The Perfect Musical Experience

Well, being I've been a huge music fan for over 4 years now and considering the fact that I'm definitely way too young to have seen any of my favorite prog giants back in the 1970s (or even the 80s or 90s), I was the happiest man alive to see that Rush were extending their Snakes and Arrows tour into 2008.

My first concert ever was last year on September 1st, 2007, seeing Rush on the first half of their S&A Tour, and it completely blew me away. Rush was the ticket for me really getting into my musical passion (collecting, drumming, and composing), so it was like a dream come true to actually see them play their material. However, despite how good that concert was and I never thought it could be surpassed, I managed to get tickets for this year as well... except, this time, I actually had pretty good "seated" tickets (as opposed to lawn the previous year).

To say the least, the night of Monday, June 30th was the greatest night of my life. It was what I would call my personal "perfect musical experience". Nothing better than seeing my musical heroes in top form, playing possibly one of the best possible setlists imaginable, with the music absolutely LOUD but incredibly clear, and with loads of humor, and the most awesome lazer, light, and video show I've ever seen.

I'm just about the world's biggest Rush fan... well, maybe not that far, but I absolutely love every song they've put out, I have all of their studio and live albums to date, have one DVD (need more), and 4 Rush t-shirts. Let's just say everyone I run into at college knows that I'm a huge Rush (or music) fan before anything else about me.

But back onto my point of this entry, the experience I had was absolutely forgettable, and even better than what I could have dreamed it to be. I imitated my best Geddy Lee, singing all the songs absolutely verbatim, and I would honestly say I was one of the most active (yet maybe obnoxious ) fans in my entire visible radius. Spending the night with three of my other friends and watching all of this was entirely climactic; Neil Peart was absolutely on fire, as well as Lee and Lifeson. The music was simply so perfect, so clear, so dynamic, it was such a spectacular presentation of the music that opened the gates for me to truly find my passion in life. The entire experience was beyond words.

I look forward to seeing many other concerts in the future, hoping that I really enjoy them (and knowing that I probably will), but wondering if ANY experience in my entire life will ever be able to match this one.


Have you had a similar experience where the entire concert (or whatever musical experience) was ABSOLUTELY perfect? Where you found yourself being touched by the music so much that you felt your spirit completely transcendent and one of your favorites or nostalgic bands played to their absolute best?

If not, then what would be your "dream" musical experience? (Even if you answered the previous question, feel free to reply with this answer as well). Who would you love to see most? What would be the setlist and the circumstances?

My perfect musical experience was MAGMA last June.  

peskypesky wrote: This is just so weird. My first concert was Rush too. 31 years ago in San Antonio, Tx. I was 11 years old. It was almost a religious experience. http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/tours/77oct22_collage.htm UFO opened for them. Tickets were $7.75

Haha, that's really awesome. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like to see them back then!

They actually played the first 7 minutes of 2112 this year, which was pretty neat. But I bet that might have been the only similarity song-wise between the concerts.

That price sounds like such a steal nowadays!


Edited by MovingPictures07 - July 03 2008 at 14:19

Kestrel wrote: Seeing the Musical Box last December doing the Selling England show is one of the most magical moments of my life.  My eyes were teary the entire show and I cried with my friends after it was all done...

Awesome! I would have always loved to have seen Genesis back in their heyday, and I've heard The Musical Box is a really good substitution for those of unfortunate enough to not have been alive back then (or not been able to see them the first time).

The only thing that would keep me from seeing it is my mind saying, "That's not Gabriel's exact voice!!" or something like that. I don't know, it's a hang-up of mine. I don't like Seconds Out as much as the studio versions for that reason; Gabriel's voice is part of the Genesis magic, IMO.

Plus, as much as I've liked Genesis over the years, I have other bands I'd like to see first.

That does sound pretty freaking sweet though, especially since it's Selling England.

Kestrel wrote: I thought the same thing too but the guy's voice is extremely close to Gabriel's. During the course of the concert, I essentially forgot that it wasn't Gabriel on the stage! It was so well done that my friends and I pretty much say we've seen Genesis live, haha. Wow, that's awesome-sounding! Apparently, Phil Collins thinks the Musical Box does what they do better than Genesis did, haha. Collins says alot of things though, some of which I try to ignore. Unfortunately, we may have seen the show for the last time. The tour they are doing now is the A Trick of the Tail tour and I don't know if they'll ever do the Gabriel-era shows again. I certainly hope so. A Trick of the Tail is good, but the stage show is definitely not as interesting. Yeah, I'll have to agree with you there. Well, I'd say that'll definitely make your experience that much more special... I often wonder how much longer certain bands will be touring, but thankfully I like a substantial amount of newer prog I can look forward to seeing over the years.

