Last years Snakes & Arrows album saw Rush hitting a belated creative high, something reflected both in journalistic appraisal and in the shape of a Grammy nomination. Why, even I said of the record that "this is the sound of a veteran band finding a way to charge the batteries and finding a way to move forward without leaving the past behind".
In fact, it was so good I even managed to drag myself along to a butt numbing three hour live show which saw the band perform nine of the Snakes & Arrows tracks across the 2 sets. I thought that the live show was a long slog, full of peaks and troughs, but that the high points were high enough to ensure that it was another good night for Rush.
And so, with a band hiatus coming up to enable them to indulge in some moustache growing, what better way to 'celebrate' the album and tour than with a 27 track double live CD. Of course, that's what Rush do, this being the eighth such release since All the World's A Stage came out in 1976. This one is a straight run through of the set, recorded over two nights in October 2007 at the Rotterdam Ahoy! arena, which means it replicates the show I saw. Now the one thing you can never fault Rush on is their musicianship, so there are no bum notes and missed cues here. However, that's the one thing you can fault them on. Because apart from some audience noise you wouldn't really know you were listening to a live show. Although there are also a few clunky edits between tracks, where Geddy Lee gets his minimal chit chat cut off.
Back to the music, and there is no doubt that the legions of somewhat scary Rush fans who were surrounding me that night will be rushing out to pick this up. They will not be disappointed, as the band rattles though powerful versions of "Freewill" and "The Main Monkey Business." As it was on the night, the highlight of the set was a 1-2-3 punch of "Subdivisions," "Natural Science," and "Witch Hunt" which are simply amazing, and one of the best uses you can put a spare quarter of an hour to.
I still think the drum solo should be outlawed by international law, so immediately skipped over "Malignant Narcissism," but they redeem themselves with a closing fanfare of "The Spirit Of Radio," "Tom Sawyer," "One Little Victory," "A Passage to Bangkok," and "YYZ."
People who strayed from the Rush path during their synth era will enjoy hearing how the band has returned to the world of rock, and people who attended the shows will enjoy it as a souvenir, especially as it's unlikely that so many Snakes & Arrows tracks will be performed live again.
It's not the best Rush live album, you want the 3CD Different Stages set for that. But it does what it says on the tin. A DVD version of this show is also planned and expected in late 2008 / early 2009. This has been confirmed on the bands official website, and will feature video from the same Rotterdam shows.
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