I drove an hour out to Cass' house to grab him, then we headed into Queen Anne to find parking and get dinner. Obviously, I've been watching YouTube vids from all the previous shows. I was pretty knowledgeable about the setlist but didn't watch the shows in Denver earlier this week. I made a playlist for Cass and got on with my week.
Our seats were on Alex's side maybe not quite 1/4th of the way back and about 10 rows up from the floor. We weren't super close, but definitely not too far away. We got seated and waited for the show to start. Mike Musburger saw Cass and I and came to say hi for a few minutes. With all his drum history, this was his first time ever seeing Rush, so he was pretty excited.
They hit the lights around 7:45 and I got to watch the intro video that I hadn't spoiled for myself. After that, it was Xanadu and the show was on. Double-neck guitars out, arena sounding loud and bassy, Anika on fire and hit all the fills. Alex and Geddy sounding great as well. Really promising start!
The crowd was interesting. Floor was mostly standing and then in our area, Cass and I stood for most of the show. Luckily we were on the aisle, so there was no one directly behind us, and those that we might have blocked (as well as us) had to turn to the left to see the stage. From that vantage point, though I could see everything, I could barely see Anika's face. I've been enjoying watching her expressions during the videos, but the big screens above were great substitutes. I tried to get a few pix of her zoomed in, but they were meh.
That cymbal was my enemy
Xanadu finished, Geddy spoke, then it was Sprit of Radio. I know on other stops, they'd done either all of Moving Pictures or all of 2112 suite. I didn't know what they would do for night one, but I was ready for the ride. I think I shot some video of SoR, can't remember. But I liked what I heard. Next up was The Analog Kid, which simply ripped. I was playing air drums and missing hits, but man, it was so cool! After that it was Freewill, and I definitely recorded the solo section. I should watch it back sometime! They did Subdivisions after that and it was a strong start to the night.Here's a clip I shot of The Spirit of Radio.
I had brought a tissue in case I shed some tears. Maybe it's because I've seen so many of the songs already; I had gotten a bit choked up at times over the last few months watching the many videos. We both sat down during the Neil tribute to hear what he had to say. Then they hit us with Bravado, which was nice, if a little low on energy.
Speaking of crowd energy, most people in our area stayed seated. The woman directly next to me was on her phone most of the night, but I think she was there with her young adult son, who may have had sensory issues of some sort; he had headphones on the whole time and was also on his phone throughout the show. As soon as the last song ended, and before the encore, they were up and leaving their seats. But I digress. The crowd was appreciative, but seemed to be pretty chill, despite it being late on a Saturday night.
Loren Gold on keys started the next song. I know he'd been starting The Camera Eye, but I didn't think they'd play that unless they played Moving Pictures, so I was stumped for a minute. After a few more seconds, it was La Villa Strangiato that showed itself. Pretty freakin awesome and I just loved it.
Caravan, The Trees and Limelight closed out the first set. Caravan was fine; not my favorite tune by any means and I wish they had played Headlong Flight instead. The Trees was great. Alex on acoustic guitar was cool at the intro. I do wish Anika did my favorite drum fill coming out of the instrumental break before the last verse. And then, my favorite Rush song, Limelight. What can I say? Alex nailed the solo, Geddy did his alternate vocal melodies and crazy bass playing. And Anika was awesome. She's made it her own and I had to accept her accenting differently on the bass drum and also not playing my favorite drum fill going into the second chorus. But what a great first set! The fact that they played Limelight told me they weren't doing MP coming out of the intermission, so I knew it was going to be 2112.
The intermission was about 25 minutes. I got a bathroom break in before the line got too long and Cass and I just chopped it up for a bit. He was enjoying Anika's playing and just the entire experience. The lighting and visuals were all great, but I would've been happy with the giant video screen split into thirds, with a single shot of Alex, Geddy and Anika individually.
Breaktime ended with the countdown timer counting to zero, and then counting up to 2112. From there, it was about 20 minutes of all of it and it was glorious.
Someone at the show shot the whole thing. Here's the link.
From the end of 2112, there was no break. Anika started with the drums for Animate, and off they went. Geddy played a P bass and it was fine. Cool visuals, for sure.
Tried to get "ANIMATE" but got "ELEVATE" instead
Next up, I wasn't sure what song was coming next but Geddy busted out the teardrop bass. It's blue, it's ugly, and evidently it used to be a Fender P. It does have a bridge pickup, though, so who knows? And then I saw Alex on the acoustic and still couldn't figure it out. Geddy mentioned going back to 1977, which I thought was Hemispheres, but it was A Farewell to Kings, with Closer to the Heart. It was fine, I would've preferred nearly anything else, but it was fine.
They went back to 2112 again for the next song, A Passage to Bangkok. I was interested in listening to this because a reporter asked Anika about this song and she said the solo section was easy because she could chill and play a 4/4 beat. The boys, Geddy especially, does a shifting pattern that syncs with her but is different on every go-around. Sure enough, her part was pretty easy, it was cool to hear.
From this point, there were 6 more songs, 5 of which I love, one of which I don't. Here's a rapid-fire recap:
Time Stand Still: Aimee Mann on recorded backing vocals. Song sounded great, is one of my favorites.
YYZ: Big pop from the crowd when Anika started the morse code. The bass and drum battle in the middle was fun. The bass pads in the bridge seemed SUPER loud.
Anthem: spoken intro by Geddy, talking about meeting Neil for the first time and this song was one of the first they wrote together. Really beefy in drop-D.
Red Barchetta: another incredible song. Alex nailed the solo and all the rest. Geddy doing the super annoying outro solo super busy, but it is what it is now.
The Garden: I don't get the love other people have for this song. It's merely OK. I find it odd that some fans find Clockwork Angels as one of their best records. To each their own, I guess.
Tom Sawyer: of course, heard it a million times, but that didn't make the drum section any less awesome. Alex played the riff a little too long into the beginning of Anika's drum break, but he figured it out for the second run.
And that was that. The people next to me left, like I said. I had some more pictures before that, so here are some more.
Alex's shirt read "WE ARE IN ANIKA'S BAND"
The guys took a quick break and then came back out for an encore. I was hoping for Bytor and the Snow Dog but we got Finding My Way, which sounded pretty great. Working Man right after that and then Anika's bit at the end was to be filing her nails while the guys waited for a sec.
So happy to have gotten tickets last year and so glad that Cass' friend was willing to give up his seats for the show (he's a Kraken season ticket holder). I am thinking of going to show 2, if the ticket prices come down day of (tomorrow morning).
After the show, I stopped at the merch booth and grabbed a shirt and a hat for a cool $116. What a racket! But man, I knew if I didn't I'd be bummed.
That's enough recap for now. I may give it some more thoughts and words in the next few days.
