makes popping noises hitting his cheek with his mouth open - and most of all - entertains us all.
Alex Rants at Hollywood Bowl. Photo: jman2112
* Charlotte (5/28): Lerxst talked about being old, wondering where he
got "this" as he grabbed his belly, and complained of losing his hearing and
things of that nature.
* Virginia Beach (5/29): Lerxst said one of his kids asked him to tell
a story, and his reply was, "There are two types of stories, happy and sad."
Since his kid wanted a happy story, he told the story of "One day, at a zoo,
there was a lion, and he got outta his cage to visit his friend, the
tiger"..."Lions and tigers and bears" then the audience replied "OH MY!"
This went on two or three times. Then he said something about monkeys.
Something like the monkeys were watching, and waiting for something to
happen. At that Neil started a drum roll. (Double stroke.) Alex continued:
"and then one monkey started a drum roll", Alex said. "A drum roll! How
apropos said the other monkey to the first." At that point Neil and Geddy
were split screen on the board. Neil whipped a look to Geddy, and you could
tell Neil was trying to hold it in. Most of the crowd laughed at this...then
Neil picked up the drum roll and they finished the song. Later, during
"By-Tor & The Snowdog", when Geddy sang "By-tor...{pause}...and the Snowdog
{second pause}, square for battle..." during the first pause Alex let out a
primal war cry, and during the second pause made a bunch of barking sounds.
Geddy was laughing too hard to sing "Square for Battle, let the fray begin!"
* Burgettstown (5/31): Lerxst talked about how it was Monday night
(Memorial Day), "the end of a long holiday weekend...maybe a little drink"
(tipping a shotglass), "maybe a little smoke" (puffing a joint)...and how
much "it SUCKED to have to go back to work on Tuesday...Work SUCKS! Back to
a stinky, smelly boss...get me this ASAP...get it ASAP your ass!..."
* Columbus (6/2) Lerxst started singing with the notes from his
guitar. "Bah - bah - bah - bah....", a few times, then ended with: "Bah bah
bah black sheep." After which he started to tell a story about how a sheep
was driving a bus, which he thought was odd, because the goat was supposed
to be driving the bus! Then, he asked how goats can drive a bus, and then
was trying to figure out how a goat keeps receipts. He didn't know where a
goat would keep them, and asked the audience, "DO YOU??" The band went back
into the song, and Alex pointed out a stuffed-animal goat sitting on top of
his amp, with the tag hanging off it's ear.
* Noblesville (6/4): Lerxst ranted a bunch of random, incoherent
noises mumbled into the microphone and then started off singing what he was
playing on guitar, interspersed with the occasional "Jumpin' Jimminy(?)."
* Tinley Park (Chicago) (6/5): Lerxst began playing odd chords on his
guitar, and said "Geddy thinks he's sick..." and paused in response to
Geddy's mention that the audience should excuse him because he is coming
down with a slight cold, then continued by rambling about "The Day After
Tomorrow...I went to see that movie. There were all these waves and all
these storms and people were drowning in the city and it was SO STUPID! ..a
REEEALLY dumb story." He went on about "having to sit through this crappy
movie for 2 1/2 hours after running out of popcorn in the first 35 minutes.
It reminded me of 'Titanic' where the ship hit an iceberg and SANK and a lot
of people DIED..." and he said "why weren't there any ninjas on the ship,
because that would have been more interesting", and concluded in a whiny
voice - "WHY CAN'T THEY MAKE INTERESTING MOVIES ANYMORE?"
* Clarkston (Detroit) (6/8): Lerxst ranted about milk. "Drink more
milk...or I'll kill you! 2% milk, 1% milk, homo, homo, homo milk that is,
drink milk, drink milk, drink milk. Drink more milk or I'll kill you!"
Another note about the Detroit show: Bubbles from the Trailer Park Boys made
came on stage during 2112 to restart the dryers, gestured to the audience a
couple of times and did an air drum roll before sauntering back off stage.
* Milwaukee (6/7): Lerxst started with a lot of shreeky singing, then
began doing both sides of a silly-sounding conversation between a man and a
woman: (in a woman's voice) "nice suit"...(in a man's voice) "thanks, I just
had it pressed".
