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Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2008 > April > 24 > Entry
Review: Rush rocks the Erwin Center
With live staples such as the opener “Limelight,” “Tom Sawyer” and “The Spirit of Radio” appearing alongside new songs like “Armor & Sword,” and the dodging, weaving instrumental “Main Monkey Business,” the trio was in unstoppable form, even at this early stage of the second leg of this tour (promoting 2007’s musically rich, lyrically misguiding “Snakes & Arrows”).
Although the cheers were long and loud, the biggest cheer of the night, as seems to be the case at every Rush show, was reserved for Neil Peart’s drum solo.
He is a tour de force of timing, rhythm and improvisation. Criticism of the drum solo, even as the much-maligned art form it is, seems churlish when a musician of this caliber can pack so much into it and still keep it interesting. Peart was fully deserving of the standing ovation he received.
Rush, now in its 34th year together, is one of the few acts left from the past four decades that can still consistently deliver the goods when it comes to live performances and do it with style and drive. Also to be taken into consideration is the fact they play for just under three hours a night, which for three guys in their 50s is absolutely remarkable.
This is a band that never fails to give their army of fans what they want while keeping it real for themselves, and in today’s musical climate, that’s no mean feat. Possibly one of the best shows Austin will see this year.
(Geddy Lee of Rush performs Wednesday at Austin’s Erwin Center. Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez/AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
Comments
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By owcprleah
April 24, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this
Totally agree - one of the best shows in Austin this year. Kudos to Rush and to the Erwin Center for doing the Rush sound justice. It’s hard to be captivated by the sound in a large venue. The band still puts on a great show because they never broke up and reformed ‘a la Van Halen.’ No novelty here - just three guys who love to play together with a rabid fan base that gets bigger with each generation.
By whall
April 24, 2008 1:30 PM | Link to this
Absolutely FANTASTIC show - I was lucky enough to have 3rd row floor, and despite the drunk non-Rush-fans who did more looking at each other, high-fiving, spilling beer and yelling out “YYZ!” or “2112!!!”, or interrupting our view with their camera-phones sticking out in front of our faces, my Rush viewing experience was top-notch.
By PJ
April 24, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this
I agree with whall, it has become so damn annoying to go to concerts these days because people don’t get into the songs as much when they are playing because they are so concentrated on playing band photographer with their damn cell phone cams all night long.
Take a couple of pictures and put the thing away and rock out for Christ sakes! It’s Rush not Blink 182!
By Davo
April 24, 2008 7:10 PM | Link to this
Just a word of thanks to RUSH for keeping it real and totally enjoying what they do because it shows in their performance. It was my first time to the Frank Erwin and just want to say what a nice venue
By danhan
April 24, 2008 7:36 PM | Link to this
This was my 18th Rush concert spanning 29 years and I would put the show last night near the top. Alex was the symbol of perfection, as usual; Neil was amazing (naturally), and Geddy was not only in a zone, but seemed very happy and quite relaxed. Over the years the band has stayed true to their desire to faithfully reproduce exceptionally difficult songs live but they’ve also learned to loosen up and have some fun. The venue was good, our seats great (9th row), the light-show mesmerizing, the projections hilarious, the sound quality top-notch, and the crowd was completely into it the whole way, if not quite distracting as whall and PJ mention above. (Like whall, I seem to always be standing directly behind a completely hammered idiot who can’t stop punching his equally inebriated idiot buddy.)
Sadly, this will probably be my last Rush concert. I love this band, but I’ve seen it all from just about every kind of seat you can buy. But the $90 ticket prices are too much and having to stand for 3.5 hours (in a leg cast this time) doesn’t help.
So … my brother and I probably saw our last live Rush show and I could not think of a better way to go out than the show we saw last night.
Thanks, Dirk, Lerxt & Pratt
By Scott
April 25, 2008 7:54 AM | Link to this
This being my 9th Rush show in the past 2 decades, Kudos to Rush for keeping it alive and kicking! I was honored to take my 13 yr old son Brandon to this event and introduce the sprit of Rush to him first hand. The band is and has always been flawless and a true perfection of team work and precision. Rock on Rush!!! Scott Moore, Austin Texas
By mlbrewer
April 27, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this
Rush indoor is the best! This was the 4th time this tour for me and the 1st indoor. The sound and lightshow were much better. I’m not a big fan of the new Rush album. It’s almost like watching 2 different bands when they switch from old to new songs. This may have been my last Rush concert but I’ll remember it as one of the best! Thanks to Rush for all the great music over the years.