17 Jul
Rush on the Colbert Report
I have been a big fan of the Canadian rock trio, RUSH for a long time now. Last night they made an appearance on Stephen Colbert’s Colbert Report, marking their first appearance on American television in 33 years. They opened the show with the recording of the classic Limelight playing instead of the normal theme for the show. After some back and forth with his producer (a huge Rush fan) Colbert tried to do his normal schtick, all the while Rush references and random shots of Neil Peart’s drum kit were thrown in. Colbert did a short interview with the guys, reading questions his producer gave him to ask. One was “Can you please sign my host?”, at which point the guys all signed Colbert’s hand. Neil says, “Don’t put that on Ebay!” At one point Colbert asked Neil how many drums were in his kit. “I haven’t really counted…a lot.” To which Colbert responded that he (Neil) had an addiction to drums and that this was really an intervention to get him some help!
They played their most well known song, Tom Sawyer live, but had to cut to break before it was over. Playing on the fact that Rush’s songs were typically quite long, they came back from break…Rush still playing the song and Colbert got out his night cap and blanket, said goodbye and the credits rolled as Rush (still not to the end of the song) continued to play. Yes, a bit corny, but overall the show was very funny. For me it was awesome to see the guys still looking (and sounding) great.
I strip away the old debris, that hides a shining car
A brilliant red barchetta, from a better, vanished time
I fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime…
A brilliant red barchetta, from a better, vanished time
I fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime…
-Red Barchetta
It was cool for me and I’m not even a big fan.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:16 pmIt really doesn’t seem like 24 years ago you took me to see RUSH at the BJCC! That was my first “real” concert and the many shows I’ve seen since then have had a HUGE chore of topping the one we saw that night.
You and a few of your college friends wanted to sit in the first section up from the floor to no doubt, get a better view of Neil’s drum kit. I, on the other hand,was so excited that I rushed up to the front as close as I could get! The opening act was Blue Oyster Cult when they were know more for their music and not for “More Cowbell”!
In the weeks leading up to the concert I went out and bought many old RUSH records I could find so I could familiarize myself with their music as I was certain they weren’t going to play the two songs I allready knew over and over again. When they hit the stage it was incredible! I couldn’t believe how well the songs sounded “live”. The other inescapable realization was the there was so much sound coming from just three guys!! When Geddy Lee was playing keyboards, he kept the bass lines going using the Taurus pedals with his feet. That was impressive to a 14 year old kid who had trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time!
There were so many highlights from the show that it would take all day to list them all. The drum solo was worth the price of admission (Do I still owe you for the tickets? I don’t remember paying for them….). But the greatest was making eye contact with Alex Lifeson a few times during the show. During the few weeks leading up to the show I had become a huge fan of his guitar playing.
So what did I think about after watching the Colbert Report featuring RUSH? I wonder what it would cost to see them from the second row now…
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:35 am