* Cuyahoga Falls (Cleveland) (6/10): Early in the show, Lerxst was
visibly upset at the security at the front of the stage and during "The
Spirit of Radio" he went over to center stage and yelled twice at the
security guard to sit down. From that point on they never stood and the
crowd loved it. He started his rant by making funny noises into the mic and
on his guitar, and then he started saying "Hey pool boy, hey pool boy, time
to get out of the pool" (more was said but was difficult to hear).
* St. Louis (6/12): Lerxst began by saying "Baby, baby, baby" then
talked about a person with a rash all over his face and finished by making
popping noises with his hand & mouth. He also mentioned "Pool Boy" a few
times. After the rant Geddy said "He's so fucked up" (talking about Alex)
with a big smile for those in the front rows.
* Bonner Springs (6/13): Following the usual odd noises in to the
microphone, Lerxst discussed surfing and the ocean and waves and sighting a
fin coming out of the water and swimming out to take on the shark and
singing "Pool Boy, Pool Boy". This led to all three playing a "Gangster"
tune, where Lerxst confessed to killing someone! Just when it seemed the
rant was done, he went into another verse, then held out his arms as if
keeping his balance and yelled "Surfs Up!"
* Dallas (6/23): Lerxst began by playing "take me to the ballgame"
with his guitar, then talked about baseball, "Baseball, everybody loves
baseball...how 'bout these Rangers". He then emulated a baseball announcer
introducing "player 47" and related the pitches all the way to a homerun.
* The Woodlands (Houston) (6/26): This is reportedly the first show
where Alex sang in an old pirate voice "We are the pirates of the Temple of
Syrinx, Arrrrr" during the "2112 medley". During the short rant of only half
a minute, Lerxst discussed the weather which was was poor, and he may have
said something about "wet socks...gray everywhere" and "he's gonna get on
that plane and get out...you gotta go, gotta go, gotta go, go go!" and then
said another sentence toward Ged's direction and Neil just went right back
into the song.
* Denver (6/29): A short rant, where Lerxst basically expanded on the
old saying "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me". "You
know, we have a saying where I come from! You can fool some of the people
some of th... Er.. Some of the people can get fooled if.. Er.. If you are
the fool who follows the.. um...I won't get fooled again! I won't get fooled
again!"
* West Valley City (Salt Lake City) (6/30): Lerxst pretended to be a
pirate (speaking in a pirate voice) and talked about how he was a pirate
captain and how he was never out of work because "When anybody needed a
captain, they called me." He then explained that, "I have sailed the seven
seas. I've seen a lot of good men go down .. (pause with a smile) and I've
seen a lot of good women go down." He then went on to tell a story about a
time "when I was sailing the eighth sea, it's a little known sea, it's not
very big, I was looking for bounty and gold to plunder. I was also looking
for a good bed to rest my aching back, and my aching wooden peg leg, and my
aching wooden eye, and my aching wooden ear, and that's a completely
different story" as to how he got a wooden ear that he would have to work on
and cracked himself up in the process! During the rant, there was a shot on
the screen of a t-shirt that was draped over Geddy's dryers. It had a
ragdoll-looking figure with x's in its eyes and knives and daggers hanging
out of it and underneath the picture it said, in old-English style lettering
"Worst Pirate Ever!".
Sidebar (via eyewitness reports): a couple in the
first section (102) had a picture of a soldier and the girl kept raising it
over her head during the first two or three songs of the show. An usher came
over and asked her to put it down, as people were complaining that it was
obstructing their view. Shortly after that a member of the Rush crew came
over and stated that Alex wanted to display her sign on stage. Before or
during "Red Barchetta" one of Alex's guitar techs took the picture and
placed it to the left side of his amps (later moved right in front of his
amps), which said anthonyquayle.com across the front. The touching moment
came when Alex and the lady made eye contact, Alex saluted her and smiled,
which of course made her cry. The picture stayed on stage for the rest of
the night
* Auburn (Seattle) (7/2): Continuing the pirate theme begun at The
Woodlands, about three songs into the second set the crew on stage right
were seen wearing pirate hats and eye patches. This brought laughs from
Neil, Alex and Geddy, and Alex again sang in his pirate voice "We are the
pirates of the Temple of Syrinx, Arrrrr" during the "2112 medley". For his
rant, he started off with a series of strange chords then slipped back into
the old pirate voice, and talked about being an old pirate, how his peg leg
is bothering him and about the things pirates say like "shiver me timbers,
avast ye swabbie and blow me (with a pause) down." He then sang a song
called "The Pirate Blues".
*Hollywood (7/6): Lerxst again gave a pirate inspired rant, and a
Captain Morgan-esque picture (like a black light rug) popped up while Alex
was ruminating on various pirate things.
*
Chula Vista (7/7): Lerxst continued the pirate theme, begining with the usual strange opening chords and moaning and groaning, "la, la, la, la, la, la,", then said he was a "naughty pirate"
but that he "didn't need one of those stinkin' patches" (Treasure of the Sierra Madre reference?).
He then rambled about the Seven Seas, "Ahhhh, yes, to be a Pirate on the high seas, I want
to be on the high seas, and sail on the seven seas being a pirate..."
Mountain View (7/9): Lerxst rambled for a bit before continuing with the pirate theme...
"Harrr haaarrrr, arrrrr, arrrrrrr, arrrrrrr. I stink. Tis a hard job being a pirate captain...
The hardest part of being a pirate captain is making sandwiches for all the other pirates. 'I need
four pastrami on rye, gimme two BLT's...toasted, and something dry to drink.....grop....it's the Pirate Blues.....
Harrr harrrr har har..." During the 2112 medley, he again sang "We are the pirates, of the Temples
of Syrinx, all the gifts of life, are down below"
Concord (7/10): Pirate Lerxst began with the usual nonsense chords and then some tapping
on the fretboard, and then slapping the neck with both hands, making tons of noise, then saying
"Arrrrrrr....we were out on the seven seas....I don't remember which one, it coulda been the big
one....someone was on the poop deck, it was a mess.....someone was in the crow's nest, way
up high...." at this point ged and neil were laughing, and Al continues "Arrrrrr......we didn't
have anything to eat but fish.....big scary fish....nothing but fish" he grabbed the mic with both
hands and stopped playing, whispering into the mic. Both ged and neil stopped playing as well,
and it was just al whispering "Big nasty fish......they had big eyes......and giant sharp scary
claws....and big fangs....scary fish....and that's all we could eat were scary fish........STUPID ATKINS DIET!"
Mountain View (7/9): Lerxst rambled for a bit before continuing with the
pirate theme... "Harrr haaarrrr, arrrrr, arrrrrrr, arrrrrrr. I stink. Tis a
hard job being a pirate captain... The hardest part of being a pirate
captain is making sandwiches for all the other pirates. 'I need four
pastrami on rye, gimme two BLT's...toasted, and something dry to
drink.....grop....it's the Pirate Blues.....Harrr harrrr har har..." During
the 2112 medley, he again sang "We are the pirates, of the Temples of
Syrinx, all the gifts of life, are down below"
Concord (7/10): Pirate Lerxst began with the usual nonsense chords and then
some tapping on the fretboard, and then slapping the neck with both hands,
making tons of noise, then saying "Arrrrrrr....we were out on the seven
seas....I don't remember which one, it coulda been the big one....someone
was on the poop deck, it was a mess.....someone was in the crow's nest, way
up high...." at this point ged and neil were laughing, and Al continues "You
all remember the story of the Meat Bees? Well, this is
different...arrrrrr......we didn't have anything to eat but fish.....big
scary fish....nothing but fish" he grabbed the mic with both hands and
stopped playing, whispering into the mic. Both ged and neil stopped playing
as well, and it was just al whispering "Big nasty fish......they had big
eyes......and giant sharp scary claws....and big fangs....scary fish....and
that's all we could eat were scary fish........STUPID ATKINS DIET!"
Marysville (7/12): Lerxst's rant was similar to previous nights, including
the "Pirate Blues". He also threw in another reference to "the Atkins diet,"
then corrected himself and said "the Claude Akins diet, which is something
very different."
