Friday
We opted out of Mallday. Instead, Jess and I went to Olive Garden. After that, it was off to her parents’ for a bit to hang out with the family-unit.

And then…

Rush
It was fantastic! A three-hour show: two sets and an encore. It was an excellent blend of their old and new material. I think that the only complaint that I could have was the venue – The Delta Center. Good for basketball and the circus; not-so-good for concerts. We were 28th row in the lower bowl. This put us at stage left about… 35-50 yards from the stage. Great view.

One of the funniest, if not the funniest things during the show occurred during La Villa Strangiato. During one section, Alex typically says/sings/whatever a few words. Tonight…. he just kinda…. went off on his own little Alex-tangent. The cameras had a combined shot of him, Neil and Geddy on the screen behind the stage. Neil and Geddy both had looks of “What in the Hell is he saying over there!?!?” But they kept playing. At one point, it looked like they were both on the verge of losing their composure and bursting out into laughter.

Neil did a drum solo. I don’t remember him doing one when I saw Rush in ’92… but it has been a while. I had an idea of what was to be expected; Jess didn’t. She was duly impressed.

After that, Alex and Geddy also did an acoustic version of Resist that was incredible. The stage hands brought out 2 stools and they came out with acoustic guitars and played. Très cool.

I asked Jess how she liked the show. She said that she went in not knowing a lot about the band (other than what she hears me play), but she enjoyed it and had a good time.

All-in-all, it was a verra good night.

Peace.