Rush - Wembley 9th Oct

[MartyMoffatt]

Last night we went to our first of four of four Rush concerts this week, at Wembley Arena, and all I can say is…. WOW!. Superlatives are two a penny on forums nowadays, but I really can’t think of any superlatives that do justice to the quality of show that Rush are putting on this tour.

I don’t want to spoil too many surprises for anybody who is seeing them later this week, but I’ll give you a flavour of what is in store for you.

Firstly we had almost perfect seats – third row centre stage. I’ve seen Rush many times before, but never from this close and it transformed what is always a fantastic concert into something almost surreal.

Rush are not a band who come on stage, play their instruments and leave. They really do put on a show and their lighting rig is something to behold. They have video sequence backdrops, lasers, cartoon interaction with the audience and pyrotechnics, all customised for every song. They must employ an army of graphic designers and computer geeks all year just to put together all of the visual extras that make up their set.

On the stage, there are a lot of humorous props - lets just say that Alex Lifeson is a little kid at heart, and Geddy Lee must feel really peckish every time he looks behind him. LOL.

For a band with such deep and meaningful lyrics, Rush do NOT take themselves seriously. They have fun on stage, and they really ham it up acting in their own video accompaniment to their songs. Drummer Neil Peart always looks grumpy behind his drumkit, but that is simply because he’s concentrating on what must be absolutely the most complex drumming setlist known to man, and he prides himself on getting it right night after night. And when it comes to his solo you can almost hear everybody’s jaws drop to the floor as the audience looks on in disbelief.

As to Alex and Geddy, they prance around on stage like two kids who can’t quite believe they are up there, all the while producing guitar and bass licks of stunning virtuosity. We all know that Geddy is one of rock’s great bass players, but there are plenty of occasions during their set which showcase just how talented and underrated Alex is on guitars (and he plays about a dozen of them during the evening).

What also impressed me is that on this tour, the band seem to have set out to play songs that they want to play, not necessarily what is expected by the audience, and that includes several songs that don't often make it into a live set. It also included at least seven songs from Snakes and Arrows. It takes courage for a band to do that, and not just play the greatest hits, and quite often when a band does it they lose the attention of the audience. Not so last night. Even Rush's more obscure tracks are of such quality that you are still mesmerised by the song and the performance.

I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to get any pictures. I couldn’t get a photo pass and Wembley are notoriously finicky about allowing cameras in. I brought a tiny camera (a new one I got especially for these shows), but I needn’t have worried because the security staff didn’t seem that bothered about cameras, as long as they weren’t pro SLR cameras. From my position so close to the stage I’ve got some great pictures. A bit trial and error at first, as I’m still learning how to use the settings on this camera, but the majority of them seem to have come out well. No time to upload them now but I'll post a link to a few later in the week.

I don’t know how many Wembley Arena holds – I guess around 8,000. And I don’t know if last night’s show was a sellout, but it must have been close, because when I looked around me all I could see was a sea of faces and waving arms, air drumming to the complex beat and looking utterly transfixed.

All in all a great concert, hopefully to be repeated at Wembley again tonight, and then at the Birmingham NEC on Friday and the Manchester MEN on Sunday.

Marty

[MartyMoffatt]

And here's the photos from that show....

http://www.martymoffatt.com/rush2007wembley01

These were all taken from the third row, but I think they've come out pretty well. There are just over 100 photos here, in a self running slideshow, so you will need Flash installed to see them (you can also view them as a static gallery). Let me know what you think. There are some great expressions from Alex and Geddy later in the show.

I'm still working on images from the second night at Wembley, but they will have to wait until after tonight's show in Birmingham.

Marty

[WickedGail]

Marty my man the shots are excellent! As usual you did you fantastic bang up job again! Looking forward to more! You are good! Thank you.....

Gail

[Real rock fan]

Very nice review and fantastic photos.

I`m off to see them at the NEC in a couple of hours and I can`t wait.