Irvine (7/14): Jack Black was in attendance for the show (Rush has been
referenced in two of his films, see the Pop Culture References page for
details), and during the 2112 medley jumped on stage, stripped down to his
boxers and threw his cloths in the dryers, then jumped on top of the dryers
and posed as the "man in the star", then ran over to Geddy to bow before him
("we're not worthy"), before high five him a few times and playing air
guitar. Geddy sang the last chorus of "Temples of Syrinx" in a pirate accent
("Argh, all the gifts of life, are held down below..."), and even played one
song with a stuffed parrot on his shoulder! During Lerxst's rant, he
discussed "Blackbeard, Yellowbeard, that other beard...but the most dreadful
or terrible pirate was the pirate Jack Black-and his butt crack".
Phoenix (7/16): Lerxst ranted about "those damned pirates...German pirates,
we were the best...in boats...it was a good boat...it was a boat that could
float...and we would steal and pillage...and go to the beach..." and then
broke into a neo-surf tune.
Vegas (7/17): Again, during the 2112 medley, Geddy was wearing a shoulder
parrot, sang 'We are the pirates", and added (for the first time?) during
Grand Finale, "Attention all pirates of the solar federation...". During the
rant, Lerxst started with "I pooped on the deck once. Couldn't make it in
time. See, I was avasting some scallywags...I was looking at some dead man's
chests. Say, I always wondered about that. I mean, I see a lot of chests
here tonight...and they sure ain't no 'dead man's' chests. Live ladies, ya
see..." Then they broke in the Pirates Blues, and Alex added "Reminds me of
my peg leg...er...what about the peg leg, I'm not sure..."
West Palm Beach (7/29): Today being Geddy's birthday, during "2112 Overture"
two very scantily clad women came out to tend to the dryers as the crew
brought out a giant birthday cake loaded with candles. Without stopping
playing Geddy went over to blow them out, and the crew re-lit them and kept
it the cake on stage for the duration of the song. Between songs before the
acoustic set, Lerxst walked on stage in his third shirt of the night...and
Geddy said to the audience, "This guy changes his shirt more often than
(someone [inaudible])." At the beginning of the acoustic set, Lerxst played
the first six notes of "happy birthday" and a large portion of the audience
started signing happy birthday, but Ged and Alex didn't stop and went right
into "Resist". During the rant Lerxst mentioned the scantily clad women and
then said that Geddy was having a "pirate birthday" and sang "Happy
Birthday" to Geddy in a psuedo-sad crying/screech "Happy
Birthday....(sob...sob)....Happy Birthday to you....(sob...sob)....Happy
Birthday to you....(sob...sob)....YOU'RE SO OLD!....Happy
Birthday....(sob...sob)...to you." and finally "happy birthday dear old
man."
Tampa (7/30): Lerxst started off by babbling incoherently into the mike
which turned into a rendition of what sounded like a children's song. He
then told a hysterical story of a couple trying to decide what to do that
night. Man: "I thought maybe we'd go to a rock concert" Woman (in high
pitched voice): "A rock concert? That's just typical. You always want to do
what YOU want to do. How come you never want to do what I want to do? Do we
have to sit here? It's so loud" Man "We can do whatever you want to do
tonight, honey" Woman "I want to stay home and watch 'Fried Green
Tomatoes'!..." This escalated into a blues song as he sang about having a
mean woman that treats him bad as he never gets what he wants while the
woman whines about him. Even though the rant wasn't pirate-themed, a large
Jolly Roger flag was flown in the audience and Geddy had a Jolly Roger
windsock on his mic stand and the parrot on his shoulder.
Atlanta (8/1): Lerxst played some "jazzy" sounding guitar, then began to
sing incoherently, finally degrading into a mixture of mock laughing and
crying which went on for some time. Somewhere in the midst of this, Neil and
Geddy stopped playing and looked at each other as if Alex had totally lost
it. Geddy then tapped Alex on the shoulder and encouraged him to snap out of
it.
