Attendees (and now listeners of this set) were treated to an encore featuring the re-introduction of such early entries in the long Rush catalog as "By-Tor and the Snow Dog," "Cygnus X-1," and "Working Man," and featuring a band having gleeful fun in such quirky material. And what would a Rush show be without its centerpiece, drummer Neil Peart's solo? "O Baterista" showcases Pearts mind-boggling skills in as musically entertaining a way as possible - few rock drummers are skilled enough to play the complex parts Peart does, but none have ever matched him for his ability to make a drum solo compelling and listenable.
Released at the same time is a companion 2-DVD set of the entire show. Numerous cameras and angles capture both the band and the other star of the show - the happy people of Rio - in all their glory. The editing is smooth and consistent, never suffering from the scourge of many post-MTV generation live videos - jump-cutting needlessly from one shot to another. Each band member is showcased without getting to the point where viewers become anxious to see something else, but musicians may find it slightly aggravating to not focus on their particular favorite member long enough. Lucky for them disc two offers a revolutionary feature - the ability to watch three tracks focused on only one of the the three band members (without stopping - all three band members' feeds show up at the bottom of the screen along with the edit, and choosing a view results in the video seemlessly integrating into the main screen. A first, as far as I know.) As intriguing as this is, it is somewhat disappointing that each band member's video is not from a fixed source but is an edit of each camera that focused on each member. A minor quibble - it's unlikely this feature will be watched that often anyway.
The biggest must-buy bonus the DVD offers is in the form of The Boys In Brazil, photographer Andrew McNaughten's loving documentary of the band as they prepare for their big show. Rush is a band that has been able to escape the limelight, remaining a mystery even to long-time fans. The Boys In Brazil is a necessity for any fan, as it sheds light on how the band performs together both on stage and off. Enlightening commentary from Alex, Geddy, and even reclusive Neil illustrate the reasons why the band presents such a united front. Not only are they obviously great friends who shared a common (very Canadian) sense of humor, they are also obviously very understanding of each other's needs. Asked about Neil's notable absences at the band's press conferences, Geddy steps around the issue of Peart's dramatic loss of both his wife and daughter, commenting that he deserves his privacy. Indeed he does, as Neil is rarely seen in combination with the band and crew members, but McNaughten understands his subjects well and is able to paint a flattering portrait of why. While Alex and Geddy are outgoing extroverts equally at ease meeting fans or the press, Neil secludes himself to read, or finds a small room to set up a practice set to warm up before each show. The one hour documentary seems far too short - for a band together nearly 30 years, fans will be hungering for more information on what keeps this band not only together but challenging themselves and listeners year after year. Luckily, more hints are thrown around throughout the documentary that last year's Vapor Trails and tour will not be the last. While it would be admirable for a band to end on such a high note, it would be unfortunate if they still have more to offer. From all indications, there should be no worries of that.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
great review Tom.
i've gotta get the DVD.
does the second set opening include the video of the dragon?
man, when that dragon pounded his foot on the floor the rumble scared the heck outa me!
looking forward to the documentary as well.
2 - Tom Johnson
The intermission video isn't included. That's unfortunately because I was out getting the tourbook and drinks during intermission and entirely missed the video. There's about 30 seconds of video prior to "One Little Victory" and that's it, unfortunately. I saw other fans complaining about not getting the footage too, so you're not alone in missing it.
I wanted to put in the review somewhere but felt it was simply too "personal" sounding: this is the best concert video I've ever seen. Being a Rush die-hard may skew my opinion, and that's why it's left out, and as big a fan of live-material as I am, I actually have no other concert videos that I'm certain I'll watch many, many times. This one is a keeper, for certain.
3 - TDavid
Saw this CD in the store on Friday and it was $23.99 and I almost bought it. Instead, I'm tracking actually how long it takes to make its way to iTunes / Rhapsody / buymusic, etc. I really enjoyed Exit Stage Left. This is a band I would really like to see live someday if possible.
And I don't know about others, Tom, but I enjoy some "personal" stuff in reviews. I can read wooden, structured, professional reviews at lots of places online (rotten tomatoes for movies, for example). Hopefully here, blogcritics will share more personal reviews.
Very cool cover artwork!
4 - Tom Johnson
I include personal stuff in some reviews, but in this one it just didn't lend any strength to what I was already saying. I opted to leave it out just because I felt like it would stick out like a sore thumb. I actually plan on writing up "my life with Rush" someday because if it weren't for their music, my wife and I would never have met. Needless to say, the band and their music form a pretty important part of my life. :-)
At 31 tracks, the Rio set is going to be might expensive at $0.99 a track, isn't it? And besides, they're still crappy mp3s. I friggin' hate those things. Plus no artwork. That's a ripoff in my book. Get 'em down to about $0.10 each and that's fair.
