Rush v. Dirk, Pratt, & Lerxst

[The Letter M]

I think he talks about this one https://www.rushbackstage.com/rushbackstage/dvd-and-video/rush-clockwork-angels-tour-limited-edition-deluxe-package.html
I am tempted, but it will cost a small fortune getting it shipped to denmark 60$ for express + import duties and taxes

Sooooo I got paid today, had quite a bit more money left over than I expected aaaaaand well... I went ahead and got the limited edition box set. It just looks SO DAMN PRETTY. I cannot wait to get it, but it ships on Nov. 19 and will take about 2-3 weeks to get here (with the standard shipping I chose at $7...expedited shipping was about $20. Yeesh!)

I cannot wait to get it, and I don't mind the wait past release day. Honestly I will likely be too busy until Thanksgiving to watch it anyway, so if I get it by the end of the month, it'll be a good time to watch/listen to it!

-Marc.

[jingle.boy]

Yummy!!!

RUSH: CLOCKWORK ANGELS TOUR DVD

Rush will release Clockwork Angels Tour on CD, mp3, DVD and BluRay on November 19, but Radio.com has a six-song preview of the live release.
Starting at noon EST on Thursday, November 14 and lasting for 24 hours, you can watch an exclusive stream of “Grand Designs,” “Middletown Dreams,” “Territories,” “The Body Electric,” “Red Sector A” and “The Wreckers,” shot during Rush’s 2012-2013 tour supporting Clockwork Angels, their 19th studio album. Then, starting at noon EST on Friday, November 15, we’ll have “Middletown Dreams” and “Red Sector A” available on-demand, plus an exclusive interview with Geddy Lee from our Radio.com studios

https://news.radio.com/show/rush-clockwork-angels-tour-dvd/

[Anguyen92]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!  This is actually a good thing.  I actually don't know three of these songs, very well, and I'm not that fond with Red Sector A and The Wreckers.  So, I shall watch them.

[Zydar]

Red Sector A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0-xnpS5XYo

[ytserush]

Already ordered the limited special edition and I may pickup the regular one so I can watch it the weekend before, but I may spend another $12.50 to see it on the "big" screen.

Where is this "Limited Special Edition" you speak of? Does it include the DVDs AND the CDs in one package? I'd like to grab something like that, as was the R30 show, rather than buying separate CD and DVD sets like the last two tour releases (for S&A and Time Machine tours).

-Marc.

I think he talks about this one https://www.rushbackstage.com/rushbackstage/dvd-and-video/rush-clockwork-angels-tour-limited-edition-deluxe-package.html
I am tempted, but it will cost a small fortune getting it shipped to denmark 60$ for express + import duties and taxes

That's the one. What sold me was the exclusive tourbook and litho. 

If not for that, I'd have just walked into the store this Thursday and picked up the CD and DVD. (Didn't expect to score a promo poster, but that was a nice surprise.)

Who am I kidding? I may just do that anyway and dig in that night. If I like what I see, I'll spring for the big screen on Monday.

Pretty much went down as expected.  Planned to watch the DVD tonight, but the wife and kid couldn't wait so I got talked into watching this afternoon.

Not watching again until seeing it on the big screen Monday.

Based on one viewing...

I like it a lot, but I'm not that fond of the director's work here. Or maybe it's the editor's work.

I think too many shots missed the mark although I love the behind the scenes stuff and a few of the camera angles. Love the crowd getting into the new material too. Orchestra mixed higher is great too.

The set still blows me away even now.


Definately in a happy place.

[snowdog]

I went to the Fathom Event last night in Colorado Springs.  All in all very good.  They skipped the entire first set and played the second set/encore and then showed the documentary.  That was cool.  I wouldn't say it was sold out but it was pretty packed.  Someone apparently went out during the 2nd song to tell the theater to turn it up.  It was already a decent volume but it got cranked really loud which was nice.  Lots of people were really enjoying the material both new and old.  I could even hear some people around me singing along to The Garden.  Fortunately they were in pitch so it made me smile to hear others enjoy that song as much as I do.

[TL]

They showed the documentary bit before the concert part here in Halifax.
The theater borked the sound for most of the opening (sound only coming from the front of the theater, quiet, little to no bass), which is weird, because it was working fine and then went like that. They had it up and running by the end of Caravan.
The concert film itself was great.

