2008 was certainly a big year for change in the world. The United States of America elected her first black president, the world economy is in near collapse, and Rolling Stone magazine published a Rush feature story. Not to take anything away from Mr. Obama, or the economic hardship you all may be experiencing, but that was a pretty historic achievement for this much under-appreciated Canadian band. Hell, that liberal rag also gave Rush's Snakes & Arrows album an actual positive review (3 stars) last year. What's next, induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
One thing that didn't change this year for Rush, is that they completed another hugely successful tour, and then followed it up with a live album and concert DVD. That you can almost predict like the phases of the moon.
With Snakes & Arrows Live, Rush have just released what is probably their best concert DVD to date - and they have about 20 others to compare it to. Where other Rush DVDs have been frustratingly deficient in at least one key area, such as Rush In Rio's killer performance being marred by a crappy audio mix, Snakes & Arrows Live finally gets everything right.
Snakes & Arrows Live was filmed using 21 high-definition cameras over two nights in October 2007, at the Ahoy Rotterdam Arena, in the Netherlands. Additional footage was also filmed during the band's Atlanta, Georgia show, this past July, and four songs are included on the bonus disc. "Ghost Of A Chance," "Red Barchetta," "The Trees," and "2112/The Temples Of Syrinx" were all added as replacements for this year's leg of the tour.
I attended both legs of the Snakes & Arrows tour when it stopped by Virginia's Nissan Pavilion, and they were two of the most exciting rock concerts I have ever seen. Although Rush celebrated their 30th anniversary back in 2004 - they actually formed 40 years ago - they are definitely still at the top of their game. The Snakes & Arrows album made it's debut at the #3 spot on the Billboard 200 chart last year, and it is one of their strongest albums in nearly two decades.
With every Rush tour, live album, or concert DVD, you are going to get complaints about the setlist from all of the die-hard fans - and Snakes & Arrows Live is no different. My biggest gripe was the inclusion of soooo many Snakes & Arrows songs, especially playing five in a row to kick off the second set. Although it is a good album, it is not 9-songs-worth good. I just think of what could have been instead; "Xanadu," "La Villa Strangiato," "Vital Signs," "Chemistry," "The Body Electric," "Time Stand Still," — oh listen to me sounding like all those Rush geeks on the message boards.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
Man, how could you possibly have a gripe with them including so much off the new album? My main gripe with most older bands touring for new albums is that they basically ignore their new albums. When they're as good as Rush's new music has been, that is a travesty. Rush knew they had great, great material here and happily they really pushed it live. I'd have been extremely bored with yet another "greatest hits" concert - it's very unlikely that we're going to see more than a very few rarities pulled out every tour, so I'd much rather them focus on the new stuff than play a bunch of overplayed older stuff.
2 - Paul Roy
Tom, I agree with you for the most part. I too hate it when bands only do the greatest hits tours and ignore their new albums. I thought Snake's and Arrows was only a "good" Rush album and would have been fine with only four or five songs played from it. Rush's catalog is too vast and too good to use up nine songs in the set with that one new album.
3 - Tom Johnson
I'm one of those now-apparently rare few who think Vapor Trails was the superior album between these latest two, so I can understand where you're coming from - S&A is uneven in some respects. I like the spirit, however, and the lyrical aspect is excellent - Neil is in excellent form there.
And I'd agree with you about playing so much new stuff if they were the type of band that were likely to pull out a bunch of oddities in place of those new songs, but they're just not. I've been following them very closely for a long, long time and they've said that on each tour they'll do a couple "from the vault" songs and the rest are either new or old stand-bys, so I'd much rather they emphasize the new. It's really unfortunate that they don't take more risks with their concert material, but judging by the reaction I have seen the lesser-known stuff get, I see why they don't. "Between The Wheels," "Digital Man" and "Entre Nous" got decidedly COLD reactions at the shows I saw - VERY sad! This is what the long-time fans are asking for and then when we get it, the reaction is tame, at best. Still a fun show, but not the fan's dream that it could be. It does, however, prove that this band is appealing to a wide enough audience year after year that they need to keep a bunch of big songs in there that aren't the fan-geek's dream setlists, which not many other bands their age can say.