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Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

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Rush R40 Live tour Bristow open thread

Sat, May 30, 2015@1:30PM | comments

Date/Time: Saturday, May 30th @ 7:30PM
Show Number: 12
Venue: Jiffy Lube Live
Place: Bristow, VA (outside Washington D.C.)
Twitter: #R40DC | #R40Live
Instagram: #R40DC
YouTube: Bristow Rush R40 Live Tour
Setlist: Version C
Photos: Cygnus-X1.net | DCDecibel.com | The Vinyl District
Reviews: Baltimore Post-Examiner | DCist.com | DCDecibel.com| The Vinyl District

UPDATE - 6/2@4:03PM: Here's a short review along with some photos from The Vinyl District.

UPDATE - 6/2@3:22PM: Here's a review and photo gallery from DCDecibel.com.

UPDATE - 6/2@9:42AM: Here's a review from DCist.com.

UPDATE - 6/1@8:39AM: Here's a review from the Baltimore Post-Examiner.

UPDATE - 5/31@7:16PM: Here's a huge gallery of photos from Cygnus-X1.net.

UPDATE - 5/31@10:11AM: SPOILER UPDATE: For the Bristow show, Rush once again soundchecked that one particular song that we keep talking about. Some sneaky fan was able to record some excellent audio of the entire song which you can check out on YouTube below the fold.

UPDATE - 5/30@10:50PM: The show is over and the Version C setlist was played as expected. Next stop Columbus in 9 days. Good night Bristow!

UPDATE - 5/30@7:33PM: The show should be getting underway in about 15 minutes. Rush is expected to play their Version C setlist as shown here. If anything changes, I'll let everyone know. Have fun Bristow!!!

Rush wraps up the first of 3 legs of the R40 Live tour this evening when they play the Jiffy Lube Live outdoor amphitheater outside Washington D.C. After tonight they'll take a well-deserved 9-day break before picking things up again in Columbus on June 8th. Rush is expected to play their Version C setlist for tonight's show, and I've entered that setlist into the Bristow setlist page for now. I'll be sure to update it if anything changes, and finalize it once the show is over. Despite the expectations of the C set, there's always an outside chance that Rush will surprise us with something different. For more discussion on that along with a preview of the show, check out the pre-show SPOILER review below the fold. Rush RatCon 2015 East is taking place this weekend in Severna Park, MD at Club Xanadu and will include a huge pre-show tailgate party at the venue in Bristow starting around 5PM - see the RatCon Facebook event page for all the details. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson relaxed for dinner and some wine at The Grill Room in Washington D.C. last night and were nice enough to take some time out for a photo with some fans. Tonight's show has a 7:30PM start time listed, so the band will probably hit the stage around 7:45-ish. The weather looks great for today and tonight, although it will be a tad on the hot side. For everyone going to the show, have fun, be safe and make sure to share your reports, reviews, photos and video with us. Rush on!!!!!

*** WARNING ***

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

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SPOILER UPDATE: Rush soundchecked Losing It again before the show and a very sneaky fan recorded some excellent audio of the song which you can check out below or on YouTube here:

*** pre-show SPOILER review *** Rush is expected to play their Version C setlist tonight and there's no reason to think they'll surprise us with anything else. They continue to soundcheck Losing It on a regular basis without including it in the live set. This goes along with the current rumor that they will only be playing it at a few select shows centered around the inclusion of a guest violinist (Ben Mink? Clockwork Angels stringer?), with Toronto (where the DVD will be filmed), NYC, Vancouver and Los Angeles being the likely candidates. The only other question is whether it would replace Subdivisions in the set or be added in before or after it. In his recent Classic Rock interview Alex had this to say about the setlist and tour:

"... We've dug deep. We've pulled out some songs that we haven't played in a very long time. We've pulled out some real fan favourites. And we're enjoying playing them. We've revisited every era except maybe the mid-eighties era, which we covered in a good portion of the set on the last tour. We've not included anything from Power Windows or Hold Your Fire, but there's something from just about every other record. ... We're bringing the Hemispheres Prelude and Jacob's Ladder and Cygnus X-1. It's fun and exciting to play these old songs. Jacob's Ladder sounds amazing! For years we've discounted it, although it was always a fans' favourite. We've got three sets - A, B, C - which we'll be rotating throughout the tour. ... Ged and I have gone crazy on bringing out all of our old instruments and buying up vintage gear all over the place. His goal is to play a different bass for every song in the show. ..."

Note that he says that nothing from Power Windows will be played which would count out The Big Money despite it being listed in the tourbook credits. However, it's possible that the tourbook credit refers to the fact that a snippet of the song was included in the opening video. Some other quick notes about the setlist and the show:

* The entire setlist is played in reverse chronological order, beginning with Clockwork Angels, and ending in the encore with a short snippet of the unreleased, early '70s track Garden Road.
* As the show progresses back in time, the stage props and instruments also devolve to coincide with the songs being played.
* During the rap section of Roll The Bones a video is played with the following celebrities lip-syncing the rap: the Trailer Park Boys, Paul Rudd & Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Les Claypool, Tom Morello, and Peter Dinklage.
* For the 2nd set, Neil Peart's R40 drum kit is replaced with a retro, late '70s-era replica kit dubbed El Darko featuring double bass drums.
* Every show/setlist so far has been identical from Jacob's Ladder on through the encore.
* Jacob's Ladder makes its first live appearance since 1980.
* Cygnus X-1 Book Two: Hemispheres - Prelude had not been played since 1994.
* Cygnus X-1 Book One - The Voyage: Part 3 was last played live in 1980, although Prologue was played in 2002.
* Xanadu includes both Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee using doubleneck guitars.
* The Mel's Rock Pile skit before the encore reprises Eugene Levy's character from an old SCTV skit as seen here.
* Lakeside Park was last played live in 1978, and this performance is truncated, leaving out the bridge/last verse.
* What You're Doing was last played live in 1977.

Photos from Instagram using hashtag #R40DC:

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