nd his drum
/percussion work with Canadian prog rock progenitors, quintessential power
trio Rush. We caught up with Rush on tour in support of their current CD
"Vapor Trails" at Jones Beach Theatre in Long Island on July 15,
2002. This is their first album and tour in five years. Our seats were centered
high enough in the stands to see the entire stage and all of the meticulously
choreographed visual elements that make a Rush concert a spectacle. We could
also see the beach and ocean beyond the stage and while the light breeze
helped make a hot July night more comfortable it sometimes blew the sound
into phased mush. We'll take that into consideration next time we select
our seat locations at this venue. In the near thirty years that Rush has
existed, they've never had a huge hit single yet to this day they can still
draw a sellout crowd. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart took the stage
to their customary Three Stooges theme and on the final beat the huge expansive
note that opens their 1981 radio hit "Tom Sawyer" embraced the
cheering crowd. Geddy's voice is in great shape. He can still hit many of
the high n
otes as on the records and
remains in complete control of his vocal range. That he plays some of the
most confounding bass lines while singing is cause for wonder. Geddy also
plays some keyboards while playing the bass parts on a Moog Taurus Bass
Synth with his feet. Alex Lifeson's jagged and fluid all at once guitar
playing shakes and shimmers. The guy moves between classical and rock motifs,
chunky rhythms and liquid leads with style and a smile . The last time we
saw Rush on the "Counterparts" tour his only vocal spot was the
rap section on "Roll the Bones." This tour he had a microphone
in place for the entire show and often stepped forward to sing with Geddy.
Neil Peart would be amazing if only for the fact that he is perhaps the
most creative and greatest drummer/percussionist playing today. In case
you're interested, close favorites are Carl Palmer, Bill Bruford and the
sloppy, magnificent and no longer with us, Keith Moon. Peart who is credited
with all lyrics writes incisively on the human condition, setting his allegorical
tales in some science fiction future, Greek mythology or everyman's terms.
There
are several scholarly volumes analyzing his lyrics currently available.
The 
three hour show is filled
with lights, flames, rear projection films and most importantly the musicianship
of Neil, Alex and Geddy. It's hard to pick highlights from a show that features
great songs from seventeen studio albums, but we'll give it a shot. The
accompanying film for "Roll the Bones" with the comically scary
rapping skeleton; The precision of the great instrumentals "YYZ"
and "La Villa Strangiato"; The epic winding road of "Natural
Science"; The big band inspired galloping drums and fire breathing
dragon which opened the second set with "One Little Victory";
The alternating inside out outside in rhythms of "Driven"; Neil's
drum solo which features lots of samples, tuned wood and metal; The unplugged
"Resist"; The audience pumping their fists and yelling HEY! in
the "2112 Overture." As serious as Rush is, there is always a
touch of wacky humor somewhere within the stage show. The "Presto"
tour featured four story high inflatable rabbits popping out of hats flanking
each side of the stage. This tour features three clothes dryers behind Geddy
Lee where you would expect to see three large amplifiers. The clothes tumble
throughout the show and during the encore Geddy checks to see if their laundry
is dry. He then proceeds to remove the "laundry" which turns out
to be tour shirts that he tosses out to the audience. It's rumoured that
this will be Rush's final concert tour. You know how those rumours go, but
just in case, we caught them again at Madison Square Garden on October 24th.
FROM THE 13TH ROW!Records sold... Rush: 33 million, God: 0.