Bristow (Washington DC) (8/3): Lerxst started his rant with a scat singing
bit then started making fun of Geddy. "Oh Ged, it's the same old thing
(makes bass noises)" then makes fun of Neil "Drums, Drums, always
drums...they're EASY". Then he made fun of himself "then the guitar (looking
down at it)" and proceeded to make up a song containing power chords and
lots of nonsensical screaming and yelling as Ged and Neil looked on while
playing along with him. Then he stopped and said "that's the easy stuff". He
then started making more weird guitar noises before going back into La
Villa. Lerxst also took a flower from a bouqet tossed on stage and stuck it
in the strings on his guitar head. In addition, the pirate theme was
continued during 2112 and it was noticed the stage lights spelled "BYE BYE"
during the Jerry Stiller trailer.
Camden (8/4): It During YYZ two very exotic dancers came out check on the
dryers, and pretended to try them on as they gyrated provocatively for the
band's benefit - Geddy walked back to them and leaned up against the vending
machine as he played and checked them out with a cool guy "how you doin?"
kind of look, and then wondered back up to the front... ; in addition it was
noted that six banks of bright white stage lights spelled out YYZ. During
the rant Lerxst began with his typical guitar doodling before saying
"there's always something happening over on that (indicating Geddy's) side
of the stage...dancing girls, guys in pirate hats...nothing ever happens on
this side of the stage and no one ever comes over here, except those
guys"...pointing out the crew who were smoking on his side of the stage
"always smoking...smoking, smoking and more smoking...". Then someone from
the audience threw a hat at on stage and within a second he kicked it back
and said "No thank you!" which had everyone laughing.
Hartford (8/6): The new biography, Contents Under Pressure was on sale at
the show. Lerxst's rant was like "nah nah nah nah nah nah nah" for a few
minutes while making more bizarre guitar noises (more info welcome...). The
Pirate theme was continued with a couple of "pirates" with hats and
cutlasses adding coins to the dryers during the show. Geddy had the parrot
on his bass strap during 2112 and sang "We are the Pirates...", the three
flying saucers during the Grand Finale were still flying the "Jolly Roger",
and one of the guys working the board wearing a rather large pirate hat.
During the rant, Lerxst started off with the funky jazz guitar as usual then
he started to sing along with his guitar part, "na na na, Na. na, na,
naaaaaaa...", before the jazz warbling guitar would come back in. He would
repeat the vocal part mirroring his guitar part. This went on for a minute
or two and then Neil started to really pick up the drums to match Alex.
Alex, sensing it was time to get back into the song started to pick it up
along with Neil doing something like "Na NA NA!! Na NA NA. Na NA NA NA NA NA
NA NA NA!!!!!!." All the while Neil and Geddy were cracking up and the music
is building and building and Neil seems as if he's trying to punch a hole in
his snare drum. Then all of a sudden....it got really quiet again and Alex
started it all again..."Na na na na NA na naaaaa."This went on for a little
bit and then came into a mighty crescendo before going back into the song.
Scranton (8/7): Lerxst began playing some dream notes (more of a dream scale
- from a low pitch to a high pitch, hitting every note in between, then back
down to low). He played around on his guitar for a while, then finally
stepped up to the microphone. At first it was incoherant words (sounded
likes "oo-oo-oo-ah-ah-ah", like a monkey, but slower and differentiating
pitches), then he started screaming into the microphone ("RAAAAAH!", sort of
like a battle cry, which the audience would answer back). He did his war cry
about four times, then started saying what sounded like "La Villa Strangiato
is La Very Strange" or something of the like.
Saratoga (8/9): Neil could be seen sporting an eye patch during 2112. Lerxst
began the rant with the usual odd guitar notes and mumbling, then began
telling a story about a boy and girl who walked into the woods and found a
house made of gingerbread. When they started eating it, a witch came out of
the house and said "Stop eating my house!" The kids replied, "Be quiet you
old bat. We're eating your house." He end by saying "Fairy tales really suck
these days." Jones Beach (8/11): During 2112 Geddy again sang "We Are The
Pirates...". For the rant Lerxst began by making random noises and singing
along as "La La La LA LA", then said "I smell a skunk. I smell a Stinky
Skunk." He continued babbling and making od noises, then ending in a whiny
kind of voice, "What a stupid thing to do! What a stupid, idiotic, insane,
retarded, moronic...thing to".
