Diary Of An ADI

Well, that’s the UK part of the Clockwork Angels tour over. And Rush went out on a high note with their performance last night in Glasgow. The crowd didn’t quite beat Sheffield for atmosphere – but they came darned close. It was a great way for Rush to leave the UK on this tour.

The set was virtually the same as the one they first played in Manchester – but with the interesting addition of Limelight in place of Middletown Dreams in the first part of the set. Here’s the set list as I remember it:

Part 1

• Subdivisions
• Big Money
• Force Ten
• Grand Designs
• Limelight
• Territories
• The Analog Kid
• The Pass
• Where’s My Thing? (with drum solo)
• Far Cry

Part 2

• Caravan
• Clockwork Angels
• The Anarchist
• Carnies
• The Wreckers
• Headlong Flight (with drum solo)
• Halo Effect
• Wish Them Well
• The Garden
• Dreamline
• Drum Solo
• Red Sector A
• YYZ
• The Spirit of Radio

Encore

• Tom Sawyer
• 2112 Part I: Overture
• 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx
• 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale

The band were perfect, as usual. Here’s a selection of some of the pictures I got from my excellent position centre stage, and about 6 rows back.

Initially, I was impressed that the SECC was only charging £6 for the car park, but I was subsequently very disappointed that they had apparently disabled all the drinks vending machines inside (£1.50 for a bottle of Coke), which subsequently forced everyone to pay £2.00 or more at the event catering outlets. I tried four machines when I got there, and all were either broken or not accepting money. Miraculously, ALL of them were working at the end of the show as we made out way out. Deny it all you like, SECC, you DID disable them! There’s no way the vending machine company comes and fixes so many broken machines after 6pm on a Thursday evening.

The SECC is an unusual arena inasmuch as it doesn’t go up very far (not high tiers), but it curves around the stage more than most places. It seems to be based on an oval shape, whereas all the other UK venues are on a rectangular plan.

Whenever I go to see Rush I’m always worried when I see any empty or unfilled seats, because I know Rush care about that a lot, and it makes me fret about whether it will make it worth their while coming back on their subsequent tours. But some people go completely overboard with their pessimism and negativity.

Attendances

I don’t have official figures, but here is my assessment of the attendances for the 5 shows on the UK tour.

Manchester – I couldn’t see many empty seats, and only a couple of tiers at the back were sheeted off. I would say the arena was at least 90% full, and with a stated capacity of 23,000 that means there were more than 20,000 present.

London – I couldn’t see any significant numbers of empty seats. I would say the venue was over 95% full, and with a capacity of 20,000 that means there were around 19,000 there.

Birmingham – only a couple of sheeted-off tiers. I would say the arena was over 90% full, and with a capacity of approximately 14,000, that means there were more than 12,500 there.

Sheffield – there were quite a few empty seats and empty tiers. The venue was at least 75% full, and with a capacity of 13,500 that means around 10,000 people present.

Glasgow – by now (having read the negative comments elsewhere) I was keeping tabs. Four complete blocks were sheeted off out of 24 blocks in total. Even assuming that these blocks were the same size as all the others (the six floor blocks are bigger), that means 85% of the arena was in use. There were a few empty seats on the floor, but not too many. So I estimate that there was at least an 85% capacity crowd in an arena with a maximum capacity of 10,000 – so 8,500 present.

As I mentioned in the Sheffield review, the crowd doesn’t have to be at maximum capacity to make a brilliant show. Nor does a single empty seat mean the beginning of the end of Rush, which seems to be the way some people on some forums look at it! With around 70,000 people therefore seeing the shows in the UK, gross ticket sales must have exceeded £3.7m – and then there would have been merchandise sales on top of it all. I don’t think that Rush will have been unduly concerned about a few empty seats.

It’s worth noting that Rush is 33rd in the list of 2012 tour earners in North America. Considering that the tour only began in September 2012, and that it had grossed $27.2m by year end (36 shows), that’s a bloody good turnout they’re experiencing. In fact, if my calculation above is correct, the UK stage (5 shows) was pro rata more profitable than the ones in the US (though you have to remember that shipping everything over here and humping it around Europe costs more than just moving it around North America). So much for the doom and gloom merchants out there!

