…we have assumed control, we have assumed control, we have assumed control.

Yesterday I found R30, Rush’s 30th Anniversary World Tour, recorded in Frankfurt, September 2004, and I almost couldn’t wait to put the DVD in the Bose last night and crank it to 11. Beautiful wife went so far as to put her earplugs in for me. Sigh. Wonderful woman.

First of all, I have been a Rush fan since 1976 where in Paul Anderson’s basement I first heard 2112. As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t a better guitar player than Alex Lifeson, a better basist and synthesizer wizard than Geddy Lee or better drummer/lyracist than Neil Peart. They got into my teenage head and heart and they’ve never left. I will still stop a converation if Tom Sawyer comes on the radio. I’ve seen them live and I hope to take my son to see them live one day. They’re musicians, stage craftsmen, performers extraordinare.

How the hell they keep the songs fresh after all these years, I don’t know, but there isn’t a stale moment in 22 songs. They still look like they’re having a blast, and they still look like they’re working on improving the material. I really like their takes on classics like Crossroads, Summertime Blues , Heart Full of Soul and The Seeker which were all pleasant suprises in the show. They sound a little weird with Geddy Lee’s giant mouse/siren voice singing but they’re very good.

BEST. DAMN. ROCK. DRUMMER. EVER. (Unless Bill Bruford is in the room and then well, they’d probably try to put it off on the other.) Neil Peart, aka, The Professor, is still center stage, surrounded by his drum kit from which he invokes both thunderbolts and butterfly carresses at will. His precision has been written about and commented on for years…and he’s still a freak of nature when he plays, sometimes making me wonder if he’s not a creation of the Priests of Syrinx. He introduced me to Ayn Rand. Yes drum fans, Der Trommler is played in all it’s glory. I got chills.

Geddy Lee with his bass and magical symphonic keyboards (some that he plays with his feet) are over stage left…his voice clearer but still as quirky as ever. I don’t think there’s a uglier damn rock star on the planet. He’s always had this mad wizard thing about him and now that he’s older, it just fits him even better. He’s also one of the three vocalists that can turn his voice into a siren so, much is forgiven. (And the other two are? Anyone?)

Alex Lifeson is stage right and his hands haven’t slowed down a damn bit. That man always was one of the least acknowledged guitarists around. He’s one of the guitarists I love to WATCH play.

I thoroughly enjoy watching rock bands who go away when they play. Not the muggers and pretenders. The ones who somehow manage to truly step aside and let the Rock Gods use them up for the two or three hours that they’re on stage. R30 captures that. Instead of taking bits and pieces from the worldwide tour in 2004, they managed to capture an amazing night for all of them and present it as such. I never thought a film or video of Rush could do them justice, but R30 does.

All in all, even if you’re a casual Rush fan, one that can hear the opening of 2112 and not close their eyes in bliss, you’re going to want to add this DVD to your collection. This is the way Rush is meant to be heard, playing for and with an audience.

And if you’re not a Rush fan and try to dump on them here, I will delete you, I have no desire to have that conversation.