I saw them during their tour in support of Works. Or rather, it started as that. Turns out, it costs a fortune to tour with a full orchestra, especially when the venues aren’t full. They did Tarkus in entire (I’m more of a Trilogy guy), and pretty much had to do “Fanfare for the Common Man”, using the recording of the intro. We were so close, we could see E and L exchanging “what have we become” looks as they stood there while the tape rolled.
When I saw them, there was a problem with the sound and electricals.
It kept interrupting the show until finally one of them threw their guitar way up in the air and it crashed and busted into several pieces.
After about ten minutes the problems were fixed.........................
I saw ELP in a little theater in Pennsylvania on their “Black Moon” tour. They blew out the city block of electricity twice when they hit their first notes.
Being a bunch of older folks in the audience we just waited patiently listening to a tape deck each time. They played their entire show. It was my only time hearing them live and they still sounded great. It was amazing to me to see Emerson play his Hammond organ with the knives stuck in the keyboard and him tossing it around to create the same sounds as on the album during the song “Rondo”.
Rush is my favorite band. Have seen them 5 or 6 times over the years. Dana Halper on the recent Hall of Fame announcement said it well, something like “Like me, and many of you fans, Rush is so much more than just a band.” (My wife doesn’t understand my attachment to them!)
I doubt that I’ll make the trip to see them this time though. The amount of travel money and tickets doesn’t figure for me. I am happy for Alex and Geddy of course, and for the many younger Rush fans that never have seen them live. (And of course will buy the concert DVD!)
I met one guy at their Snakes and Arrows tour that had followed them all over. He hit something like 30 shows, including Europe. He said “I’m spending my kid’s college money. He can join the army if he wants a free education.” We all laughed. “No - I’m serious.” I bet he’ll make a show next year.
Geddy said they will be having a keyboardist as well for the tour. “I still want to play some of the iconic keyboard parts, but whoever we get will play most of it so Alex and I can work on our dance routines.”