Rush 2013

Rush
MEN Arena
Wednesday 22 May 2013

This is the 4th time I've seen Rush, so, no matter how hard I try, there's not much new I can say about them (see Rush 2004, Rush 2007 and Rush 2011). Despite that, the fact was that the masters of prog rock were back in town and just couldn't be missed.

The concert was a revelation - after seeing it, I realised that to some extent, their last couple of concerts had been a little guilty of "going through the motions" - certainly last time, the stage set and the song set had been very similar, and last time the sound quality had even been bordering on being a bit "iffy" by their standards.

I was thus mighty relieved to discover that they were back on their mightiest top form and well worth every penny of the ticket price. As ever they played an exceptionally long set, but there was a greater variety of material this time, including many of favourite classics - 2112 and it's homage to libertarianism just cannot be beaten. Better even than that though was that the sound quality was completely revamped this time, being not only very loud, but full and crystal clear. I initially had my doubts, but the addition of the string section for the second half of the show was a real master stroke - expanding the sound even more, if that is possible! Also, what made a big difference was that the stage set itself had been completely overhauled, with it now being based on the "steam punk" imagery of their new concept album "Clockwork Angels". I'm not sure that I've got much idea of what Steam Punk is, and excellent as the new album is, I've not really latched on to what the "concept" is yet, but whatever, I know that it makes for a veritable audio and visual feast.

It was a fantastic privilege to once again see one of my all time favourite bands, and I came out with a huge smile on my face, but also with a touch of trepidation: in December I am finally seeing another all time favourite group that I rank alongside (or even ahead of) Rush - Black Sabbath - could they possibly remotely approach the greatness of this gig, and if not, how disappointed would I be?