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We had a good time at the Snakes & Arrows show. They always put on a good show.
But... I was disappointed. I knew going into it that they weren't going to be playing many of my favorites. They're closing in on 20 albums, and I could pick one or two from each that I just love, and I probably heard three of those. My main problem with the show was the sound. All through the first three songs, I was waiting for the sound crew to get it dialed in. They never did. The drums were a bit loud, and the guitar very easily gets lost in the mix. Geddy's bass was too thundering and not musical enough. It was a very deep sound, but it was so low, that it never seemed to be in any key.
They played a few surprising songs - "Circumstances," "Witch Hunt," "Entres Nous, "Passage to Bangkok" and "Between the Wheels." These were songs they hadn't played in many many years. Knowing the set list ahead of time, I was a little curious as to how some of these songs would sound live. They sounded great - "Entres Nous" was given a certain amount of punch, and "Circumstances" has it anyway. "Witch Hunt" may have sounded better than on the album. It seemed to have a little more darkness and foreboding. I definitely liked the video during that one. Distorted and grotesque faces. "Misson" seemed a little low-key for the fourth song.
My absolute favorite song of the night was the first half closer. "Dreamline." Their best song from their best album (IMHO, of course). Another highlight was "Far Cry," the second set opener, and the lead track from their latest album. This one rocks. And that one led into a nice string of good music. The band grouped most of the songs from the new album together in two sets. "Far Cry" led into "Workin' Them Angels," "Armor and Sword" and "Spindrift" which were very cool. I wasn't as thrilled with "The Main Monkey Business", which possibly lived up to its name, being very chaotic and hard to follow. Similarly, "Tom Sawyer" was disappointingly muddled. I remember it being one of my faves, their last time in town. It followed "Spirit of Radio," which was excellent. The still amazing "YYZ" closed the show.
I really enjoyed Neil's drum solo (I wonder what he's calling it this tour). He started out with a traditional-style drum solo, which didn't excite me all that much, but then he spun around to the back kit for a very interesting electronic section. I sure appreciated having the big screens up so I could see what he was doing. After that, he spun it back to the acoustic drums for a swing-based set. It was probably his shortest solo in many years, but it was definitely a good one. That was followed by Alex's acoustic solo song, "Hope." Very nice, though it reminded me of some old Page/Zeppelin sounds.
The show held its usual large bowlful of humor. Filmed intros by Bob & Doug MacKenzie and the South Park kids ("That's not how it goes!" "Tom Sawyer built a raft and floated down the river with a black man. I know - I read the book." "Dude that wasn't Tom Sawyer, that was Huckleberry Finn, and that's not how the song goes!"). Another filmed intro was very weird. Not sure where that came from (and can't remember what song it was for), but it was Alex making with the weird, so I guess that explains it. I loved the show intro, involving the band and a weird dream sequence, and Geddy as a Scotsman. Scary, woo! Alex always has a big stack of amps, that are covered with plastic dinosaurs. In front of his pedal rig, he's got a small army of Barbie doll groupies. Apparently they're holding signs (made by the roadies) that say things like, "I Like The Drummer", "My Grampa Says Your Cool", "Can I Roll Your Bones?", "I'm A Dino-Whore AKA Suckasaurass", "I Was Conceived While My Dad Was At A Rush Concert", "I'm Not Wearing Any Panties", "My Mom Thinks Your Hot!","I'm Only Doing This To Pay For College", "Freebird!", "I Thought ZZ Top Had Beards", "Bass Player's Cute! Is That His Real Nose?", "I Golf Naked", "Nice Dinosaurs-You Must Be A Caveman" and "If It's Too Loud You're Too Old." Geddy feeds his bass and keyboards directly to the soundboards, and feels the need to balance his side of the stage with Alex's, so he's got appliances. Last time he had clothes dryers and a sandwich vending machine. This time he had three huge chicken rotisseries. Twice, they had people come out to "baste" them. Fans who won prizes, I'm guessing. Speaking of Canadians and cheese heads, the first guy who went out to baste, was wearing a cheese head (hat). The girl who went out during "Spirit of Radio" spent a lot of time posing for her boyfriend on the sidestage with a camera. They used to pull t-shirts from the dryers and throw them to the audience. This time, to avoid the barbecue sauce, they just brought them from backstage.
I guess it rained pretty hard around the middle of the show. The people in the bleachers and lawn got pretty drenched. The woman next to me got pretty drenched by beer. I missed that too. She wasn't too happy.
