Kevin's Watch

......And it's freaking glorious. I saw the tour twice, and I still enjoyed watching it again (and again). Brilliant show, brilliant sound, and brilliant video.


Buy it.

Want. Don't think I have anything that can play Blu-Ray though...

It's available on DVD as well.

As I said in the other Rush thread, I was disappointed with the sound and the playing. The drums have one of the worst sounds ever recorded for this band. The bass drum is barely present at all, even with the subwoofer turned up (seriously, go back and listen again, specifically trying to hear the bass drum). And speaking of subwoofer, the bass frequencies are mixed too loud relative to the rest of the music, and it's got a very raw, unfocused quality. I have to keep turning it down, which then loses Neil's bass drum and Ged's glorious Taurus pedals. Alex's playing and sound was very rough. In fact, this word (rough) describes the vocals as well. The surround mix is fairly shoddy.

The play list is excellent, and it looks stunning. The opening video is funny.

I enjoyed the Snakes and Arrows Blu-ray a lot more.

Zarathustra wrote:As I said in the other Rush thread, I was disappointed with the sound and the playing. The drums have one of the worst sounds ever recorded for this band. The bass drum is barely present at all, even with the subwoofer turned up (seriously, go back and listen again, specifically trying to hear the bass drum). And speaker of subwoofer, the bass frequencies are mixed too loud relative to the rest of the music, and it's got a very raw, unfocused quality. I have to keep turning it down, which then loses Neil's bass drum and Ged's glorious Taurus pedals. Alex's playing and sound was very rough. In fact, this word (rough) describes the vocals as well. The surround mix is fairly shoddy.

The play list is excellent, and it looks stunning. The opening video is funny.

I enjoyed the Snakes and Arrows Blu-ray a lot more.

I agree the S&A Blu-Ray is better.

But I disagree about the drums. They sound fine on my system (certainly no worse than S&A). I'm shocked that they picked this concert to release, as they sounded much, much better both times I saw them on this tour.

do they do "time stand still' in concert nowadays?

It's on the "Time Machine" dvd, so yeah, they still do it.

dANdeLION wrote:It's on the "Time Machine" dvd, so yeah, they still do it.

thanks - i shall be checking that out.

Yeah, it was the first time they did Time Stand Still in over a decade. Same for Marathon, one of my favorites. And it was the first time ever that they played Camera Eye live. Not to mention the entire Moving Pictures album in order. As I said ... an amazing setlist. I even like the two new songs, Caravan and BU2B.

Cail, I didn't think the drums sounded bad at first, either. But the more I listened, the more I realized it was the visual effect of seeing Neil play and the effect of knowing these songs kind of "filled in" some of the sound for me. Turn off the picture or look away from the TV, and try to hear the bass drum. It's still there, but it should really have a lot more punch.

From what I've read over the years, I believe you've got a better system than I do, so maybe that's the difference (that, and ever since we've moved into our new house with higher ceilings, bass frequencies sound different here). But I can usually get a decent bass sound on my other Rush recordings, except this one.

I'll have to do a back-to-back comparison between TM and S&A to really see if there's a difference (to my ears). I can say that there's definitely a qualitative difference in Alex's playing, particularly on Spirit of the Radio and Subdivisions.....And that's something that wasn't evident in Bristow or Baltimore when I saw them. They were literally note-perfect both times I saw them, with Geddy's voice getting a little ragged towards the end of the show.

FWIW, I think BU2B is the best song they've written since.....hell, probably Distant Early Warning. Caravan took a long time to grow on me, but it's excellent as well. I like both better than anything on Snakes & Arrows.

Zarathustra wrote:I even like the two new songs, Caravan and BU2B.

Speaking of, the new album should be available on May 29th, and they'll be releasing a version of "Headlong Flight" (I think that's the name of it) later this month.

thank you dAN - had no idea.

And if the rumors are true... new tour starting this fall!

Yay!!

First clip/teaser of Headlong Flight sounds promising:

link

Anyone else hear "Bastille Day" in there?

That's good. Hard to believe these guys are still bringing it so hard at their age.

Rolling Stone is streaming the single "Headlong Flight" over here.

Sweet!

Rumors are that tomorrow (April 19th) will see a tour announcement

Can't wait!

Zarathustra wrote:Rolling Stone is streaming the single "Headlong Flight" over here.

Love it!

The guitar/drum work at the beginning reminds me of ByTor... all those years ago

Can't wait for the full album!

Zarathustra wrote:Rolling Stone is streaming the single "Headlong Flight" over here.

thank you for the link - enjoyed very much. guitars were ripping!

Clockwork Angels is a brilliant title for the album. I can see many ways the artwork for the album/tour can go.