DIFFERENT STAGES - LIVE

Even though I first started listening to prog in 1975 and immediately got hooked on Yes, Genesis and the Canterbury Scene, I never met anyone who was into Rush and didn't start listening to the Canadians until we were well into the new millennium. I guess I thought Rush were a rather dubious heavy metal band. When I went to university in the late 1970s, the air around me was full of Blondie, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and the Police, and none of the music papers I read had a good word to say about Rush. It was only after I discovered Prog Archives and noticed that Rush kept popping up in 'best of' lists that I decided to give them a chance. First I played some of their classic albums from 1977 to 1981, and when I quite seemed to enjoy those, I watched the documentary BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE. The more I found out about the band, the more they fascinated me. That three musicians from relatively anonymous neighbourhoods in Ontario had the guts to set 'Kubla Khan' to music and did so convincingly (I'd even say unforgettably)... I found it breathtaking. In fact, I thought the band so likable I started buying one live DVD after another. (I also appreciated that Rush could send themselves up mercilessly. How many box office heroes have done the same, tour after tour?)

Now the big question that confronted me was which live album I should get. EXIT STAGE LEFT sounded a little sterile, so after consulting a range of reviews I finally settled for DIFFERENT STAGES LIVE. This turned out to be my single best purchase of 2019. Not only does it contain almost all the classic Rush I've come to love (in riveting live performances), it also features a large number of catchy but more conventional rock songs (mainly dating from the 1980s and 1990s) that I greatly enjoy, such as 'Bravado', 'Animate', 'Analog Kid' and 'Roll the Bones'. I'm convinced that if the tunes in question had been recorded by perhaps more universally popular acts like David Bowie or U2, Bowie/Bono fans would have fallen for them without exception. So don't tell me that when Rush went into their more 'commercial' phase they lost inspiration. (The only album of theirs I find painfully overrated is their final studio album, CLOCKWORK ANGELS, which simply does nothing for me.)

It's really strange how a man's life goes... At the age of fifty-nine I seem to like nothing better than Rameau and Berlioz; at the same time nothing cheers me up more than half an hour of Rush - two things I never expected when I was in my teens and twenties. So, in conclusion, let me say this. All three parts of DIFFERENT STAGES LIVE are highly enjoyable. Even the grandiose (and, let's face it, rather silly) '2112' is included in full. (I defy you not to start headbanging to this.) My only regret is that no space was found for 'La Villa Strangiato'. I wouldn't mind if the final few encores on Disc 3 had been dropped for that.