Rush Rock Cleveland / New Concert DVD Information

Rush Time Machine Tour 2011
Update (04.18.2011): Here's a short, positive review from the Cleveland show -- Concert Review: Rush at Quicken Loans Arena
In front of a sold-out crowd of 14,000, Rush put on a spectacular show at The Q in Cleveland, Ohio last night -- a show that they had previously announced they would be filming for an upcoming concert DVD -- the first ever Rush concert filmed in the United States.

As Cleveland is the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, there were plenty of news stories posted yesterday regarding Rush's now infamous exclusion from the organization. One article, titled Why isn't Rush in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?, touched upon an event that Rush fans organized in front of the Hall of Fame prior to last night's concert:
"...To make their displeasure known, some fans plan to gather at 3 p.m. today outside the Rock Hall. Don't expect picket signs or torches, though. This promises to be more of an edgy photo op than a full-blown protest rally..."
You can check out a photo-gallery of the event via this LINK.

Another news story, titled The Spirit of Rush: The rest of the world loves them. When will the Rock Hall get a clue? quoted Donna Halper on the subject:
Halper has said that Rush's exclusion from the Rock Hall is far beyond a sin of omission. She said that "very good evidence" suggests many rock critics and a high-level Rock Hall exec dislikes Rush, adding "they will never get in as long as he is in charge."

Maybe the Rock Hall will get it right. They did eventually give Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, and Genesis their due. For now, fans can hope Rush will get in someday, and not in a Velvet Underground- or Ramones-like post-mortem fiasco, but in a triumphant Public Hall concert-acceptance in 2012.
Getting back to last night's concert, and the filming of the concert DVD, here's a quick review from Cleveland.Com titled Rush shares the spotlight with enthusiastic fans during sold-out show at The Q in Cleveland - one that highlighted the energy projected by the crowd:
But the real star was the trio’s de facto fourth member: the crowd.

Everywhere you looked, middle-aged men were 15 again, vigorously playing air drums and vying to see who could remember all the words to “The Temples of Syrinx.”

Somehow, they even managed to sing along during “YYZ,” an instrumental tour de force with no lyrics. Undaunted, the Rush faithful echoed the melody with a wordless chant.
On the filming of the concert, a quick write-up from Banger films was posted on their official blog page.

An article titled For rock trio Rush, Cleveland is where it all began touches upon why Rush selected Cleveland to film their latest concert movie:
"We realized after all these years that we've shot films in all these different locations. But we've never really shot an entire film in America. We thought, 'Well, that's just wrong.' So where do we want to shoot? And it dawned on me that it was appropriate to shoot in Cleveland, where our entire American adventure began." - Geddy Lee
Of course, Geddy has it wrong. Rush's U.S. adventure actually began on May 18th, 1974 at the North Side Drive-In in Lansing, Michigan; a full month before their show in Cleveland in support of ZZ Top.

Also, according to Ed Stenger from RushIsABand who was on-hand for the concert:
The big news is that Rush documentary filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen came out and addressed the crowd before the show, announcing that they would be directing the filming of the live DVD. There were cameras everywhere including an e-blimp flying around the crowd.
There is also a Facebook page which has photos of all of the filming equipment and cameras used during last night's concert.

I'm in the process of collecting some concert pictures from last's night show to post on the site. If you were in attendance and have some good pics, please let me know.

More news and reviews on the Cleveland show will be posted as they're made available.

Comments

  1. I can not WAIT to see this concert DVD...

    Finally -- FINALLY -- we have a U.S. crowd supporting the band.

    Not that the previous films weren't good but, with the exception of Rush in Rio, the audience was just never as rabidly excited as we know the U.S. crowd can - and will - be.

    Can not wait!

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  2. Where was "A Show of Hands" filmed? The CD, at least, was compiled from recordings across the US, as well as a single UK show.

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  3. It was filmed in Birmingham, UK

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  4. Cleveland was the first city to play Rush's music on American Radio. It was not where they performed first. That is what Geddy meant.

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