Rush DVDs

[Hour Candle]

I know they have quite a few out there, but any recommendations where to start with their DVD's? Also, how's the new one Clockwork Angels Tour?

[Rufus]

Time Machine & Exit Stage Left are the only Rush DVD`s you need, trust me¡

They are too repetitive. Same old same old,even the drum solos. Improvisation isnt in Rush's vocabularly!

[jarmsuh]

Start from the beginning and buy them all!

[Polska]

The BluRay version of Clockwork is STUNNING! Beautifully filmed. Somehow with the uncluttered stage and the lighting they are able to give it a really intimate feeling for such a big hall. At least that's the visual impression I got. Different song selections too, and the string section was a great choice. My favorite of all the Rush DVD's personally. Then again, I really love Clockwork Angels which is featured in set 2.

[SteveSly]

I have "R30", "Time Machine", "Rush In Rio" and the documentary "Beyond The Lighted Stage". I find them all to be excellent and well worth owning.

Steve Sly

[2ndsout]

I will second on "Beyond the Lighted Stage".... what an epic documentary about the band! I would start with this one and then work on getting the others. Beyond the Lighted Stage was a welcome and fresh look at the longevity of the music of the band and how they were discovered with Working Man.

[Garden Dreamer]

Beyond the Lighted Stage, while not a concert vid, is a thoroughly-enjoyable and endearing documentary of the band that even non-fans can enjoy.

If you have a favorite era of Rush, that might dictate your decision on which DVD to get. Exit Stage Left is their tour for Moving Pictures, their classic album. The DVD concerts for Grace Under Pressure and Show of Hands features more of their keyboard-heavy era. Rush in Rio is good but the crowd is SO into it that they almost eclipse the band experience, and the video has a lot of quick scene cuts, if you're sensitive to that kind of thing.

R30 is good but I could do without the songs from "Feedback". But it's worth getting for the extras - old interviews as well as old TV concert performances from the 70's. The ReplayX3 box is the first 3 DVDs I mentioned all boxed together. The Snakes and Arrows DVD has some nuggets like "Digital Man", "Entre Nous", "Circumstances" and "Witch Hunt"...but also has tunes from S&A, many of which I don't like. The Time Machine DVD has "Marathon," "Camera Eye" and "Vital Signs" and pre-album performances of "Caravan" and "BU2B." Finally the Clockwork Angels DVD has the best film work of any of their DVDs plus the whole orchestra experience.

[Hour Candle]

Thanks alot! Just curious, how's Geddy's voice these days?

[Sean]

A bit strained. But he's 60 and still playing the songs in the original keys (save for one or two, tops). He had a cold on the Time Machine DVD which didn't help matters. That said, I don't cringe too much when I watch these recent DVDs. Musically they are still quite happening.

[Jimmy Giant]

I found Geddy's voice on this tour much better than has been in the last decade. Seemed that he hit higher notes this time around. It's got to be ridiculously hard to hit those old high notes at his age, so I don't criticize like many others like to. They don't have much gas left in the tank, so I'll soak it in while it lasts.

Beyond the Lighted Stage is one of the best rockumentaries I've ever seen. Thoroughly enjoyable. The best part is, the second dvd is as good as the main movie, I thought. Highly recommended. I really laughed my arse off at Kiss and UFO giving these guys shit when they toured together. GLEE......Ha!

As for the concert DVDs, I have them all. Still yet to watch the new one, but I saw the tour. I can't comment on what is best, there's something I like in all of them.

[Yanks2014]

Time Machine & Exit Stage Left are the only Rush DVD`s you need, trust me¡

They are too repetitive. Same old same old,even the drum solos. Improvisation isnt in Rush's vocabularly!

Can't agree. The set lists are quite different on these. Sure, some of the bigger tunes are repeated. As for the drum solo, not sure what DVD's or tours you have seen, but Neil changes it up on every tour, the solos are hardly identical. And if anything, Alex's playing has gotten better and better in recent years, so the reason DVD/Blu-ray is a must for big Rush fans.

[JKL2000]

Beyond the Lighted Stage is one of the best rockumentaries I've ever seen. Thoroughly enjoyable. The best part is, the second dvd is as good as the main movie, I thought.

What's on the second disk? Somehow I didn't realize or remember that there was a second disk.

[trurl]

What's on the second disk? Somehow I didn't realize or remember that there was a second disk.

IIRC, many full interview segments that didn't fit into the main film, and full versions of a lot of the live clips.

[jarmsuh]

IIRC, many full interview segments that didn't fit into the main film, and full versions of a lot of the live clips.

The main extra is the dinner with Rush at a Hunting Lodge - An extended version of the footage shown during the film's closing credits. Very funny and intimate.

[arise_shine]

I'm partial to Rush in Rio, because it's the first tour I saw them on, and it has two of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums ("Earthshine", "Ghost Rider").

[TheLongshot]

I'm partial to Rush in Rio, because it's the first tour I saw them on, and it has two of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums ("Earthshine", "Ghost Rider").

I'm partial to Rush In Rio because you get to see Rush in front of one of those huge, insane South American crowds. Seeing the crowd "sing" along with YYZ is something special.

[JKL2000]

For Christmas Santa caught me up on my Rush live BRs and CDs - I got the Time Machine and Clockwork MF Angels tour CDs and BRs. (I missed both these tours - the last time I saw Rush live was on the Vapor Trails tour.)

