Rush’s Live Release Thinking

[GuitarGeek]

That Test For Echo show was supposed to accompany the Different Stages CD release but the apparently there were "synching" issues between the audio and video which was said to be "cost prohibitive" to fix at the time. e.

If that's true, that sounds like the footage must have been a video screen feed. I remember that was why the Grateful Dead waited so long to release the New Year's Eve 78 concert (last night at the Winterland), because they had the video and audio weren't synced, and the technology to do it correctly didn't really exist until the 21st century, apparently.

[ytserush]

I cannot begin to say how quick I would be to buy a Blu ray collection of every Rush tour ever. Of course, this is all hindsight. I would love to see Rutsy playing a complete show. And Neil doing all the songs as their new drummer and playing Beneath Between and Behind as a brand new member. Film was expensive and rare back then and they were broke. But how great would it be to watch Rush becoming Rush through the lens of their concerts? I wonder if there are any more cuts of them in the early years that we will never get to see.

You can kind of do that now to some extent. The R40 box R40 Live and ReplayX3 give you all of the concert footage (1981, 1984, 1988, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015) and studio videos (beginning in 1975, but there is the Don Kirschner set from Dec. 1974) that were released to that point. (Including the full Laura Secord school set with Rutsey.)

You can get the full opening set during the 2112 tour at the Capitol Theater on the most recent 2112 reissue. The abbreviated Presto set is on the Time Stand Still doc.



For video bootlegs, there is silent 8mm film footage from the Caress Of Steel era and also Moving Pictures.

The bootleg video era really begins with Montreal in 1983 through every tour after.



Why do I have the feeling I probably missed something.

[Garden Dreamer]

Alex sang actual backing vocals on "In the Mood" for many years. And on the early television appearance he is also singing backup on "Best I Can" (!) although there are no backing vocals on the album version. In later songs from later years, he's obviously miming because the backing vocals that come through are often "Geddy choirs".

I would not have purchased a live album after every tour (heck, I never even bought Exit Stage Left!!) but I sure as heck would have bought a VHS and/or DVD of a live show of every tour!!! I did buy the ESL VHS tape and also bought the GUP and HYF (A Show of Hands) VHS videotapes even though I was becoming turned off by Rush starting with the GUP album. I bought the live shows for all the reasons like seeing what they look like, their gear, their hand positions on the guitar necks to figure out what chords/notes are being played, etc... and also because the live versions of those post-Signals tunes had so much more fire than the studio versions.

[ytserush]

Remember that video they did for Closer To The Heart they did to promote Different Stages? They took the video they shot for the original studio version, and the versions from Exit...Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure, and A Show Of Hands, plus new footage, and synced them all up to one single live version for the audio. And virtually every damn shot syncs up perfectly to the audio. I mean, I appreciate the fact that was something they took pride in, playing the songs exactly the same every night, and on a lot of those songs, that is impressive that they could do that, but as a listener, for me, it gets boring after awhile.

That might be my favorite video they've done ever. The '97 footage they used for that was part of the what was supposed to be released from the Test For Echo Tour some of which ended up as a bonus for the R40 box. But I love how that video was mixed and how the song evolved over the years. I REALLY love that otherworldly jam at the end of that too. That was always a tour highlight for me.

[ytserush]

If that's true, that sounds like the footage must have been a video screen feed. I remember that was why the Grateful Dead waited so long to release the New Year's Eve 78 concert (last night at the Winterland), because they had the video and audio weren't synced, and the technology to do it correctly didn't really exist until the 21st century, apparently.

No, it was pro-shot. I have the bootleg and the camera would get in the way sometimes.) Also, you can see some of what was shot for it in the Closer To The Heart montage video that they released for Different Stages.

[GuitarGeek]

No, it was pro-shot. I have the bootleg and the camera would get in the way sometimes.) Also, you can see some of what was shot for it in the Closer To The Heart montage video that they released for Different Stages.

