Just an escape artist, Racing against the night, A wandering hermit, Racing toward the light.
From the white sands, To the canyon lands, To the redwood stands. To the barren lands, To the barren lands...(RUSH: Vapor Trails, Ghost Rider lyrics)
(Whale it certainly AIN’T DRY here today in Seattle!)
Or as perhaps RUSH would say; “Tastes like Chicken!” In deference to the three rotisseries on stage preparing said fowl while being basted by a “Roadie” in Chef’s regalia…
Otay, as I’ve already mentioned, I’m back from another very enjoyable outing in the Great Pacific Northwest’s abundance of wilderness… Having just spent the past eight days “On the Fly,” after having to partake in another FANTASTIC concert performed by The Kuh-Naidiun Power Trio, a.k.a. RUSH!
And somehow I feel that I should have been awarded double bonus points… As look Ma, NO Hands, Err… NOT only did I use my anxiously awaited “$timulus” check to pay for my outing, but I was seeing a neighboring countries performers and thus promoting Foreign Country relations, eh? Although I suppose some would argue that the moohlah that the Federal Re$erve has been printing up for said occasion was supposed to stay stateside… But DON’T worry you DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue… As unfortunately the bulk of my overly impressive $timulus check (If it ever arrives?) went straight back into the NASTY hands of Darth Vader, a.k.a. DICK Cheney… As Y’all know what the price of a gallon of petrol has been doin’ lately… SHEISE-KOPFES!
And riddle me this? Why in the HELL is the price of gasoline INFLATED 20 cents per gallon just because you’re in the cute little German Tourist-trap villas ‘O Leavenworth? As they’d jacked up the price to $4.29 per gallon, but I digress…
Having arrived at the Gorge around 5PM, we proceeded to the campground area to secure our location and set up our tent… Yet as the winds “Were A Blowin’” Mary Ellen and I laughed out loud when a gust of wind collapsed our tent, knocking it straight down after about only five minutes… And thus decided to leave it collapsed until after the concert was over, while our neighbor’s tent was trying to walk away all by itself! As somebody finally dragged it back towards us, asking; “Is this your tent?”
And like all outdoor concerts for RUSH, its always entertaining to hear the various sound systems blarin’ out their particular choice of the Kuh-Naidiun Power Trio’s vast library of music… As our next door neighbors were crankin’ out a live performance from the 2004 R30 Anniversary tour recorded in Germany…
Finally it was time to make the long walk from the campgrounds over to the venue, which is set against the perfect backdrop, as the mighty Columbia River snakes behind the stage, of which Mary Ellen informed me had three Semi Haulers directly next to it, while she counted a total of five “Newell?” Custom tour coaches and a further three semi’s parked nearby… HMM? Wonder who’s pickin’ up the tab for fueling this fleet of vehicles, eh? (Yeah, I’ll stop GROWLIN’ over those BASTARDOES SCREWING US!) As we sat on the grassy hillside, which seemed moderately filled by concert goers… And oh yeah… Guess what the price of a Schlitz Malt liquor beverage will run yuhz… $12 US Greenbacks…
The concert started promptly at 8PM with the first song being Limelight, a popular cut off of RUSH’s GRATEST Album; 1981’s Moving Pictures… Followed up by a long forgotten song off of the follow-up album Signals; Digital Man, which seemed appropriate in today’s age of portable electronic devices…
And it must be quite daunting to try and decide what 20+ songs to play, when you’re massive library contains hit songs from three decades; 1970’s, ‘80’s and ‘90’s, as the band did a fairly decent job of mixing up songs, although they managed to push the boundaries of overplaying their latest studio release Snakes & Arrows by playing eight tracks off of it…
During Geddy’s first obligatory crowd callout; Hello (Insert venues name here) How are uze doin’ out there? Geddy noted that they’d try to play a whole ton of songs if they didn’t get blown off the stage… As the winds were so strong that they actually blew the sound around! Yet, the boyzs would ultimately end up playing the entire side one of Moving Pictures: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Limelight… As it was another truly impressive three hour cruise thru the annexes of RUSH’s music…
Afterwards, Mary Ellen and I used our patented follow the leader technique of helping me navigate bumpy, gravel/dirt surfaces in the darkness of night, where she simply guides me along by pulling my white cane… Which several concert onlookers were most curious about… As one slightly inebriated man approached us… Asking if he could hug me? To which we were most curious about and asked him why?; “Because I’ve NEVER hugged a Blind person before!”
Otay, I’ll play along and we briefly hugged, to which led into his telling us his whole life’s story in about five minutes… While asking me for repeated hugs…
Can I Hug you?
You guys probably don’t like people who kill deer? Do you like cabbage? I’m a tree murderer… Yeah, I’m a logger from Aberdeen and my wife’s a beautician who paints nails,
Can I Hug you?
I’m 41, how old are you?
Can we hug?; To which I replied; “Dude, we’ve already hugged!”
