Back from the Rush concert and am winding down for the night. I don't really have a music audience here but I like to yap about things I like so I'll try to kind of explain stuff to anyone who isn't super familiar and is curious. Holy shit. I walked in thinking they're one of the best bands of all time and left thinking. Actually. THE best. Get the fuck out of here Led Zeppelin. Beatles, y'all don't even come close.
Their reputation is deserved. I mean I knew they were talented beyond belief from being a fan and listener but I don't think that fully sunk in until I witnessed it happening in real time in front of me. It sounded almost one to one with the recordings it was incredible. The drummer they picked for this tour (Anika), she is a fucking BADASS. And given she's filling in for their drummer (Neil) who died of cancer in 2020 who is widely considered the best drummer of all time, it's a stressful position to be in, and that's why the way the crowd went wild when she did famous parts, solos, and fills, made me so happy. Seriously, I have seen people in her position get so much hate from fans, and the chances of hate are unfortunate greater when that person is a woman. That just wasn't the case here. I only saw like maybe 5 angry old Rush dudes talking about how they should've chosen this other guy who plays the drums, or they shouldn't do this tour at all because it's disrespectful to Neil. One of those people got ratioed by like 100 comments in an INSTAGRAM comment section like dude you know it's serious when gen x'ers are the ones ratioing.
Speaking of that I knew the crowd was gonna be like 90% gen x but that was especially obvious when during slower songs, no one got out their phone and turned the light on and started swaying it from side to side lmfao.
Yeah that was life changing. There is no better way to have spent $750. And even the money we lost on the last trip when it got postponed because of the hotel and gas and food prices, that plus the hotel and gas and food prices for this trip isn't in vein either. I never thought I'd get the chance to see them. I knew them growing up because of my dad mainly (fork found in kitchen, in fact there were so many Rush dads with their Rush daughters it was kind of funny) but I only got super into them in 2024. They'd stopped touring in 2015, and then after Neil died I think most people thought yeah, nothing is ever happening again.
And this on it's own is incredible. Like you'd think well they started back in the 70s, and now THEY'RE in their 70s, their performance skill may have degraded... Nope. Not at all. It was studio level. MIND YOU their guitarist (Alex) has arthritis and their singer/bassist (Geddy) was sick with laryngitis and bronchitis A WEEK AND A HALF AGO. And like, they would finish playing ONE song and I'd think to myself "the energy they had there seems like the energy of an entire concert on it's own. They're fucking grandpas. HOW can they do this?" The only noticeable difference was Geddy's voice, and that is just inevitable with age for someone who has spent the majority of their life singing. And some people gave him a hard time for his voice back in the day too because of the high pitch and how screechy (for lack of a better term) it was. I don't get that personally. But like it wasn't bad, just different. And of course Anika is not Neil Peart and it's unfortunate I won't ever get to see the true Rush triumvirate, but she was great. She's her own drummer and that's fine. But I'll say, she did NOT miss a beat.