With their own sense of impeccable timing Rush returned to the UK arenas almost three years to the day since they were last over here for their 30^th Anniversary trek. But then what else should we expect from the band who, for more than twenty years, routinely closed out each quartet of studio albums with a live release. Having got the nostalgia out of their system this was a brand new show with one-third of the set list dedicated to ‘Snakes and Arrows’, although they still found time to bring back some older material that hadn’t been included for a long time, and one song (’Entre Nous’) never before played live.

The show is an audio-visual experience of spectacular proportions, making full use of the three video screens to showcase some superb animation and a breathtaking laser and light show. There is also a ’Chicken’ theme with the dryers from the last tour replaced by three chicken rotisserie roasters as tall as Alex Lifeson’s amp stack. The sound quality in vast caverns like the NEC can, of course, vary significantly depending on your seat. For this show I was on the very front row and if there was a gripe then the bass and keyboards drowned out the guitar on occasions, more noticeable during the first set on ’The Larger Bowl’ and ‘Between The Wheels’.

There is a frantic energy to the performance that rarely lets up, and the opening five songs from ‘Limelight’ through to the knockout punch of ‘Freewill’ are delivered with aplomb. ‘Snakes and Arrows’ contains three assured instrumentals and all are played tonight, ‘The Main Monkey Business’ a demonstration of instrumental virtuosity whilst in the background primates play on the video screens. The tuneless ‘Secret Touch’ is something of a misstep, sounding jarringly out of place, but along comes ‘Circumstances’, recalled after a long absence, to get the show back on track. It might have been tuned down a full step but Geddy Lee can still sing it with feeling and it proves a highlight. The atmospheric ‘Dreamline’ closes the first half with the lasers put to full effect.

The second half begins with five songs from ‘Snakes and Arrows’, the pulsating ‘Far Cry’ is particularly impressive as is the blues-tinged ‘The Way The Wind Blows’. None of them, however, come anywhere near the rapturous reception given to the sublime early-80’s trio of ‘Subdivisions’, ‘Natural Science’ and ‘Witch Hunt’. The latter is particularly impressive, the dramatic mood of mob-mentality conveyed by both the images and the music. After Peart’s awe-inspiring eight minute solo and Lifeson’s acoustic interlude, ‘Hope’, Rush are on the home straight, the main set closing with ‘Distant Early Warning’, ‘The Spirit of Radio’ and ‘Tom Sawyer’ (complete with an hilarious South Park intro).

For the encore the pyrotechnics are brought back for the fire-breathing ‘One Little Victory’ before ‘A Passage To Bangkok’ and ‘YYZ’ close the show. There is little room for error in a rock power-trio but the simple fact is that Rush don’t make any, each of them is at the top of his game night after night. The best gig I have seen since R30 and hopefully we’ll get to see them back over here again, no doubt in precisely three years time.

Set List

Limelight
Digital Man
Entre Nous
Mission
Freewill
The Main Monkey Business
The Larger Bowl
Secret Touch
Circumstances
Between The Wheels
Dreamline

Far Cry
Workin’ Them Angels
Armor And Sword
Spindrift
The Way The Wind Blows
Subdivisions
Natural Science
Witch Hunt
Malignant Narcissism
Drum Solo
Hope
Distant Early Warning
The Spirit of Radio
Tom Sawyer