Rush still fierce in a smaller setting
Review: The highly skilled trio's intimate Nokia Theatre show maintains the level of vigor that has marked its late-career peak.
By BEN WENER
The Orange County Register
Logic would dictate that if a live encounter is somehow out-of-the-ordinary for fans, it must also be so for the band they're cheering on.
In other words, should long-running Canadian trio Rush play rare gigs at a relatively smallish venue like the new 7,100-seat Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, as it did Tuesday and will again Thursday, then it must be as intimate and radically different an experience for the makers of "Moving Pictures" and "2112" as it is for those of us who know every riff and fill from those classic albums.
Yet, much as he seemed to wish that were true when he called a few weeks ago from tour rehearsals in Puerto Rico, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson admits there isn't much change between playing a midsize place like Nokia and the usual large-scale spots the group typically headlines – like the twice-as-large Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, where the band returns Sunday.
"You might feel the energy a little differently in a place like (Nokia), but you're sort of locked into things," he says. "And the stage is the stage – provided it's the same size, it really doesn't matter if you're in a 2,000-seat hall or a 20,000-seat amphitheater, generally speaking. You can't see very far out into the house, anyway.
"And with in-ear monitors now, you're really kinda isolated. Which in one way is great, because it provides a much better platform for you to do your work from – you can hear everything so much clearer, intonations are better, tones are better. All of that stuff works for a better performance. But you feel a little disconnected from the audience sometimes with those things. That's the one thing I miss – the noise on the stage, people shouting."
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