R30 - 30TH ANNIVERSARY WORLD TOUR

It's a long Muslim Holiday (after fasting month) right here in my country - so I can keep up with many DVD collections that I have purchased couple of months ago. I did not have a chance to enjoy each of them. Hmmm .. at least there are now still another 12 prog DVDs I need to enjoy until next week. Dunno whether I have time or not. Let's see ..

And now another DVD of Rush? Oh no . The band has bombarded with many live video concerts recently and it's probably running a race with Dream Theater? It's probably. Let's just enjoy the DVD. R30 commemorates the band's commitment in rock music and delivers their repertoires live in tour. This film was taken from their concert in Frankfurt. As far as design, I really enjoy the animation that represents an evolution of the band's cover in the early days until recently. I especially like the one with Dalmatian who does something on hydrant. It's really funny. All of the animations give great opening to the concert. The show starts with an overture comprising medley of the band's previous works in instrumental style. One thing to notice here is that the instrumental has nothing on melody (which on studio version was performed through vocal) - so it's just the riffs and rhythm section. However, people would easily know what songs the band are playing because they are obvious representing the songs being featured.

Geddy Lee, as usual, takes the lead as the band's communicator and entertainer. Sometimes he moves in closer distant with Alex Lifeson. Neil Peart has no smile at all and he is playing too seriously - no single strike has missed, I think! The overture then ends up with the intro of "Spirit of Radio" which has been famous to rockers all over the world. I sing along with the band when my favorite track from "Counterpart" album is played excellently: "Animate". It's then continued with "Subdivisions" - another great track from "Signals".

As far as band performance I don't think there is any single person who complains lack of virtuosities of the band members. Geddy Lee is not just an excellent bass player but also sings all lyrical verses with practically no backing vocals at all. He moves back on forth on stage, dynamically. Alex Lifeson guitar work and stage act are good viewing as well. Drum connects everything that bass and guitar have played altogether and of course . providing beats for the music. If you want to find some improvisations from the original studio version, you must be dreaming, my friends. Rush is the type of band that plays straightforward music as you have heard on record - except those being played medley.

Just before "Tom Sawyer" is played, there is relatively long animation presented in a funny way which helps relaxing the minds of the listeners before pondering into the heartbreaking track. Even though this track has been played in nearly every single concert of Rush, I still find it very uplifting to enjoy this track while nodding your head or head banging.

From Disc Two you can find interviews with the band since 1979 (with Geddy Lee) until 2002 Vapor Trail Tour (Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson) albums. There are important shots especially for Rush fans. I'm quite impressed that during the band's five years career they had performed 200 concerts with some of them were attended by 10,000 people. Such an enormous number for prog band. In addition to interviews with band members from Rush, Disc Two also gives "The Anthem Vault". My best favorite part of this vault is the band's live performance of "La Villa Strangiato". It's so perfect and it's so dynamic which makes pleasant viewing and full enjoyment.

Overall, this is an excellent live concert documentation which any Rush fan would be very pleased enjoying it. Do you want to rock? Get this DVD! Yeaaaahhh . keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW