I’ve been keeping my eyes open for The Pretty Reckless touring in the UK after hearing them quite a bit (OK, and seeing them) on the satellite music channels. I use Ents24.com for notifications about tours I’m looking for.
Well, last week I got notification and it turns out they’re supporting Evanescence. Better yet, the other support band is Fair to Midland (a proggy, rocky, metally band).
So, off to see them at Leeds O2 Academy in November.
I’ve been hearing this on the radio all day (Planet Rock, of course). It’s appearing on the newsfeeds now.
The government is to modernise the intellectual property (IP) laws – for most of us, that means that copying your own (purchased) CDs to your computer of MP3 player will no longer be technically illegal, as it is at present.
On the radio, ministers were using the argument that technology has moved forward in such a way that an overhaul is urgently needed. I couldn’t agree more.
Mind you, it is only a change in name. Most people have been recording their stuff since it came on vinyl. I’ve got to be honest and say that I always transferred my vinyl straight to cassette tape back in the days when that was all we had. I did it for two reasons:
Cassettes were notoriously unreliable. If your play heads got dirty, the crap transferred to the tape and it was virtually ruined as far as the sound was concerned. If you left cassettes in the car, the heat in summer was liable to weld the tape on the spool, so the chances of a major ravelling episode was high. And the sound quality – even on the few I purchased as originals – was inferior to that of the vinyl.
Of course, there was the added bonus that if you made your own tapes, if any of the above happened then you could just make another one.
I’ve never purchased a pirated copy of any album, and I’ve only recorded or ripped those that I own.
Now, in the Napster days I did download some stuff after I got my first MP3 player in the late 90s. But the quality of some of the stuff on there was appalling, and people lied about their connection speed – you’d have some yokel in rural America claiming he had a T1 connection, when he was connected by a piece of wet string and two coconut shells. It could take days to download a single track you were after. Or you’d wait hours to get something, only to find that it was a version by the idiot hosting it on his Bontempi organ or Stylophone.
And then there was that time I downloaded a track, only to find it was a VBS file named as the track in question (I didn’t open it).
Damn! I can’t go – I’ve got someone with a driving test that day.
Horslips are playing the Cropredy Festival on August 13th, 2011. Mind you, apart from Fairport Convention, I’m not to fussed about the other acts on the same day.
Update: Picking up a few hits the day after the festival. If anyone has any photos (and would like to write a few words) I’d be more than happy to put a few up.
The Shropshire Star reports the following results of a survey.
Top 10 driving tunes
1 The Who – My Generation
2 Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now
3 Steppenwolf – Born to be Wild
4 The Prodigy – Firestarter
5 David Bowie – Heroes
6 Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire
7 Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
8 Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
9 Elbow – One Day Like This
10 Take That – Never Forget
I’m reasonably with them up to no. 7, but after that… well…
In any case, the whole list is nonsense. Everyone knows that THIS is the best driving song. EVER. Click the play button to listen…
Check this out. At the Sheffield gig on the Rush Time Machine Tour, a friend of mine recorded most of the show.
Closer to the Heart – Live in Sheffield (2011)
It brings back memories of that acoustic solo by Alex while Neil and Geddy had a rest. Ah. Sweet memories.
I’m not sure about this, but the number of people who didn’t “get” the end-of-show film in all those Rush gigs seems to be rather high.
It all comes about from the 2009 film, I Love You, Man – a comedy about two guys who become friends and discover that they are both Rush fanatics. Rush was persuaded to appear in the film – playing “Limelight” on stage - and the two characters ended up on that end-of-show film as a return favour.
The film has been shown regularly on Sky TV for the last couple of months.
The IMDb description only mentions Rush once in the synopsis, though they are listed as cast members (each as “Himself – Rush”), although the band is quite a significant part of the plot, especially early on.
The Wikipedia entry is more informative (assuming it is correct – you can never be 100% certain with Wikipedia):
Rush was approached by Hamburg [the director], who is a fan, to appear in the film. Even though the band does not normally perform in movies, they decided to do it. The shooting schedule was tough because there was a one day window between two of their concerts on tour. The band later said the whole experience was fun. Hamburg felt that “once Rush got that I wasn’t poking fun at them, that I’m genuinely a fan and the main characters of the movie are fans and it’s kind of a loving tribute to them, I think that’s when they came on board.” Subsequently, both Rudd and Segel appeared in character as Peter and Sydney alongside the members of Rush in a short video which closes the band’s 2010 Time Machine Tour shows.
The film is actually quite good, and it was reasonably successful at the US box office.
Every one of the six gigs of the UK leg of Rush’s Time Machine Tour has attracted pretty good reviews.
SafeConcerts says of the Glasgow gig:
How do you sum up a night like this? The most remarkable thing is that three guys – each staring down 60 – can continue to excite and thrill their fans with excellent music and a heavy dose of humour. Maybe I let myself get caught up in the notion of time travel; but, I swear that when I viewed the band through half closed eyes I felt like I was back in the crumbling old Apollo………………
Then, The Selby Times covers the Sheffield gig:
By the end of this awesome night, you simply feel lucky to be able to say you were there. The Rush machine keeps rolling on, and long may it continue to do if it has nights like this still in store.
