What, yet another triple live album, why yes it is; compiling their performances from the series of sold out shows in Brazil, proving once again that this is the tightest power trio around. One thing that makes this CD set so extraordinary is that this particular tour, the Vapor Trails tour, was the first time
Rush had ever played in South America and boy were they welcomed.
The tracklisting is pretty much the complete setlist, and the songs themselves should speak for the whole performance. Literally twenty two tracks of favorites and obscurities, some recent, some old, but all classic,
Rush gives the fans, not only in Brazil, but abroad, a plethora of musical endurance that creates timeless opuses that sound a fresh as the day you heard them for the first time.
Well, it's funny how they started out with their most famous and recognizable hit
"Tom Sawyer," which is usually saved for the last part of the show, it's almost like they wanted to get it out of the way and really get down to business, which only makes the crowd go more nuts they normally would, no matter what show you are at.
For the performances here there are recent cuts like
"One Little Victory," "Driven," and
"Roll the Bones;" the synthesizer driven cuts such as
"The Big Money," Red Sector A," and
"Distant Early Warning;" as well as classics like
"Limelight," "The Spirit of the Radio," and
"The Trees," with a setlist that spans their whole career. Among the stand out tracks is an acoustic version of
"Resist," where both Geddy and Alex play their acoustic guitars with a completely stripped down version rendering of this ballad (Yes, Geddy puts his bass down for this one), not to mention Neil's drum solo of
"O Baterista."
Two notable tracks at the end of this CD, both
"Between the Sun and Moon" and
"Vital Signs" were actually taken from various soundboard recordings and were widely bootlegged, obviously the choice to put them on the CD was influenced by the fact that this tour was the first tour they had played these songs in years.
But for the most part, "
Rush In Rio" will satisfy the most salivatory
Rush fans, and acts a souvenir for the "Vapor Trails" tour. The tracklisting is different from 1998's triple live "Different Stages," and is also more consistent, seeing that this was taken from only two different shows rather than taking picking the best recordings from a whole tour. The tracklisting should say it all, not to mention the band itself, proving again that even in their 50's this band can rock harder than the younger bands out there, showing yet no signs of slowing down after giving us decades of remarkable music, being yet one of the most influential bands to ever grace the stage.
Written by
Hashman Monday, November 3, 2003
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