Snakes & Arrows Live

Linernotes - Album News Archive

Buy Online Disc One Limelight Digital Man Entre Nous Mission Freewill The Main Monkey Business The Larger Bowl Secret Touch Circumstances Between The Wheels Dreamline Far Cry Workin' Them Angels Armor And Sword Disc Two Spindrift The Way The Wind Blows Subdivisions Natural Science Witch Hunt Malignant Narcissism - De Slagwerker Hope Distant Early Warning The Spirit Of Radio Tom Sawyer One Little Victory A Passage To Bangkok YYZ Buy DVD / Buy Blu-Ray

Snakes & Arrows Live News Archive

In a complete reverse of decisions originally made with the R30 video release (when eight tracks were omitted from the original DVD release), the complete concert is featured on both the Blu-Ray and DVD editions; in addition, footage filmed in Atlanta during the 2008 leg has been included, thereby adding additional tracks not performed during the 2007 leg of the tour (click here for the video tracklist). It is worthy of note that this is the first live release to include either "Circumstances", "Entre Nous" or "Digital Man". A CD version of the show was released April 15th, 2008, just before the band began the 2008 leg of the tour. To learn how to find the only known Easter Egg click here.

"The Snakes & Arrows Live DVD was filmed with 21 High Definition cameras in 16x9 widescreen format, over two nights in October 2007 at the Netherlands’ Ahoy Rotterdam arena during the renowned rock trio’s lengthy world tour. Additional SD footage was filmed in Atlanta this past July. The five month trek supporting Rush’s critically acclaimed 2007 studio release, Snakes & Arrows, which includes the Grammy® Award-nominated track, 'Malignant Narcissism,' topped Pollstar’s Top 100 2007 Tours list at #12.

"While previous DVD releases showcase different sides of the band, this DVD offers fans a rare and close up look at the prodigious musicianship for which the band is renown. Cameras follow bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart, closely, capturing not only their playing, note for note, but also the intimacy they share on stage. The diverse track list includes many new songs from Snakes & Arrows as well as old favorites like 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Freewill' plus an explosive rendition of 'Between the Wheels.' Among the hidden gems and numerous special tour moments included as extras is the fan coveted "What’s That Smell" vignette and outtakes, a skit used to intro the second set, which capitalizes on the still emerging comedic talents of both Alex and Geddy who excel (and revel) in their roles as wild characters. Featuring collector’s quality packaging and a choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound or PCM Stereo for a superior audio experience, the DVD was mixed by frequent collaborator Richard Chycki (Aerosmith, Mick Jagger). Total running time is 221 minutes." - Rush.com Press Release, September 22, 2008

Winner of the 2009 International Digital Media Alliance Excellence in Disc Audio (Blu Ray Disc) Award:
"Snakes & Arrows Live was directed by Pierre and François Lamoureux of FogoLabs. A full service production company based out of both Montreal and New York City, FogoLabs is not new to the IMDA/DVDA awards having won 8 Excellence Awards over the years, this their 9th, including 'Facility of The Year' two years running. "I always have a great time recording Rush. They play so well that it makes life easier even though you have 80 odd tracks for 3 musicians! Kudos go out to Rich Chycki and Alex Lifeson who mixed the music, to Andy VanDette who mastered the mixes and to Denis Normandeau, my audio partner of 9 years, who encoded the music to DTS-HDMA for the Blu-Ray here at FogoLabs." said François Lamoureux, president of FogoLabs after receiving the good news." - Marketwire.com, June 25, 2009

In Their Own Words...