The Bolton News covers Manchester:
All in all, a fantastic show. The music, as we have come to expect from such an accomplished band, was excellent.
A few minor errors in that one (it’s BU2B, not B2UB, and the reason for the sausages should have been clear from the intro film).
Then Newcastle is covered by ChronicleLive:
ROCK legends Rush rolled back the years with an electrifying performance at the Arena on Saturday night on the latest stop on their Time Machine tour.
Finally, the Birmingham NEC is reviewed by The Express & Star:
Progressive, in rock terms, signifies a band which is prepared to adapt, change and experiment. If ever there was a group that exemplifies that, it’s that same word again – Rush.
In that one, I have to say that I don’t agree that Vital Signs is weak, or that the show version of Working Man was in any way wrong. But everyone has their own favourites.
I’ve covered the London O2 in a recent post.
Something just occurred to me: if Rush become as popular now as they should have been these last 40 years, and the press and media start saying good things about them, I’ll NEVER get a bloody ticket next time.
Note: This review was for the Time Machine Tour in 2011. The Clockwork Angels Tour is reviewed starting here (and look for each venue – I reviewed each one). The Sun has also reviewed the Clockwork Angels O2 gig.
I saw this in today’s Sun newspaper. It’s a review of the O2 gig on Wednesday.
The full text reads:
A GLEAMING crimson Les Paul slung round his neck, Alex Lifeson saunters across the stage, his 57-year-old fingers picking out one of the most exhilarating riffs in the history of rock.
The Spirit Of Radio is in full cry and a woman near me is in tears of joy.
How many bands induce such emotion in the first five seconds of a gig?
There is a reason why Rush trail only the Beatles and Stones for consecutive gold or platinum albums.
It’s not just their astonishing musicianship. That gets only a tenth of the way there. It’s a blend of power, subtlety, soaring choruses and some of the most intelligent lyrics ever written.
It’s cool to hate them, to refuse to see beyond their three dope-fuelled years of proggy hobbit-bothering 35 years ago.
But drummer Neil Peart has since penned skilful and profound explorations of love, loss, prejudice and alienation.
Yet there is nothing po-faced about it. The comic mini-movies tying the show together display a limitless capacity for self-parody.
Here are three Canadians, all nearing 60. energetically revisiting their 40-year career – yet somehow there is nothing sad about it.
It is effortless. There is a not an awkward move or pose all night.
Geddy Lee has never sung better. And fabulous songs like Workin’ Them Angels and Far Cry remind us that some of their best work has come in the last four years, that they still create tremendous material.
Few peers can say the same. Let’s hope we haven’t seen the last of them.
The “5” rating is the highest The Sun awards to albums or gigs. This is also only about the third time Rush has been mentioned by The Sun in the last 40 years! (I’m not making that up)
You can see my photos/comments about each gig on the UK Time Machine Tour – surprising as it may seem, Rush did play in places outside London – at the following:
Just one thing I’d add – well, perhaps correct about – that article above. Rush isn’t touring BECAUSE it is 40 years old. It is touring because it is still a viable band. It has never disbanded and got back together. It isn’t a novelty act, like many of the great 70s and 80s bands who are touring today (with only part of their original line-ups, or after giving up when they became unpopular at some stage), so it isn’t a gimmicky gig to go to whenever a tour is announced.
Rush fills arenas. It always has.
NOTE: My 2013 Clockwork Angels gig review at the O2 is here.
OK. Just back from the O2, and the last UK gig on Rush’s Time Machine Tour.
Before I go all negative, let me just say that it was another virtuoso performance by the band. Nothing they ever do is bad, and they are simply too good to allow mediocrity to creep in. The venue is huge (bigger than Birmingham’s NEC), and it was packed out. The sound was excellent – though a little drum-heavy (that’s because of one of the negative things I’ll get on to in a minute). The crowd was loud, though not especially animated. I think it’s fair to say that the Newcastle crowd beat everyone else hands down (with Manchester and Scotland close behind), and the Sheffield lot were the worst. But Rush played a perfect set each time.
So, the negative parts. My ticket man didn’t deliver this time – I only got my ticket this morning (by special delivery), and he told me yesterday that he couldn’t get anything decent. I had to go with a floor seat on the very last row of block C, and that’s why the sound was a bit bassy in my opinion.
Someone has already searched and found the blog on “sound problem at o2”: in all honesty, there wasn’t one. You aren’t going to get CD quality in a place like this – it was just the big sound/big venue thing you always get.
When I found out about my rubbish seat, I asked my agent what he thought I should be paying to a tout at the venue. That was when he warned me of the O2 policy on touting (I was likely to get thrown off the complex if I tried). And it’s true that there wasn’t anyone touting anywhere in sight. So I’d then decided to go straight to the box office and see if they had anything better. I got a seat about the same distance back, but on the first level – I reasoned that I’d see more if I was off the floor.
