070497 Rush, Ottawa, ON

When I was a younger little rock & roller Rush was it for me.  They were the be all and end all, a triumvirate of musical heroes that became my hobby.  There was a time when the only cassettes I owned were the twelve Rush albums that were then in existence and I listened to them incessantly, exclusively, and chronologically.  I kept a band scrapbook for crying out loud.  

So when the band announced “An Evening With” tour (AKA no opening band) that would see them perform 2112 in its entirety (the song, not the album) and included an Ottawa show, well, I was in with bells on.  Plus their Corel Centre show would be the last stop on their tour, so the band would probably be playing with a little extra aplomb!

Of course something none of us knew back then was that drummer Neil Peart (1952-2020) experienced consistent pain through his athletic role of beating one of the world’s most intricate drum kits with machine-like precision night after night, and as the tours went on the pains only grew worse.  We also couldn’t know that after this very concert the band would take a break that extended to a five-year hiatus as Neil mourned the loss of his daughter later that summer and his wife the following summer.  He went cycling and motorcycling around the world and wrote books about it while the rest of us patiently twiddled our thumbs wondering if Rush would ever tour again.

Of course they did, squeezing out three more albums and a half-dozen more world tours before the unthinkable happened when Peart passed away.

But getting back to this concert on July 4th, 1997, my plethora of ignorance allowed me to enjoy two sets of bliss as the band touched on classics like Red Barchetta and The Trees before ending their first set with the whole of 2112.  My goodness, it was so much fun to watch them play their epic full-side sci-fi fairy tale live in person.  I had heard them play parts of the grand musical saga here and there at other concerts but hearing it all in one go was basically a lifetime highlight.  Especially Part III: Discovery.  I just can’t tell you how often and how intensely I listened to that little sonic vignette, dreaming that I was that character who found a guitar in the cave and learned how to play it.

sigh

And then there was a whole second set too!  20,000 of us had just died and gone to heaven (and to the bathrooms and the concession stands) and then there was our favourite band stepping back onstage to give us more and more.  Roll the Bones, The Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer, the drum solo!  Oh, the bliss.  Then they encored with YYZ and nothing could have been any better.  My goodness, I was so excited.

It’s weird to think that the band almost broke up after this concert.  It’s also weird to think that despite seeing them several more times and enjoying every show immensely, I probably would’ve been okay with this being the last one.

But I’m glad it wasn’t.