I decided to share my personal thoughts here regarding last night's performance. If anyone disagrees with any of it and thinks I'm way off my rocker, that's completely fine. I don't have any reason or desire to suggest to anyone that their opinions are wrong. I'm friends with several people who are of extremely different opinions than myself on all the new tour stuff, and I fully understand and respect their view points. I just know that this new tour is highly controversial, and the internet has managed to throw around pretty nasty words from both sides of the coin, and be extremely polarized. The internet's commentary on last night's performance wasn't any exception to that. There are only a select few wild "points" that some people make about these things that I just can not respect, but I won't really be getting into all that here.
When the new tour was announced last year, I made a similar open post sharing my honest thoughts. In short, the initial announcement had me very confused and unsure of how to feel, and it took several days for me to fully contemplate and process it, to really understand all of what was going on, and understand how I really felt. The outcome was that I felt that there was no reason for me to not be supportive of the tour, and there wasn't anything that I could see being considered unacceptable. I still feel the same, perhaps even more relaxed with it all after the passage of time, as I imagined I would be.
Last night's performance - I'd been hearing the rumor for several weeks now that this may happen, and it was essentially confirmed by an official tease a few days ago. I was expecting it'd likely be one of the obvious choices like Tom Sawyer or The Spirit Of Radio, but I was really hoping it wouldn't be one of those for the thousandth time. I was pleasantly surprised by the choice of Finding My Way. While an iconic song for the band, it's still a relatively deep cut. Despite the internet claiming it's the first time the song was played in full since 1985, 1980, 1978, and one guy dead set on 1974 (lol), anyone who's on this website probably knows as well as I do that the last known complete performance was at the Randhurst Arena on March 5th 1976. As of the start of the 2112 tour and onward, it was always incomplete to one degree or another as a part of a medley. The proof is in the recordings, I know the average Rush fan doesn't care about this rabbit hole, but I find it strange some people want to argue about it without researching first. But anyway, very pleased that they played this song. Didn't see that coming at all.
Geddy's voice - In my opinion he sounded way better than he did during the previous three tours, which is not something I'd defend blindly as I'm really not a fan of some of the wonky moments on those later tours. There really is a noticeable improvement here, and I thought he was great. Yes it could seem a bit jarring at first when we're used to hearing versions of the song from decades past, but once your brain adjusts to the fact it’s 2026, he sounds fine. He’s a 72 year old man singing a song from when he was only 20 during his peak banshee era, with the song still in the original key, still hit the notes, and did it very well all things considered. Obviously it won’t sound quite the same as it did in the 1970s. The real concern here is just hoping that he can maintain his voice over the tour, which has now grown to be very long.
Anika on drums - I don't understand why "her kit isn't big enough" is even a discussion. Very weird fixation, just wanted to point that out, not one of the opinions I can respect. Don't see how it has any bearing at all. She played the song great. And any fan of live recordings would have noticed she incorporated elements of Neil's version of Finding My Way into her playing, not just doing a carbon copy of the album. Very cool. Did she sound like Neil? No. Did Neil sound like John? No. Do they all play the song well? Yes. Did the song have the same feeling? Yes. We'll get more of a feel when the tour starts, but I won't be upset if her own style is noticeable, as long as the songs are played well. And I don't think she'd have been chosen for the role if she couldn't play these songs well.
Loren on keyboards - Admittedly the song was not a good way for him to be introduced to Rush fans. The song never had keyboards before, so his role here was just a very subtle background texture, making him looking even more awkward with three keyboards set up around him and standing there not doing much. But since he'll be part of the upcoming tour, he needed to be there for this too. I understand that. Can't blame him for any of that. Had the song been given a more involved keyboard arrangement, I imagine even more people would've been unhappy with him being there. I fully respect that Geddy wants to be free of the keyboards this time, while the band still gets to play the songs that incorporate them. Fair enough to me.
Is it weird to adjust to seeing a fourth person on stage with the band? Yes it is. Is It weird seeing someone else play drums with Rush? In some ways, but overall really not that much to me. I've watched the Laura Secord 1974 video countless times and have dug deep into researching history of the John Rutsey era (something many people assume was an insignificant blip of no real substance to the band), so the concept of "no Neil = No Rush" doesn't resonate with me at all. Is having Anika and Loren blasphemy to the "Rush name"? While I know it felt like a strange concept at first, I really don't see it as a big issue, even less so now. This new band has made it clear to be distinctively different from the past incarnations while still staying true to their high level of performance and legacy. It's not and will never be the same thing as what came before, but I see it as a final chapter that celebrates the story of Rush while Ged, Alex, and the fans are all still alive to experience that magic while we still can. Life is too short. Enjoy it while we can.. Would there be a point of going "too far" for me to accept? Sure, but we aren't at that point and I don't expect them to ever truly compromise any integrity.
So there's my usual long-winded thoughts on the topic of the week. Watching this video is fun and makes me happy, and I'm eager to see what happens during the tour.
