Rush... 10-23-07 Milan.... by cellphone hahhaha

OK, as I promised, here's my attempt at a review... More than a real review, though, it's going to be a series of somewhat disjointed impressions of a fantastic evening with one of my all-time favourite bands. Thanks to our very own Paolo.Beenees and his friend for the company, and for putting up with my usual chattiness and ramblings! Wink

Let's start from the venue. I already knew the DatchForum, in the south-western part of Milan, because Iron Maiden had played there in December 2006. At that time, it was packed full, with probably close to 12,000 people stuffed there . This time, it wasn't sold out, as it was to be expected - though Rush do have a loyal following here in Italy, it is nowhere as big as the one bands such as Genesis, or even Jethro Tull still have. However, we spotted quite a few members of the audience who were obviously not Italian, mostly coming from Eastern European countries not included in the tour.

We were sitting on the left-hand side of the stage, relatively high but not excessively so - luckily the view of the stage, with its triple screens and various other gimmicks, was near perfect, since visuals are nowadays an integral part of any Rush performance. I would even dare to say that they have become the rightful heirs to Pink Floyd, after the latter's demise. Even though in modern music the visual element has got more and more important, very few bands manage the blend of sheer power, diversity and humour that Rush seem to achieve quite effortlessly. They may not be much to look at - provided looks are of any importance in good music - but they still exude a level of energy that many much younger acts can only dream of.

The selection of taped music played before, in between and after the concert was also to be commended, as someone mentioned some time ago on these forums. In particular, I spotted one of prog's absolute masterpieces, KC's ''21st Century Schizoid Man'', as well as one of my favourite modern prog tracks, TMV's explosive ''Inertiatic ESP''.

I don't know if anyone has ever posted the setlist. Even if it's quite easy to find around the web, I'll do so for anyone interested, especially the other Italians who couldn't be there:

Limelight
Digital Man
Entre Nous
Mission
Freewill
The Main Monkey Business
The Larger Bowl
Secret Touch
Circumstances
Between the Wheels
Dreamline

Intermission

Far Cry
Working Them Angels
Armor and Sword
Spindrift
The Way the Wind Blows
Subdivisions
Natural Science
Witch Hunt
Malignant Narcissism
Drum Solo
Hope
Distant Early Warning
The Spirit of Radio
Tom Sawyer

Encore:

One Little Victory
A Passage to Bangkok
YYZ

I know many fans have been left somewhat puzzled by the band's choices, which left out many of their live staples, such as ''The Trees'' or ''Closer to the Heart''. In my humble opinion, the choice of giving exposure to some overlooked material in their 30-year-plus career was excellent indeed - most of those songs really come alive, if you pardon the pun, when performed on stage. This was especially true of a great favourite of mine, ''Witch Hunt'', which was one of the real goosebumps moments of the evening. Introduced by ominous, disturbing images of distorted human faces on the triple screens, and accompanied by a double beam of green light, the song was performed with an intensity that perfectly reflected the very delicate, timely subject matter.

Other highlights were a superb, intricate version of ''Secret Touch'', from the hugely underrated Vapor Trails album; the classics from Signals, especially ''Digital Man'', with its lengthy, reggae-tinged coda, featuring a rather unusual bout of improvisation from the band; Neil's entertaining, creative drum solo, putting paid to the myth that drum solos have to be deadly boring. Furthermore, most of the material from their latest album, Snakes and Arrows, especially the three cracking instrumentals, sounded incredible when performed live, and proved without the shadow of a doubt that the album is one of Rush's best ever efforts.

Rush sounded HEAVY on Tuesday night, and as loud as they come. Their performance clearly revealed how most of their material, even those tracks which get easily dismissed as radio hits, is of a much much more complex and progressive nature that it is usually given credit for. Alex, Geddy and Neil may all be in their mid-fifties, but the sound they produce is so sleek, powerful and intense that it makes it hard to believe there's only three of them on stage.

Though they had toy dinosaurs on stage, Rush are still very far from becoming dinosaurs themselves... Long may they reign! Clap

Edited by Ghost Rider - October 26 2007 at 07:31