So I was listening to the Time Machine tour CD in the car this morning. The sound seemed not so great, which I think other people have mentioned. I only got a few tracks into it, but the performance and song selection sounded pretty good. Just wondering what other people here thing about this recording. Do they handle the audio on the CDs any differently than on the BRs? Also, and this is a much more general question that's probably been brought up here before - do you think the fact that there are so many live concert videos released these days has changed the amount effort and time that goes into making an AUDIO release of a live concert (especially Rush concerts)? Do you think the end product (the CDs) are worse, better, or about the same as earlier live CD releases? Been wondering about that.

[Yellow Jester]

I know they have quite a few out there, but any recommendations where to start with their DVD's? Also, how's the new one Clockwork Angels Tour?

I love the new "Clockwork Angels Tour" DVD and I recommend checking it out. I also recommend the "Time Machine 2011", "R30" and "Rush In Rio"* sets.

PS; *"Rush In Rio" may have the worst sound quality of all the Rush DVDs but the wild atmosphere of the crowd makes up for it.

[JKL2000]

Wow, Geddy's voice does NOT sound so great on Closer to the Heart on the Time Machine show. I played that in the car when my family was in it, and it was embarrassing!

I'm also not crazy about the silly films on the DVD, but to be honest all Rush's humor never really seems very funny to me, and it all seems like a lot of inside jokes. I'm happy to see them having fun, and some of it makes me smile ("Stop moving pitchers!"), but overall most of it falls flat. But you can tell it's funny to them!

[Paulrus]

I'll always have a soft spot for Exit... Stage Left just because that's when I discovered Rush and so many of those live performances are definitive. The visual and sound quality totally suck, but it does capture the band at the height of their powers (much like Yessongs). If you decide to get it be sure to just pick up the Replay X 3 package, which is a pretty good deal considering you get 3 concert films, plus an audio CD of the GUP show (which is pretty good).

Of the later ones I have a soft spot for Rush in Rio, just because of the energy of the audience (plus Alex's "rant" during "La Villa" is priceless!) The bonus behind the scenes stuff is also interesting.

I also have R30 but passed on Snakes and Arrows Live. I don't consider either essential since they cover a lot of the same territory as other releases and I'm not a big fan of the S&A album.

I've been meaning to pick up the Time Machine set, but it hasn't been high on my priority list.

I would like to get the CMFA release just cuz it was such a great show and it's the first album of new music in ages I actually really liked.

[Garden Dreamer]

Wow, Geddy's voice does NOT sound so great on Closer to the Heart on the Time Machine show. I played that in the car when my family was in it, and it was embarrassing!

I'm also not crazy about the silly films on the DVD, but to be honest all Rush's humor never really seems very funny to me, and it all seems like a lot of inside jokes. I'm happy to see them having fun, and some of it makes me smile ("Stop moving pitchers!"), but overall most of it falls flat. But you can tell it's funny to them!

I've never found the videos all that funny either. They're definitely inside jokes. But I'm glad they do it for their own sake; having that sort of outlet definitely has helped keep them together as a unit over the years, takes away a lot of the stress to be laughing and joking all the time.

[Progatron]

I've never found the videos all that funny either. They're definitely inside jokes. But I'm glad they do it for their own sake; having that sort of outlet definitely has helped keep them together as a unit over the years, takes away a lot of the stress to be laughing and joking all the time.

I have to admit, as much as a fan as I am, I've never found the videos funny either. Over the last several years that aspect has been growing, and it kind of leaves me scratching my head. Cute ideas I guess, in an older man/different generation comedy way, but not to me. In contrast, I laughed my ass off watching the "Dinner With Rush At A Hunting Lodge", when it was just the three of them being genuinely funny together. But all this Geddy and Alex slapstick with the polka music and different accents... meh. Same with their onstage inside jokes like the washing machines and rotisseries. Odd and unique, for sure, but they've already got those bases covered in a much more admirable and musical way. Don't get me wrong, it's of no importance and this is the most minor point imaginable, but those videos just aren't for me. On the most recent DVD I didn't even finish watching them, and I've spent the better part of twenty-five years having to hear and see anything and everything those guys are a part of.

A Show Of Hands is still my favourite live Rush after all these years, and coincidentally the "Three Stooges" intro tape was a bit of light-heartedness thrown in in just the right amount.

(Not to sound like an old grouch, as I'm a lover of comedy )

[GuitarGeek]

I haven't seen most of the DVD's being talked about, so I haven't seen a lot of the comedy bits you're talking about. I did like the stuff they did when I saw them on the Vapor Trails tour, that cartoon they showed during By-Tor (particularly the look on Neil's face when he's first shown, I couldn't stop laughing when I saw that). And I also like the video of Jerry Stiller talking about the band..."You think they'll do Passage To Bangkok? Nah, they never do Bangkok".

[trurl]

Most of the stuff Rush does I find hysterical, especially the stage set-ups, but the Time Machine skits are really painful.

[JKL2000]

Most of the stuff Rush does I find hysterical, especially the stage set-ups, but the Time Machine skits are really painful.

Did they show all that stuff during the live shows on that tour? Now THAT must have been painful! Count Floyd was one thing, back in the 80s, but these skits are long, and Alex in the fat suit is just dumb.