, nuance and beat of the songs they perform from that revered band’s stellar catalogue.
Opening with a truncated 'R30' medley of 'Finding My Way' and 'Anthem,' the band then switched up to an unabridged 'La Villa Strangiato;' no easy three-piece feat to pull off, but the MP version of the classic, multi-part instrumental was none too shabby, with some seriously nifty six-string play from Steve Brown.
Given the band are named after one of Rush’s finest ever works (and one of the greatest, progressively constructed rock albums of the 80s) it was a no brainer to feature the Moving Pictures album in its entirety for this special gig.
Each of that classic album’s song were played authentically and performed at a high level, but special mention to 'Tom Sawyer' (The Garage choir in full decibel raising voice, not for the first or last time) and a ridiculously well-handled 'YYZ,' which included the crowd doing their best Rush in Rio "dah da-da-da-da doh" impression (and serious nods here to the bass and drum work of Eóin de Paor and Jamie Dunleavey, the latter doing more on a kit smaller than Neil Peart’s percussive armoury than should be possible).
Outside of the Moving Pictures showcase 'Xanadu' offered itself up as a true double neck guitars highlight, from its bell chimes accompanied opening to crescendo finish, while 'Closer To The Heart' set up the commemorative sing-a-long moment of the night (many "of an age" audience members were part of the Rush gig at the legendary Glasgow Apollo 43 years ago where the "Glaswegian Choir" made their voices heard on Exit… Stage Left).
Both those songs also helped showcase that Eóin de Paor is the perfect fit in the role of Geddy Lee as regards similar mechanics (and even physicality), locking the bass lines down and, more importantly, voice (not the same timbre but very much of the more mature Geddy mould).
Both those songs also helped showcase that Eóin de Paor is the perfect fit in the role of Geddy Lee as regards similar mechanics (and even physicality), locking the bass lines down and, more importantly, voice (not the same timbre but very much of the more mature Geddy mould).
Other highlights included 'Between The Wheels,' a punchy 'Stick It Out,' 'Lakeside Park' (in celebration of the band’s upcoming trip), 'Far Cry' (with three suitably attired Moving Pictures workers, including Leoni Jane Kennedy, firing, on Far Cry cue, confetti cannons into the crowd) 'Working Man' and short & sweet sing-a-long finale, 'The Sphere.'
All made their mark on both performance and audience, where grown men did actually cry (or was it perspiration running down the faces due to the packed crowd and hot lights?)
Job done, Moving Pictures took their bows and made their exit (stage left, natch).
And, on this showing, there will be plenty more, potentially bigger stages to take their fully deserved bows on.
And not, as is already being established, just within the confines of the UK.
Catch the spirit; catch the tribute.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Find out more about Moving Pictures at:
https://www.movingpicturesuk.com/
All images by Kevin Kerr 1010 Photography
https://www.kk1010photography.com/
'Ammunition' and 'Closer to the Heart' filmed by UK Live Metal
https://www.youtube.com/@UKLiveMetal
All made their mark on both performance and audience, where grown men did actually cry (or was it perspiration running down the faces due to the packed crowd and hot lights?)
Job done, Moving Pictures took their bows and made their exit (stage left, natch).
And, on this showing, there will be plenty more, potentially bigger stages to take their fully deserved bows on.
And not, as is already being established, just within the confines of the UK.
Catch the spirit; catch the tribute.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Find out more about Moving Pictures at:
https://www.movingpicturesuk.com/
All images by Kevin Kerr 1010 Photography
https://www.kk1010photography.com/
'Ammunition' and 'Closer to the Heart' filmed by UK Live Metal
https://www.youtube.com/@UKLiveMetal