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Saturday, June 25, 2011 | 1:57 p.m.
Robin Leach's Vegas DeLuxe
- Check out VegasDeLuxe.com for more celebrity and arts and entertainment coverage.
Rush at MGM Grand Garden Arena on June 24, 2011.
Rush at MGM Grand Garden Arena on June 24, 2011.
Rush has become a nostalgia act in the best sense. That was obvious last night at MGM Grand Garden Arena, as the Canadian rock trio brought its Time Machine tour to Las Vegas. Without an album to support, the band offered a 3-and-a-half-hour tour of its massive catalog, spanning 18 albums and 37 years.
The crowd, including many of its most devoted fans from around the world who are visiting Las Vegas for today’s RushCon fan convention, got the Rush fix they wanted, hearing the music they bought on vinyl, then cassette, then CD and now digitally. The concerts have become as much a celebration of the band’s music as the members’ technical proficiency.
It’s satisfying to watch these masters of their instruments, who have played together for decades, wring an astounding amount of sound from their equipment. Geddy Lee sang and played his Fender Jazz and keyboards. At points, he quickly pulled his hand from his bass to add a keyboard flourish. When both hands were occupied, his feet added synth notes on foot pedals. It was an impressive choreography.
Alex Lifeson was focused on his guitar, which drives most of the band’s songs. But he also took turns on keyboard and at times switched between his Les Paul and an acoustic guitar or mandolin mid-song. And then there’s Neil Peart, whose drumming skills are legend. Glancing at the crowd, fans, likely drummers themselves, played along beat by beat with their Jedi master.
“We’re getting older by the minute,” Lee deadpanned before a 15-minute break midway through the concert. If they were, it wasn’t showing. The band had already ripped through favorites from the 1980s, 1990s and newer songs, including from a yet-to-be-released album. The opening set included “The Spirit of Radio,” “Time Stand Still,” “Presto,” “Stick It Out,” “Workin’ Them Angels,” “Leave That Thing Alone,” “Faithless,” “BU2B,” “Freewill,” “Marathon” and “Subdivisions.”
Coming out of the break, Rush played its Moving Pictures album -- their Abbey Road -- front to back, starting with the classic “Tom Sawyer” and followed by “Red Barchetta,” “YYZ,” “Limelight,” “The Camera Eye,” “Witch Hunt” and “Vital Signs.” They rounded out the second set with “Caravan,” the requisite Peart drum solo “Closer to the Heart,” “2112 Overture/The Temples of Syrinx” and “Far Cry” before returning with a couple of encores.
Despite the serious musicianship and music, Rush doesn’t take itself seriously. The show was salted with humorous videos in which Lee, Lifeson and Peart were cast as soda jerks, cops and hapless music producers. Perhaps it’s this willingness to also laugh at itself that has contributed to an interesting shift in the way the band is viewed beyond its fan base in recent years.
Critics have never loved them. Rush never fit the musical narrative of the moment -- there’s no Rush disco or grunge album. They always followed their own artistic arc, one their fans were eager to follow to find out where they were headed next.
But as they stuck with it decade after decade, a certain admiration of their passion and unique vision took root beyond their fan base. It’s hard not to admire three superb musicians who have played together from their youth through marriages, parenthood and personal tragedies, and now well into middle age. The music and the concerts have been the constants.
That shift came to mind near the end of the first set, as the band played the driving yet graceful “Marathon.” Over his ethereal synthesizer chords, Lee sang: “You can do a lot in a lifetime, if you don’t burn out too fast. You can make the most of the distance. First you need endurance. First you’ve got to last.”
Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.
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Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.
Yet another amazing concert. The closing version of Working Man was awesome. I always get a kick out of everyone air-drumming, but this time someone kicked it up a notch and brought glow in the dark drumsticks so everyone could see his skills.
I saw them play in Los Angeles on this tour, they are AMAZING. When will they be recognized by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? They must be the most disrespected band of all time!
Last time I seen them was in 1981 at Anaheim...
One of my all time favorite bands, bar none.
Best drummer in the world, best VERSITILE guitarist in the world, and a man that wails when he sings as it all fits in with some serious bass to go along with it.
This band trio has performed and produced together for the past 36 years and still dishin it out.
Everytime I go to Canada or even look at all the far north pictures I taken along the way, all I play are Rush tracks, Old Rush Tracks...Over 36 years of Old Rush Tunes, I never get tired of listening to them - I honestly cannot say that I will listen to any tunes by one band constantly that are over 30 years old other than Rush.
They are way too talented and were way ahead of their time back in the 1970's, and never gotten the noteriety like Zeppelin, Beatles, or the Stones did.
They are the TRUE Canadian Spirit of a band that no one can really touch upon their magical music songs and performances.
Amazing talent.... Amazing music.... AMAZING endurance....
Probably one of the best bands - ever.