Merchandise

The quality of Rush tour merchandise is astounding. Admittedly, at £30 for a T-shirt and £60 for a button-up baseball shirt you’d expect nothing less – and there was even a leather jacket available priced at £400 (I saw at least half a dozen people wearing one at the various gigs) – but the merchandise stalls were doing a roaring trade at every one of the UK concerts.

The Shows

People have complained that the ticket prices were too high. Well, mine had a face value of £75 each, but I paid nearly double that to my agent to make sure I was near the front. I would gladly have paid more if necessary.

Given that most of the shows were virtually sold out, and even the poorest attendance was still around 75% of capacity (Sheffield was an anomaly all round), it would seem that a lot of other genuine fans were also more concerned about seeing Rush than they were about getting tickets for under £35 with their Happy Meals at McDonalds! You see, you get your money’s worth with Rush. The tickets may have been the most expensive ever, but for that you got a show which began around 7.30pm and finished not far off 11pm. You got 3 hours of music (with a 15 minute break in the middle), great light show, rear-screen movies, multiple overhead screens, fireworks – and a 5- or 7-piece string ensemble for half of the show. And that’s on top of seeing a legendary band in performance.

You can’t shift a spectacle of that size around the world for 1980s or 1990s ticket prices, nor can you draw parallels with ticket prices for lesser artists who only put on 80-90 minute shows, or who have a vast secondary income as a result of their glitzy, Stateside showbiz image and corresponding endorsements, and who use cheap (or free) tickets at certain gigs as extra fuel for that image.

Rush is about the music and the performance.

As an aside, Billy Joel is touring later this year, and his tickets have a face value of £95. Bruce Springsteen tickets are at least £68 at various stadiums (I think more at arenas). And let’s not forget the Rolling Stones, who were charging into the hundreds for their sold-out tickets. These people are in business, and they have every right to charge what people are prepared to pay.

The Future

The Clockwork Angels Tour is scheduled to finish in August 2013 (as I mentioned, it began in September 2012). In an interview I heard with Alex Lifeson on Planet Rock a couple of weeks ago, he said that they were planning to take some time off (a “couple of years” was mentioned) once the tour ended. I suspect that they’ll be back at work in less than two years, though. They enjoy the job too much.

I’m a bit late with this review because I didn’t get home until nearly 5am this morning! It was a clear run back from Glasgow, across the A66 to the A1, and it was nice and mild. I had developed a streaming cold the day before, and felt like crap coming back, but I saw some stunning noctilucent clouds when I stopped at around 1am somewhere in the southern reaches of Scotland. Nottingham was cloudy, but in full daylight when I got back, whereas it had been above 20ºC and sunny all afternoon and evening up in Glasgow.

NOTE: The write up for the Birmingham gig is here.

NOTE: Gary in Leeds – I would love to send you photos for your son, but please send a valid email address. The last one keeps returning my replies.

Well, that was a turn up for the books! The Sheffield leg of the Time Machine Tour a couple of years ago was by far the worst – not Rush, just the crowd, which was awful. But this episode of the Clockwork Angels Tour was far-and-away the best yet. It was fantastic!

They switched back to the London set list (as far as I can remember it), which was as follows:

Part 1:

• Subdivisions
• The Big Money
• Force Ten
• Grand Designs
• The Body Electric
• Territories
• The Analog Kid
• Bravado
• Where’s My Thing? (with drum solo)
• Far Cry

Part 2:

• Caravan
• Clockwork Angels
• The Anarchist
• Carnies
• The Wreckers
• Headlong Flight (with drum solo)
• Halo Effect
• Seven Cities of Gold
• The Garden
• Manhattan Project
• Drum Solo
• Red Sector A
• YYZ
• The Spirit of Radio

Encore:

• Tom Sawyer
• 2112 Part I: Overture
• 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx
• 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale

The crowd were lively, and Rush really played up to that. Geddy even commented on the fact at the end. It was a fantastic show as a result – made even better by the seat my agent had got me.

Here’s a selection of photos I took.

