Last night Jeannie and I went and saw Rush play at the Barclay Arena in Brooklyn, named after basketball great Charles Barkley, although I don’t think he ever played for the Nets, and I can’t say why they got the spelling wrong. The arena is brand new and only a few blocks from where we used to live. This site was formerly a train yard, an open pit on a triangle of land that was sort of a dead zone in downtown Brooklyn, something you’d have to walk around. I hadn’t been back there since they broke ground on the arena, but it’s good to see it finished. Apart form the overbright animated jumbotron marquees, it’s a very nice arena.
The show itself was great. Rush has a new album out, Clockwork Angels, which is full of great material. The first set concentrated on material from their 80’s synthesizer phase, song like Subdivisions, Big Money, Force Ten, The Body Electric, Territories, and The Analog Kid. I think they played about half of Power Windows over the course of the night. For the second set they brought out an 8-piece string section. They opened the set by playing most of Clockwork Angels, 9 out of 12 songs. The string players had some good rock’n’roll headbanging choreography in addition to filling out the sound on the new songs. The CA material ranged from complex and ripping metal to much more layered and gentle stuff. “The Garden” was a standout and closed that part of the set. The string ensemble stuck around as they hit a few more classics with the strings taking on what was formerly the synthesizer part. These included Manhattan Project, Red Sector A, and YYZ. Then the power trio wrapped it up with a few of their greatest hits, including Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer, and 2112, parts I, II, and VII.
Alex’s guitar broke down in the middle of Temples of Syrinx, so he improvised a goofy little dance while his roadies scrambled to provide a replacement. Meanwhile Ged and Neil carried on and it worked just fine. Alex came back in just in time to do to solo leading into the finale.
I really enjoyed the selection of music. Even though they skipped a lot of songs you might expect, they played a lot of great stuff you didn’t expect, and besides, I heard those other songs last tour. It’s good they’re continuing to present new things. The new material is great, and the rest put an interesting focus on a sometimes-overlooked phase in their career. It was the phase where I first started seeing the live, as it happens. As musicians, these guys just keep getting better. Geddy’s still got it in voice, and his bass chops are flawless. Alex Lifeson has such range, diversity of styles he can play, and roles to fit in with the music. And of ocurse he’s a world-class soloist. Plus all those pedals. Neil Peart’s playing is fast and precise as ever, but he’s also found a new level of fluidity. You can hear the way he pushes and pulls the groove in different songs, and for all his speed, he somehow looks like he’s moving in slow motion. Put them together and they’re great ensemble players, and the songs really bring that out.
It was a fantastic show. I sure hope they put out another album and come around again.