Rush's 30th-anniversary tour -- or R30 for those in the know -- has been going full-throttle for almost four months since its May 26 launch in Nashville.
Given it's a 31/2-hour show with a 25-minute intermission, you'd expect the band would be a well-oiled machine at this point.
"Yeah, we're oiled," joked singer-bassist Geddy Lee before taking the stage in Darien Lake, N.Y., a week ago. "We need to be oiled."
Either that, or Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart -- all in their 50s -- are close to being exhausted.
"It's a bit of both you know," Lee said. "In some ways, it's a lot easier because production has a flow to it and the songs come more naturally. And you're so in a groove, playing-wise, that there's some real highlights because of that. At the same time, you're getting tired."
But judging from their energized Darien Lake performance and marathon set list (see left) -- which begins with an instrumental overture of snippets of tunes from Rush's first six studio albums -- fans won't walk away disappointed.
Add to that a great visual component -- including animation, old Rush photos and footage, slick lights, pyrotechnics, a 10-minute drum solo by Peart, a two-song acoustic set, and a filmed introduction and exit by
Jerry "Serenity Now!" Stiller of Seinfeld fame -- and you've got quite the package.
"This tour's really the result of (2002)," Lifeson said. "We felt so great about that tour and excited that we were back on the road and there was still another opportunity to go out and continue playing and recording. When it came to making a decision on whether we write a new record or go on this 30th-anniversary tour, that last tour made it easier to make that decision. We really had a great time."
The group's 30-year career, as well as their new '60s covers EP, Feedback, is well represented in the set list.
In fact, Lee said the material from Feedback -- The Who's The Seeker, The Yardbirds' Heart Full Of Soul, and the classics Summertime Blues and Crossroads -- has fit in nicely among the Rush originals.
"We've really had a lot of fun with it. It's kind of an unusual thing for us to do and it's kind of breathed a little fresh air into the set."
Lifeson, for one, said the passage of time has only made Rush a better live band.
"In so many ways, we're stronger than we ever were," he said. "I think we're playing better. We're more confident in our playing. Certainly the audience seems to share in the celebration of this milestone. They're just as amazed as we are that we're still around and they're still here. That they're going to a Rush concert 25 or 28 years later, taking their kids or sometimes their grandchildren."
