Rush

Nynex Arena, Manchester.

Sunday 12 September 2004.

Once upon a time, a Geordie friend of mine imbibed from a flagon of foaming German lager, and finding it eminently to his satisfaction exclaimed to anyone who cared to hear "I've just died and gone to heaven! " The actual ethics of whether Chris Hamilton would ever go to heaven, if it actually existed, are very much open to debate, but the eternal depth of feeling behind what he said cannot be doubted: here was a sensation that was so intensely pleasurable and perfect that you just want it to last for ever. Now, the Hamster Meister experienced such a profound experience from a sip of lager: on Sunday 12 September 2004 I experienced it by attending the most devastatingly brilliant rock concert ever performed, by the all time kings of prog rock and every other kind of rock, the Canadian geniuses Rush. 

I hope that the above introduction isn't too flowery, but the simple truth is that this was brilliance of an order that I just hadn't dared hope for. Rush are one of my all time favourites, I bought my first Rush album probably well before my first Deep Purple album, and following a period of shameful neglect I have spent the summer preparing for this concert by not only listening to much of their back catalogue but by buying a good few CDs of their more recent stuff which for some reason I hadn't previously bothered with.

It was therefore with some trepidation that I approached this concert, because Rush have been my heroes since the third or fourth year at school, I've since discovered a wealth of brilliant new stuff by them, and to put it bluntly, it was a once in a lifetime chance. They haven't played in Manchester since 1980, the year I left school, and at this time in their lives it is hardly likely that they will be back. Thus I desperately wanted it to be brilliant - which it was, in unbelievable measure. With it being a once in a lifetime event I was also depressed that inevitably it would end, and that would be that - for ever. It did end, but not until nearly three and a half hours of the most brilliant rock music ever had been performed.

The eternal paradox with Rush is that brilliant as they are, the majority of pop music fans simply “don’t get it” and there is no way of getting over that. Even intelligent, university educated people are apt to deride them after precisely no listens and extol the virtues of worthy, if less accomplished performers such as The Jam or Rapid Eye Movement. Having listened at length to both afore mentioned groups I can state which is the better – in my view -  and this is a judgement devoid entirely of musical fascist overtones!

To a certain extent, this problem also effects Yes – see previous review. However, there is a big difference. Yes produce huge, complex musical symphonies but the words are mainly whimsical hippy nonsense whereas Rush produce equally musically complex works, (generally of a much shorter duration), but crucially with some of the deepest and most meaningful lyrics in the history of rock music. They aren’t easy to understand, and are certainly not love ballads like “Alone” by Heart or “noise for the sake it” type rock like Motorhead. The average Rush album can take a few years to get to truly appreciate, but like a fine wine, it is worth taking the effort. A song like “Subdivisions” is perhaps the prime example. To a non fan it is a jumble of words with a spiky tune that never makes it’s mind up where it wants to go, but the discerning listener eventually realises that it is an epic song about the whole human condition in the late twentieth century, about how suburbia and society can isolate and alienate you. Now, for all their “New Labour” credentials (or probably because of them) this is a scale of achievement that The Jam could never hope to achieve – and sod them, if their fans are too snobbish and conceited to take the time and effort to appreciate the finer things in life, it’s more fool them!

Enough of this long winded pontificating, what about the actual concert itself you might well ask?

Firstly, it was earth shatteringly loud. Without doubt it is the loudest concert I have been too, and quite comfortably so. In itself this guarantees it a degree of immortality with me, as rock music is all about high volume. You might think this strange as I have also been to Motorhead, but true, it was louder. Motorhead rely really on sheer  brute force but Rush had the advantage of an much better sound system. It also helps that they're much better players too. Geddy Lee's bass guitar in particular was wonderful. It was deep, rumbling and thunderous. At times the stands were shaking with the ferocity of the onslaught and there was a physical force of air movement. The guitar of Alex Lifeson was clear and crisp and cut through the bass rumble like a knife through butter. Underlying it all was Neil Peart's machine gun yet delicate yet thunderous yet fragile drumming. In the face of all this something had to give and it has to be said that much of Geddy's vocals were indistinct, but when you know the lyrics anyway it hardly seems to matter. The synthesiser was for colouring only and mostly seemed to be pre programmed anyway.

Secondly, the concert was long, very long. I have seen it commented that it was over generously long, and indeed, a Jam or REM fan, not knowing the songs, would have been bored shitless. However, for me and every one of the packed audience of fans, it was sheer heaven. To play at least one track from every single album of a thirty year career takes some doing. And a measure of the sheer quality is that they could very well do a show tomorrow with completely different tracks and the quality would not be much diminished. I was particularly impressed with the opening overture of riffs from the early albums, which segued into a barn storming heavy metal version of "Spirit of Radio" which had everyone jumping and clapping. This is the one Rush song, I do believe, that is known to the Jam and REM fans. From then on, what can I say, each song was a classic. What gave the most pleasure was (an albeit shortened version of ) "2112", the great “sci fi” classic which is, in reality, an all time classic commentary on the perils of an over powerful and over bossy and inquisitive government. In the era of Tony Blair and the internet it has even more power, immediacy and relevance than it did in the cold war obsessed days of 1976. There was the brilliant "Subdivisions" of course and others too numerous to mention. A stroke of genius was the inclusion of some of the cover versions of classic sixties tracks from their recent mini album "Feedback". Of course some classic tracks had to be missed: it was a shame not to hear "The Big Money" or "Vapour Trails" but the real major disappointment was no sing along to "Closer To The Heart". Still, these are minor quibbles.

There's not much point in saying any more. The Nynex Arena is one of the largest venues in the country and it was packed to the rafters with fans who went home in a state of delirium. Thus whilst Rush are rarely mentioned in the press, and whilst fashionable and trendy fans of The Jam and REM (who haven't been to a concert or bought an album in years) may deride them,  they can still sell millions of CDs and DVDs and sell out venues like this all over the world! Who are the ones laughing, I wonder?

Yes, life is strange and the world would be a sad and boring place if everyone liked the same stuff. Having said that though, Rush are the greatest - long may they reign!!

(13 &14.09.04)