Lost in the chatter of the classics is the fact that The Main Monkey Business is back. I am happy about that. They obviously needed an instrumental for the middle of the first set to give Geddy's voice a break there for a bit, and that is an instrumental that is worthy. I could have seen them slipping OLV up a spot and then playing Limbo instead, which would have given TFE some representation for once, but since TMMB is the better tune, I think it's better this way.
What You're Doing was my favorite song from the debut when I first got into Rush, and still might be, so I am excited about that one.
Lakeside Park stunned me. STUNNED. I thought Geddy disliked that song. If I had been a betting man, and someone had told me they would be playing all of one CoS song, I would have bet my life savings on Bastille Day. What a curveball.
Anthem is obviously a bad ass classic. I am glad we are getting Rush on the 4th show, since I think Geddy's voice may not hold up over the course of the tour singing that every night.
They had better not even think of rotating Jacob's Ladder. That needs to be played every night. Some fans are already speculating that Natural Science will rotate with it, since NS is mentioned in the tour book, but I am not convinced. I have to think the band is smart enough to know that you can't bring a song like that back and not give it to every crowd. Then again, after their odd decision to rotate Manhattan Project with Dreamline last tour, you never know...
XANADU. Thank God I will get to see this performed in full before I die/the band is done.
Scotty, regarding your set 1 swaps, while I'd love to see Cut to the Chase or Kid Gloves, I think those cuts are
too deep, and most crowds would stand there wondering "What song is this?" in both cases. Given that the first set is all "newer" material, you don't want to get the crowd too disengaged early on, so going with the more reliable, predictable "hits" like Roll the Bones and Animate is not only safer, but smarter. We've gotten a crap load of deep cuts from the post-1981 records over the last 13 years; now it is time to get deep cuts from the 70s.