[YtseCullen]

I went to the showing in Prince George, BC. Great time was had! Only downer was that the first song had horrible sound, exactly how TL described it, but after that someone asked the theatre manager to fix it. Then once it was fixed the place wad rocking! Total blast!

[The Curious Orange]

Got the DVD last night, and so far I've only watched the CA songs. Brilliant. There are too many "in the audience" shots, tho. I've already seen this show obscured by the back of some drunken bozo's head - I don't expect the same view on a DVD! 

[fadetoblackdude7]

Just got the blu ray and it's excellent!

But does anyone else notice that the audio is really low or is it just my copy?

[Zydar]

I just saw the tracklist of the live album:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clockwork_Angels_Tour_%28album%29

Three drum solos?

[jjrock88]

Yeah they might have gone a little overboard with the drum solos 

[KevShmev]

Well, he normally does one drum solo which is close to 10 minutes, but this time, he did three shorter solos, all of which fly by pretty quickly.  Unnecessary?  Probably, but he is known for his drum solos, and mixing it up like that at least added a new twist.

[The Letter M]

I just saw the tracklist of the live album:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clockwork_Angels_Tour_%28album%29

Three drum solos?

What Kev said, and they're pretty short and sweet. The performance of "Where's My Thing?" is VERY reminiscent of ESL's "YYZ" with the drum solo in the middle. And "The Percussor" is an amazing showcase of sounds and tones with the electric drum pads, and the shortest drum solo during "Headlong Flight" fits in with the song, using samples of guitar riffs and works in nicely! It sounds like it could've been on the record that way!

I was actually VERY excited to see Neil changed up his solo spot for 3 small ones! It's a nice change of pace and now it's got me looking forward to the next tour and what he'll do next!

-Marc.

[King Postwhore]

Well, he normally does one drum solo which is close to 10 minutes, but this time, he did three shorter solos, all of which fly by pretty quickly.  Unnecessary?  Probably, but he is known for his drum solos, and mixing it up like that at least added a new twist.

And it worked.  Very refreshing and quite a new spin on his drum solo.

[KevShmev]

True.  I gave the Blu-Ray a quick run-through last night (I'll watch it uninterrupted from start to finish when I have more time), and one thing I noticed is how subdued the crowd was.  The mix wasn't that great either, as it sounds a bit loud like Clockwork Angels, and it is hard to hear some of the intricacies of certain songs, especially the 80s ones with all of those cool keyboard sounds and whatnot going on, but I guess this is just one of those things we have to accept with them now.  I just don't understand how a band that has been around this long is this clueless at this stage at how to make their stuff sound as good as possible.

[King Postwhore]

We are in the "loud is better" days right now, sad to say.  the best sounding shows in my life were on the low end.


Steely Dan
Pink Floyd
Porcupine Tree

[Lucien]

I kind of want to attribute some of it to Roadrunner. I shouldn't blame them, but still. Does a record company get that kind of control?

[The Letter M]

I kind of want to attribute some of it to Roadrunner. I shouldn't blame them, but still. Does a record company get that kind of control?

I'm not sure they'd be to blame in this case. Kev mentioned the Blu-Ray, and I'm fairly certain that only the CD set was released by RoadRunner Records, with the Blu-Ray/DVD Zoe Vision/Rounder Records.

You could always blame the mastering people: Adam Ayan/Gateway Mastering

Or the people involved with audio production:
Audio Producer
Mixed By Mike Fraser- The Warehouse, Vancouver, BC
Digital Editing - Richard Chycki, Mixland

Audio Consultant - Brad Madix

Location Audio:
Remote Audio Recording Provided By Music Mix Mobile
Recording Engineers - Richard Chycki, Joel Singer
Audio Engineer Operator - Chris Montefiore
Audio Assistants - Jimmy Goldsmith, Jason Macalik, Chris Newsom
Pro Tools Operator - Brian Flanzbaum

-Marc.

[snowdog]

True.  I gave the Blu-Ray a quick run-through last night (I'll watch it uninterrupted from start to finish when I have more time), and one thing I noticed is how subdued the crowd was.  The mix wasn't that great either, as it sounds a bit loud like Clockwork Angels, and it is hard to hear some of the intricacies of certain songs, especially the 80s ones with all of those cool keyboard sounds and whatnot going on, but I guess this is just one of those things we have to accept with them now.  I just don't understand how a band that has been around this long is this clueless at this stage at how to make their stuff sound as good as possible.

