If you read "Ghost Rider" you will know what the meaning is behind this photo. Photo: jman2112
Of course all I wanted to get to in the set list was "Between the Wheels." Without the distraction of the camera and taking photos, it is the song I wanted to see (every) show. I wanted to stand there for the entire length of the song and be able to take in all the lighting effects that I had so loved taking photographs of. Not only the “song of the tour” for me and many other fans, the photos I took of it at Bonner Springs, Kansas blew me and a lot of other fans away and became the highlight of echoesofoldapplause.com. That was before the Hollywood Bowl photos took over as the most popular. But still. “Between the Wheels” was an epic song and stage presentation.
I knew it would be even more spectacular than the photos I took, actually being able to pay attention to it all live all the way through and not looking through the lens, standing on a chair and balancing and taking a shot. And believe me, it was. I saw so much more. But the photographer’s reflex again hit during the most spectacular parts of the song's light show - I wanted to whip out the camera and take photos. But no camera! Sorry!
After "Between the Wheels" was over I began to feel an almost a certain dread. The show was going to heat up for a longer set (the second set is longer than the first) with some very intense songs, the second part of the green laser show was going to happen during "La Villa Strangiato," and Alex was going to break out the double neck Gibson for Xanadu. And of course there was going to be Alex' nightly rendition of his twisted rant.
But after all that - and an encore - it was going to be over. I think this hit me hard after "Between the Wheels" because, well, BTW was the best song of the tour to me - and for a lot of other people. It's as if I could have walked out of any of the seven shows I saw after that song and gone home happy. Seriously.
But it was a fact that this was the end of the R30 Anniversary Party for me. Being at the MGM Grand show was - beyond traveling to St. Louis - the most anticipated show on my tour schedule. And what was I going to do after the show? Merrie invited me back up to the 17th floor to hang out afterward and I also had to retrieve my camera and film. Or was I going to play some slots or games? Walk the strip? Go back alone to the hotel room?
If you read "Ghost Rider" you will know what the meaning is behind this photo. Photo: jman2112
These thoughts were interfering with my ability to enjoy the show, so I just threw them out like a couple of dice bouncing down the craps table and decided pretty much to let loose and air drum and sing along with the words and use up the remaining energy I had left on the last dozen songs or so left. And that's what I did. I gave it an all out effort, bumped up my audience participation level and gave it as much as I had left. And I enjoyed myself immensely, feeling free to look around and take everything in unimpeded and with no distractions.
One of the things I kept looking at was the crowd in the arena whenever the lights got bright during specific songs. While one’s attention is focused primarily on the stage in front of you and the performers, I was also looking at all the fans and how they were performing – or rather – reacting to the performance. The Grand Garden Arena was packed from the floor to the rafters. I couldn’t find one empty seat when I would occasionally turn around and check out the view. Everyone was going off, most people were standing, gesturing, air-drumming, singing along, having a fantastic time and were completely into the music. The crowds at every show I attended were large, enthusiastic and well-behaved for the most part.
What I really like about going to a concert – and I don’t know if it happens to other people – is that it puts me through a whole range of emotions and makes me think a lot or reflect on a whole range of things. Even with a all the noise blasting from the speakers and the roar of the crowd or some idiot screaming into a cell phone during their favorite song - there is a conversation going on in my head.
And at this moment in time it is thinking about how many Rush fans I had been among for the seven shows that I saw, all the way from St. Louis to Las Vegas. How many of us had there been at all the venues I had visited this tour? 70,000? 80,000? 100,000? I don’t know what the official number is, but I surmised it was a lot. And compared to the Test for Echo and Vapor Trails tour – it just seemed to me that the amphitheaters and arenas I had been a part of on R30 were just packed. And this made me really happy, because it made me happy for the band. To do what they have been doing for 30 years and then go on the road to celebrate that time – I think seeing some of the crazed fans and packed places and doing new venues themselves like Red Rocks in Denver – they just had to be happy with it all. All the funny and new stuff that was happening on stage like hot women coming and adding quarters to the dryers on stage – Jack Black doing the star-man pose on top of the dryers at Irvine almost completely naked – having a cake on stage and singing happy birthday to Geddy on his birthday when they played in Florida…
I know the band can’t see the merchandise sales – the huge lines – longer than the beer lines. I know Neil doesn’t know that his book, “Traveling Music,” was selling out before intermission on some nights. But I know that the band saw a sea of hands and hundreds of thousands of fans in the audience – and maybe even recognized some (like me!) show after show after show.
I was thinking these things because it was the last show I was going to see on the R30 Tour, barring divine intervention, winning big in the casino or hitting the California Lotto Jackpot back home. And my eyes would close sometimes and I would hear the music coming off the stage and I would sing the lyrics of the moment and seemingly feel it all passing off the stage and through my body and then back to the fans and the arena behind me. And that this tour was almost behind me, too. And I was really satisfied with the commitment I made to it, both for myself and for the band.