Mansfield (8/12): 2112 included the lyrics "We Are The Pirates..." Lerxst
began the rant by singing the notes he was playing up and down the neck,
then Pratt took up the pace with a bass-snare-snare beat, resembling a
surfing style song. Lerxst then sang nonsense lyrics to the tune of "Monster
Mash" for about a verse, but before the chorus he changed the tune into a
blues song. Dirk and Pratt were in perfect sync for this as Lerxst rambed on
in jibberish until they built to a crescendo until stopping in the blues
tradition so Lerxst could let out on big note, which he sang along to, then
finished saying "If a schmuck like me can sing the blues" (Pratt then starts
the snare return to LVS) "then so...can...YOU!"
Darien Lake (8/15): During YYZ some girls came out to check the laundry, and
2112 still had the pirate theme with a parrot on Geddy's shoulder and sang
the final chorus of Temples in his now signature pirate voice. Also during
2112 two of the crew came on stage with w/huge hats and vests carrying golf
clubs and began to feed the dryers quarters, and when they didn't start
spinning again they took out their clubs and beat the dryers. When done they
walked past Alex and gave him a big wave. Moments later a guy wearing a
black shirt and Speedo slowly walked across the stage. Lerxst started by
making rollercoaster ride sound effects "RAAAAUHHHHH...RAAAAAAUHHHHHH" going
up and down (the roller coaster ride at Six Flags was present in the
backround throughout the show) and then started crying obnoxiously before
telling a story about Little Boy Blue, and what he was wearing and "poor
Little Boy Blue" before being joined by Geddy and Neil for a short blues
tune.
New York City (8/18): Lerxt warmed up the crowd with some of his signature
strange guitar sounds and noises, then began whispering "Paris Hilton....so
beautiful... Paris Hilton... she's so beautiful...Paris Hilton". After a
period of wild laughter from the audience, Alex led a melodic chant of
"Paris Hilton...Paris Hilton..." and was joined by Neil playing a backbeat.
After several versus, Lerxt stopped and adamantly stated "PARIS HILTON YOU
MAKE ME SICK!"
New York City (8/19): During 2112, the pirate theme was again continued.
During the rant Lerxst began mumbling nonsense as usual, then did
alternating voices of "parents" saying "time to go...come on we gotta go"...
followed by the voice of a child whining..."But I don't wanna go....I don't
wanna go home!" which ended with "I don't want to leave New York City, the
best city in the world!!" He followed that with more whining before
finishing it up with a short blues song.
Montreal (8/21): Geddy introduced "Between The Wheels" as a song "recorded
not far from here". During 2112, Ricky and Bubbles (Robb Wells and Mike
Smith) from the Trailer Park Boys (Alex was a special guest on TPB for an
episode which was filmed during the Vapor Trails tour) walked onstage: Ricky
lit a cigarette and Bubbles posed as the 2112 guy. The pirate theme was
continued, with Geddy wearing a parrot and using a pirate accent for "We are
the pirates...", one of the crew wore a pirate hat while checking on the
dryers and the soundboard operator had a huge jolly roger flag which he
waved at the end of "Temples". During the rant, Lerxst began with the
typical mumbling/singing of nonsense, before clearing his throat and singing
in a loud, and hoarse voice. Then he started to sing a blues tune while
Geddy and Neil joined in, "Just a poor boy..."
Toronto (8/22): Lerxst began with the usual odd guitar noises...then he
started saying "there is no place like home...there is no place like
home...click your shoes dammit...there is no place like Toronto...Toronto"
...and then he started breathing through his nose into the microphone in
what sounded like a country & western beat. After doing this for a minute or
so, they broke back into La Villa and Geddy asked Lerxst (not into the mic)
"What was that?"
* Opening night in Antioch (Nashville) (5/27): Lerxst told a story
using different voices for a grandfather and his grandson, about flying
model airplanes and repeatedly crashing them. "Grandpa! Grandpa! Tell us the
story about the airplane!" he would say in a nasally, childish voice, and
then tell about flying an airplane, and then making airplane crashing
sounds.