Rush Time Machine Tour Review

The power trio, Rush, played the Chicago leg of their tour last night at Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island, a man-made peninsula along Lake Michigan, completed in 1925.  It was formerly the site of Meigs Field, a famous single strip airport featured in Microsoft’s Flight Simulator program.  In the middle of the night in 2003, Mayor Daley had it torn up purportedly in the name of Homeland Security.  This caused quite the uproar in the City of Chicago.  Nevertheless, it is now part of Museum Campus which features the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum.  Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears stands adjacent to the pavilion and this beautiful area, located just off downtown, set the scene for the 8000 people fortunate enough to get tickets.  How did Rush sound?

Above: Sue the Dinosaur wears a Blackhawks Jersey in front of the Field Museum.

Above: Museum Campus

 

The concert started with a mini movie starring the members of the group and showed them experimenting with different sounds for their band.  They tried playing polka, but that didn’t sound right, and when they did find their “sound”, it lead to the opening song of the show, “The Spirit of the Radio”, which quickly engaged the excited audience.

I was scared to bring a camera b/c the tickets specifically say they’re not allowed.  Fortunately, nobody checked me.  In fact, tons of people had cameras.

The show started at 7:30pm and as dusk fell, it gave us a beautiful view of the city (Sears Tower below – I refuse to say Willis Tower)and led to a wonderful light show.

The stage featured a huge screen behind the band that showed movie snippets and the band members playing.  Off to either side were another pair of smaller screens.

In the first set they played newer songs.  Their “Time Machine” would dial up a year and they would then play a song from that time period. 

Rush has experimented with different sounds throughout their career and it was fascinating to ride through the Time Machine and experience their prowess and amazing repertoire.  Though I’m not a huge fan of several of the songs in the first set, such as Time Stand Still, Presto and Leave that thing Alone, they sounded fantastic.  Many think of Rush is a very serious band, others as some kind of heavy metal; but they are neither.  They are a fun-loving progressive rock band, and they smiled often and engaged the fans with their sense of humor and amazing musicianship.  The set ended on a high note with Freewill, Marathon, and an excellent rendition of Subdivisions. 

After a 20 minute break, the band played the entire Moving Pictures album.  The crowd stood the entire time, singing along and playing their air instruments.

The highlight of the show occurred when this famous image appeared on the screen:

They played 2112 to screaming fans and finished the second set with a driving rendition of Far Cry.  Moments later they returned for a blistering encore and as they left, another movie appeared on the screen, featuring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, reprising their roles from, “I Love You, Man”.   I won’t give it away, but we had fun watching it.

This show was a Time Machine for me as well.  I saw three old friends at the show and it brought back memories of grade school and high school.  One of these friends and I used to trade albums In high school Spanish.  We’d record them onto cassette and swap with other people.  One day he brought in 2112.  Noticing the Starman symbol, I asked, “Hey, is this some kind of satanic rock music?”  I had no clue.  But I listened, fascinated, and was hooked.  And almost 30 years later I am still a huge fan.

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