Although Birmingham LG still keeps the Gold Star for the best venue overall, kudos to Sheffield for only charging £5 to park – and a curse on the O2 in London for charging £21 (or £28 if you didn’t book it in advance, which I fortunately did when I remembered while I was in the services at Bishops Stortford, trying to sidestep all the old people there). It’s also worth pointing out that a “large” soft drink at Sheffield is about the size of a bucket, and there doesn’t appear to be any nonsense about not taking a bottle into the hall itself. All the others would sell you a bottle of something (for which you had to donate an organ to be able to afford it), then insist you poured it into a plastic cup before letting you get to your seat.

The last show is in Glasgow on Thursday, so I’ll be making an early start to make sure I get there. Anyone who hasn’t been yet really ought to get a ticket – the performances by Rush are the standard by which all others should be measured.

Oh, and one thing I haven’t mentioned in any of my reviews is that Geddy closes with “…we hope to see you again some time…” That always cheers me up, because we have to face the fact that the end is closer than the beginning – but not just yet!

NOTE: The London O2 article is here.

Just back from the Birmingham show, and it was the best yet. They did the same set as in Manchester as far as I remembered it, so The Pass and Middletown Dreams were reinstated. There was a little more improvisation, too, and the band seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Here’s the setlist as I remember it:

Part 1

• Subdivisions
• Big Money
• Force Ten
• Grand Designs
• Middletown Dreams
• Territories
• The Analog Kid
• The Pass
• Where’s My Thing? (with drum solo)
• Far Cry

Part 2

• Caravan
• Clockwork Angels
• The Anarchist
• Carnies
• The Wreckers
• Headlong Flight (with drum solo)
• Halo Effect
• Wish Them Well
• The Garden
• Dreamline
• Drum Solo
• Red Sector A
• YYZ
• The Spirit of Radio

Encore

• Tom Sawyer
• 2112 Part I: Overture
• 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx
• 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale

The LG Arena also gets the current Gold Star as the best venue. OK, it’s not cheap, but the food is good for the price, and everything runs efficiently. Mind you, the Arena itself is bloody miles from the car park, but the weather today has been fantastic so the walk was enjoyable through the huge complex and past the lake.

Here’s a selection of pictures I took:

Once more, my agent had got me a decent ticket.The only bum note – well, notes, really – were the facts that someone who was about 7 feet tall was right in my line of sight,and he insisted on videoing parts of the show on his Blackberry; the group in front of him spent almost the whole three hours arms raised doing that thing with the index and little finger sticking up (what DOES that mean?); and someone somewhere behind me spent the whole show shouting loudly at his mates (and I mean really shouting). But I suppose they were enjoying themselves, and being quite tall myself I tend to get lucky when it comes to having taller people in front of me.

But I can’t blame my agent for all that. The crowd was loud, and that’s what bands want. I’m sure it loosens them up

Next stop, Sheffield on Tuesday. Let’s hope the Sheffield lot put on a better show than last time, where they were the worst crowd of the tour.

NOTE: The Sheffield write up is here.

NOTE: The Manchester MEN Arena, 2013 review is here.

Just got back from the second instalment of Rush’s Clockwork Angels Tour, and it was another stormer.

In the tour programme I picked up at Manchester, Neil made reference to how they’re doing more improvisation this time around (he says that the album itself was less rehearsed than previous ones). Going along with that, I don’t think I have ever been to a series of Rush shows on a single tour and heard them deviate in any way from their tight set – until tonight. They lost The Pass (a personal favourite), but played  Middletown Dreams, The Body Electric, and  Bravado in Part 1 of the set. Wish Them Well (also a personal favourite) and Dreamline were missing from Part 2, but in came Seven Cities of Gold and Manhattan Project. I think it may have had something to do with the delay to the start of the show – the sound check ran over and they didn’t come on stage until nearly 8pm – but it didn’t matter. It was still performed as well as everything else. Here’s the full set list:

Part 1:

• Subdivisions
• The Big Money
• Force Ten
• Grand Designs
• The Body Electric
• Territories
• The Analog Kid
• Bravado
• Where’s My Thing? (with drum solo)
• Far Cry

Part 2:

