Concert Review: Rush Molson Amphitheater, Toronto 07/13/10

Yeah, we were pretty far back.

Last night i packed up my air drums and headed into the city for Toronto's very own Rush. Here's the salient points:

- Neil Peart: he still has it, although damn he is looking old these days.
- Geddy Lee: the vox, the slappa da bas, the keyboards - BRILLIANT
- I now have an appreciation for the last 3 tracks on Moving Pictures (Camera Eye / Witch Hunt / Vital Signs)
- The older material was absolutely incredible, some of the newer stuff is good but it has a generic hard rock feel and is not as interesting as the more adventurous 70's/80's songs.
- The comedic videos throughout the show were fun, in particular the "i love you man" reprise at the end.
- Molson Amphitheater while fine once you get into the venue, is an absolute disaster to get in and out of in typical Toronto fashion.
- There is a sweet free parking area on the north side of the Gardiner Expressway just west of British Columbia on a side street.

Comments

[Jeff Read]

I think rush are a great band,but why do they put out new music,it's not very good,even bad really.I love the old rush sound,just play the old stuff guys. Thanks.

[Brian Kulchycki]

The July 13th Rush show was incredible! I'm a veteran of about 10 Rush concerts going back to Signals and this by far was the best!
The new stuff is awesome and heavy, their musicianship and energy just gets better as they age, the video's staring the boys were hilarious!
They came on at 7:51 and played until 11:02 with just a 15 minute intermission before they started the 2nd set with Moving Pictures (or moving pitchers - inside joke to those who were there, Lol!) track for track with no talking in between.
While Neil and Geddy constantly get the bulk of the praise, Alex remains the best understated guitarist in the world.
If you are going on Saturday get there early as there is no opening band and they start early. Set list is available on their website.

Brian

[Isorski]

Gotta disagree with Jeff - Caravan is on par with any classic Rush. Yeah it's different, but has all the spirit of stuff like Freewill. Anyway, who wants to hear the same old songs tour after tour? I just saw the band last night and posted a review with almost 30 minutes of video at bit.ly/cVgo5s. Enjoy!

[Mark Hall]

I know that many of you have seen Rush a bunch of times, and I'm sure that they were great shows. There was something about the show I saw Monday night, August 9 at Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View (near San Francisco), a special kind of chemistry and electricity that was quite tangible throughout the show. First of all, the place was packed, completely sold out. The fans were great with their applause and response. The guys looked great, they were fit and had the energy of men half their age. And the song selection...probably the best part of the show. Besides being excellent musicians, hearing them play material from 1980, some of which had not been heard live since, was really special. Even the relatively obscure selections like Witch Hunt and Vital Signs off of Moving Pictures were played flawlessly. Atmospheric touches embellished each song, with pyrotechnics and interesting lighting touches. Geddy spoke to the crowd a few times, and each time what he said and the way he said it sounded very genuine and unforced, and not "fake". Alex has trimmed down quite a bit. He was getting to look pretty bloated there a few years ago, but he looked good. Neil seems to have aged the most of the three, partly due to the heavy anguish he has had to carry. But I hear he has a new baby now, and he even smiled a few times during the show. Each of them smiled toward the end of the show, realizing that they had the crowd in their hands. They can surely tell when a crowd is being properly entertained, and Rush-men were clearly pleased with their performance. They had a good time, and so did everyone in the audience. It was a brilliant concept to feature an entire album from the past, and this listener hopes that they do it again. How about Permanent Waves or Farewell To Kings next guys?