DIFFERENT STAGES - LIVE

OK...here we go. I didn't like TEST FOR ECHO all that much, so I was skeptical of this live record, simply because I was familiar with the material off TFE, and since it was pretty much the basis for THIS record, I thought it was gonna suck, right? I mean, hell...T4E pretty much sucked, I thought. No way this record could be as good as the other live discs.

OMG! Was I ever wrong! Not only did the (godforsaken) songs from T4E get a better sound than the studio versions (on the record, IMO, they still sound unfinished), but they (the songs) come alive! There's an energy and freshness which had long been missing from their catalog; COUNTERPARTS, IMO, was a bit of a misstep, and TEST FOR ECHO, though I gave it three stars, was even MORE of a step back.

Rush sound alive for the first time in quite a while, and, listening to the audience rant and rave about these veritable gods' peformance just fuels my reaction. Hearing the crowd go nuts during a 5-minute rendering of CLOSER TO THE HEART makes me pump my fist in the air, as does the full-length version of the 2112 suite. "I stand atop a spiral stair..." Yes, Rush...you certainly do. In closing...I am simply not worthy. Wanna have your mind REALLY blown? RUSH IN RIO is better!