I had it cranked and I thought it sounded great on my system.  I'm not hearing any distortion or clipping like Vapor Trails.  For me the biggest drawback is Geddy's vocals.  Not as great as they used to be.  But all that said it is a great live disc.

[KevShmev]

Well, few things sound as annoyingly loud as the original Vapor Trails does more often than not, but this is still a somewhat disappointing mix.  Not to beat the Steven Wilson drum again, but you'd think since Alex and Neil are such big fans of his, they'd be reminded of how great music can sound sonically and dynamically.  But whatever.

[King Postwhore]

It's not as bad as everybody has said.  Lets be honest.  Steven Wilson bar is at the top.

[Nick]

My problem isn't that this sounds bad, it's that it doesn't sound great. There is simply no excuse for a band with the resources of Rush to put out an album, live or otherwise that doesn't sound fantastic or better. I'm not disappointed with the release, but it sucks knowing that simple changes could have been made that would result in a superior product.

[Lucien]

My problem isn't that this sounds bad, it's that it doesn't sound great. There is simply no excuse for a band with the resources of Rush to put out an album, live or otherwise that doesn't sound fantastic or better. I'm not disappointed with the release, but it sucks knowing that simple changes could have been made that would result in a superior product.

The same basically applies to Dream Theater, yet here we are.

[The Curious Orange]

The sound on the DVD is fine, an open, as-live mix, not what I'd have gone for, a little muddy, but replicates the experience. No complaints. 

The sound on the CD - brickwalled to bu99ery. There really is no excuse. I have a cheap DVD player and a high-end CD player - this is why I buy these things on CD.

[Ben_Jamin]

Tp tell you the truth, most shows don't sound good .

[ytserush]

Not really a fan of the mud. It's there, but this set is just too damn good.

I'm listening to this for the umpteenth time again and you hear Subdivisions, The Big Money (probably my favorite commerical performance by the way) and Force Ten (probably likewise) and you're thinking.....  Okay, typical Rush set. All standards, nothing to see here and the typical setlist complaints begin to surface and then Geddy says "Hello" and everything is still normal and then he introduces Grand Desgns and then WHAM!  It's Twilight Zone time.  The monkey's been shocked.  From then it's BAM! The Body Electric...you're barely able to stand. You're wondering what's going on here, but you're feeling it. BAM!  Territories!  BAM! The Analog Kid! BAM! Bravado! Where's My Thing?/Here It is!  Is this a dream? Far Cry.

There's no way I will ever know what it was like on opening night, but this DVD does a damn good job trying to translate it.

That first set is about as unRush as we're probably ever going to get , but it doesn't stop there. The main course is on it's way....

Clockwork Angels ends way too soon. It's really done justice with the orchestra which is a little higher in the mix than in the arenas (which I like)

Okay...I'll stop now and just enjoy The Garden.....



I'm so glad there is an official record of this tour.

[Nick]

You nailed it John. I was absolutely shocked up there in Manchester. Song after song I just couldn't believe that first set, not to mention how thrilled I also was with the amount of CA material and strings in the second set. And then to see as they rotated in even more great material on future nights... I just don't know how anyone can look at this and not at least say it's the best Rush tour (from a setlist perspective) in at least a decade.

[KevShmev]

You'd be surprised.  A friend of mine, who has been a fan since the late 70s and seen them on every tour since then, called it the worst Rush set list he has ever seen them play.  His complaints:

-Too many new songs (he only liked several CA songs).
-Not enough tried and true classics, like By-Tor, Xanadu, Red Bachetta, The Trees, La Villa Strangiato, Natural Science and Jacob's Ladder.  He even understands that they can't play all of them on the same tour now, but why not at least a few of them?  He even had no interest in watching it when I told him I got the CA Live Blu-ray (although part of that is him not liking Geddy's vocals anymore, especially live).

As for me, I think the set list was mostly really good, but if I can pick nits:

-Rotating some of the songs that hadn't been played in decades was a terrible idea.  For one, rotating Manhattan Project with a song that has played a ton over the last 20 years (Dreamline) was a bad idea.  Given the look of the set list, rotating Dreamline with Red Sector A (another song that gets played a lot) would have made far more sense, and Manhattan Project should have been played every night.  I have seen the band on every tour since 1991 and still haven't seen that song.  Same goes for The Body Electric and Middletown Dreams, which inexplicably got rotated as well.  It would have made far more sense to rotate Big Money and Force Ten (two songs that have gotten more than enough love in the set list over the years), and then play both TBE and Middletown Dreams every night.  Fortunately, we got Middletown Dreams, the far better song, at our show, so I was happy there, but I would have taken The Body Electric over seeing another performance of either Force Ten or Big Money (two songs I love, but have seen many times already).

