I bought a brand new Panasonic Lumix camera with an 18x optical zoom for the concert, and it really paid for itself when I was able to grab amazing shots of Geddy even while he was jamming on the opposite end of the stage. As you can imagine, I also got some nice shots of Alex when he was right in front of me. You don't even want to know how many pictures I took, but I can tell you that it was somewhere between 500 and 1000!
As soon as we took our seats, me and my Uncle knew that we were in for the ultimate Rush experience. You can't imagine the thrill we experienced when Alex walked on stage, the lights went on, and the band started playing "Limelight". They went through the first half of the set and played incredibly as they always do, but I did notice that Alex seemed to be having some problems with his ear piece cord. He reached behind his head to adjust it several times and at one point he got both his hands behind there and gave it another try. I'm not sure if this was related to the problem he was having with his guitar later in the first half of the set - this required the assistance of the technician and even delayed a song for a bit.
The sound was fantastic in the Xcel, and the band played an amazing show. It's hard to describe how great the band sounds and the kind of show they put together - you have to experience it to believe it. The band mixed three different songs into the first half of the set - "Ghost of a Chance", "The Trees", and "Red Barchetta". The crowd loved all three, and there was a special kind of excitement for "The Trees", a great classic Rush track. After they finished "Dreamline", they took a break and we went off to get our Rush gear. We both got Rush t-shirts, and when we came back it turned out that some other Rush fans had noticed that I was taking pictures, and asked if I could send some their way. I gladly agreed - I was just happy to have been able to successfully bring my camera in and get the shots of the band that I longed for. As for the pictures, you can see them as soon as I post the link here.
The opening video for the second set was hilarious - it was titled "What's That Smell", and featured Geddy, Alex, and a doll version of Neil. It even brought back old favorite Jerry Stiller from earlier Rush videos. They rolled through the second set and the explosion during "Far Cry" was exciting as always, and even louder in the third row! Alex's problems seemed to be over after they finished playing "The Way the Wind Blows", and "Subdivisions" got great cheers from the crowd. We were of course on Alex's side, but during the second set Geddy swapped sides and jammed with us three times. I had to alternate between yelling "Geddy" and trying to get some pictures of him, and the crowd on our side just went wild.
Thanks to the band for putting together such an incredible show for a 17 year old fan!!!
...and now for the good stuff!!
MOVIES:
http://rapidshare.com/files/117354299/P1020109.MOV - Alex Lifeson's Guitar Solo during "Mission"
PICTURES:
Batch 1: http://rapidshare.com/files/117399897/R ... atch_1.zip
Batch 2: http://rapidshare.com/files/117408052/R ... atch_2.zip
Batch 3: http://rapidshare.com/files/117410016/R ... atch_3.zip
Batch 4: http://rapidshare.com/files/117410949/R ... atch_4.zip
Picture samples:
