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“Plus ce change plus ce la meme chose – the more that things change, the more they stay the same”

It’s been 15 years since I’ve been to a Rush concert. The evening was exactly how I remembered it. Every paunchy middle age sunburned–from-excessive-BBQing KLOS listener in the San Fernando Valley brought their creepy truck driving friend and bar-slag girlfriend. Nerd duos roamed freely. Strangely conservatively dressed foreigners and gangly hesher teens in Led Zeppelin tees waltzed through the aisles looking for their seats. And then there was CK and I.

Fittingly, the lyric is from "Circumstances", a complicated and rugged tune from 1978 that was one of many rediscovered songs that made their way into the set list at the Hollywood Bowl stop on the Snakes And Arrows tour, and a perfect description of the night. The band played with ferocity and virtuosity that hasn’t lost a beat in years for people who could have been put in storage between tours and dusted off for each show. The experience was (and still remained) surreal as a hallucination, but with a kick ass soundtrack.

I was glad to rob CK of his Rush cherry, and I think he not only got a tasty show packed with multiple video screens, laser lights, and pyrotechnics, but a first hand look at a counterculture that is more likely to be at the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend than the VIP section of the Garden of Eden. An informal survey would have turned up any number of pleasure-craft owners, denim short wearers, Star Trek aficionados, 40-year old virgins, and guys with a string of petty theft and misdemeanor drug convictions.

I could go on about the amazing bald spot to gut ratio, the nerd tribunals discussing the guitar merits of Rush vs. Van Halen, the lack of a single attractive female, or the post-concert World Of Warcraft plans, but this is all stuff you'd expect from a Rush concert. The fact that you could have walked into any house in Van Nuys and walked out with the furniture goes without saying, but I will continue to praise the musicianship and precision that only the best performers exhibit.

Although it's laughable to be in the midst of such an odd crowd, the music more than makes up for it. I won't wait 15 years to see the next show.

For those of you who can never stomach the thought, our friends on the interweb have already been to the other tour stops and want to share with you.

The Professor's new get up and get down


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