5 - TDavid
Personally, I'm not planning on buying this online, Tom. I was just saying that I was tracking the time it takes to get to these services (namely Rhapsody) so I can listen to it and decide whether I want to buy it.
I'm just curious what the delay is from store release to making it to the online venues.
On the strength of including vital signs live alone, I probably will get the CD.
Thank you for the excellent review!
6 - Mark Saleski
ya, no artwork.
you miss out on the cool picture of neil with sponge bob in the foreground.
;-)
7 - Mark Saleski
by the way, anybody ever seen Neil's Work in Progress video?
cool stuff, even if you're not a drummer.
8 - Tom Johnson
I haven't seen that, actually. I really want to, but haven't found a reason to justify the cost given the fact I'm not a drummer. However, Christmas IS coming up . . . might be time to add that to the list!
9 - Mark Saleski
i do play a little drums (in addition to guitar) but one of the things i really love to watch are documentary type things where how the music is constructed is discussed.
A Work in Progress is full of that stuff. totally worth it.
10 - Tom Johnson
I just looked it up on Amazon - $59 is a bit pricey! Of course, it's got only a niche audience it'll sell to anyway. I'm still intrigued enough that I'll probably have to get this at some point. Just to see how he plays normal song parts should be interesting. He does stuff in his solo on the DVD that is mind-boggling. I know he's maybe not quite up to par with the jazz greats, but for a rock drummer he's incredibly fluid while hitting very, very hard. Especially intriguing is being able to see him triggering things. It really explains how he's able to pull off some of what he does. I remember seeing discussions saying that he wasn't really playing everything you hear in his solos, but people were getting triggered sounds confused with not really playing them. His solo makes clear that he plays ALL of what you hear in his solos.
11 - Mark Saleski
the fluidity comes from his complete change in technique. he talks about it a lot on the video. he took a break from Rush to retrain himself...taking a bunch of lessons from jazz drumming guru Freddie Gruber.
12 - Eric Olsen
I am not sure how to respond to Rush. There are plenty of people whose taste I really respect who love Rush. I like "Working Man."
13 - Tom Johnson
I don't know exactly what it is about Rush that grabs some people completely and entirely turns others off. There aren't many in-between fans. What grabbed me as a teenager was the mature melodies I heard in their music paired with unusually literate lyrics (1989's Presto being the album whose songs I first identified with.) Nothing seemed "excessive" - even in the midst of the hair-band movement, even being a fan of that kind of music, I was already realizing its limitations. It's clear on any Rush song that you're hearing three great musicians (two of them up there with the best in the business) but nothing they did was overly show-offy. Peart's drumming was "busy" but never to the point where it overshadowed the song.
Finding Rush was the first really mature decision I made with music. It was the first time I feel like I truly made a decision for myself and not based on what was playing on MTV or what everyone else thought was cool. This was meaningful music in a sea of turgid, stupid crap, but it wasn't trying to push an agenda. Peart's lyrics might address issues, but it did so in a way that didn't make the issue more important than the songs. Nor did he tend to tell you what was right or wrong - something I tire of very quickly - he just wrote about the issue and tried to show you everything. Like their song says, "Show, don't tell." (That's probably the greatest lesson I picked up in college creative writing classes. I wish more writers (here at Blogcritics and in general) understood what that really meant - and used it.)
That probably doesn't answer anything for you, does it Eric? :-) I think Rush is a "you either get it or don't" type of thing. I wish I knew what it was that caused people to be so turned off by them. I sure can't see it.
14 - Eric Olsen
T, Haha - tricked you into getting personal!
That was very nice and descriptive, thanks. I was never a hater, but not a lover either - guess I'm a rare 'tweener.
15 - Tom Johnson
Rude, Eric, rude. Nah, actually, this just gives me more drive to actually start working on the chronicles of me and Rush throughout my life. :-)
16 - TDavid
RE #3: Update! Both Rush in Rio and Vapor Trails are now available at Rhapsody -- fully available for streaming and burn ($purchase$).
So it took from Oct 21, 2003 until Nov 14, 2003 to get to Rhapsody which is not too bad. Neither of these CDs are available at Napster 2.0. Vapor Trails is available at iTunes, but not Rush in Rio. Didn't check out AOL or Musicmatch for availability.