My Notes on new GUP Live Video

[Grommet2112]

Took these notes as I watched the video, figured it would be cool to share. Haven't seen to many people talking about some of this stuff.


The Enemy Within - A different night than original, cool it was mostly all new.

The Body Electric - Seems like they only had Geddy footage for most of it.

The Weapon - A different night, different Count Floyd audio. And maybe footage? a lot of Geddy vocals in solo not in original.

Witch Hunt - Seems overdubbed screen films come from original release, idk not sure. Half and half, actually no, that was way more complete then I ever seen that screen film. Must still have original footage for the edit. Definitely dubbed in. Different performance to original release too! I think Neil drops a stick off screen based off Geddy's reaction and kinda delayed drum roll, it's right after he throws it in the air.

New World Man - Missing intro, probably copyright?? Synths are really different, think this a different night too. I'm getting the vibe the original release is mostly the first night and this is mostly the 2nd night, pretty interesting. Crazy how much of this is brand new, wasn't expecting this. Feel like most bad sync shots are on purpose to add variety to not a lot of cameras angles to work with, going out of there way to use a different night for every song on the original release so far. The sync is mostly right for everything so far.

Between The Wheels - Cool to see red strat. Some bad Neil shots. All from the end of the song but in the beginning. Odd. BTW has a lot of weird edits. Up to this point the audio matched the visuals. Now it seems like the video is a different night than the audio being played. But also just bad edits. Those fills in the beginning are not played in the right spot later. Can barely make out the P/G Laser, pretty much gotta know it's there to notice. Limitations of tape. I wonder why the right nights audio couldn't be used?? Like it's definitely a different night over the footage, and it has definitely not been like that so far.

Red Barchetta - Cameras seem to be a mix of 2 nights. It's mostly right, besides typical weird Neil shots. Alex cameras are perfect, Geddy cameras are off I noticed, maybe they only had some to work with again. The bad syncs again are because of wrong audio, but it's perfect for Alex close ups, maybe he's just more consistent? Idk. Not all Geddy shots are wrong, just one angle.

Distant Early Warning - Missing video, odd they didn't just pull from official. Good example of how bad the screen film was captured by the tape, doesn't surprise me based off things I've seen with tape and capturing projected film. Looks no better than the bootlegs lol. Interesting Witch Hunt was preserved. Different night than original release again. Crazy how much better the syncs are on the songs that were on the original night, even though it's a different version all together.

Red Sector A - Different performance again. Sync is perfect, minus typical odd balls.

Closer To The Heart - hmm breaks the pattern, songs In the original but the audio doesn't match the video. Very little is right, can actually see quality difference. Accurate shots are better looking. I think the lower quality shots are taken straight from the original. The most original shots I've seen used since spirit of radio.

YYZ - Lots of reused shots from original, again you can actually see the quality different. Different audio again. Crazy they didn't get those YYZ drum fills right. That's just bad. They are clearly taking a lot from the original edit on this song, no excuse. Yeah it's a different night from the original audio wise.

2112 - Same thing, different audio than original but a lot of reused clips from the original. I really noticed the original is mostly one night audio wise, and this is mostly a different night audio wise.

Tom Sawyer - Different night again. Sync is really good so far. Some reused shots buts it's much better. Getting worse at the end.

Red Lenses - Audio doesn't match video, think it's night one video with night two audio or vice-versa. I hope it's that so you can sync with the boot. I feel bad for the editor, bro had to sync the audio of a different performance to this!! So much little improv in the drum solo and bass solo at the end. They did there best, the right audio just isn't there. I wonder if the video was edited to a different audio than the final TB live mix.

Vital Signs - Pretty sure it's a different night again, actually syncs good. Gets bad at the end again.

Finding My Way + In The Mood - All new, sync is actually pretty ok.

 

[wellers73]

Thanks for this rundown! One thing I can add is that, based on the drum solo, it seems that the audio used for the drum solo is from Sept 22nd - the solo on Sept 21st is different on the recording in the archive of this site. The reason the editor can’t get things to match up with the audio (besides clearly not really know much about drums or music) is that the camera shooting Neil from the front and behind matches what we hear (Sept 22nd) but the camera to Neil’s right (which is usually on Alex) is from Sept 21st and doesn’t match the audio.

