Wednesday, July 16, 2008

"ALL THE WORLD'S INDEED A STAGE": RUSH AT PNC 07/12/08




Six years and one day after seeing Rush at PNC for my "bachelor party," I saw them again at the same venue. (Actually, I also saw them last summer at PNC also). Yes, I'm a big fan, and I've written about them a lot lately. 

The show was nearly identical to the show I saw last summer, although they threw in "Red Barchetta," one of my favorites, which they didn't play last year. They also threw in 1991's "Ghost Of A Chance." The cool thing about the band is that most of their fans are real fans: they aren't there just for the eight or so songs that radio consultants have deemed to be hits. Pretty much every song got a great reaction, from "2112" to the songs from last year's Snakes And Arrows. Check the picture of the "Rush bus" above. A bunch of Rush fans from all over got together to road trip to the show. 

If I were in a band, I'd have a hard time doing the same exact show night after night with very few changes. But Rush are like Pink Floyd in that regard: it's about a presentation of certain songs in a certain way, it's not loose at all. And Rush do that as good as anyone. 

Oh yeah, my bachelor party. When I got engaged, my brother started talking about my bachelor party. I just ain't that kind of dude. I'm not judging it, but I'm not the guy going to scores or whatever. So I said, "If Rush plays the week of my wedding, that will be the bachelor party." Wouldn't you know it, they played PNC the week of my wedding! Instead of just going to the concert, I called it my "bachelor party." Which served two purposes: I didn't have to pay for my ticket (and my brother got us second row seats!) and it enabled me to go out to a concert four nights before my wedding. Although I wish I'd thought about making my brother take me in a Rush bus. 

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