RUSH
HAD Rush played only one of its lengthy, epic compositions in concert Thursday night, most would have said it was one song too many.
In front of devoted fans at Madison Square Garden, the band offered three hours of music that sounded suspiciously like one extraordinarily long song.
On tour for the first time in five years, this trio from the Great White North operated under fanciful video animation of flying dragons and laser-beam lighting.
It was an attempt to create a visual atmosphere that matched the sonics, but that was impossible, because there is no color for dull.
Rush’s music is tiresome in small doses. In supersize quantities like Thursday’s concert, the tedium was monumental.
But not everybody feels that way about Rush, and at this Garden performance, it was a love-fest between the fans and the band.
Being in the presence of their gods of progressive rock – drummer Neil Peart, guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist/singer Geddy Lee – transported the geeky, predominantly male audience to noodler’s heaven.
Even those who liken the band to toxic waste dumped in the States by Canada have to give each of these musicians his due – they play bad stuff really well.
The band’s chops have never been questioned – although Lee’s nails-on-slate vocals leave much to be desired.
The problem is, the music Rush makes is dreary.
Up front, there was “Tom Sawyer,” which got most of the house on its feet. Although it is now two decades old, it’s as much a snorer as Rush’s most recent material, like “Ghost Rider” from the “Vapor Trails” album.
Consistency counts.
To the band’s rabid fans, this is crazy talk. They’ll say that Rush offers very sophisticated, complex music, filled with twists and performed with virtuosity; that the band has sold 35 million albums in its nearly 30-year career.
There’s no accounting for taste.
The end-show rendition of “Spirit of Radio” was the concert highlight, but it was too little, too late after way too much Rush.