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Archive for the ‘Rush’ Category

AF2K (Crossroads, Garwood, NJ, April 25, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Crossroads, Garwood, NJ, Rush on April 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 25, 2024] AF2K

I recently met a guy through one of my daughter’s clubs.  He is a huge Rush fan, which is very cool.  He told me about this cover band AF2K (A Farewell to Kings) that was playing in Garwood.

I’ve said before that I don’t always care about cover bands all that much.  But it would have been fun to see this band with a new friend.

Musically they sound great.  I’m not 100% about the guy’s voice, but overall, they seem like quite the solid show.  They play primarily 70s/80s Rush songs, and that’s my favorite era.

As it turned out, I already had tickets to a show that night so I had to bail on this one.  But it sounds like they play around quite a lot.

 

 

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Rick Mercer–The Road Years: A Memoir, Continued … (2023)

Posted in Alex Lifeson, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Corporate skewering, Dip-in Books, Essays, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Geddy Lee, Jann Arden, Mercer Report, Neil Peart, Political Humor, Politicians, Religion, Rick Mercer, Rush, Stephen Harper on February 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: February 2024] Rick Mercer The Road Years

Sixteen years ago I read Rick Mercer’s first book.  Since then I’ve read a couple of his other books, but I missed the first part of this memoir, Talking to Canadians.  I guess I’ll have to track that book down too.  Because I love the way Mercer writes.  I loved his show and now I love his print.

About his first book I wrote:

Rick Mercer is a great political comedian.  He puts all American political commentators to shame. I’m sure that much of this difference is the way Canada is structured. There seems to be so much more openness to politicians there than in our system.  For reasons I can’t fathom, politicians agree to hang out with Rick even though in the next segment he will rant about their incompetence.

Well, this book goes some way to take the blinds off how the show worked.

So this book picks up where his previous memoir finished–just as he was about to start The Rick Mercer Report.

He explains that the premise of this book and indeed of his show was “What does it mean to be Canadian?”  [Spoiler: he never does find the answer to that].

He talks about how the show was spun off from This Hour Has 22 Minutes and was originally The Monday Report.  (It was going to be on Mondays and they figured if they called it that then the CBC would never move it).  They didn’t really have a plan for the show–it was all kind of seat of the pants until they were about to start filming.  They decided that everywhere in Canada there was something interesting happening.  And he would go to check it out and show the rest of the country.  It would spur local and national pride.  And it would be funny as well.

So Rick travelled around the country and rode on “The Train of Death” (fortunately, the book comes with pictures).  And soon it was established that if Rick could be put in danger or humiliated, well, that was the show right there–locals getting the best of the snooty Toronto TV guy.

So he wore a beard of bees, he was tucked into bed by Prime Minster Stephen Harper, he pulled a sleeping polar bear out of its den and he had lots of crazy adventures with Jann Arden. (more…)

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Lotus Land (Musikfest Cafe, Steel Stacks, Bethlehem, PA, August 25 & 26, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Lotus Land, Rush, Steelstacks on August 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 25 & 26, 2023] Lotus Land 

This is the third or fourth time I could have seen Lotus Land.  And this time they are playing two nights in a row!

Really, I have no interest in seeing tribute bands.  If I can’t get the real thing, then I won’t get it at all.

However, this Rush tribute band intrigues me because in the pictures they both use doubleneck instruments and their ads say they play mostly late 70 and early 80s Rush.  This is a period I’ve never seen live and I think it might be fun.  Plus they are very highly praised in their reviews.

Turns out Friday night we had plans and I’m really trying to not go out on Saturdays as much, so I’ll just have to hope they come back around when I’m not doing much else.

 

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Primus: A Tribute to Kings / Battles (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, May 21, 2022 & Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, May 25, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Battles, Bethlehem, PA, Don Caballero, Helmet, Montclair, NJ, Primus, Rush, Wellmont Theater, Wind Creek Event Center, Wolfmother on May 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 21 & May 25, 2022] Primus: A Tribute to Kings / Battles

I saw Primus on the tour back in October and it was pretty great.  I would happily have seen them again, even playing the same songs (although I think set two varies somewhat).

I didn’t love the crowd around me (I didn’t realize Primus fans were bros, but I guess they are).

However, this first date was the same day that my wife and I were going to see The Music Man on Broadway.  And the second date was the same day that my family was going to see Blue Man Group.  So, this leg of the tour was not to be.

Battles are a weird band that I tend to forget about.

The two main guys in the band were once in Don Caballero and Helmet, and their music should be really heavy.   But as I wrote when I first heard their song “Ice Cream” back in 2011

But they’re not so much heavy as noisy and crazy.  And this track is a head-spinning amalgam of keybaords, unsettling rhythms, processed guitars and singing from Argentinean techno producer Matias Aguayo.  The lyrics sound like they are not English, but they are (with heavy effects on them).

