By Jman2112
One of the most-looked forward to events at the concerts, at least for me,
has been "Alex' Rants" towards the end of La Villa. Each night the band
turns over the microphone to this crazy guy on stage for a couple of minutes
and he improvises some kind of story - maybe something that happened to him
that day and he tells a little story about it, or maybe he just thinks crazy
thoughts for a few moments (or has for his entire life!) and makes them all up as he goes along. Any way
you put it, he "tells us a story" each and every night.
So everyone slows down their playing...Alex twangs and screws around with
his guitar making weird noises and stuff, and then he starts his Rant. A lot
of people in the audience wonder what is going on or get a little confused
as to what is happening, which is also a funny part of the Rant time. But
those who have seen multiple shows know what is coming, and most of it is
hillarious.
In St. Louis, I didn't hear very much of the Rant because we unfortunately
were sitting on the lawn (a whole other story). Right at the beginning of
the Rant when he was trying to think of something to say, he was putting his
hand over his mouth and hitting his cheek with his hand and keeping his
mouth open and making that kind of "popping" hollow sound. Try it yourself.
Open your mouth and hit your cheek a couple times really fast. Hear that
hollow sound? That's what he was doing while he was thinking. What I did
hear was that he was talking about some "Pool Boy" who did some things and
that Pool Boy ended up with "Red and white love bites" all over his
face."
However, in Kansas City I heard almost every word he said from the 6th row
seats we were so lucky to have. He started out with the usual twanging of
the strings and strange looks from Geddy and Neil. During the Rant, Geddy
usually goes over to Neil's kit and just hangs out and watches in disbelief.
Then Alex' Rant started with him saying that he was "A surfer, and I got my
board under my arm and I'm standing on the beach lookin' at the waves, yes,
the waves...." and then he started playing a little bit of surf music like
from Dick Dale or the Beach Boys, whatever...and continued..."I'm going to
ride me some of these good looking waves and paddle my board outside...and
dah-de-dah-de dah...and there it is out in the water, a nice, big black
fin...there's a SHARK out in the water...dah-de-dah-de....." and his rant
centered on surfing - while he was in Kansas City. Where he came up with the
Surf and Shark rant idea that evening, I don't know. Maybe he saw some
surfing on TV or something. And what is more bizarre is that I surf about
three times a week here in San Diego. So to be at a show thousands of miles
away from the ocean and hear him talking about that...just a big
co-incidence I guess.
"And there is my nemesis....Mr. Shark with the big black fin and I'm going
to get my waves and paddle outside and here comes this really big wave and
I'm going to catch it now....." and that pretty much sums up the Shark Rant.
But to hear such a story in the mid-west was quite entertaining.
The best part of the Rant beside the story of course, is afterward. Because
you rarely see Neil or Geddy laughing - they always have so much to do on
stage. But when Ged is over at the kit with Neil during the Rant, they are
talking a little bit, and smiling, not knowing what Alex might say next. And
then after the entire Rant story is over, both Neil and Ged break down
completely and start laughing, sometimes almost uncontrollably. It the Rant
is especially twisted, Neil tends to have a really hard time playing and
keeps smiling and laughing for a couple of minutes. It's the only time
really that I've ever seen a lot of "facial expression" on Neil in so many
years. He's always so serious looking and focused, of course. Geddy comes
back to the stage right area and recently has been looking at fans and
laughing at the same time, and it's been reported that he says out loud (but
is inaudible) "That's fucked up!" Which was confirmed at Kansas City because
we saw him say just that.
Whether or not you've seen a show yet or you've seen 10 or 20, the evening's
Rant is sure to bring a smile to your face wondering how in the world he
comes up with something night after night. For me the Rant is a real
highlight of the evening!
National Midnight Star
St. Louis, MO/Bonner Springs, KS