Today is the big day! Rush's long-anticipated Clockwork Angels tour kicks off at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH this evening. The band has managed to keep a tight lid on things regarding the setlist this go-around, so there have been no leaks as of yet. However, Alex Lifeson did give a few hints/teasers in an interview with New England newspaper The Eagle Tribune yesterday. The big change this tour will be the addition of a string section:
... On tour, Rush is continuing to push forward and take its show to new places. For starters, Lifeson said, there's a new light show and new video over a three-hour set that includes most of "Clockwork Angels" and a number of older songs that haven't been played live in years. Then there's something completely new to a Rush tour - a string section. "'Clockwork Angels' has five or six songs with strings on them, and we thought that rather than triggering samples, why don't we think about taking strings out for a change?" Lifeson said. "We can pull out some of the older material from the past that we did string arrangements for and include that. And we sort of dove into it. It's so nice to go out and do something that's unusual and different and keeps on your toes," he said. "And hopefully you don't wreck anything for them and they don't wreck anything for you. So it's a challenge, and we're always looking for something to move us forward." ...
We also got to see a gallery of Clockwork Angels tour teaser images from Rush pytrotechnician and tour photographer John Arrowsmith earlier this week. The gallery contains a number of closeup and out-of-focus shots of some spectacular steampunk imagery from the set. It's truly a teaser gallery since none of the photos are very revealing. You can check them out at this location. And here's a John Arrowsmith top-side view of Neil Peart's kit that was posted to the Neil Peart Twitter feed last week. It's not clear whether this is a recent photo or not, although I have it on good authority that Neil will be using a slightly revamped kit this go-around, but not a brand new one. It will essentially be the Time Machine kit but with an image of the 21:12 Clockwork Angels clock face on the bass drum. Speaking of revamping, the Rush.com website has been updated with a new look and feel to celebrate opening night.
The Rush Backstage Club rolled out some new Clockwork Angels tour merchandise yesterday in the lead up to tonight's opening night show. The new merchandise includes several t-shirts, a keychain, a wristband, and the Clockwork Angels tourbook. You can check it all out at this location. And in case you missed it, they are also running a contest to win a meet & greet with members of Rush! For all the details and to enter the contest go here. And in other tour merchandising news, Showtech Merchandising (the company that runs the Rush Backstage Club) filed a lawsuit in federal court earlier this week to try and fend off producers and sellers of knock-off shirts and other merchandise. Yesterday a federal judge upheld the lawsuit and ordered authorities to seize any unlicensed merchandise (thanks briano):
A federal judge on Thursday ordered federal marshals and local police to seize any unlicensed Rush T-shirts, recordings or other memorabilia that spring up in Pittsburgh over the next week and also authorized similar actions in other venues where the group will perform during its national tour. ...
Virginia-based Rush tribute band Blame Canada will be playing a show at Sully's in Chantilly, VA tomorrow evening where they will be giving away 2 tickets to Sunday's show at the Jiffy Lube Live. For all the details visit their website or check out their Facebook page.
The Clockwork Angels album moved up a few spots on the Billboard 200 charts this week. It's now sitting at #117 in its 12th week of release, up from last week's showing at #121. The album won the Album of the Year award at the 1st annual Prog magazine Progressive Music Awards Wednesday night. From a BBC article covering the event:
... Canadian rock band Rush's latest concept album, Clockwork Angels, was named Album Of The Year. With its dystopian steampunk theme, the three-piece's 19th studio album has earned rapturous reviews, even in the mainstream press. Describing it as Rush's "most solid and compelling set of songs in years", The Guardian went on to say: "Those who worship at the temple of Rush will be in raptures; for those who remain agnostic, there may well be enough here to justify a leap of faith." ...
Clockwork Angels also received a couple of nods in Ultimate Classic Rock's End of Summer Survey. The Wreckers narrowly edged out Van Halen's She's the Woman to win in the best summer song of 2012 category, and Clockwork Angels was declared the summer's best album. You can check out the complete results at this location.
Grammy.com posted a new interview with Geddy Lee earlier this week where Geddy talks about the upcoming tour, the Clockwork Angels album and more. Here are Geddy's comments on the difficulties involved in choosing a setlist:
Oh man, it's hard. You rehearse it all and then you start whittling it back. It just becomes tougher every year. It's a good problem to have because it's the result of a long career, but it's hard to pick the songs. You don't want to disappoint people by leaving their favorite song out. At the same time, you try to [play] a [new] old song. Trying to keep the balance is tricky.
