R.I.P. Neal Peart
 

"The Vixen" just told me that the percussionist and the lyricist of my all-time favorite rock band, Rush, has just died: Neal Peart.

I first saw Rush at the Lansing, MI Civic Center in 1978--right after "A Farewell to Kings" LP was released. What a show! I've seem Rush a few times since then, but it never matched the magic of that small and intimate venue.

Peaceful rest to you Neal. You were without equal on the drum kit. And now, this old seadog is going to sob.

Sad news for sure. Neil was devastated when he tragically lost his daughter some years ago so now they reunite in death.

I love Rush. The WMMS Cleveland connection (they call me the working man), the talent and the way they never sold out and did things their way. I'm glad I got finally see them a few years back in Columbus, Ohio (Time Machine Tour). Although not highly acclaimed, 2112 is one of my top 10 all time favorite albums.

2112 for sure! It was their breakout album. "2112", "Moving Pictures", and "Roll The Bones" are my (3) favorite Rush LP's (in that order.)

Good lord. Did I just type "LP?" :o

Rush was my first ever concert outside of a few local cover bands in Murfreesboro and Nashvegas. There weren't many concerts afterward that could even start to compare. They were one of the best live acts ever.

Poor Alex had a bad batch of strings in that show. He broke a string at least 5 or 6 times. I'm not sure what strings he was using then, but he was in his G&L Strat phase at the time. He switched guitars on every song and the tech was retuning and restringing the whole show. I never saw so many broken strings, including many shows where the guy played just one or two guitars the whole night.

Neal just pulled a Todd Rundgren and banged on the drums all day... uh, night. He showed very little emotion other than a few concerned expressions where I'm sure he was upset with himself for not being absolutely perfect. He sounded absolutely perfect to me, though! His stuff was so complex that only he would ever know if he "messed up". If he did make a mistake, it was something small like leaving out a little fill...he kept time like a Swiss watch.

I loved everything they did up to and including Moving Pictures. The synth laden stuff after that didn't do much for me.

R.I.P. Neal

I still have the ticket stub from when I saw them at the Philly spectrum in December of 87. They have always been my favorite rock band since I was a kid. Talent without equal is right. May he rest in peace.

Rush has always been my favorite band. Saw them live outdoors up in Wisconsin in the 80's. I was home, on leave, and a friend gave me his ticket.
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I'm loving these testimonials! I found my first Rush concert ticket stub this morning. It was in the jacket of my "Farewell to Kings" LP. We were probably twelve rows back. The sound! The fury! The pyros! It was magical! The ticket was $8.

The last time I saw them was in the 90's during the "Roll the Bones" tour. The magic was gone--or maybe I just didn't feel it.

Geddy was already having to work harder to hit the high notes in the 90's, but he still hit them much better than he has the last few years. I think a big part of the lack of magic for you was their much expanded catalog compared to the late 70's/early 80's. It included a lot of "progressive synth pop" for a lack of a better way to describe it. If you play a dozen soulless songs from those synth albums that came after Moving Pictures, you don't have time to fit in La Villa Strangiato and an album side of 2112 and still fit in the other good songs that came from the other albums that you were used to listening to.

Good point. The most memorable songs from the 1992 concert were “Trees”, “Freewill”, and a part of “2112” —all three of them 1980 and earlier.

The most memorable songs from the 1978 concert: every one of them! They opened with “Bastille Day” and closed with “A Passage to Bangkok”. Both Geddy and Alex were shredding double-necks for much of the concert. Neal was in constant motion and inexhaustible. They played for almost 3 hours. They were young. I was young. I went into the Navy the same year—still 17.

We saw them in 1982 at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio. One of my friends knew a girl at UD who was a friend of his girlfriend, and we went to visit her in her dorm. Three of the guys had girlfriends at home, but Bob and I grabbed a cooler of beer and walked through the halls. The doors were all open, and it seemed like we got invited in to every room we passed. The girls were lounging around in skimpy sleepwear, and at one point as we were walking down the hall Bob turned to me and said "Holy Schlitz, this is like Letters to Penhouse!" I had to agree. Got a bunch of invitations to come back and visit. Never did.
We had seats in the upper arena and it was like sitting in a fog bank. Some guys behind us had a propane powered bong. The Jon Butcher Axis opened. He was okay. Rush was awesome. One of the great nights of my teenage years.