"The CD came out just prior to us going back out on the road - it gave us a little boost I think, in terms of making everybody aware that we were going back out for the second half of the tour. But these things take a while. To do the 5.1 mix is always time-consuming. So, we were able to get a stereo mix out quite easily." - Alex Lifeson, UGO.com, December 11, 2008

"It really came out well, I thought. It looks great, the camera angles are great, and having 2 days [to shoot two shows] really made a big difference in terms of the variety of shots that we had to work with." - Alex Lifeson, Sound & Vision, July 2009

"With this one we wanted to focus on the playing. So a lot of the camera work features the interaction between Neil (Peart), Alex (Lifeson) and myself, a lot of the details that you don't normally cover in a DVD performance. So for fans of the music who love to see what everybody's fingers are doing and how we interact back and forth with each other, that became the overriding focus on this one." - Geddy Lee, Billboard.com, November 18, 2008

"It was a very relaxed night - which is unusual, for that kind of 'pressure' night. Whenever we're recording, there's always a sense of tension on stage. But we were really relaxed that night, and I think it was because we had the two nights. We were in the European portion - halfway through it - and we really enjoy traveling through Europe, so we were all in a pretty good headspace and relaxed. And I think it shows - there are moments throughout the DVD where there is interplay between the three of us and the audience - and you sense that we're having fun." - Alex Lifeson, UGO.com, December 11, 2008

"Those two gigs were pretty consistent gigs. I thought we played well both of those nights. It was at the end of the tour, and by that point in the tour we’re pretty set with all of our tempos. Neil has a metronome on his drums that gives him a tempo reference at the beginning of a song. It’s just a light that pulses, and it gives him a tempo reference. He’s very solid...he used to play to a click for some stuff where we needed to sync with film, but we haven’t done that in years. There’s just no need for it anymore. He’s just so locked in and so tight. You know, the difficulty is if you’re playing a song with a quick tempo, and then you’ve got to pull it back for the next song, and sometimes it’s hard to just shift your brain from something fast to something mid-tempo. So, that gives him a chance to catch his breath. He looks at the pulse, he gets that tempo into his head, he turns it off, and then he starts the song." - Alex Lifeson, ModernGuitars.com, January 23, 2009

"There are the outtakes from where we were doing the 'What’s That Smell' thing with Harry Satchel, and I was the border guard, and I’m stopping Geddy at the border and asking him where he’s going. We did a whole bunch of takes of that, and there were some takes that were good takes. But, we couldn’t use them because the director was by the camera, and so close by, and he couldn’t stop laughing. It ruined the audio of the take! So, I thought that was a pretty good sign, when you’ve got the director laughing so hard that you can’t use a good take." - Alex Lifeson, ModernGuitars.com, January 23, 2009

"I used to feel like a 'slave to the technology' in the olden days because I would have to find a place to put those gigantic instruments where I could still reach them, then figure out how to change mallets in the middle of a song, for example, to play those various chimes, bells, and blocks. It was a nightmare of choreography, not to mention mike placement and mixing. And in fact, I would often have to miss certain notes, just to make those stick and mallet changes in time. These days, with the pads, foot triggers, and MIDI-marimba, I can just hit or step on a trigger, and the required sound is there, loud and clear. For those 'effects' purposes, electronic triggers are much more flexible and useful than all that junk used to be. Of course, they are no replacement for acoustic instruments. A real, trained percussionist — as opposed to an over-reaching drum set player — is never going to be happy with samples of timpani or chimes. Likewise, I have never given up a single one of my acoustic drums, because they have subtleties that I don’t believe electronic drums will ever replicate. But when it comes to simply producing a sound, triggers and samples are a wonderful tool." - Neil Peart, "Thus Spoke Neil" Drum Magazine, June 2009

"In deciding to bring ['Natural Science'] back into our live set a few years ago, after not playing it for a while, we made some arrangement changes that we probably would have done at the time it was recorded in 1979 if that long, complex, multi-part suite hadn’t been written and recorded in about two days! In most cases, we are happy to play our songs as they were recorded because we remain contented enough with them that way, but other times we can’t resist reconsidering. We have done that with a few other older songs, where we felt it simply would have been better without a certain part, or as with 'Entre Nous' last tour, where it would have been better to repeat a certain passage." - Neil Peart on dropping the the second solo from "Natural Science", "Thus Spoke Neil" Drum Magazine, June 2009

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