Speaking of Rush live releases, I have the Rush R40 Bluray box set and I plan on watching a couple of the concerts again in the coming weeks.
How would you rank all the different concert movies?
We have:
Exit... Stage Left
A Show Of Hands
Rush In Rio
R30
Snakes & Arrows: Live
Time Machine 2011
Clockwork Angels Tour
R40: Live
Um, that's a difficult one...I'm very fond of A Show of Hands, as I got that one on VHS when my Rush fandom was truly starting to explode. I'm also a big fan of the synth era, so that helps too.
Overall, though, Rush in Rio is probably the one I watched the most. Incredible vibe and performance on that one...might sound a little rougher (not surprising, given the circumstances) but, man, the energy on that one and the whole feedback loop with the audience...amazing stuff. Also, the documentary! I mean, as Rush has become "cool" (sort of) in the last decade and a half or so, we got used to having more access (from a media perspective, I mean), but at the time the "Boys in Brazil" doc was a pretty unprecedented in-depth look at the life on that tour for Rush, with interviews that were funny and insightful. Watched it many times.
R30 was very cool too, and sounded great. Didn't care for the Feedback tunes too much, though.
Interestingly, despite the fact that S&A is far from being a favorite, I think S&A Live is excellent - in fact, I'd dare say the performance captured on it is close to peak "new millennium" Rush (as least from the perspective of what I witnessed). Also, Geddy's vocals are still very good there - and unfortunately took a bit of a nosedive after that...
...which I guess brings me to the more recent concert DVDs...excellent setlists all around, great gigs (the Clockwork Angels and R40 concerts I went to were unbelievably good)...but never quite grabbed me the same way. Same thing for Time Machine.