Get rid of The Camera Eye and that's a great setlist!
(Disclaimer: I just don't like covers and i'd rather have them play another DT song)
I disagree whole-heartedly. Maybe if they covered something like Xanadu, or something else Rush does often, then ok. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that I've heard that Rush themselves have never played The Camera Eye? 3 years ago on the 8vm tour, we got Jacob's Ladder - something rarely/never played by Rush. On the ToT tour, it was A Passage to Bangkok (before Rush dusted that one off). So, I totally enjoy getting something that is unique. Just because it was written and recorded not by DT doesn't bother me. Great songs, great performances - that's what we go to concerts for, isn't it?
Anyway, it's late, so I'm only going to post some quick thoughts on the concert.
StS and Bigelf were good. I like both, so it was great to see them in concert. Both were out in the concourse signing shit and meeting the fans afterwards.
Zappa - didn't expect much since I don't listen to them. They were good, and quite musically talented - man they can jam... and that's what they did. MP came out for Bobby Brown again.
DT - great performance. James' frontman skills are even better this tour. Vocals were great - he nailed 'pleasantly amused enough to staaaaay' in Voices (but chinced out on 'deliver us from darkness', and 'only in your mind'). They cut the heavy verse in Voices at 3:18, as well as the second verse in Take the Time (I guess James can't hit those stanza's anymore - even though he says his voice is better than it's been in years). I think they also needed every minute they could, as they went right to 11pm, and I'm pretty sure there's a curfew at the Amphitheatre. Keytar was in full force for TtT. Personally, I would've prefered PoW over Forsaken, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked Forsaken. The Camera Eye was awesome. They nailed it. When JR came out for the the first couple of notes, I was speachless.... I thought it was going to be a teaser (cuz they teased with Xanadu on the CiM tour), but then they played the whole song!
Fucking loved it.
I'm surprised at how much backing tracks they use nowadays. I always liked the fact they did the full performance on their own, but with some of the lines from ItPoE, and now lots from ANtR and even the opening accoustical guitar in TCOT ... well, I'm surprised.
All in all, even though it was less than 2 hours, I'd rank it right up there with all of the previous DT concerts I've seen. Can't wait until next summer when they're back, and they better come back to Toronto - it was a packed house... I'd say at least 6000-7000 people. Almost the entire seated section had people.