Let's talk about live bands. Who were the greatest bands you ever saw in concert? For me to answer that question, I have to consider the longevity of the band. I've seen many great performances by dozens of bands and solo artists over the years, but not all of them have been consistently at the top of their game, decade after decade. Rush definitely was, however. I first saw them in November 1978, at the Long Beach Arena on the "Hemispheres" tour. I left that concert with my jaw on the floor, but it was no different 37 years later at the very last concert they ever played, in August 2015 at The Forum. If anything, Rush became greater as a live act, as their musicianship became ever more dynamic and they added huge light shows, films, and other visual aspects to their performance. The only "nod to aging" was in Geddy's voice, which had been a live wire screech in his youth. In later years it mellowed to the middle range, and he warbled a bit, but overall he was still about 7/10s of what he had been as a singer, and on bass he remained a monster. So yeah, Rush - overall - may have been the greatest live band ever. I saw them 32 times over the years, and there was never the question, at any show, of how good they were. Every single Rush show I ever saw was a 10. The only factor that made one show better than another was the set list, and the album they were touring behind.
Let's do a quick ranking of their studio albums, from best to worst. With Rush, it's mostly best. And even their "worst" albums have some redeeming qualities.
1) Hemispheres
2) 2112
3) Moving Pictures
4) Fly By Night
5) Farewell To Kings
6) Test For Echo (yeah, weird I know. But I love that album. It features perhaps their best playing ever.)
7) Power Windows
8) Rush
9) Permanent Waves
10) Hold Your Fire
11) Counterparts
12) Caress of Steel
13) Grace Under Pressure
14) Signals
15) Presto
16) Roll The Bones
17) Clockwork Angels
18) Snakes and Arrows
19) Vapor Trails
A note on albums 15 through 19 : I didn't much care for the Rupert Hine era of Rush, which produced "Presto" and "Roll The Bones". Though both albums had several good songs, they were both polished beyond all recognition of what Rush had sounded like, and "Presto" in particular was not only slick, but had a depressing vibe to boot. Another producer who didn't nail the Rush sound was Nick Raskulinecz, who oversaw "Snakes and Arrows" and "Clockwork Angels". I remember those songs sounding great on the "Time Machine" and "Clockwork Angels" tours, but when I listened to that album recently, it was so compressed and overloaded with multi-tracks that it just sounded red-lined on every song, and I'm sorry to say I had to stop listening. Such is the difference in production techniques from 1974 to 2012. But the songs on "Clockwork Angels" are really good. Too bad they weren't recorded well.
And unfortunately this goes without saying about "Vapor Trails". It's the only Rush album I've only listened to a couple of times. It was written and recorded after Neil rejoined the band. following his tragedies. They'd been apart five years, and it shows. The music is not inspired, and the recording is awful.
I also have to add that I don't find "Signals" to be a great Rush album. I know it is revered by some fans, but if you take away the legendary "Subdivisions", and the less memorable and depressing "Losing It", there isn't much here. It seems to me that "Signals" was a "rushed" album (excuse the pun), crammed in after the masterwork of "Moving Pictures" and on a tight schedule (pronounced shedge-yoole) in between tours. It was the first sign of a letdown, and was the end of their partnership with Terry Brown as their producer.
So, with the benefit of hindsight, we can now go back and separate "Album Rush" from "Live Rush". And when longevity is factored in, the ability to stay at the top of their Concert Game year after year, Rush was - for me - the greatest live band of all-time.
But what about other factors? Was Rush also the highest energy band ever? I'm talking about bands you wouldn't wanna follow onstage. In that category, I'd have to consider Van Halen. They didn't have the longevity Rush had, and for me their live show began to go downhill starting at the US Festival in 1983, when David Lee Roth came out drunk and forgot half the lyrics. He later did that a lot, but that was the first time I'd ever seen him less than 100% professional, and it was a shock. (and maddening, too, because we'd waited for over an hour for VH to take the stage, and when they finally did, they sucked).
But Holy Freakin' Smokes.........from 1978 at Anaheim Stadium through 1982, they could not be touched. Van Halen was like a high wire act, meaning that they were astonishing to see, and they filled you with adrenaline, but there was also danger involved because they were a fragile band with two or even three different camps, and as we later found out, Roth and the Van Halen brothers didn't like each other very much. However, seeing them in those years was so mindboggling, so energizing and uplifting, that you left every show wanting to "run away and join the circus", as it were. You wanted to be in Van Halen's world.
I sure did, at any rate. No band ever lit up the stage like Van Halen at their peak, and they transferred that feeling to the audience. It was a shared experience between band and fans, and different from other concerts in that respect. When you went to see Van Halen, it was like you were in Van Halen. Man, were they ever good! And Edward? He was just plain dazzling. ////
But what about Judas Priest? Weren't they also Impossible To Follow? Didn't they also demolish the audience at every show? Yes indeed they did. Their live shows were like World War Three, and not just onstage but in the audience too, because their music brought out the animal in some of their fans. Just like at a Black Sabbath concert in the 1970s, you had to be on your guard at a Priest show in the 80s, because the sheer power of the music overloaded the synapses and emotions of some fans, especially those whose IQs were outnumbered by their blood alcohol level, and then you would have these people "spider crawling" over your head, like at a punk rock show, and you'd have to fight them off whilst trying to not lose track of KK's guitar solo at the same time. Judas Priest at their peak, from 1980-84, was The Atomic Bomb of Concerts, and I'd have to place them at the top of the heap of live bands also.
But what about Deep Purple, and Rainbow? Wasn't Ritchie Blackmore at one time the most exciting live performer in rock? And what about Emerson Lake and Palmer? Who could even come close to them?
Those are questions we shall have to examine in another blog, as the hour is late. But we can keep talking about live music.
What were the concerts that most affected you, that blew you off the map?
Because that's what great rock bands did, when they played live.
They blew you off the freaking map, and they changed your life. /////
See you in the morning. Love, love and more love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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