As we bid our farewells, a second man approached us and asked me if I’d enjoyed the concert? Why yes I did, as I was afraid to mention that it was actually my 16th time to see the venerable Kuh-Naidiun Power Trio…
Yet, after having spent over one hour scouring ze internets for a FRILLIN’ Concert review by our esteemed local newspapers, I’ve given up, as apparently they deemed RUSH NOT WORTHY of said review… And thus I’ll leave you with a review from The Great White North, held two nights prior to The Gorge performance…
RUSH ROCKS GM PLACE
Otay, as I’ve already mentioned, I’m back from another very enjoyable outing in the Great Pacific Northwest’s abundance of wilderness… Having just spent the past eight days “On the Fly,” after having to partake in another FANTASTIC concert performed by The Kuh-Naidiun Power Trio, a.k.a. RUSH!
And somehow I feel that I should have been awarded double bonus points… As look Ma, NO Hands, Err… NOT only did I use my anxiously awaited “$timulus” check to pay for my outing, but I was seeing a neighboring countries performers and thus promoting Foreign Country relations, eh? Although I suppose some would argue that the moohlah that the Federal Re$erve has been printing up for said occasion was supposed to stay stateside… But DON’T worry you DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue… As unfortunately the bulk of my overly impressive $timulus check (If it ever arrives?) went straight back into the NASTY hands of Darth Vader, a.k.a. DICK Cheney… As Y’all know what the price of a gallon of petrol has been doin’ lately… SHEISE-KOPFES!
And riddle me this? Why in the HELL is the price of gasoline INFLATED 20 cents per gallon just because you’re in the cute little German Tourist-trap villas ‘O Leavenworth? As they’d jacked up the price to $4.29 per gallon, but I digress…
Having arrived at the Gorge around 5PM, we proceeded to the campground area to secure our location and set up our tent… Yet as the winds “Were A Blowin’” Mary Ellen and I laughed out loud when a gust of wind collapsed our tent, knocking it straight down after about only five minutes… And thus decided to leave it collapsed until after the concert was over, while our neighbor’s tent was trying to walk away all by itself! As somebody finally dragged it back towards us, asking; “Is this your tent?”
And like all outdoor concerts for RUSH, its always entertaining to hear the various sound systems blarin’ out their particular choice of the Kuh-Naidiun Power Trio’s vast library of music… As our next door neighbors were crankin’ out a live performance from the 2004 R30 Anniversary tour recorded in Germany…
Finally it was time to make the long walk from the campgrounds over to the venue, which is set against the perfect backdrop, as the mighty Columbia River snakes behind the stage, of which Mary Ellen informed me had three Semi Haulers directly next to it, while she counted a total of five “Newell?” Custom tour coaches and a further three semi’s parked nearby… HMM? Wonder who’s pickin’ up the tab for fueling this fleet of vehicles, eh? (Yeah, I’ll stop GROWLIN’ over those BASTARDOES SCREWING US!) As we sat on the grassy hillside, which seemed moderately filled by concert goers… And oh yeah… Guess what the price of a Schlitz Malt liquor beverage will run yuhz… $12 US Greenbacks…
The concert started promptly at 8PM with the first song being Limelight, a popular cut off of RUSH’s GRATEST Album; 1981’s Moving Pictures… Followed up by a long forgotten song off of the follow-up album Signals; Digital Man, which seemed appropriate in today’s age of portable electronic devices…
And it must be quite daunting to try and decide what 20+ songs to play, when you’re massive library contains hit songs from three decades; 1970’s, ‘80’s and ‘90’s, as the band did a fairly decent job of mixing up songs, although they managed to push the boundaries of overplaying their latest studio release Snakes & Arrows by playing eight tracks off of it…
During Geddy’s first obligatory crowd callout; Hello (Insert venues name here) How are uze doin’ out there? Geddy noted that they’d try to play a whole ton of songs if they didn’t get blown off the stage… As the winds were so strong that they actually blew the sound around! Yet, the boyzs would ultimately end up playing the entire side one of Moving Pictures: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Limelight… As it was another truly impressive three hour cruise thru the annexes of RUSH’s music…
Afterwards, Mary Ellen and I used our patented follow the leader technique of helping me navigate bumpy, gravel/dirt surfaces in the darkness of night, where she simply guides me along by pulling my white cane… Which several concert onlookers were most curious about… As one slightly inebriated man approached us… Asking if he could hug me? To which we were most curious about and asked him why?; “Because I’ve NEVER hugged a Blind person before!”
Otay, I’ll play along and we briefly hugged, to which led into his telling us his whole life’s story in about five minutes… While asking me for repeated hugs…
Can I Hug you?
You guys probably don’t like people who kill deer? Do you like cabbage? I’m a tree murderer… Yeah, I’m a logger from Aberdeen and my wife’s a beautician who paints nails,
Can I Hug you?
I’m 41, how old are you?
Can we hug?; To which I replied; “Dude, we’ve already hugged!”
As we bid our farewells, a second man approached us and asked me if I’d enjoyed the concert? Why yes I did, as I was afraid to mention that it was actually my 16th time to see the venerable Kuh-Naidiun Power Trio…
Yet, after having spent over one hour scouring ze internets for a FRILLIN’ Concert review by our esteemed local newspapers, I’ve given up, as apparently they deemed RUSH NOT WORTHY of said review… And thus I’ll leave you with a review from The Great White North, held two nights prior to The Gorge performance…
RUSH ROCKS GM PLACE
UPDATE:
Here's a great review sent to me via AZ Bureau Chief Mary Jane;
