Something happened last night that hasn’t happened in over sixteen years.  My dad took me to see the band Rush, who has always been one of his favorite bands.  I grew up listening to their albums, and when I was eleven years old he took me to my first ever concert, which happened to be Rush.  We went again the day after my fourteenth birthday.  Both times were at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, now known as US Bank Arena.  I don’t really remember much of those concerts, and prior to last night I hadn’t seen Rush in concert again.  So I don’t really have much to compare last night’s performance with, but I thought it was pretty awesome.  While they are definitely getting older, and the lead singer, Geddy Lee, can’t quite hit the same notes he once could, they are still very talented musicians.

It’s well-known that Rush doesn’t very their setlist throughout a tour, so we already knew what they were going to play.  This obviously takes away some of the excitement and anticipation out of the show, but I’m sure it helps the band to really play these twenty-four songs very well.  And one bonus that I hadn’t thought of before is that you can play your bathroom and concession trips around the setlist, which I did take advantage of last night.  One noticeable thing about last night’s setlist was that they played their entire Moving Pictures album in order from start to finish, thirty years after it was recorded.  Other highlights of the night included nearly all of their top 100 hits along with other favorites of mine “Freewill,” “Marathon,” and the first two parts of “2112.”

As I already mentioned, their musical ability is amazing.  For just a three-piece act, they sure can put out of ton of different sounds.  Neil Peart on drums is always an amazing site to see.  Many consider him to be one of the best around, and he definitely put on a show last night.  His drums solos create an entire song on their own.  Contrary to another great drummer, Carter Beauford from the Dave Matthews Band who is always smiling, Neil rarely cracks a smirk and appears to be very serious and dedicated to his craft.  Lead vocalist, Geddy Lee, is also the bassist and is quite accomplished in his own right.  And when he gets the chance, Alex Lifeson on guitar can really play a mean lead solo.

The stage was set with all sorts of props covering the speakers as the band often seems to do.  Their lighting equipment was really good, and they had amazingly high quality video screen taking up the entire back of the stage.  Both sets of music started with a comedic video starring the band members if various costumes, and there was even a video at the end of the show with the band members playing themselves in normal attire with cameos from Jason Segel and Paul Rudd who pose as Rush fans.  I was amazed at how many people not only stayed through the last note, but stuck around to watch the video at the end which must have went on for ten minutes.  Needless to say the show was excellent and I know that my dad had a great time seeing them at Red Rocks for the first time.