The song is weird, indeed. But after just one listen, I was totally hooked.  It’s catchy and bouncy and very sunny and it’s a real joy to listen to.

Boy I’d like to see them live.

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Fu Manchu: 30th Anniversary Tour / Speedealer (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, March 24, 2022) [rescheduled date CANCELLED]

Posted in Alex Lifeson, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Fu Manchu, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Rush, Speedealer, Underground Arts on March 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: March 24, 2022] Fu Manchu / Speedealer [rescheduled from May 9, 2020 and March 18, 2021]

indexThis show had been rescheduled for March of 2022 after two previous cancellations.  But with the rise of more COVID cases Fu Manchu decided to cancel once more.  It strikes me that they seem quite content to just cancel a show and then work with the venues for a future show, so I’ll assume they’ll be back to Philly eventually.

~~~~~

This concert was never formally cancelled it seems (as of last week you could still get tickets for it).  But Fu Manchu officially cancelled all of their shows on the tour.  No word yet if they’ll be back, but I hope so.

Fu Manchu is one of the great stoner rock bands.  They have been around for thirty years with a similar fuzzy, grungey sound.  I missed them the first time around but because more keenly aware of them when their 2018 album Clone of the Universe featured not only an 18 minute song, but also a guitar solo from Alex Lifeson of Rush.

Their early stuff is really catchy and I wish I had known about them for longer.  They seem like they’d be a really fun live band.

Speedealer was originally called REO Speedealer, which I love.  They were told to cease and desist from REO Speedwagon (imagine that).  They play a kind of aggressive garage metal.  They have a punk edge and the lead singer has a growly punk voice that is clear enough amid the roughage.

I feel like they don’t quite pair with Fu Manchu (they seem a bit too aggressive) and would pair better with Monster Magnet.

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Lotus Land (Steel Stacks, Bethlehem, PA, October 30, 2021) [rescheduled date] [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Coronavirus, Lotus Land, Postponed, Quarantine, Rush, Steelstacks on October 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 30, 2021] Lotus Land [rescheduled from April 20; and October 30, 2020]

I really had intended on seeing this band once they finally settled on a date.  But October 30 is just too close to Halloween to be taken seriously as a concert night out.  Especially for a cover band.

I’m sure they’ll be back. Or better yet, maybe they’ll play somewhere even closer to me.

~~~

It seemed like as things started to open up that smaller venues like this might have shows.  of course, the concern was–is a smaller venue better since you’ll be so much closer to everyone.  I thought maybe they could have this outside–even in October.  I guess not.

I have no interest in seeing tribute bands.  If I can’t get the real thing, then I won’t get it at all.

However, this Rush tribute band intrigues me because in the pictures they both use doubleneck instruments and their ads say they play mostly late 70 and early 80s Rush.  This is a period I’ve never seen live and I think it might be fun.  Plus they are very highly praised in their reviews.

I put this on my calendar as a show to see if there weren’t much else going on at the time. Well, it turned out to be a hugely busy concert month so I probably wouldn’t have gone.

However, Lotus Land seem to tour up and down the East Coast pretty much constantly, including this rescheduled show in October.  I suspect I’ll be able to see them some time in the not too distant future.

 

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Primus: A Tribute to Kings (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 1, 2021) [rescheduled date]

Posted in Black Mountain, Coronavirus, Danny Elfman, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Primus, Quarantine, Rush, The Met Philadelphia, Wolfmother on October 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 1, 2021] Primus [rescheduled from June 19, 2020; and July 10, 2021]

Three years ago I saw Primus for the first time in 30 some years.  The show was featuring their then new EP The Desaturated Seven.   So, it wasn’t the ideal way to catch up with them, since they spent a lot of time playing that EP in its entirety.  The rest of the set was a mix of songs, with a bunch of songs from Pork Soda and some of their “hits.”  I was a little annoyed by the crowd at the show (when did tough guys start liking Primus?).  And in my post I wrote

Maybe in 2020 they’ll be back for a big two set career-capping tour.

Interestingly, they did come back in 2020, with a two-set show, but rather than career capping, it included a cover of the album A Farewell to Kings by Rush.  If I was there only for Primus, I’d have been annoyed at losing 40 minutes to another band.  However, A Farewell to Kings is one of my favorite albums of all time and knowing how Primus feels about Rush, I knew that this would be an amazing experience.  The show had been postponed a few times but finally, October 1 arrived and I headed to the Met in Philly.

The show was supposed to start at 7, so once again, I left from work and arrived quite early.  Early enough to get one of the night’s posters.  But boy was it ugly.  I didn’t want it on my wall, so I passed (there have been some really nice posters this tour, so I was bummed about ours).  Then I stood by the fence and waited with some remarkably loud and rather unpleasant characters.