That sounds fishy, then, that they would have trouble syncing up pro-shot footage, as part of doing a pro-shot shoot is running an SMPTE signal on both the video cameras and the multi-track machine, which allows everything to sync up real easily. Unless of course some piece of gear failed and nobody thought to bring a backup.

[Gravedigger]

Does Alex ever really sing live or is it total bullshit?

I saw Alex sing the vocal climb during the "Overture" part of 2112 by himself sometime in the early '80s.
Geddy was smiling and said into the mic, "Wasn't that great? He sounds just like Jim Nabors!"

[GuitarGeek]

I saw Alex sing the vocal climb during the "Overture" part of 2112 by himself sometime in the early '80s.

I remember reading that there was one show where Geddy had a cold, and couldn't do it, so Alex did it that night. But I remember hearing about that more in like the mid 80's. It was noted in Guitar World that it was, according to them, the first time in 10 years or so that Alex had opened his mouth onstage, adding, "Thank goodness he doesn't mind doing interviews once in awhile!".

[gearHed289]

Does Alex ever really sing live or is it total bullshit?

I believe he did a fair amount of singing during the PoW/HYF era, before the samplers really took over.

I saw Alex sing the vocal climb during the "Overture" part of 2112 by himself sometime in the early '80s.
Geddy was smiling and said into the mic, "Wasn't that great? He sounds just like Jim Nabors!"

Ged was prone to backing off the mic on that part as far back as 1980. He completely blows it off on A Show of Hands.

[ytserush]

I saw Alex sing the vocal climb during the "Overture" part of 2112 by himself sometime in the early '80s.
Geddy was smiling and said into the mic, "Wasn't that great? He sounds just like Jim Nabors!"

That was a thing on the Signals Tour according to bootleg evidence. Really funny stuff. There was also the "We are the plumbers who fix your sinks." parody on that tour. Could be why they gave up playing it on the Grace Under Pressure Tour and just played Temples right after YYZ.

[chalkpie]

This is slightly O/T, but I'll never forget a time in college in these guys suite we were hanging out in - we got REALLY high (and drinking) and I was laying on my back listening to "Red Sector A" at a very high volume with just this one red light on in the room - there are certain moments you think of tunes you've heard that are quite special - that tune has never sounded as amazing as it did under those circumstances for me and I still love that tune because of it.

[chalkpie]

BTW, Ged's voice sounded pretty amazing on the Grace tour imo.

[gearHed289]

Sitting here watching the Molson Amphitheater footage from Rush’s R40 bonus Blu-Ray (from the Test for Echo your)

Is this an Easter egg or something? No sign of it on my DVD. I looked up the blu ray on Amazon, and no mention there either. I did find this on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYghBqzU2I8&t=919s I didn't follow them at all in the 90s, so it was interesting to hear a couple of tunes I didn't recognize. I was also surprised at how many mullets there still were in 1997.

[Jerjo]

I was also surprised at how many mullets there still were in 1997.

It's Canada, man. An essential part of hockey culture.

[JKL2000]

Is this an Easter egg or something? No sign of it on my DVD. I looked up the blu ray on Amazon, and no mention there either. I did find this on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYghBqzU2I8&t=919s I didn't follow them at all in the 90s, so it was interesting to hear a couple of tunes I didn't recognize. I was also surprised at how many mullets there still were in 1997.

I have the R40 collection of all the concert videos, which has a bonus disk that includes that Molson Amphitheater footage. This was sold as a box set, but then they released a less expensive "compact" version with simpler packaging (but the same content), and that's what I have.

[Dana5140]

There are many good bands that have made their career by releasing many live shows- String Cheese Incident, Phish, Moe, Pearl Jam, etc. They have audeinces that understand the nuances and differences in sets, and each one sells enough to keep it going. Frankly, I wish magma would get on this bandwagon.

