Last night we went to see Rush at Riverbend. It was not quite as awesome as when I saw them in Columbus, but it was still a fantastic experience.

I’ve been a Rush fan for nearly 25 years, and know almost everyone of their songs. In more recent years, I’ve enjoyed their music even more, and have particularly enjoyed the last 3 or 4 albums, in which Neil Peart, the lyricist, has become a very mature and accomplished poet, writing insightful and clever lyrics.

What I discovered in Columbus was the amazing musical talent that each of the three men has – something I should have realized long before, but which became even more evident when watching them. Alex Lifeson is a phenomenally good guitar player, and the fact that he looks more and more like William Shatner as he gets older is only a little disconcerting.

The first half of the concert, I was somewhat disappointed with the playlist, which was very heavy on not-so-well-known songs, and light on the old favorites that people were shouting for. The first half consisted of:

Limelight
Digital Man
Entre Nous
Mission
Freewill
Main Monkey Business
Larger Bowl
Secret Touch
Circumstances
Between the Wheels
Dreamline

Finishing on Dreamline made up for the weakness of a few of the other choices – like Secret Touch and Digital Man. But, even with that, a powerful show.

The second half, on the other hand, rocked. There were a lot of disappointed people, due to the number of songs from the new album that they just released, and people seemed to want older stuff. When they said “another one from snakes and arrows” there were audible sounds of disappointment. I’m on the other hand, am already very fond of the new album, and they picked most of my favorite tracks from it.

Far Cry
Workin’ Them Angels
Armor and Sword
Spindrift
The way the wind blows
Subdivisions
Natural Science
Witch hunt
Malignant Narcissism (with a drum solo reminiscent of Pieces Of Eight, but quite a bit longer)
Hope
Distant Early Warning
Spirit of Radio
Tom Sawyer

Then, for an encore:

One Little Victory
Passage to Bankok
YYZ

This was my Beloved’s first experience with Rush, and she enjoyed it. We particularly enjoyed trading off the binoculars and watching Neil. For much of the time he was very stoic and focused on doing his job, but there were moments when he was clearly enjoying himself. My goodness he’s talented.

I have never seen that many people in one place smoking illegal substances. And there were several substances being smoked that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen before. Pretty sure the people standing right next to us were smoking crack, although having never seen it before, I couldn’t swear to it. But there was a lot of marijuana on all sides of us. Based on how I felt this morning, I think I may have caught quite a bit of it second-hand.