The seat was not bad (second one in off the aisle). The problem was the other people at the venue. Throughout the whole of the first half of the set, there was a constant stream of people going up and down the stairs (mainly women, it must be said). About half way through Set 1, some dickhead in the row I was in decided to go out and get a tray of chips (fries) and a burger. Dozens of people missed the first 4 or 5 songs, then came in with food. There is something inherently disturbing about people eating food at a gig – it just isn’t what you do. And the planks doing it are usually trying to juggle two pints of beer, a rucksack, and a carrier bag
along with their chips or hot dog.
Then there was the standing problem. One of the benefits of sitting in the side seats is that the steep banking means you can see everything comfortably sitting down. You can’t jump around or anything, otherwise you risk breaking your neck (or end up getting a slap from someone if you fall into them (I pride myself in being of that level of tolerance at gigs), so there is absolutely no point standing up. So what did they all do? Stand up. Then, after a few songs, some sat down – but some didn’t, so the view was interrupted. THEN… when Freewill was played, a load more stood up again.
And all through this there were those bloody imbeciles going up and down the aisle.
Being so far back meant taking pictures was tricky. I had decided to concentrate on the lights, but every bloody time I tried to focus, some prat walked up or down the stairs. The guy next to me was getting pissed off with it as well. They simply ruined it.
I decided at the interval to go and try my other seat. As it happens, it was actually better – it turned out to be on the end, so I could see the stage and the lights very well.
The point is, I would have paid (actually, I DID pay – I need to talk to my ticket man about that) good money to get a front seat. And yet these were taken up by total tossers who obviously weren’t genuine fans. Most of them must have seen about 50-60% of the show at best. And they even started leaving before the encore started. At the other shows, no one moved until the final video had completed (the “I Love You Man” thing). Here, at least half the audience rushed for the exits.
Because of my crap position (I’d been no further back than six rows, and as close as three twice in all the other shows) – and the fact that getting an O2 ticket had proved difficult, even though I’d alerted my agent last November when the tour was announced – I was determined to hate the O2.
In fact it is a great venue. It’s just the people (and the fact that they get tickets when I can’t). It only took about two and a half hours to get from Nottingham via the A1 and M11 (no hold ups at all) – I’d forced the satnav to miss the M1, because I know what that’s like during the day. At the end, I drove straight out of the O2 car park and back on to the A102 without having to pause once – I’d made sure I was near the car park exit. I let the satnav take me back via the M25 and M1, and apart from a few stretches of reduced speed limits through the Blackwall Tunnel and on the motorways, there was no delay at all. Biggest problem was going down there – my satnav told me I had arrived at my destination while I was still in the Blackwall Tunnel, and I didn’t realise that it goes right under the O2 until I went back later and could see it!
Ironically, I got some of my best shots of Neil this time. My camera has 12x optical zoom, but this can be boosted with the digital zoom feature (which I thought I’d have a play with). The only problem is that you need a tripod above 12x, and I don’t think I’d have got one of those through the doors!
So, that’s it! The next step is the new album, Clockwork Angels, which we’re not likely to see until next year. Rush usually tour to promote new albums, but a world tour so soon after this one is unlikely – it’ll be North America. Now, there’s an idea…
And just a footnote… this particular post is getting a huge number of hits linking in from Power Windows and The National Midday Sun. I just want to remind everyone once again that Rush didn’t just play the O2 – they played equally brilliant gigs which I covered here (with much better photos, because I was closer to the stage, and in several cases a much better atmosphere from the fans’ perspective):
At some point I will add a gallery of some of the pictures I took. I got over 400 from most of the gigs.
Or the LG Arena, as it is called these days… the venue for the fifth installment of the Rush Time Machine World Tour.
The largest venue so far, and easily the biggest crowd. The Arena was virtually full, and although they had a lot to live up to compared to the Geordies in Newcastle last night, the Brummies sure gave it a go.
I was three rows back and on an end seat, so the view was superb. I mentioned that the first gig in Scotland had a bit of a muddy sound in my opinion. It was near perfect in both Sheffield and Manchester from where I was sitting, and so it seemed to be tonight. However, someone from the back came up at the interval to ask what we thought – he said it was terrible at the back.
Anyway, over the previous gigs I have reviewed the show in my own way. I mentioned that in Manchester the band was enjoying itself so much that they did a bit of improvisation at the end of Closer to the Heart. Well, they kept it last night and tonight, although it is a bit different each time.
Neil’s solo was also well received tonight. He seems to get better every time he does it.
Something else I haven’t mentioned much: the light show. You see, when you’re close to the stage you don’t get as good a view of that as you do further back. The lighting rig consists of an eight-limbed spider-like arrangement, with each of the legs hinged at one end and in the centre. Various lights are attached and these move independently. The rig is raised and lowered – and contorted – at various points throughout the show. There are also other smaller rigs which rise and fall as necessary, independently of the main one. It’s hard to describe, but you have to have seen it to fully appreciate it. One person I was talking to said the light show was the best he’d seen since Pink Floyd some years ago.
Got some great pictures again…
So, the final leg is at the London O2 this Wednesday.