Rush -- Manchester, NH -- September 7th, 2012
 

The opening night of the Clockwork Angels tour took place tonight at a sold out Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire. I originally had 10th row in the nosebleeders for this show, but Ticketmaster released a handful of side-stage seats only a few hours before doors opened, so I upgraded to 4th row on Alex's side for 20 bucks!

Start time: 745PM
Intermission: 845-855PM
End time: 1045PM

Aside from the boys playing nearly the entire new album EXCEPT the song I like the most (BU2B), I have zero complaints about this show. Everything was stellar. Sound was mixed perfectly, Geddy sounded phenomenal, and Alex was playing Gibson all night and not a PRS was in sight. I had an excellent time and look forward to seeing them again next month at the Garden.

We got more than a handful of treats tonight, here's the whole setlist.

1. Subdivisions
2. The Big Money (first time played since 2002)
3. Force Ten (first time played since 2004)
4. Grand Designs (first time played since 1986)
5. The Body Electric (first time played since 1985)
6. Territories (first time played since 1988)
7. The Analog Kid (first time played since 1994)
8. Bravado (first time played since 2004)
9. Where's My Thing? (first time played since 1992, with Neil solo)
10. Far Cry
11. Caravan
12. Clockwork Angels (live debut)
13. The Anarchist (live debut)
14. Carnies (live debut)
15. The Wreckers (live debut)
16. Headlong Flight (live debut)
17. Halo Effect (live debut)
18. Wish Them Well (live debut)
19. The Garden (live debut)
20. Manhattan Project (first time played since 1990)
21. Red Sector A (first time played since 2004)
22. YYZ
23. Working Man
24. Tom Sawyer
25. The Spirit of Radio

I shot more than a handful of pics, which I'll post tomorrow.

[QUOTE=PVH5150;486623]
7. The Analog Kid (first time played since 1994)
20. Manhattan Project (first time played since 1990)
[/QUOTE]



[SIZE="7"]YES!![/SIZE]


Still, that's a bit too heavy on mid 80's stuff for my taste and BU2B is my favorite song on the new album, so not playing that live is fucking lame.

Eh, fuck it. I'm too wired to sleep right now, so here's a few pics for y'all. Enjoy!

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Absolutely excited to hear Body Electric, Analog Kid and Manhattan Project for the first time, as well as hearing Red Sector A again. My only complaints are the one song pre-Permanent Waves and a little too much off the new album but these are just minor complaints.

Disappointing set. I don't mind that they're playing a lot of new material, it's the rest of it that's a let down. That's not to say there aren't some nice picks thrown in, but as a whole it's very weak.

Subdivisions is one of my all time favorite Rush songs, but I just can't imagine it being an opening song live.

[QUOTE=PVH5150;486623] 4. Grand Designs (first time played since 1986)
5. The Body Electric (first time played since 1985)
6. Territories (first time played since 1988)
7. The Analog Kid (first time played since 1994)
9. Where's My Thing? (first time played since 1992, with Neil solo)
20. Manhattan Project (first time played since 1990)
[/QUOTE]

Next month will be my ninth time seeing Rush since 1996 and this will be my first time seeing these songs live. Adding the new songs in, that's a total of 14 songs i've never seen them do live. I can't think of any other band who could do that after seeing them multiple times. The first set rules, especially everything from Force Ten through Bravado. The only changes I would make would be to add two well known songs in place of Halo Effect and Wish Them Well. They're the two worst songs on the album (BU2B2 doesn't count) so they really don't need to be played. They're both good songs, just the two worst on the new one.

Rush really dug deep and pulled out some really cool songs that I can't wait to hear. If you have a problem with this set then I really don't know what to tell you. Last tour was the show for the casual fan, if you missed that then you're fucked because this tour is for the diehard fans.

I don't wanna hear anybody bitching about them not playing stuff from the 1970s. That arguement is old and weak and you all know Geddy can't sing those songs for shit anymore. Be happy that at 60 years old these guys are still going out there and touring and are still surprising their fans with the songs they pick to play.

[QUOTE=MPF;486634]Subdivisions is one of my all time favorite Rush songs, but I just can't imagine it being an opening song live.[/QUOTE]

This.

[QUOTE=MPF;486634]Subdivisions is one of my all time favorite Rush songs, but I just can't imagine it being an opening song live.[/QUOTE]

Have you heard the reaction that song gets when they play it live? Everyone always goes nuts for it. It will work out fine as an opener.

[QUOTE=Sanitarium78;486659]
Rush really dug deep and pulled out some really cool songs that I can't wait to hear. If you have a problem with this set then I really don't know what to tell you. Last tour was the show for the casual fan, if you missed that then you're fucked because this tour is for the diehard fans.[/QUOTE]

I believe you meant to say this tour is for the '80s era fans. This is certainly not something for diehard fans.

[QUOTE=Sanitarium78;486659]
I don't wanna hear anybody bitching about them not playing stuff from the 1970s. That arguement is old and weak and you all know Geddy can't sing those songs for shit anymore. Be happy that at 60 years old these guys are still going out there and touring and are still surprising their fans with the songs they pick to play.[/QUOTE]

You don't want to hear any bitching? Then you should probably not read any Rush threads here or elsewhere until the tour is over. It's inevitable that people are going to complain about that because a lot of fans consider it to be some of their best work. Maybe you don't mind that they're skipping most of their early material, but if you can't see why somebody else would be disappointed by that then you might need to see where you land on an empathy test. And of course Geddy doesn't sound as great as he did so many years ago, but that doesn't mean you just ignore a major chunk of your work. I'm not denying that he likely has to sing differently to get through some of the more challenging sections, but you're making it seem like he sounds horrible, which he doesn't at all. If that was the case then I doubt they would have played old songs on any of the tours of the past decade. As for your reasoning that we should just be happy that we get to see them, these are valid complaints and to discredit them by saying people are ungrateful is asinine.