Kevin J. Anderson's Clockwork Angels: The Novel was officially released in the US and Canada earlier this week. The 290-page novel is the companion to Rush's Clockwork Angels album and was a collaboration with Neil Peart, who developed the idea for the story. The book will be getting a UK release in October according to this Rock Sins article, with Amazon UK listing a release date of October 11th. Anderson has conducted several interviews over the past few weeks to discuss his friendship and collaboration with Neil on the book, along with how Rush's music has inspired and impacted his fiction. There's this one with Roadrunner Records and another for io9.com. Anderson also wrote this piece about the novel for the Big Idea feature on John Scalzi's blog yesterday, and there's this brief video interview with PREVIEWSworld. You can order the audiobook version of Clockwork Angels (narrated by Neil Peart) at this location, and the hardcover edition here. Anderson will be attending several Clockwork Angels book signings and fan conventions over the coming weeks. For a complete list check out this post at Anderson's blog.
Gibson.com posted their list of the Top 10 Metal and Hard Rock Bass Players earlier this week, and Rush's Geddy Lee came in at #1. Here's what they had to say:
If the only thing Geddy Lee did in Rush was play the bass he'd be implausibly accomplished. But, he does it all while singing and playing the keyboards; a near-impossible feat. Not many frontmen have successfully juggled this triple task. Add to that the confidence that comes from playing for a long time, and Lee remains one of the genre's biggest and best players.
You can check out the complete list at this location.
The Montclair Patch posted an article yesterday on how the School of Rock Montclair is introducing two new Performance Programs for their fall season that are aimed at students who are looking for a more rigorous music education experience. So what better music to use than the music of Rush? From the article:
... School of Rock Montclair's first AP show will feature the music of the legendary rockers Rush, whose songs are recognized and respected as being some of the most complex and sophisticated in the history of rock. Comprised of bassist/vocalist/keyboardist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer Neal Peart, Rush's recordings feature unusual time signatures, difficult drum patterns, and complicated solo etudes that have delighted millions of fans around the world for almost 40 years. "Only our top students will be able to handle Rush," explains Dollar, "so we're recruiting musicians who are eager to take their playing to a whole new level." ...
411Mania.com posted their list of The Top 8 Songs About Space earlier this week and Rush's Countdown made the cut at #8. Here's what they had to say:
First up on the list about space travel is, probably appropriately, a song about the beginning of the journey. Rush wrote and recorded "Countdown" for their early '80s album Singles; it was inspired by the group's observation of STS-1 and the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981. It is dedicated to John W. Young and Robert Crippen, the astronauts for that particular mission, and even includes some of their communications with the NASA ground control team within the song. The track describes that build-up and anticipation that astronauts must feel before lifting off from the Earth and heading into space. With Geddy Lee delivering his usual excellent work on the lead vocals and the rest of the band backing him up nicely, what we get is a perfect capturing of that moment before a shuttle launch; the wonder and tension, with a hint of fear that something just might go terribly wrong. When the shuttle lifts off in the song and we hear the thrust of the craft, the band really gets that sensation to carry across nicely in the music. I venture to say that no other song has quite captured the idea of taking off in a space shuttle like this one, and NASA seemed to agree as the song was used on a couple of missions for different reasons.
Earlier this week Eric at Power Windows reported a hard-to-spot Rush reference in the film Men In Black 3 which released back in May. About 37 minutes into the film the analog hallway clock reads twelve minutes after nine, or 21:12 in military time (the same time found on the clock the Clockwork Angels album cover. You can check out a screenshot by clicking on the thumbnail above.
Last weekend SiriusXM Classic Rewind (Channel 25) had a countdown of the top 10 lead guitarists from the late '70s and '80s, and Alex Lifeson made the cut at #5 (thanks Dominic N). And Guitar World has been conducting a bracket poll to determine The Greatest Guitarist of All Time, and Alex Lifeson has made it into the Sweet 16. He'll be going up against Dimebag Darrell next although voting isn't yet open. Thanks to ou812112 for the heads up.
This coming weekend will mark a couple of important anniversaries in the history of Rush. Tomorrow 1987's Hold Your Fire celebrates 25 years since its release, and on Sunday 1982's Signals will celebrate its 30th anniversary. In addition to these 2 milestones, Neil Peart will be celebrating his big sixtieth birthday this coming Wednesday, September 12th.
Last Friday Rush posted the official lyric video for The Wreckers - the second single from Clockwork Angels - to their YouTube channel. The video is shot in the same style as the video for Headlong Flight, depicting a puppet show-like shipwreck along with the lyrics for the song. The Wreckers is currently sitting at #16 on the Mainstream Rock Chart, now a few spots ahead of Headlong Flight. You can watch the video below or at this location.
That's all for this week. I'll be posting an opening night open thread post shortly where I'll be reporting on tonight's show, including the setlist, stage show, photos, videos and more (all with appropriate SPOILER warnings). So stay tuned!
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