John Butcher Axis played clubs around Nashvegas for a while in the 80's. Never saw them, but I remember them being promoted on WKDF.

....and you never went back to the dorm where you had a standing invitation WHY???? :eek:

I've not heard of John Butcher Axis. I;ll look it up. Mr. Big opened for Rush at the 1992 concert. I don't remember who opened for them in 1978--possibly a local central Michigan band. I remember they were't very good.

Just never got around to it. :rolleyes: :chuckle:

I seem to recall Jon Butcher was a Hendrix wannabe. He toured around Philly back in the day as well. The rock stations played him which is where I remember the name.

Sounds like the same choice I would have made then. Beer and a concert vs. dorm full of coeds. No game with the ladies. :o

:) Nothing like that. Dayton was an hour north, which to my 19 year old sensibilities seemed to be a long way to go for a booty call. I was driving a V8 Duster that got 12 mpg downhill with a tailwind and had a distressing habit of marooning me at inopportune times. Fun car, but reliability was not Job 1 back in those days.

Life Takes A Life is the song that I remember being played around here. Kinda generic sounding by my 1982 ears.

I bet it could pass anything--except a gas pump. Was it the "Gold Duster" package with the gold, reptile print vinyl roof?

Yep, 3-speed floor shift. Air shocks. Plymouth billboard across the back window. Flintstone floor option. :chuckle:

Yes, at least earlier in his career he was a Hendrix wannabe, even adding the "Axis" name from Hendrix's album. I think he moved a little toward mainstream, at least for a while. His stuff didn't jump up and grab me like some others with heavy Hendrix influences.

A great example of Hendrix influence that did grab hold of me was a kid from Memphis in the late 80s'. He was 15 or 16 the first time I saw him and he could play the crap out of his guitar. He was a lefty and not only played it upside down like Hendrix, but he left it strung for a right-hander so the strings were upside down, like Doyle Bramhall (listen to him sometime too). Hendrix's guitars were strung correctly for a lefty. The kid's name was Eric Gales and he took the Memphis and Nashville circuits by storm for a short period, then seemed to disappear. I remember him on Arsenio Hall's show when he was 18 or 19 and then nothing. I think he had some mental health issues. I saw him pop up again a year or two ago playing with Joe Bonamassa. He can still play.


As for my first Rush show, it was Oct 29, 1984 in Nashvegas and the opening band was Fastway. Their guitarist was "Fast" Eddie Clark, previously with Motorhead. I have no recollection of who else was in the band. They had one hit single, "Say What You Will", when I was still in high school. He wasn't too fast cause I could play that song at one time...and I ain't fast. lol

Fastway was "Fast" Eddie Clark and Pete Way, the bassist from UFO. I don't think Pete lasted long. I do remember "Say What You Will" and it might be on my Walkman as we type.

Bill-
Did your Duster have the "goes nowhere fast 318" or was it something more formidable ?
I drove a 500+hp 460-powered Thunderbird all through college. It had 11.5/1 pistons and a big cam. Had to run 5 gallons of AV100LL mixed with 21 gal of pump 93.
Air shocks, 295/50/15 tires, and a Traction-Lok 9" rear axle. Big Holley 800 cfm double-pumper and a hi-rise Edelbrock intake.
That thing stopped for nothing but gas stations.
Used to whip Buick Grand Nationals with it.

Ah, yes. I tend to remember guitarists better than bassists. :o Michael Shenker was the most lauded of several of their guitarists.

Pete was "colorful". Kind of a poor man's Keith Richards. My BIL and I saw UFO ten years ago in an old nightclub in Akron. One of those places with velvet covering the walls and individual tables. Very late-50's.

Plain Jane 318. No sack to speak of, but it sure bellowed like a prehistoric beast. :cool: :D

I looked it up last night. Pete Way couldn't get out of the contract that he signed with Chrysalis, so he was gone before the album got started. Jerry Shirley of Humble Pie and Natural Gas was the drummer.

This post brought back some memories.
From January to June 1980, I got to see and hear some rock bands from the 60's and 70's that were on their way down from their heyday.
JBA was one of them, a young Johnny Cougar, Melissa Ethridge (up and coming acts)and The Marshall Tucker Band to name a few.
What was cool was it was $10 a ticket and. you got to meet the whole band.
Never got pics or autographs but it was nice to meet these people.
Those were the days!