In my head, Primus is for oddballs who like weird music.  But clearly they have struck a nerve with an unexpected crowd–people I would never hang out with intentionally.  So that sucked.  But once they got their nonsense out of their system after a few songs, people settled down and just enjoyed the music.

I asked someone at the show if the sets were different every night and he said that Primus always mixed up their setlists so it was worth seeing them a bunch of nights in a row.  Indeed, the night after ours, they played several songs that I would have really liked to hear–although our set was pretty great too. (more…)

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Black Mountain (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 1, 2021) [PRIMUS] [rescheduled date]

Posted in Coronavirus, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Primus, Quarantine, Rush, The Met Philadelphia, Wolfmother on October 1, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 1, 2021] Primus [rescheduled from June 19, 2020; and July 10, 2021]

When the Primus A Tribute to Kings tour was announced, there were two opening bands: The Sword and Wolfmother.  I was intrigued by both bands.  When the show was rescheduled, The Sword was dropped.  Actually, they ended their segment of the tour with the how before ours.  Interestngly, we were watching the Gilmore Girls season 7 recently and Wolfmother was mentioned with high praise (nit bas since they’d had one album out).  But when the show was pushed back again, Wolfmother had visa issues (they are Australian) and had been replaced by Black Mountain.

And I was pretty excited about that because I was already a fan of theirs.  Black Mountain is a Canadian band that plays stoner psychedlica that drifts into heavy territories.  They were a pretty great opener for Primus.  Once again, I don’t know what happened to Primus fans that they became the kind of guys who shout “Primus sucks” during quiet moments of the opening band, but that sucked for them.

Because otherwise they were great.

I was really impressed with the confidence it takes to open a show to a (mildly hostile) audience with the slow droning of the nine minute epic “Mothers of the Sun.” (more…)

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Neil Peart Illustrated Quotes (2020)

Posted in Lindsay Lee, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Neil Peart, Rush, Sting on August 31, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH

[READ: August 2021] Neil Peart Illustrated Quotes

This book came across my desk at work and I was totally surprised.   We do get a lot of music book and we get a lot of pop culture books, but this seemed so unlikely to sit in our music library.  I hadn’t even known it existed.

So, what we get here is 100 or so pages of things Neil Peart has said with an accompanying cartoon drawn by Lindsay Lee.

Lee’s style is pretty varied which is nice.  The selections of quotations are also very varied which is less nice.  Some are thoughtful passages and other just seem to be things Neil said at some point.

You get stuff like: (more…)

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Primus: A Tribute to Kings / Wolfmother / The Sword (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 10, 2021) [rescheduled date]

Posted in Coronavirus, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Primus, Quarantine, Rush, The Met Philadelphia, Wolfmother on July 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: July 10, 2021] Primus / Wolfmother / The Sword [rescheduled from June 19, 2020; moved to October 1, 2021]

indexOn April 27, Primus gave us some hope by pushing back this tour just a few months:

Finally, the clouds are parting, the planets are aligning, the dough is rising…whatever metaphor floats your preverbal boat, PRIMUS is going on tour again. We were poised and ready for a massive, bent-rock extravaganza when the gremlins of covid came and yanked the rug out from under us all. I personally have been climbing the walls like a shit-house rat and, after my first season off in 30 some odd years, I’m very anxious and excited to stand in front of the microphone with my four string piece of furniture and belt out some girthy ditties to sweaty throngs of punters.
C’mon Down,
Les Claypool

I’ll be there

~~

I’ve been a fan of Primus since their first album.  And yet I never saw them live once they started to make it big.  I’m not keen on the frat boy fanbase they inexplicably developed, but what can you do.

I’ve wanted to see them for a long time and I’ve had a few shows snatched out of my hands.

I did get to see them recently, although it was for a new EP, so they didn’t play a lot of the old stuff like I’d wanted to hear.

Of course, when they announced this tour: A Tribute to Kings, in which they’d be playing all of Rush’s A Farewell to Kings (possibly my favorite Rush album, depending on the day), I knew I’d have to go.  Since that album is relatively short, I assumed they be playing some good old Primus songs too.

Wolfmother is a band I didn’t know.  I listened to a couple of songs and they sound like a pretty classic late 80s metal band with a loud, high-pitched vocalist.  I would have loved this band back then, and while I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them, it would be fun to relive a band like this live.  The band is from Australia and has an utterly fascinating history of in-fighting and replacements (Wikipedia has a page devoted just to Wolfmother band members).

The Sword is another retro-metal band, sounding an awful lot like Black Sabbath and other classic old school metal groups.  Once again, I would have loved them back in the day, and would no doubt enjoy rocking out to them live.

I hope that the rescheduled date is not too far off, but I’ve waited forever to see them, so I can wait a little longer.  It would be fine if the opening bands stayed with them, but if not, that’s okay too.

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