I remember my first Rush concert. I was a wide eyed 13 year old. March 17th (and 18th as I went both nights) 1983. I still remember the drive to the venue. A place we affectionaly called the Hollywood Sporthole. It was a run down arena in the middle of nowhere in Hollywood Florida. Cow pastures and dirt roads, a leaky roof, awful acoustics, but it was where all the bands played back in the day. I got into Rush like so many my age in 1981/82. Moving Pictures roared onto the airwaves with Tom Saywer. But it was another tune on side one that captured my imagination and sparked my interest in this band from Toronto. I remember the moment. Sitting in my friends living room ironically playing Intellivision baseball, her sister drops the needle on side one of this timeless transcendent album. Tom Sawyer blasts through the speakers and we are nodding our heads in rhythm. But then the delicate sound of Alex's harmonic introduction to Red Barchetta begins and then Geddy's first words "My Uncle has a country place that no one knows about" and at that very moment I was transported into the song, into the vision. I never had a song touch my soul like that ever before. It was surreal. From that moment on I became obsessed with this band. My mom could not believe it when she would see me listening to every song, memorizing every note, lyrics and beat. Then Exit Stage Left was released and at the time I only had Moving Pictures. I then heard the majesty of songs like The Spirit of Radio, Freewill but even more amazing was the Broons Bane/Trees/Xanadu Suite. But then came the album closer. La Villa Strangiato. It was at that moment this baseball player wanted to learn how to not only play the guitar, but to compose music of this type of ambition.
Rush shaped and formed in many ways the path I took in life. I continued to play baseball, but also was a budding rock gutairist in high school. I played in several bands writing and even recording music as well as playing Rush covers (of course LOL). And this band I loved also took another path. A path where half the fans I grew up with left. Abandoned the group. Too much keyboards, no balls, they suck now. That's all I heard. But I knew better. I heard and witnessed the brilliance of Grace Under Pressure, Power WIndows and yes Hold Your Fire. I continued to see them live, support each and every album. Through the 90's I felt Rush had a nice resurgence with Roll The Bones. An album that again brought a lot of fans back to the band. Depsite the grief that album get's in these circles, it brought Rush back to the mainstream and they gained a new generation and legion of fans. Counterparts came.....and went. Test For Echo then came out and that tour gave us the mother of all Rush Concerts up to that point.
An Evening With Rush.
It was at this show 12/8/96 on a frigid South Florida night (it must have been in the 40's) I took my then girlfriend of 3 months and sat front row in front of Geddy Lee. It was the first time I ever sat front row for any concert let alone Rush. They proceeded to slay every tune that night. My girlfriend (Maryann) only knew the standard stuff from Rush, Tom Saywer, Limelight and Test For Echo as that was the latest single she had heard....that was it. When the show was over she looked at me and said it was the greatest concert she had ever seen (she was 21 at the time). At that moment I knew I had found my wife.
19 years later we attended R40 in Tampa with our now 10 year old son (his fourth Rush show). The boys took the stage and from the first note of The Anarchist I knew we were in for something special. We went to the show totally unspolied. This was my 28th? (I am losing count) Rush show. I went to CA and TM spoiled. Those were the only two shows I knew going in what was coming. I did not like that feeling. I wanted to be a kid again. And Rush took me back to that same exact feeling I had on 3/17/83. The first set was great. After they started Far Cry I realized right away what was going on. As I saw the movers taking down amps, moving props and set pieces in and out I knew full well the theme of this magical evening. Rush was truley giving us the Time Machine show we long time fans have been pining for. As the first set ended with one of the greatest Rush songs ever written I turned to my son and wife and said "strap yourselves in as we are going on an epic ride, this was merely an appeitizer".
And boy the main course was like a surf and turf at the finest steak house.
TS and YYZ got it going....but then the true majestic part of the show proceeded. My son's (and mine for that matter along with Red Barchetta) favorite song has always been TSOR. Watching him air drum, jump up and down, raise his hands in unison with the crowd...taking in this brilliance....it brought a massive lump to my throat and warmed my heart. Sharing this gift of music with my son has been a joy. Rush get's it. They know we are passing the music down, they understand kids are out there hearing them for the first, second, maybe third time ever and this concert was for us. The fans who stuck with them from A-Z. No waiver, no doubts, just fans who love their music and the adventureous approach they have always taken. Natural Science started and I thought at that moment "well another tour and the one bucket list tune I have waited my entire Rush fan life for would yet again be passed over" Surely they won't play another from this album. Natural Science in all it's glory is amazing and a great closer to the Waves portion of the show. But....Geddy speaks about another song from Waves, one they have not played in forever. I begin to scream as he announced Jacobs Ladder....my son was hugging me.....you see my son's name is Jacob (no, I did not name him after the song LOL that was his grandfathers name) and he always felt it was about him (it's a kids thing...the innocence and un-jaded joy and wonder of children should be used to heal lost souls and spread world peace). Every time we see rays of sun flowing through the clouds, or thunder rumbling on a hot and steamy summer South Florida afternoon he says...hey Dad it's a Jacbs Ladder. I was absolutely on cloud 9. I was hearing this song live, one of my all time fav's for the very first time. It was another surreal Rush moment for me.
They played the song to a f***ing tee....and my god it was glorious.
But it did not stop there. Hemispheres Prelude, Cygnus X-1, CTTH, Xanadu, 2112, and then the encore....oh the encore!
Best Rush encore in their entire history bar none.
On the 24th of May I would hear Lakeside Park.....my god man. I was speechless....just speechless.
Then Anthem? My all time favorite song from the beginings of Rush (Rush, FBN, COS) Geddy nailed every single solitary note vocally on this night. It was mind blowing.
What Your Doing.......easily my favorite of the debut. They absoultely slayed this song. And of course the classsic Working Man.
This was goodbye. This felt like it truly is going to be goodbye.
For now.............