peskypesky wrote: It blows my mind to think that 31 years can go by and Rush is still playing to new, excited fans. I agree with that, and I haven't been around on this earth for that long. Even if they had just performed that one show I saw it would have blown me away, but the fact that they've been able to create quality music and put on concerts like that for SO long... Absolutely fantastic. I mean, that first Rush concert I saw seems like two lifetimes ago. But I can still remember my excitement when my older brother Mike presented me with my ticket and told me I could go with him and his band-mates. He played in a cover band called Wynd (they played Rush, Nugent, Doobie Brothers, Montrose, etc). And I still remember walking into the auditorium and being freaked out by the clouds of strange-smelling smoke! :) I had never smelled pot before, never been to a rock concert, and this was the 70s, when everybody in the audience, the band, the crew and probably the security was toking. So the place was completely filled with a cloud of smoke, and when I asked my brother what it was, he and his friends looked at each other, laughed and said it was some "weird cigarettes" or something. Haha, believe it or not, the smell wasn't as bad for me; it was more noticeable in 2007 and I hardly noticed any this year at all. I did see alot of people drinking beer, but besides that, the slight difference may be attributed to the fact that we were seated this year rather than on the lawn. I don't know. That was probably interesting though. Looking back, I must've had a contact high by the time Rush took the stage. I just remember being completely blown away when they came out and started blasting "Bastille Day". Can there be a more awesome beginning to a concert than that? I don't think so. That song just comes out punching like Mike Tyson. I bet that was amazing; "Bastille Day" would make a great opener. For both stretches of their S&A tour, Rush opened with "Limelight", which I thought was an exceptionally good opening. It was definitely comparable to horses completely rushing out of the gates and never stopping. It was also so cool to see Geddy and Alex with the twin double-necks. :) Man, that was beautiful. "By-tor", "Anthem", "2112", "Working Man", etc etc etc They played stuff from 2112 all the way until Snakes and Arrows, so we got a very good variety of every decade I'd say (which was very good, IMO). That would have been cool to see them back then though... the twin double-necks are so cool!! To think those 3 dudes are still out there on the road is amazing. I'm kicking myself for not getting tickets when they came through NYC. :( Yeah, I could imagine they were great back then, but it wouldn't have been the same experience as nowadays. They're still just as good (if not better) and it was completely amazing that 3 guys in their mid-50s could churn out THAT much good music and be able to put on such an amazingly tight live show. It was mindblowing. But I did see Steely Dan two weeks ago, and I'm seeing King Crimson in a month, so I'm stoked. Sweet! King Crimson is another band I would have loved to have seen, but it doesn't look like I'll get to. Have fun with that one! King Crimson are just like Rush, amazingly awesome and consistent (IMO anyway, I love all their albums too), so I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Huh,

My first concerts were Genesis (invisible Touch) and Rush (Hold Your Fire), both of which were fantastic. 

In my life I had a couple 'Perfect Musical Experiences'.

3)  The 'We Cant Dance' tour was amazing, I had fantastic seats, and almost had an accident when they launched into 'Dance on a Volcano'.  'The Last Domino' when Phil was lifted above the stage was great as well.  He was bathed in yellow light and at first I thought it was just a hologram, when I realized it was him, I was rather impressed.

2)  Juno Reactor, yes I know they're not prog, but I saw a show of theirs at a rave.  They came on at like three in the morning and the communal feeling put goosebumps on me. 

1)  The most perfect musical experience was at a King's X concert in 91.  I wasn't really familiar with the band, my bass player drug me along.  When they played 'Over My Head' I was absolutely blown away. 

On a related note, 'The Musical Box' was great, I saw them do both 'The Lamb' and 'Selling England', both shows were amazing.

I'm hoping that Spock's Beard, Neal Morse and The Flower Kings at the Three River's Prog Fest in August works it's way up into the top echelon of my musical moments.


Edited by Roland113 - July 07 2008 at 20:44

I saw Rush last year in Atlanta. It was their first show for their Snakes and Arrows tour, I believe, so that was pretty cool. They played a mix of their old and new stuff, and the show was very entertaining. The best part was watching Neil Peart play drum solos and the solos sounding as if he has three arms. It was also cool to see  Trey  Parker and Matt Stone from South Park make a hillarious intro to Tom Sawyer. Overall it was fun and exciting. I can't wait to see Rush again in late July!

Roland113 wrote: Huh, My first concerts were Genesis (invisible Touch) and Rush (Hold Your Fire), both of which were fantastic.  Sounds good to me, Hold Your Fire would have been amazing. I'm not big on 80s Genesis stuff though personally, but I definitely see how that could have been entertaining/just as good. In my life I had a couple 'Perfect Musical Experiences'. 3)  The 'We Cant Dance' tour was amazing, I had fantastic seats, and almost had an accident when they launched into 'Dance on a Volcano'.  'The Last Domino' when Phil was lifted above the stage was great as well.  He was bathed in yellow light and at first I thought it was just a hologram, when I realized it was him, I was rather impressed. 2)  Juno Reactor, yes I know they're not prog, but I saw a show of theirs at a rave.  They came on at like three in the morning and the communal feeling put goosebumps on me.  1)  The most perfect musical experience was at a King's X concert in 91.  I wasn't really familiar with the band, my bass player drug me along.  When they played 'Over My Head' I was absolutely blown away.  I need to hear King's X; this is another sign I should check out their stuff. On a related note, 'The Musical Box' was great, I saw them do both 'The Lamb' and 'Selling England', both shows were amazing. I'm hoping that Spock's Beard, Neal Morse and The Flower Kings at the Three River's Prog Fest in August works it's way up into the top echelon of my musical moments. The Flower Kings are one of the bands I would love to see the most (along with Magma, Ozric Tentacles, and Porcupine Tree). That should be awesome, to say the least.

spookytooth wrote: I saw Rush last year in Atlanta. It was their first show for their Snakes and Arrows tour, I believe, so that was pretty cool. They played a mix of their old and new stuff, and the show was very entertaining. The best part was watching Neil Peart play drum solos and the solos sounding as if he has three arms. It was also cool to see  Trey  Parker and Matt Stone from South Park make a hillarious intro to Tom Sawyer. Overall it was fun and exciting. I can't wait to see Rush again in late July!

Yeah, I loved their first show for S&A, but this year's was even better for sure. The drum solo was just as good this year, if not better, and I loved that intro to Tom Sawyer as well. The videos are as humorous and awesome as they were last year, and the music is even better (believe it or not, I couldn't), so you should love it.