Last week I had the good fortune of seeing Rush play live in Montreal. They have been around for about as long as any band, and they played music from each of their 4 decades of existence. In many ways the show was great – good song selection (except, any songs from the 90s and 2000s is too many), good musicianship, and they appeared to be having a great time. Geddy’s voice can still hit the high notes, although he can’t really hit them with the raspy power he had in the 1970s. Alex Lifeson’s playing was mostly right-on, but as a huge guitar nerd, I was able to notice most times he deviated from the record, or made a mistake.
My brother pointed out something which I think is pretty true of Rush – since the end of their “keyboard period” they are no longer really a prog band, but a rock band. Not a normal rock band, something like “jazz rock”, but not jazz rock exactly.
The sound in the Bell Centre wasn’t great; the bass was very muddy and there was interference between the bass and drums, such that you could only really hear the bass when the drums were not playing.
Rush is a great band, but for people who are not already into them, I would recommend you watch the documentary “Beyond the Lighted Stage” rather than see a live show.
Only a Northern Song 