I Love Rush
I came to the party a fairly early in life. In 1978 I was in my local record store, and saw a blue album cover with a nekkid guy standing on a brain??? WTF? I asked the gal behind the counter about it and she told me it was a Canadian rock band called Rush, and that it was their latest album "Hemispheres" which had just been released that day. I bought it because I liked the album cover and the band name. I had no idea at the time that there were any artists of note coming out of Canada (I didn't know that BTO, Steppenwolf, Niel Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Ronnie Hawkins, all of whom I listened to at the time were Canadian), so that was actually a bit of a deterrent. But fortunately I did buy the album.
When I got it home and listened to the first side, I didn't like it. The next day I listened to side 2 (Circumstance, The Trees, La Villa Strangiatto), and thought "okay, it's gonna be one of those albums that I like only one side". After a few weeks of side 2 becoming my favorite "album", I listened to side 1 again. That day, I went and bought tickets for the "Hemispheres" tour with my paper route & lawn mowing money, and had the record store hold "2112", "Fly by Night" & "Rush", the only other albums they had in stock, and had them order "Caress of Steel", "All the Worlds a Stage", and "A Farewell to Kings". They had no problem with me doing so because even at the age of 14 I was an extreme audiophile (as well as a bibliophile), and most of the money I earned was spent in that record store and the bookstore 2 doors down.
The neighbor's daughter, a model for the Weinstock's cataolg - no ****! - who, for some unknown reason thought I was just the most adorable thing around, agreed to drive me to the concert, but only took the second ticket I had bought because she didn't want me going to a rock concert alone; a sentiment my mother strongly seconded (in fact it was a condition of letting me go in the first place), which is why I bought 2 tickets. It was my first concert. I was completely blown away, as was my chaperon, who went downtown to Tower Records and bought all their albums. I've been a Rush Fan ever since,and I assume she is too, though I haven't seen her in almost 20 years.
I got into other Progressive Album Rock bands (Jethro Tull, Yes, King Crimson, early Styx, early Floyd, etc.) as a result. Of course, it made me even more of an outsider than I already was, as most of the other kids listened to Pop, and later in Junior High and High School, metal (especially Zeppelin, the most over-rated band in Rock) and Punk. Most of my buddies were Led Heads, although all who became my closest friends all told me within a few years that they agreed that Rush was a superior band. My closest friend of many years told me after "Counterparts" came out that I had been right all along: Rush was and is the best rock & roll band ever. As I am also into many types of music, especially Folk, Alternative Country, Blues, and Fuzion, I go one step further and maintain that Rush is the best BAND ever - period.
I have been to only 5 Rush concerts: the "Hemispheres" tour in 1978, the "Moving Pictures"tour in '81 (by which time I could drive), the "Grace Under Pressure" tour, the "Roll the Bones" tour, and the "Counterparts" tour. Then I got injured, and missed the "Test for Echo" tour learning how to walk again; I was sure I'd never see another Rush concert after Niel's twin tragedies in 1997. By the time "Vapor Trails" came out, I had become extremely ill with cardiomyopathy, a weak left ventricle, and leaking left ventricular valve. I was near the top of the transplant list and in a coma when "Snakes and Arrows" was released. But my doc was able to fix me up pretty good, so even though I'm financially broke (SS Disability pays a shitload less than the 60k a year I was making in the mid-nineties), I'm gonna do everything I damned well can to get tickets to "Clockwork Angels", maybe the Vegas show in November.
Update 4/4/13: I had tickets to the Vegas show for "Clockwork Angels", but the day of the concert, I was in the hospital recovering from a heart-attack. I gave my tickets to two of my buddies. It took me 3 damned LEAN months to save up enough for those tickets... now I wonder if I'll EVER get to see a Rush concert ever again.
When I got it home and listened to the first side, I didn't like it. The next day I listened to side 2 (Circumstance, The Trees, La Villa Strangiatto), and thought "okay, it's gonna be one of those albums that I like only one side". After a few weeks of side 2 becoming my favorite "album", I listened to side 1 again. That day, I went and bought tickets for the "Hemispheres" tour with my paper route & lawn mowing money, and had the record store hold "2112", "Fly by Night" & "Rush", the only other albums they had in stock, and had them order "Caress of Steel", "All the Worlds a Stage", and "A Farewell to Kings". They had no problem with me doing so because even at the age of 14 I was an extreme audiophile (as well as a bibliophile), and most of the money I earned was spent in that record store and the bookstore 2 doors down.
The neighbor's daughter, a model for the Weinstock's cataolg - no ****! - who, for some unknown reason thought I was just the most adorable thing around, agreed to drive me to the concert, but only took the second ticket I had bought because she didn't want me going to a rock concert alone; a sentiment my mother strongly seconded (in fact it was a condition of letting me go in the first place), which is why I bought 2 tickets. It was my first concert. I was completely blown away, as was my chaperon, who went downtown to Tower Records and bought all their albums. I've been a Rush Fan ever since,and I assume she is too, though I haven't seen her in almost 20 years.
I got into other Progressive Album Rock bands (Jethro Tull, Yes, King Crimson, early Styx, early Floyd, etc.) as a result. Of course, it made me even more of an outsider than I already was, as most of the other kids listened to Pop, and later in Junior High and High School, metal (especially Zeppelin, the most over-rated band in Rock) and Punk. Most of my buddies were Led Heads, although all who became my closest friends all told me within a few years that they agreed that Rush was a superior band. My closest friend of many years told me after "Counterparts" came out that I had been right all along: Rush was and is the best rock & roll band ever. As I am also into many types of music, especially Folk, Alternative Country, Blues, and Fuzion, I go one step further and maintain that Rush is the best BAND ever - period.
I have been to only 5 Rush concerts: the "Hemispheres" tour in 1978, the "Moving Pictures"tour in '81 (by which time I could drive), the "Grace Under Pressure" tour, the "Roll the Bones" tour, and the "Counterparts" tour. Then I got injured, and missed the "Test for Echo" tour learning how to walk again; I was sure I'd never see another Rush concert after Niel's twin tragedies in 1997. By the time "Vapor Trails" came out, I had become extremely ill with cardiomyopathy, a weak left ventricle, and leaking left ventricular valve. I was near the top of the transplant list and in a coma when "Snakes and Arrows" was released. But my doc was able to fix me up pretty good, so even though I'm financially broke (SS Disability pays a shitload less than the 60k a year I was making in the mid-nineties), I'm gonna do everything I damned well can to get tickets to "Clockwork Angels", maybe the Vegas show in November.
Update 4/4/13: I had tickets to the Vegas show for "Clockwork Angels", but the day of the concert, I was in the hospital recovering from a heart-attack. I gave my tickets to two of my buddies. It took me 3 damned LEAN months to save up enough for those tickets... now I wonder if I'll EVER get to see a Rush concert ever again.
By:
FlorDeLuna
Age:
46-50
,
Male
