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RUSH LIVE in LOS ANGELES - RUSH SLINGS THIRTY YEARS OF ARROWS
Written by Renato A   

RUSH LIVE in LOS ANGELES - RUSH SLINGS THIRTY YEARS OF ARROWS

By Scott Essman

Rush 2008 concert Los Angeles As a preface to this review, I have a confession to make – I have not seen Rush, once my favorite band on the planet, in 18 years, since the played the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, California just after I had moved back to my adopted home in Southern California.  What’s worse, I had not purchased a complete new Rush recording since “Presto” in 1989.  Whether I had moved on or whether the band had done so was unclear.  But time did not stand still for either of us, and Rush’s efforts in the near two decades since my last show had slipped under my radar.  Surely, I was aware of their new work but felt it was but a shadow of their previous efforts, especially their ultimate creative peak of 1976-1981.  But for one night, all of that changed.

On May 8, 2008 at the new Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles, on a spot I formerly used for parking at Staples Center, I had a chance to relive some of my missed past if only for one last time.  My first Rush records were purchased in the unthinkably distant past of the early 1980s and my first Rush show was on September 19, 1983 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, on the occasion of my 17th birthday.  That show was part of a stint of multiple nights in New York in which the band was testing out songs from their unreleased “Grace Under Pressure” album.

Coming at a time where other celebrated 80s acts such as The Police and Van Halen have reunited and toured, the current concert juggernaut of Rush, who began headlining hockey/basketball arenas by the late 1970s, has really never stopped, but for a six-year hiatus in the late 1990s/early 2000s for personal reasons.  As such, they are a well-oiled machine, newly breaking their set up into two parts without any supporting act.  With two nights at the 7100-seat Nokia followed by a night in Orange County, in the Irvine/Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Rush is playing to well more than 25,000 people in the great LA area for this tour, an extension of last year’s Snakes and Arrows shows.

By the new millennium, Rush’s commercial recording peak had likely passed, in part certainly due to the band’s absence at the time.  Not including live albums and repackaged hits albums, the last Rush studio album to go gold according to the Recording Industry Association of America was 1996’s “Test for Echo,” while their last platinum studio album upon its release was 1985’s “Power Windows.”  Nonetheless, they have maintained their status as arena kings, and the May 8 show proved why.

For nearly three hours of stage time (the band, “no longer spring chickens” according to singer Geddy Lee, takes a 20-minute intermission), Rush plays the new and the old, satisfying both themselves and their newer fans, while finding room for the diehards who might have seen them back in 1976, the date of their oldest songs on this part of the tour.  That year featured the groundbreaking album “2112” a futuristic concept album whose first entire side was one song broken into several movements.  Though the followup, “A Farewell to Kings,” which might have even surpassed “2112,” was not covered in the show, the next record, perhaps Rush’s pinnacle creatively, “Hemispheres” was acknowledged with a stirring rendition of “The Trees,” the band’s treatise on sociology.

Much of the rest of the catalogue was given at least one memorable tune in the show, especially two brilliant songs from 1980s “Permanent Waves” which saw the band departing from conceptual albums with lengthy numbers to shorter more taught songs.  Most thrillingly, the band played the entire first side (though not in sequence) of “Moving Pictures” their 1981 album which probably presented Rush at their commercial peak.  Some inclusions were questionable, such as ”Between The Wheels” from 1984’s “Grace Under Pressure” when several other songs – a few of which I saw live at the aforementioned 1983 concert – are musically superior, especially in a live setting.  But such complaints are mere quibbles when the band does the honor to their longtime fans by spreading hidden gems amongst the newer material.  Though some albums such as “Power Windows” were ignored entirely, it hardly made a difference to the adoring crowd, who often featured an older fan with a child or younger spouse.

Certainly, aside from being a working band with a new album to promote, one advantage that Rush has over other live acts, is that all three players are virtuosos at their instruments.  Lee has always been a capable lead man, especially buried behind his ever- present bass and bank of keyboards.  His playing on instruments and to the crowd has always been spot on even if his vocals are a bit more strained than decades ago.  Guitarist Alex Lifeson might get less attention than his bandmates, but his inventive riffs and array of styles have perennially been among the best in this type of music.  Which leaves Neil Peart, the band’s primary lyricist and drummer/percussionist.  Always a fan and lay musician’s favorite, Peart’s drumming and soloing remain as awe-inspiring as ever and scarily might have improved over time.  His reflexes might not be as fast as the man they called “the professor of the drum kit” in 1976, but he has integrated new styles and dimensions to his lengthy but fully stirring solo spot.  Simply, the man is a marvel and is certainly the most unique drummer in any major rock act of the past 30 years.

When the band finally closed with mainstay instrumental “YYZ” even a fallen Rush fan has enjoyed a hearty meal of playing and material.  Too few acts, especially those on the nostalgia circuit seem to have that respect for their audience.  Rush might be a dinosaur in the view of cynics, but the band still produces and pleases, and that they continue to do so after more than 30 years might be their most impressive feat of all.
 
King Kong 75th Anniversary Tribute DVD
Written by Renato A   
King Kong 75th Anniversary Tribute DVDIt has been 75 years since the debut of the giant ape "King Kong". Even today, people still look back at this classic as a groundbreaking film that never grows old. Released in 1933, "King Kong" was the first of its kind to create larger-than-life monsters using stop-motion animation. The realism astounded many and kept American audiences entertained for years to come. Join our intrepid group as they seek out some of Hollywood's greatest names to find out why "King Kong" has remained an icon of cinema for 75 years.

Buy from Amazon

KING KONG - 75th ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE
 
CinNews - Bob Burns, actor-classic horror movie archivist
Written by Renato A   
Creature from Black Lagoon on Halloween Bob Burns
Actor, make-up effects artists, and classic monster movie archivists

PODCAST: CinNews 050608 Bob Burns pt1
- Introduction
- Early influences: Glenn Strange and Roy Barcroft
- Glenn Strange Frankenstein vs. Boris Karloff Frankenstein
- other Glenn Strange roles
- other films he liked as he was growing up
  • early experience trying to dress-up as the Wolf Man
- on his work with Scott on an upcoming DVD tribute to the Mummy
- on the works of Jack Pierce and a memorabilia Jack Pierce gave him a few years ago, a mask from The Mummy's Curse
- his collection of movie props
  • King Kong's original puppet

PODCAST: CinNews 050608 Bob Burns pt2
- more on his collections
- on the gorilla costumes created by Rick Baker
- on the credits attributed to make-up artists: then and now
  • on the special effect works of and working with Paul Blaisdell in the 50's

PODCAST: CinNews 050608 Bob Burns pt3
- Today, the major studios are farming out their make-up and costumes requirements.
- More on the works of Jack Pierce.
- On the Iron Man movie.
- On modern day movie making in comparison to the 50's.
- His favorite classic movies.
- On the outdoor Halloween shows.
- It Came from Bob's Basement: Exploring the Science Fiction and Monster Movie Archive of Bob Burns
- On Scott's tribute to Jack Pierce - JACK PIERCE: The Man Behind the Monsters
- on the 50th anniversary of The Fly

More pictures of Bob Burns are available at the Nuvein Gallery.
 
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