RUSH IS A BAND

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Buddy Rich Memorial Concert recap

UPDATE - 10/30@9:00PM: Michael of NeilPeartDrumsticks.com has posted over 100 images from the concert on his MySpace page. You can check them out here. Thanks to Asif K for the heads up.

Last Saturday the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Pre-show activities began around 6:15PM and the show itself got underway around 7:45PM. The entire event was streamed live on the Drum Channel. For the pre-show they had a camera set up with Drum Channel founder Don Lombardi and Stephen Perkins (of Jane's Addiction) sitting down with most of the show participants (not Neil though). They even took a few calls from viewers including RIAB's own windycitygirl (Jennie from Chicago!). The event included performances from Neil, Nick Rich with the Buddy Rich Band, John Blackwell, Terry Bozio, Chad Smith, Jeff Berlin, Will Lee, Tommy Igoe and a surprise appearance from Peter Erskine. The complete schedule was as follows:

Introduction with Cathy Rich

Tommy Igoe: Little Train, Preach And Teach, La Fiesta

John Blackwell: No Jive, Nutville, Mind Of Jay

Donnie Marple Solo performance

Terry Bozzio featuring Efrain Toro: Some Skunk Funk, Venture Brothers Medley w/Cowboy BeBop, Machine

Intermission (15 min)

Tommy Igoe featuring Will Lee: The Chicken, Willowcrest, La Fiesta

Peter Erskine: (last minute add)

Nick Rich: Beulah Witch; Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

Chad Smith: Dani California, Hocus Pocus, Birdland

Neil Peart: Love For Sale, Time Will Tell, Cottontail/One O'Clock Jump, YYZ

Despite a few minor glitches, the Drum Channel did a pretty good job of televising the event; not bad for their first try. The user was able to toggle between 5 different cameras although the backstage camera was malfunctioning most of the time.

Neil Peart's kit from the concert arrived at Dale's Drum Shop in Harrisburg, PA earlier this week. Reader Scott G got the following email from the Dale's email list:

It's here and set up fresh from the show - played heads and all!

Stop in and see it when you can.

We plan on having this great piece of drumming history on display for a long time. We want everybody to be able to check it out up-close, but eventually it's going to have to be packed up and stored for safekeeping.

Cymbals from the show were not an option for us so we're working with Sabian on getting some accurate replicas to keep this as historically correct as possible.

If you didn't make the show and can't get here before we pack it up you'll still be able to see and hear the kit on the next Buddy Rich Memorial Concert DVD.

Enjoy!

According to the Drum Channel, they will soon be making highlights from the show available online but presumably for subscribers only. They also promise that the entire event plus backstage, pre-show and rehearsal footage will be made available on DVD sometime next year. Several bootleg videos from the event appeared on YouTube earlier this week but were promptly taken down. However, I've collected several photos which you can check out in the slideshow below. Thanks to PhantomFears at Counterparts, rushfan4life at The Rush Forum, Cathy Rich and reader Asif K for the pics.