Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, just saw it...
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First I'll state my Rush background. I probably fall into the category with a lot of other people that like a few of their hits but can't take too much of Geddy's voice, think they are pretty nerdy, have some cheeseball lyrics, etc. But overall still acknowledge that they are at the highest level of musicianship. I saw them live a couple of times (96-97) and loved it, had a mild Rush phase for a short period of time, but I never dug deeper or got into them beyond the hits and a few other songs, in fact, somehow today I don't own any of their albums.
So I just happened to come across this and watched it all the way through. I gotta say my appreciation or this band is renewed. First of all, they rolled out one highly credentialed musician after another to give their Rush testimony. Billy Corgan, Trent Reznor, Tim Commeford, Zakk Wylde, Vinnie Paul, Jimmy Chamberlain, Les Claypool, Kirk Hammet, (and Matt Stone from South Park makes a pretty good point towards the end about people who still insist on ignoring Rush). Having never really known anything about them, it was really funny to see what nerds they really were. Gene Simmons talks about taking them on tour when they were first breaking and how they had absolutely zero interest in partying or any of the girls around them. I was surprised to see that they are just about as far from pretentious as you can get. They really seem genuinely geeked up about making music and they just do it at such a high and complex level because they can, not because they are trying to be a certain way. They also seem to have no ego about them at all, and no drama whatsoever among the band. When talking about how Neil has a shyness regarding meeting people, it seemed like an honest shyness and discomfort issue and not at all about not liking people. They really seem like really nice sweet guys. I didn't realizae how awesome some of their early stuff was, really good ol 70 bluesy jam stuff. I didn't know people called the Canadian Led Zep, and I can see why. They definitely went throug several tragic fashion moments, and they've pretty much always looked like nerds, by my God, those robes. The phase during the 80s when the keyboards were more prevalent also produced some pretty bad stuff. It ended with them playing a newer song that I immediately had to go look up because it wasx so badass, it's off their last album from 07, called Far Cry, a really great jam. The interviews wedre my favorite parts, lots of good comments and perspectives from the interviews they had lined up, a really good documentary. Anyway, seeing this got me back into this band.
So I just happened to come across this and watched it all the way through. I gotta say my appreciation or this band is renewed. First of all, they rolled out one highly credentialed musician after another to give their Rush testimony. Billy Corgan, Trent Reznor, Tim Commeford, Zakk Wylde, Vinnie Paul, Jimmy Chamberlain, Les Claypool, Kirk Hammet, (and Matt Stone from South Park makes a pretty good point towards the end about people who still insist on ignoring Rush). Having never really known anything about them, it was really funny to see what nerds they really were. Gene Simmons talks about taking them on tour when they were first breaking and how they had absolutely zero interest in partying or any of the girls around them. I was surprised to see that they are just about as far from pretentious as you can get. They really seem genuinely geeked up about making music and they just do it at such a high and complex level because they can, not because they are trying to be a certain way. They also seem to have no ego about them at all, and no drama whatsoever among the band. When talking about how Neil has a shyness regarding meeting people, it seemed like an honest shyness and discomfort issue and not at all about not liking people. They really seem like really nice sweet guys. I didn't realizae how awesome some of their early stuff was, really good ol 70 bluesy jam stuff. I didn't know people called the Canadian Led Zep, and I can see why. They definitely went throug several tragic fashion moments, and they've pretty much always looked like nerds, by my God, those robes. The phase during the 80s when the keyboards were more prevalent also produced some pretty bad stuff. It ended with them playing a newer song that I immediately had to go look up because it wasx so badass, it's off their last album from 07, called Far Cry, a really great jam. The interviews wedre my favorite parts, lots of good comments and perspectives from the interviews they had lined up, a really good documentary. Anyway, seeing this got me back into this band.
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