[Nick]

I completely agree with your last paragraph Kev.

[snowdog]

-Rotating some of the songs that hadn't been played in decades was a terrible idea.  For one, rotating Manhattan Project with a song that has played a ton over the last 20 years (Dreamline) was a bad idea.  Given the look of the set list, rotating Dreamline with Red Sector A (another song that gets played a lot) would have made far more sense, and Manhattan Project should have been played every night.  I have seen the band on every tour since 1991 and still haven't seen that song.  Same goes for The Body Electric and Middletown Dreams, which inexplicably got rotated as well.  It would have made far more sense to rotate Big Money and Force Ten (two songs that have gotten more than enough love in the set list over the years), and then play both TBE and Middletown Dreams every night.  Fortunately, we got Middletown Dreams, the far better song, at our show, so I was happy there, but I would have taken The Body Electric over seeing another performance of either Force Ten or Big Money (two songs I love, but have seen many times already).

I agree, but it was even worse on the 2nd leg of this tour.  I saw the last two shows of the tour.  The spot that was trading The Body Electric and Middletown Dreams got Limelight BOTH of those nights.  That was disappointing.  It was great to see Manhattan Project one of those nights.  Hadn't seen it since the Presto tour.  But even though I had a great time at these shows, I was really wishing I had at least seen Middletown Dreams one of those nights.  While I've never seen The Body Electric live, I'm not as bummed about that.  But at least the Blu Ray has both of those on there.

[Nick]

Much like Between the Wheels, The Body Electric isn't a song I paid too much attention to... and then I saw it live. Both are absolutely stunning in their presentation, especially BtW.

[King Postwhore]

I think most fans don't get that Geddy can't sing the old classics anymore so to pull our Bastille Day would be so tough on his voice.  It made much more sense to play the 80's songs that they haven't played since the 80's.  I loved the sets.

[KevShmev]

I completely agree with your last paragraph Kev.

Write the date down. 

-Rotating some of the songs that hadn't been played in decades was a terrible idea.  For one, rotating Manhattan Project with a song that has played a ton over the last 20 years (Dreamline) was a bad idea.  Given the look of the set list, rotating Dreamline with Red Sector A (another song that gets played a lot) would have made far more sense, and Manhattan Project should have been played every night.  I have seen the band on every tour since 1991 and still haven't seen that song.  Same goes for The Body Electric and Middletown Dreams, which inexplicably got rotated as well.  It would have made far more sense to rotate Big Money and Force Ten (two songs that have gotten more than enough love in the set list over the years), and then play both TBE and Middletown Dreams every night.  Fortunately, we got Middletown Dreams, the far better song, at our show, so I was happy there, but I would have taken The Body Electric over seeing another performance of either Force Ten or Big Money (two songs I love, but have seen many times already).

I agree, but it was even worse on the 2nd leg of this tour.  I saw the last two shows of the tour.  The spot that was trading The Body Electric and Middletown Dreams got Limelight BOTH of those nights. That was disappointing.  It was great to see Manhattan Project one of those nights.  Hadn't seen it since the Presto tour.  But even though I had a great time at these shows, I was really wishing I had at least seen Middletown Dreams one of those nights.  While I've never seen The Body Electric live, I'm not as bummed about that.  But at least the Blu Ray has both of those on there.

Yep, that might have been their dumbest set list decision since they segued from Xanadu into Superconductor on the Roll the Bones tour.

   It made much more sense to play the 80's songs that they haven't played since the 80's.  I loved the sets.

Oh, I agree.  Despite my minor beef with the way they rotated certain songs, I loved the set, too.  Any set with that many songs from both Power Windows and Clockwork Angels, two of their three best post-Moving Pictures albums, is money, IMO.

[The Curious Orange]

That first set really explodes when they play "Far Cry" - the only post-RTB song in there. It's a great set, with lots of unexpected gems, but it's crying out for something else with balls, like "One Little Victory" or "Animate".

Oh, and they should have played both "The Pass" and "Bravado" every night - 2 of my favourite Rush songs.