Rush: From this wife's point of view -or- The longest entry
Although I left work reluctantly at 1:00, my mood quickly turned around when I went outside. Yesterday, I must admit, was a superb road trip day: warm and balmy, the sky smattered with fluffy cumulus clouds the shape animal heads and other sundry forms. We picked up Grant and Mike’s sister, Mo, in Cazenovia. From there, I drove the rest of the way to Saratoga Springs. I knew well that I was expected to do my share of driving, so I got while the getting was good. The two hours to Saratoga beats the barren, featureless drive from Rochester to Syracuse, hands-down!
Arrive in Saratoga Springs: 7:15 (15 minutes before show time). Shoved subs and Ho-hos down our throats because we were famished. Mmmm Ho-hos. As we made our way to the entrance of the park, I notice many well-worn dirt paths leading up and away from the paved path. What, pray tell, could these be? Men disappeared up these paths, and re-emerged moments later after eliminating the beer-swill contents of their bladders on the wooded hill of piss. For a moment I wondered whether the venue had toilets, and if these men knew something I did not. Then, a very tipsy group of girls decided they HAD to go too… The heavy-set girl trailed behind her giggling friends down the path. I watched as she nearly lost her pants before she stumbled into the bushes. I hope she realized that about 20 people caught a glimpse of her ass crack, but I doubt it.
After shoving our way through the line and getting patted down by security, we made it inside with only minutes to spare. Mo and I hit the real ladies room equipped with toilets and sinks just before the show started.
About the performance: For not being much of a Rush fan, I liked it. Aside from the fact that I only recognized about 3 songs out of the whole set list, it was good overall. The show opened with a video of Jerry Stiller telling the guys to get up on stage. He wore a Rush T-shirt and waved the “metal” hand. Funny. The music started. I’ve got to say that the stage show is as Mike promised. They entertained me with their sometimes funny, sometimes mesmerizing multimedia. The whole back of the stage consisted of one large projection screen accompanied by many smaller elongated screens on either side. Pretty neat. They also had a whole array of different lighting effects that never got boring. Musically, they’re all very talented, but as all Rush fans know, Neil Peart is an amazing drummer. I found this out first hand. He is the best drummer I’ve ever seen. Ever. Of course, Mike already prepped me for his awesomeness by showing me the DVD of the last tour. His hands created a blur as they crisscrossed over the drums with a zen-like fluidity. Wow! He’s so good that there were no less then 5 men in my immediate vicinity doing air-drums. The kind of air-drumming that gets honed to perfection in their once sweaty teenage bedrooms and now, is brought out in public to express their true devotion to the god of drums. They performed two sets, of which the second set, in my opinion, was the better of the two. Better songs, better solos, better light show, etc. During intermission, right before they came out again, the screens played a fun animated short about a trouble-maker marionette dragon and our heroes, the band members, portrayed by bobble-head versions of themselves. HA!
One of my favorite things about concerts is the people watching, and this was NO exception. Amid the stone-wash, and spray-bangs was one individual that made the show worth while for me. Let’s call him goofy dancing man. At every show there’s always that one guy who dances with all his heart, but I’ve never in my 27 years seen someone quite like this.
At first, there were four empty seats two rows in front of us, but at some point, dancing-man made it his semi-permanent home. Allow me to paint a visual for you. He was about 6 feet tall, with almost no neck whatsoever, wearing baggy khaki shorts and a muscle-T. His hair closely resembled The Greatest American Hero’s. He occasionally retreated to the lawn area, which I’m convinced was to go and “get his drink on.” His movements ranged from just barely subdued to flailing maniac and everywhere in between. My favorite dance in his repertoire of concert dances had to be the robot! Who does the robot?!? Apparently he does. I couldn’t control myself from mimicking this one while laughing my ass off. Among his other moves were wild and offbeat air drums, impassioned air guitar — where his face got all scrunched up as if the sweet guitar wailings emanated from his own finger tips, and random flailing 3 feet in all directions. Frankly, I’m surprised that the people in surrounding rows didn’t take one in the eye due to his flapping limbs. Somewhere at the peak of his dancing frenzy, I noticed the man a row in front of us with his 8 year old son. His son was giggling at the absurdity of goofy dancing man. At this point, I was laughing so hard, I was in tears. You know it’s bad when an 8 year old thinks you look stupid and you don’t even intend on it. The dancing continued much in the same way until the end of the show when I noticed that he wore a wedding band. Somebody is married to this goon!! I supposed that explains why he was dancing by himself the whole time — he’s an embarrassment. Rush started their encore… He had vanished. 2 minutes later I saw his stupid floppy head about a foot from the stage (more than 200 feet away at least). And he was still the only one dancing like a fool. Hey, at least he had a good time and thoroughly entertained me!
The ride back was dark and uneventful, and I’ve already written way too much for one entry, so I’ll spare the details. Needless to say, we made it back to Rochester alive, albeit at 4:00 a.m.
Lord have mercy. I wish I could have seen the guy. He alone was worth the eighty dollars. :)