Ausbury.com

September 1, 2007

Rush Snakes & Arrows – Cleveland, August 30 2007

I spent Thursday night in the 5th row at Blossom Music Center for Rush’s Snakes & Arrows show. I was on the right side in front of Geddy Lee. This was my 5th time seeing one of my favorite bands and as always, all 3 hours of their show was spectacular. Being up front, I was especially amazed at the sound and feel of the bass. During the last few bars of Subdivisions, the bass was so powerful that I could feel the ground moving under my feet. It may have been a 2.0 on the Richter scale. In my 27 years of concert-going, I’ve never felt bass like that coming up from the floor into my body. When the sound ended, the crowd exploded and you’re left standing there with chillbumps from head to toe.

This was a show for the true Rush fan – the Rush fan that knows the deep album cuts by heart as well as the Tom Sawyer’s and Fly By Nights. It’s very difficult to pick a favorite part of the show, but I especially enjoyed hearing Natural Science which lead beautifully into Witch Hunt which was my first time to hear live. They played a lot of their new stuff which I’m sure really ticked some people off, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. If you want to see “Rush’s Greatest Hits Live”, go buy the Rush 30 or Rio DVDs. Seriously, these guys have earned the right to play whatever set list they want to play. I’d go hear them play Air Supply covers for 3 hours – they are that good.

I can really appreciate that these guys in their mid-50’s have stuck together and not let drugs, women, egos or creative differences come between them. The picture above is of the three rotisseries that Geddy had behind him. I guess the story goes that Geddy was envious of all the guitar amps behind Alex, so he chose to add rotisseries behind him. Every few songs, a guy in a chef’s hat came out and basted the chickens.