News

The Scranton Times Tribune: August 8, 2004

Fans Rush to Judgment; This Band Still Rules

by Kristen Wintermantel Durkin

Rush has fans who may be among the most loyal fans in rock, and the progressive rock legends showed why Saturday night at the Ford Pavilion at Montage Mountain.

They played a mix of old and new material as part of their 30th anniversary tour, in a performance that demonstrated what virtuosos they are as musicians.

A crowd estimated at 9,500 turned out on the mountain to hear the bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart.

The Canadian trio opened with a medley of '70s material, including "A Passage to Bangkok," "Bastille Day" and "Cygnus X-1."  The first few songs were beset by sound problems, with the melody and Mr. Lee's distinctive voice being drowned out.  The faithful crowd didn't seem to mind though -- they jammed the aisles and thrust their fists in the air.

One of the night's highlights was, of course, "Tom Sawyer," with which the band started its second set.  That led into "Dreamline," and an accompanying laser show, and later, a cascading drum solo by Mr. Peart.

A Rush show wouldn't be complete without visuals, and Saturday night was no exception.  Besides the lasers, a giant TV screen on stage featured 3-D animation featuring dragons, kaleidoscope geometrics, and symbols from the group's various albums over the years.  For the more recent song "Roll the Bones," the group included video of a dancing skeleton that sang a synthesized sampling of Mr. Lee's voice.

There was also a hilarious introductory film bit featuring the comedian Jerry Stiller, best known as George Costanza's father on "Seinfeld."  After a few minutes of animation, the screen showed Mr. Stiller waking on a couch, saying, "What the hell was that?  Did I miss the band?  Where are they? ... All right, get on stage already you guys. ... Come on, it's showtime!"

And showtime it was.

The performance proved why Rush is still around after 30 years.