From: bigdave@texas.tdd.sj.nec.com (David Sweeney  x2987)
Subject: Re: Rush is getting old and boring
Organization: NEC-AM TDD, San Jose, California
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 19:01:35 GMT

therese@crchh588.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Therese McCarthy) writes:
>I agree their opening acts are for the most part lame. I have never went to
>a Rush concert to see their on-stage antics.  The best Rush concert I have ever
>beentowas the HYF tour in Jacksonville, FL.  I had seats on the upper level and
>EVERYONEaround me sat down (except during the encore and Tom Sawyer of course).
>Itwassuchadifferent concert experience for me because no one was into screaming
>anddrowningpeople around you out, but just sitting back and really listening to
>great music live.  (BTW, I'm not old and boring, at the time I was 22.)

I guess it's a difference in taste, but I hardly think that watching a band
trigger sequencers on stage is exciting.  If you go to concerts to hear the
band exactly duplicate their recordings, that's okay.  But I would much
rather hear new interpretations of their songs than listen to their 
prerecorded backing tracks.  I've always enjoyed Rush's music quite a bit,
but their concerts have been (at least since 1982 or so) rather boring.
The lasers are nice and the videos are fun, but watching a band stand like
statues and sound exactly like their records is a waste of money.  I don't
want them to jump around like idiots, but a little energy wouldn't hurt!
If the audience sat down throughout the whole show, then the band was
doing something wrong.

I think that live music in general has been hurt by the "Live Radio" syndrome.
Concertgoers expect to hear the band sound exactly like their CD's, and get
upset by an extended solo or changed arrangement.  The most disappointing 
show I ever saw was Pink Floyd during the "Momentary Lapse..." tour.  The 
lights and the video were great, but the band could have been replaced by 
cardboard cutouts.  IT was the most predictable, tedious show I'd ever seen.
I swore I'd never see another arena show again, because any band that tries
to connect with 15,000 people in a stadium is at best hoping for too much and
at worst a parody of themselves.  Then again, the Red Hot Chili Peppers did
a pretty good job of it...

A previous poster mentioned that he/she was disappointed by the 
predictability of encores by arena acts.  A year ago, I saw Scatterbrain
(remember "Down With The Ship" or "Don't Call Me Dude"? :-))  play at
the Roxy in Hollywood.  They came out on stage, played a huge chord, screamed,
trashed their instruments, yelled "Thank you, GOODNIGHT!" and walked
off stage.  The house lights came up and the announcer said, "You wanna hear
some more Scatterbrain?"  After a minute or two of hooting and yelling, the
band came back on stage and played their show.  Longest (and best)
encore I'd ever seen! :-)

And on another topic, some "puzt" writes:
>Its a joke get a life you puzt.....Rush dosnt need to attract  new audiance
>and it aint rap its scat get with the game!!!!!

Yeah, that's right.  If you're white, it's 'scat' and if you're black,
it's 'rap'.  (And you wonder why most people think Rush fans are idiots.)

-- 
Dave Sweeney   bigdave@tdd.sj.nec.com
For a REAL live show, go see Fishbone.
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush