Last night Niki and I saw Rush at Jones Beach. We met up with Craig and his friends and family and we had a blast.
I’ve seen the Canadian trio at least twice in the past, with Tommy Shaw opening for them once and King’s X another time. Last night there was no opening act, only a short intermission. My expectations were low since I’ve seen them and had heard just about every Rush song I’d ever want to hear in concert already and maybe those low expectations helped them blow me away.
The highlight for me was the South Park video leading into Tom Sawyer. Cartman and his buddies are in a band called Lil Rush and they’re doing their own version of Tom Sawyer, including Cartman’s lyrics, “Modern day warrior, named Tom Sawyer, he floated down the river on a raft with a black guy.”
I’ve seen plenty of great drum solos, with Mick Fleetwood and Phil Collins being way up there, and I’ve seen Neil Peart’s solos before. I considered myself immune to drum solos, done with them for life, but Neil’s last night was off the charts.
“I am Geddy Lee and I will sing whatever lyrics I want!”
What a great rock show!
Brian Alvey 