• Caravan
• Clockwork Angels
• The Anarchist
• Carnies
• The Wreckers
• Headlong Flight (with drum solo)
• Halo Effect
• Seven Cities of Gold
• The Garden
• Manhattan Project
• Drum Solo
• Red Sector A
• YYZ
• The Spirit of Radio

Encore:

• Tom Sawyer
• 2112 Part I: Overture
• 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx
• 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale

Once again, I couldn’t see an empty seat in the house, even in the top tiers at the back – and when you consider the size of the O2, that’s a damned good achievement. I was well placed on the floor (unlike last time at the O2, where I was in the rafters). I was on Alex’s side so the pictures were skewed towards him and Neil (the Manchester ones tended towards Geddy, as that’s where I was stood at that show).

As always, they put on an accomplished performance. They looked a little more relaxed right from the start this time, though that’s not to take anything away from the Manchester performance. If I was voting, I’d give the Manchester crowd the edge so far in terms of involvement and loudness – but only just.

It was a shitty day for the weather. It was almost constant heavy rain all the way down the A1/M11 (I passed the Borussia Dortmund team coach with big police escort, on its way to Wembley for the Champions League Final at Wembley). It was raining when I went into the venue, and raining when I came out. Damned cold, too. I was amazed to get out of the venue car park in less than 10 minutes – you have to know how and where to park!

The pictures all came out well again. They’re taller than some of the ones I posted for Manchester because I’m experimenting with the 16:9 format, which gives a wider field of view.

Next stop is Birmingham’s LG Arena on Sunday. I can’t wait.

NOTE: The Birmingham article is here.

Wow. I just got back from the first night of the UK leg of Rush’s Clockwork Angels Tour, and it was bloody brilliant! A great crowd at Manchester’s MEN Arena, and I couldn’t see an empty seat in the entire place. Here’s my review of the concert (gig).

As well as playing at least half of the songs from Clockwork Angels (I love Wish Them Well, and The Garden), they also covered some of the older stuff that I haven’t heard live before (or not for a long time, anyway), such as The Pass, Dreamtime, and Territories. Spirit Of Radio was in there – they can’t EVER not play that – and they encored with Tom Sawyer and parts of 2112. The full set list was as follows:

Part 1

• Subdivisions
• Big Money
• Force Ten
• Grand Designs
• Middletown Dreams
• Territories
• The Analog Kid
• The Pass
• Where’s My Thing?
• Far Cry

Part 2

• Caravan
• Clockwork Angels
• The Anarchist
• Carnies
• The Wreckers
• Headlong Flight
• Halo Effect
• Wish Them Well
• The Garden
• Dreamline
• Drum Solo
• Red Sector A
• YYZ
• The Spirit of Radio

Encore

• Tom Sawyer
• 2112 Part I: Overture
• 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx
• 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale

There was a 15 minute break between Part 1 and Part 2, and the strings section joined for virtually all of Part 2. I tried out my new camera – the Panasonic Lumix FZ200 – for the first time at a gig, and the results are unbelievable. Judge for yourselves.

You see what I mean? This time, I even got a bunch of fantastic pictures of Neil Peart. I’ve reduced these in size for the blog, but on the originals you can literally see the threads on the shirts the guys are wearing! I got nearly 550 shots, and 90% of them have no blur whatsoever!

I was six rows back and had an excellent view – my ticket guy had come up trumps again.

There was a fantastic lightshow, and plenty of pyrotechnics. And the band used a strings section to provide extra depth for about half of the show. The films played to accompany each song on the rear screen were easily the best I’ve ever seen. Oh, and Neil did three drum solos this time (even though the set list doesn’t mention this).

The only hiccup in the whole evening was the female Hitler – so that would be a Hitlerette – who told me I wasn’t allowed to use “one of those cameras” about half way through. But I went up to one of the stewards (who’d seen her do it) and explained that it was a fixed-lens camera, and he said to carry on. Which I did.

Next stop, London’s O2 Friday. It seems I’m not the only one doing the Grand Tour of all UK shows again. I met up with someone I’d first met on the Time Machine Tour a couple of years ago, and he’s doing the same thing this time. And it turned out the couple in front of us were also doing it.

NOTE: The O2 review is here.