Dr. Milo T. Pinkerton III's Journal

Rushing back from Houston...
Just getting back from a fun one-day outing in Houston to see my old favorites Rush perform at Cynthia Woods Michell Pavilion, where I've caught them the last two tours. (Rush hasn't performed in New Orleans since 1996, due to, I believe, a tax affecting large touring acts.) Every time they tour may be their last, yet almost every time I've seen them has been a stronger show than the previous outing!

Before the concert, we hung out with Jef and Brian, our new friends from The Black Math Experiment, at their
place of business - RBC Music, a sheet music store in Houston (how surreal - a Houston business surviving selling books of paper sheet music! New Orleans couldn't even keep Werleins, the venerable instrument supplier, afloat.) We ducked out of there and did lunch at a great little barbecue place nearby. Jeff and Brian were great company. Conversation abounded with bizarre ideas and fun talk about other bands, instruments, and plans for collaboration in both Houston & New Orleans.

Our tickets came couresty of our good friends Ron Keller and Beth "Angry Fairy" Patterson, who unfortunately ended up with even worse seats that we did. (There was lots of 'sue ticketmaster' talk before the show and during the intermission...)

Sorry about the quality of this photo, taken with my cel phone from about the millionth row back. The resolution is so low you can barely make out Geddy's nose...

The show was utterly fantastic - one of the tightest sets I've ever seen them play. This time they didn't go too far back historically, but they did perform a couple tunes I've never had the pleasure of hearing them play - 'Circumstances' and 'Entre Nous'. Geddy's voice, Neil's chops, and Alex's sound were very, very strong last night, through the marathon event - from 7:30pm to 11:00, with a 20 minute intermission after the first
set. I do hope somebody taped it... if they don't release it for sale as an official concert documentary, it would at very least make one HELL of a bootleg!

You can't see it very clearly in the above picture, but those three orange boxes at the right side of the stage were rotisserie chicken ovens, taking the place of Geddy's bass rig at the back of his side of the stage. Since Ged's been using in ear monitors for the last few years, he's elected to jettison the stack of speakers and substitute something more entertaining. Last time it was clothes dryers, containing tshirts to be tossed to the crowd. This time out it was ovens, containing chickens to be... well, to be basted during their new instrumental 'The Main Monkey Business'. Ged's playing, despite the lack power amplification, was powerful. He favored his Fender Jazz and Precision basses, switching to his new Jaco Pastorius model for 'Malignant Narcisism' and finally to his classic Rickenbacker 4001 for the final song 'A Passage to Bangkok' (although certain songs like 'Circumstances' were transposed a few notes down.) He played (I believe) a Yamaha Motif for most of the keyboard parts, but also had an emulated Minimoog on top for the really vintage bits. Geddy's voice was really strong, hitting the high notes all night up until 'Bangkok' where he octave ducked a few notes. He got huge applause after belting out the last stanza of 'Natural Science'. Amazing at his age...

Neil acquitted himself quite well on the drums, breaking a snare drum during the first set which was quickly replaced. The drum solo this time out was more laid back and melodic, with lots of tuned percussion. I noticed that he played many of the classic parts more cleanly and with more detail than shows I've seen in the past few years - not simplified, more like the album charts. Amazing and inspirational... the man is a machine. Drumbot, are you taking notes?

Alex sounded great, playing Gibson guitars (mostly Les Pauls fitted with Floyd Rose trems) all evening long for a change, as well as a bouzouki and a 12 string for various small parts, including his own 12 string acoustic song 'Hope' right after the drum solo. Alex played through a wall of Hughes and Kettner amps, and his sound was very organic this time out, which is a nice change; he's had a rather 'digital' sound in the past. Alex's playing was very fluid and expressive. He also worked up more of a sweat than the other two put together... I think the other two had forced air cooling though, and Alex moved around the stage, and toward the audience a bit more than the Geddy did.

All in all, a really laid back, professional show. I don't think I heard a single mistake. Quite a night!

Now back to C.O.G., starting with an overdue rehearsal tonight...

Current Music: C.O.G. music - in about 30 minutes or so