Rush has wrapped up the first 3 shows of their 2007 Snakes & Arrows tour. They took a break for Father's Day yesterday and tonight will head north a bit to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Charlotte, NC for show #4. Everyone who's seen them thus far has had great things to say. Check out the tour section and the various threads over the past few days for details. There are also plenty of pics uploaded to the tour gallery (SPOILERS) and several YouTube vids in the live bootleg video section (SPOILERS).
I mentioned in my last update post that the vinyl edition of Snakes & Arrows shipped several days earlier than its June 19th release date. Indeed, several fans have already received their copies. I've also now received word that those who had ordered the Snakes & Arrows MVI through the Rush Backstage Club have gotten emails telling them that the MVI will also be shipping early - tomorrow in fact. Great news! No word on whether orders through other vendors such as Amazon or Best Buy will also be shipping early.
The August 2007 issue of Modern Drummer Magazine contains an article written by Neil Peart titled The Drums of Snakes & Arrows. The article describes the making of the album from the drummer's point-of-view and includes a sidebar article where Neil goes through every song and describes the process for coming up with the drum parts. Thanks to PuppetKing2112 over at The Rush Forum for the heads up.
The winners of the Neil Peart Drumsticks contest have been announced. Congrats to all the winners!
Our favorite audio-wizard / Rush-fan MitA has another batch of Rush treats for us. As usual, this group includes several rare and unusual clips from Rush years past, some hidden parts on newer songs and a remix. You can listen to the clips by accessing the following links or using the player below.
[Neil's wild-wild-west Monkey Business]
[The Way The Windy Background Vocals Go]
[Alex's Meat-Bee Manifesto]
[Alex's 2112 Train-wreck scanner]
[The Main Rhythm Business]
[Secret Touch - Hidden rhythm guitar part]
[FadeLess - recovered fadeout for Faithless]
[Wink Martindale's Ladder]
[The Spirit Of Remix]
[The Secret Way Out - hidden background vocals on Secret Touch]
[Backup Armor - hidden backup vocals on Armor & Sword]
It didn't take long for the first bootleg from the Snakes & Arrows tour - Overnight Delivery - to pop up on the inter-tubes. There's now a second boot titled Tastes Like Chicken up as well. It's also available on dimeadozen at this link. Digital Rush Experience also tells me that it turns out Overnight Delivery had Sector Bountry Errors (SBE) which basicly means that if you uncompress the lossless files and burn them to CD and play on a regular CD player, you will hear pops between tracks. This has been pointed out to the seeder and I believe he is planning on correcting and seeding a new version.
The UK's Classic Rock Magazine have released another special edition devoted to Progressive Rock. The issue features Rush on the cover and a 6 page article on the band, though no new interviews. The band's three decades of music are each discussed separately. Thanks to Reed Lover over at Counterparts for the heads up.
Reader Michael P Elliot Segal (Elliot in the Morning) on DC101 (WWDC-FM, Washington, DC) just announced that next week is Rush Week. Monday he will give away 5th row seats, Tuesday 4th row seats, etc., leading up to front row seats on Friday, the day before Rush's Saturday, June 23 show at the Nissan Pavillion. Elliot is also offering a $5000 bounty for getting Rush into his studio to play three songs, one of which must be Limelight. Good luck with that. Heck ... I'll up the ante a little - if anybody can get Rush to play at my daughter's 2nd birthday pary, I'll give you $6000! :)
Sho-Daddy pointed out that the Neil Peart R30 replica kit was on display at the opening night show in Atlanta over on the second stage close to the main entrance. They said there were six left (24 have been sold). The kit sells for $30,000.
A couple weeks back I pointed you to a humorous animated virtual music news program called the Matty & Tones SoundChaser Show. The creators are big Rush fans and featured a review of Snakes & Arrows in their first episode. Their 2nd episode is out and it features a review of the new Porcupine Tree album (which Alex Lifeson plays on). You can check out both episodes on their website here.
Reader and Red Sox fan deslock let me know that as of June 15th (Friday) the Boston Red Sox had both a home and away record of 21-12. :)
That's it for now. On to Charlotte!
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