Taken at one of four (?) of their stops in Chicago, at the United Center, this month.
I wanted to make sure I got “Time Stand Still” since that’s the first song that really got me into them. When my brother was in the navy, I grabbed the cassette of Hold Your Fire from his room in the basement and jammed it all summer long one year in the car (Mom let me listen to whatever I wanted to) and in my room. They didn’t seem to have the energy for this song as they did with others. It was a popular single in 1987 but probably mid-tier compared to everything else Rush put out. The music video is very dated but endearing.
“2112,” the album and song, was in the car constantly but in the context of learning to drive with Mom, and after I got my license. An twenty-minute epic anti-authoritarian science fiction song based on Ayn Rand’s Anthem but replacing the invention of the light bulb with the discovery of a guitar in a cave. Absolutely ridiculous, but it was well-received. Rush ain’t going to touch this song if they tour again—not even the overture.
Another notable track they pulled out was “The Analog Kid,” one of my favorites of theirs, from Signals. “Subdivisions” and “New World Man” are the choice cuts from that album, but I’m glad they went with the unsung (hah) hero track. It’s got an uncharacteristically face-melting solo from Lifeson (he was never much of the shredder type).