What should have been our armor, becomes a bright and shining sword
But... I was disappointed. I knew going into it that they weren't going to be playing many of my favorites. They're closing in on 20 albums, and I could pick one or two from each that I just love, and I probably heard three of those. My main problem with the show was the sound. All through the first three songs, I was waiting for the sound crew to get it dialed in. They never did. The drums were a bit loud, and the guitar very easily gets lost in the mix. Geddy's bass was too thundering and not musical enough. It was a very deep sound, but it was so low, that it never seemed to be in any key.
They played a few surprising songs - "Circumstances," "Witch Hunt," "Entres Nous, "Passage to Bangkok" and "Between the Wheels." These were songs they hadn't played in many many years. Knowing the set list ahead of time, I was a little curious as to how some of these songs would sound live. They sounded great - "Entres Nous" was given a certain amount of punch, and "Circumstances" has it anyway. "Witch Hunt" may have sounded better than on the album. It seemed to have a little more darkness and foreboding. I definitely liked the video during that one. Distorted and grotesque faces. "Misson" seemed a little low-key for the fourth song.
My absolute favorite song of the night was the first half closer. "Dreamline." Their best song from their best album (IMHO, of course). Another highlight was "Far Cry," the second set opener, and the lead track from their latest album. This one rocks. And that one led into a nice string of good music. The band grouped most of the songs from the new album together in two sets. "Far Cry" led into "Workin' Them Angels," "Armor and Sword" and "Spindrift" which were very cool. I wasn't as thrilled with "The Main Monkey Business", which possibly lived up to its name, being very chaotic and hard to follow. Similarly, "Tom Sawyer" was disappointingly muddled. I remember it being one of my faves, their last time in town. It followed "Spirit of Radio," which was excellent. The still amazing "YYZ" closed the show.
I really enjoyed Neil's drum solo (I wonder what he's calling it this tour). He started out with a traditional-style drum solo, which didn't excite me all that much, but then he spun around to the back kit for a very interesting electronic section. I sure appreciated having the big screens up so I could see what he was doing. After that, he spun it back to the acoustic drums for a swing-based set. It was probably his shortest solo in many years, but it was definitely a good one. That was followed by Alex's acoustic solo song, "Hope." Very nice, though it reminded me of some old Page/Zeppelin sounds.
The show held its usual large bowlful of humor. Filmed intros by Bob & Doug MacKenzie and the South Park kids ("That's not how it goes!" "Tom Sawyer built a raft and floated down the river with a black man. I know - I read the book." "Dude that wasn't Tom Sawyer, that was Huckleberry Finn, and that's not how the song goes!"). Another filmed intro was very weird. Not sure where that came from (and can't remember what song it was for), but it was Alex making with the weird, so I guess that explains it. I loved the show intro, involving the band and a weird dream sequence, and Geddy as a Scotsman. Scary, woo! Alex always has a big stack of amps, that are covered with plastic dinosaurs. In front of his pedal rig, he's got a small army of Barbie doll groupies. Apparently they're holding signs (made by the roadies) that say things like, "I Like The Drummer", "My Grampa Says Your Cool", "Can I Roll Your Bones?", "I'm A Dino-Whore AKA Suckasaurass", "I Was Conceived While My Dad Was At A Rush Concert", "I'm Not Wearing Any Panties", "My Mom Thinks Your Hot!","I'm Only Doing This To Pay For College", "Freebird!", "I Thought ZZ Top Had Beards", "Bass Player's Cute! Is That His Real Nose?", "I Golf Naked", "Nice Dinosaurs-You Must Be A Caveman" and "If It's Too Loud You're Too Old." Geddy feeds his bass and keyboards directly to the soundboards, and feels the need to balance his side of the stage with Alex's, so he's got appliances. Last time he had clothes dryers and a sandwich vending machine. This time he had three huge chicken rotisseries. Twice, they had people come out to "baste" them. Fans who won prizes, I'm guessing. Speaking of Canadians and cheese heads, the first guy who went out to baste, was wearing a cheese head (hat). The girl who went out during "Spirit of Radio" spent a lot of time posing for her boyfriend on the sidestage with a camera. They used to pull t-shirts from the dryers and throw them to the audience. This time, to avoid the barbecue sauce, they just brought them from backstage.
I guess it rained pretty hard around the middle of the show. The people in the bleachers and lawn got pretty drenched. The woman next to me got pretty drenched by beer. I missed that too. She wasn't too happy.