Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Alex and Geddy dine with Ross Halfin too ... plus cool soundcheck news

Wed, Oct 24, 2007@3:23PM | comments removed/disabled

It seems that Alex and Geddy had a really good time in Milan, drinking wine and dining with friends. In addition to hooking up with wine connoisseur James Suckling the night before the show - as detailed in this post from earlier today, Alex and Geddy had dinner with rock photographer Ross Halfin after the show. Ross has been shooting several of Rush's shows in Europe and has been very impressed. He writes about the show and about dining with the boys in the last two entries of his online diary:

October 23

Flew over the Italian alps to Milan mid-afternoon. It was a view to dream about, mountains covered in mist. One of the things which makes flying wonderful...

Got in and met up with Andy Curran. We're off to the Fila Forum for some more Rush. I find this venue depressing, it's always damp and reminds me of a concrete prison. The lighting backstage is as dull as if the lights are weak.

I end up stuck in the twilight zone with a headache. Start with soundcheck where they play *****, ***** and something I don't know called *****. I mainly shoot Neil Peart and I've figured out how to capture the animation of Rush, which photographers mostly seem to miss capturing in them. Get them going on and go in the pit to shoot. It has been hosed down - imagine shooting in a muddy stream. It was hard work and I was feeling sorry for myself but as am "The Master" I got some good photos. I had a good night - enjoyed the show, the crowd of Italians were going nuts singing along to the new album, every song with , ummmmm... passion.

The more I see the Rush show the more I like it.

October 24

As Andy [Curran] and I get back in the early hours Geddy invites us to dinner where the three of us dine on honeydew and drink the milk of paradise (thirty year old bottles of red wine). I tell Geddy my theory on how to shoot Rush which he finds amusing but agrees with. 'Fin Costello would do the same,' he says. I tell Geddy Kevin THE CAVEMAN Shirley is a wine connoisseur. Mr Lee is surprised and I learn that THE CAVEMAN escaped to Canada from Australia with no teeth. Funny I always thought THE CAVEMAN'S smile was too white...

I starred-out the song titles in the above entries for those of you who don't want to know. For those of you who do want to know, just go to Ross's online diary. At this point in the tour (only 3 shows left) I doubt they'll pull any of these soundcheck tunes out for the regular show; but it's possible for the 2008 leg I would think. We shall see. Thanks to George for the heads up.

NOTE: Posts over 10 years old are partially archived. All comments, images and other embedded media have been removed.

Share