[helix]

Rush has OD'ed on live albums

they most definitely have not


follow the setlists they've done and there's something from every individual tour that makes that tour special, especially as they always added 75-90% of the most recent LP to the set up until Presto where it started to want to about 50/60%. changing to 'An Evening With RUSH' allowed even more variation and length

[GuitarGeek]

There are many good bands that have made their career by releasing many live shows- String Cheese Incident, Phish, Moe, Pearl Jam, etc. They have audeinces that understand the nuances and differences in sets, and each one sells enough to keep it going. Frankly, I wish magma would get on this bandwagon.

Yeah, but most of those bands, as I understand it, don't play every single song almost exactly the same every single night, with virtually no improvisation or variation whatsoever. I've mentioned this many times before, I remember an interview Alex did in the 80's, where he talked about being disappointed when he went to see Cream as a teenager, and they were improvising away and playing the songs not at all like the way they were on the records. I think he said his thought at the time was, "You mean you can't play it like it is on the record?" or something like that.

But when you have a fan base like that, whether it's Rush, King Crimson, the Grateful Dead, they'll eat up just about anything you throw at them. That's not a criticism of the fans, I'm just saying that when you reach a certain point of popularity, you have people who are so ravenous that they'll collect anything and everything. They've got all the bootlegs (sometimes 10 different version of the same FM broadcast), they've got every unique variation of a given album in every format (Hemispheres! On 8-track!), and so on.

So, in the case of Rush, they could probability put out a dozen live albums, with the same stock setlist standbys, all of them sounding identical, and there's a contingency in the fanbase who'll see to it that the band doesn't lose money on the deal.

[Jerjo]

La Villa Strangiato is about the only tune with a lot of variance to it. I have versions of this that range up almost up to twelve minutes. But I'm fine with have a document of every tour, because they do play a LOT of whatever album is new. Someone pointed out to me that one reason live Rush is so popular is because Rush was one of the few bands that could approach the muscle and ferocity of The Who and Zeppelin. I can see that. Peart was a beast live, Alex's guitar sound is more raw, and the bass is far more massive in the mix. I remember seeing them on the Signals tour after missing a couple tours and I had forgotten how prominent Geddy's bass was (and how freaking good he was, we're talking Entwistle/JPJ/Jack Bruce good). To get that complex hard rock delivered with such passion and fury is something few could come close to replicating, even if there was little improvising like their mighty influences.

[Dana5140]

Yeah, but most of those bands, as I understand it, don't play every single song almost exactly the same every single night,

Legit point. I have about 10 SCI discs, and while many of the songs are the same, they are not played the same, there is a lot of improvisation and jamming. I only ever saw Rush once, but it was memorable- a very good show indeed. But yes, not much variation in the way they present their songs.

[gearHed289]

I have the R40 collection of all the concert videos, which has a bonus disk that includes that Molson Amphitheater footage. This was sold as a box set, but then they released a less expensive "compact" version with simpler packaging (but the same content), and that's what I have.

I see, thanks! I just have the single disc R40 Live DVD.

[ytserush]

they most definitely have not


follow the setlists they've done and there's something from every individual tour that makes that tour special, especially as they always added 75-90% of the most recent LP to the set up until Presto where it started to want to about 50/60%. changing to 'An Evening With RUSH' allowed even more variation and length

To me every leg was special. I'm glad they realized after the hiatus that fans wanted live souvenirs from every tour.

[Scott Bails]

Rush has OD'ed on live albums.

Not really possible. If anything, they didn't release enough during their prime years.

[3RDegree_Robert]

To me a live Rush video is more a souvenir than something I need or expect. I'm not a big live album guy. However, it would be cool to have videos from every tour like we got for every tour once they toured Vapor Trails if only to sort of be able to remember the show you saw even if it's not the exact show you saw on the video.

[Progatron]

Not really possible. If anything, they didn't release enough during their prime years.

I don't know, I rather liked the four-studios-then-a-live-album routine they were in for many years. It worked well IMO.