EDMONTON -- You're probably thinking about all sorts of things this morning, about all the events that happened in the past year.
Well, it was certainly fitting that Rush was the very last thing to happen in one of the weirdest years of our lives.
Sometimes, to truly understand how screwed up things have gotten, you need to reach into the past and grab onto a random something, solidly Canadian, like Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, simply not holding back on a night more surrealistic than anything.
Thanks to a video and a bright-green laser show that was both anachronistic and beautiful, even the hardest of hearing had something to talk about while spilling out of Skyreach along with 8,000 others.
"We're Rush," Lee announced simply, he and his buddies dressed precisely for an outdoor barbecue. "We were here a long time ago ... so to punish you properly we're going to play a million songs tonight!"
From the first note of Tom Sawyer to Peart's late African jazz drum barrage, parts of the show were incredible, man.
His whole kit rotated around like an automatic sushi conveyor belt, the look on his face maniacal. Tough year, we love you, Neil.
Delivery guaranteed was no lie.
Songs like Distant Early Warning, Big Money and New World Man rocked the bowl, and I always wondered when I'd see that lame, rappy skeleton again, no more, no more. Roll the Bones was his cartilage vehicle into our lives, mohawk and all.
The thing about Rush is they don't really sing about girlfriends, part-time jobs or punching walls because they're mad at the boss.
No, things are decidedly more cosmic, Vishnus turning into aliens on the big screen, space effects out of Babylon 5, and just a certain jazzy cockiness that says look, we're Rush, so we're going to have three washing machines on the stage, running, and never explain it. It's art, get it?
Don't even ask about the spaghetti bird flying through the clouds, it wasn't always about hot chicks, dig?
After Peart wore himself out, Lee and Lifeson sat side by side like the old high school buddies they are.
Oh, but you should have heard them when the first two songs off 2112 hit at 10 p.m. While the hard new tunage off Vapor Trails were fine, like One Little Victory, Ceiling Unlimited and Earthshine, taking it back to 1976 filled us up with what we were begging for.
"WE ARE THE PRIESTS OF THE TEMPLE OF SYRINX!!!" Lee screamed after the extended overture.
The room boiled like two Ozzys were thrashing around, and Lee's voice is perfectly able to handle the sonic weight. Major fist-pumping. Rock on, man.
Nice tank top, Geddy!
What else you wanna know, how much popcorn sold? Sluggish at times, this was still the Revenge of Rush.
They wear their age on their faces a bit, but the wisdom of In The End still stands, even if they didn't play By-tor and the Snowdog or The Trees.
IN THE SEATS: 8,000-plus
NOTE PERFECT: The old tunes
SOUR NOTE: Computer graphics (More on Rush)
JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5
