taking sides: Rush vs Bowie (concert)

Do you like Rush?

I think they would be great live. Seeing all of Neil Pearts drums. It would be lots of fun. But it will probably all come down to which seats I can get.

I think Neil Peart's using a small kit now, but it would still be cool to see them.

What about the voice of David B - how did it get so...fly?

sundar to thread!

I like a couple Bowie albums far more than any Rush album, but what the hell would you expect from Bowie at this point? At least Rush is guaranteed to play some sort of medley with most of the "hits". Both of these options sound like a ripoff though.

Bowie is much sexier than Neil Peart (who's probably going to be playing all 'tasteful' anyway).

I can assure you there is nothing tasteful about the current Rush tour. Before they began their second set an animated dragon (which unfortunately looked more goofy than evil) appeared on the video screens, walked around his animated landscape, turned to face the audience, and then blew a gust of flame which 'ignited' the (real) flames on stage at the moment Peart began playing. Peart also does a long drum solo while the drums rotate around him, which I guess is a standard trick for them. They played 3 hrs and played a lot of old stuff with a decent light show, pyrotechnics, video screen, etc. You have to put up with their dorky humour. I sort of twiddled my thumbs when they played their fruitier numbers (which they mostly worked through in the first set). It was a little surprising for me to realize how well I knew songs like "Distant Early Warning" and "The Pass" which I hadn't heard much in a good decade at least. I didn't remember that the latter was even a Rush song. (God, they must have been ubiquitous in the 80s - it was like they'd been stored somewhere in my subconscious.) I really liked hearing "DEW". Geddy Lee still hit all the high notes in "By-Tor" and "Working Man". "Limelight" was really good too. Their playing isn't really that amazing to watch live and they don't vary a great deal from the records but it's sort of a fun stadium rock show to go see once if you like enough of their stuff. They play with energy, like they're having fun, so their good songs are enjoyable. If you're the kind of person who doesn't like their production, you can hear the songs without it. Someone else could probably fill you in on Bowie. He has some good records but I never listen to them. I have no idea what he's even done in 15 years or so.

In a couple minutes I'm heading out to see Andrew WK. I'll let you know how it is.

I saw Andrew WK last spring. I go into detail in this thread: Pulp - Party Hard vs. Andrew WK - Party Hard
How has his show changed now that he's more famous?

It was roughly like you described. Except all the stage-climbing stuff was saved for the last song. The band was perfectly tight. Andrew himself seemed to need a couple songs before he could hit the notes he was going for but it was all good. It was fun and I wished it went on longer. The other bands sucked.

I actually have heard Bowie's "Real Cool World" single because my sister gave it to me one Christmas. (She also gave me a book about Bowie, a Prince album, and a Cure single. She evidently mistook me for Dan Perry.) It sucked. I actually like stuff from the last Rush album. "Ceiling Unlimited" is among their strongest songs.

Nice Rush report, sundar! I hope they do 3 hours in Europe.

Bowie's Paris show on the current tour (which I saw on TV) went: oldie, song from Heathen, oldie, song from Heathen, etc. The oldies included lots of stuff from the Station to Station thru Lodger period. Same backing band as last tour apparently, with one new (female) addition.