PINKPOP - THE VINTAGE YEARS 1975-1979, VOL. 2

In the summer of 1979 I decided to return to the annual Pinkpop Festival (the 'Dutch Woodstock') in Geleen, a town in the southern part of The Netherlands. The year before I had visited it for the first time and enjoyed music from Journey, Thin Lizzy and Mother Finest in a sold out Sportpark Geleen, what a wonderful and pleasant 'hippie-like' event. The year 1979 promised appearances from The Police, Dire Straits, Massada (the Dutch Santana) and ... Rush, for the first time in The Netherlands so this was my chance to see the Canadian 'powerprog'. It was again a sold out festival, it was sunny and warm and the presentation was, as usual, in the hands of the known UK dj John Peel. The Rush 'Hemisphere-tour-gig' on Pinkpop was excellent and stunning, the trio made impression, not only by the many Canadian fans who joined Rush on their worldtour!

Looking at this DVD it's a bit sad to conclude that the Rush one hour performance has been reduced to 6 minutes from the composition La Villa Strangiato. The camera work is good, the musicians outstanding (especially Alex with his compelling solo is sheer magical) and the power and energy is tremendous! But it is one of the few highlights on this DVD, along with Uriah Heep delivering their catchy song Sweet Lorraine (enthousiastic David Byron as a kind of Freddy Mercury 'avant-la- lettre') and an exciting Massada featuring Neppie Noya on percussion in Sageru. But unfortunately most of the other band scenes look sloppy (boring and too far away with Manfred Mann's Earth Band on Blinded By The Light) and we cannot enjoy footage from Dire Straits and The Police. Conclusion: nice festival scenes, some great live bands scenes but in general a bit disappointing DVD. Perhaps once Rush will release the footage from Pinkpop 1979 when they convinced Europe and would soon turn into 'biggies'!