My guess is they found a box of video tapes from the two night concert shoot, but they were incomplete. Maybe they had Alex Camera for Sept 21 but not Sept 22, Front Camera for Sept 22 but not Sept 21, etc. Also, they seem to be missing ANY footage from the camera that was placed to Neil’s direct right and slightly above the kit. On the original video, that was the camera that had most of the best shots of Neil and it’s almost entirely absent from this edit. I suspect the only time you see it is when the editor flies in upscaled shots from the original video.

 

[TheAnalogKid]

I think this is almost certainly what happened. A lousy editor plus missing or incomplete tapes so they has to improvise and it resulted in the jumbled mess we got.

 

[By-Tor X-1]

I haven't yet really had the energy to write out all my feelings on the new set, but it boils down to this:

1 - I'm happy we can finally see a full concert representation of the GUP tour that was professionally shot. Great!
2 - Sadly I'm not a fan of AI use, you simply can't create what isn't there and results almost always makes things look unnatural. Truthfully it is on the more subtle side, and could be way worse, but it's still there. An average person may not notice it, but it is very noticeable to someone like me who deals with this sort of content regularly and has an eye for these things. I can try to ignore it and focus on enjoying what we have, but I just can't ignore it completely. Easiest way to put the distasteful factor into quick, simple words is notice how it "looks too smooth".
3 - Whoever did the sync clearly isn't familiar with Rush or just not good at their job. Not going to dig into it, but there clearly wasn't a high level of quality control before putting this out.
4 - The raw camera angles used to mix this new release are clearly only a remainder of what survives, ultimately they only had so much available to work with, so I think most of the raws used on the original release are long gone. Some shots were also clearly sourced direct from the original video release. This is probably why people have pointed out it's mainly Geddy and not nearly as much Alex or Neil. Also some of the camera editing is jarring when it jumps around, but that is just due to whoever did the mix editing.
5 - It's clearly a mix of both nights, but that's almost always going to be the case with official releases from most bands. However once again for the nth time, they're mislabeling stuff they release which is one of the few extreme pet peeves of mine.

In summary, I'm not too surprised with the track record of modern releases always doing at least a few questionable things, but this does manage to surprise me a bit more. Yes I can get some enjoyment out of seeing it, and I am glad this is out there, but I wish they'd have taken another 2-5 years to perfect the sync, and also not use AI. I didn't think it was worth $300 even before this, and even more so now. I already complained in another thread a couple months ago about there being no disc-only package like the prior anniversary releases. This one forces all the tangible extras even with the disc package, is more expensive than previous full package sets, and lacks quality control. I wasn't willing to buy it before, and I'm glad I didn't.

I hate to be a negative whiner like some people out there like to be on a regular basis, but that's just my true feelings on the release. There's been a lack of true caring for the band from the modern management, and this just continues to show that. It seems it's only about what they think will make money off the casual fanbase that'll eat up almost anything. I can get deeper into things with this and other modern releases, but this is not the time or place. I just wish more people fully cared to the level that some of us do.

Edit - While that was all regarding the concert video, my opinion regarding the alternate Terry Brown album mix is that I can appreciate it as a look at the album through an alternate lense, but personally I don't care for it. Largely because I'm used to the original mix and am content with that, but also I don't appreciate putting keyboards so much in the background. I guess that could appeal to people who think "synth era" is a real thing and something that was an alleged dark period for the band, then maybe they'll finally be able to appreciate GUP, which in that case is a good thing.

 

[JohnnySee]

I think they edited the Count Floyd section in the original release. I can't see them having multiple stage screen videos for that.

More of my notes:

In the original, Alex used the Hentor Sportscaster for The Spirit of Radio and The Enemy Within only, with Porkflapsocaster used the rest of the night except for New World Man. New version of the video shows Alex using Hentor for Subdivisions and The Body Electric. (and then most of the rest of the show) Subdivisions instrumental sections are wildly out of sync.

New version of The Weapon appears to be from a different night? Alex is not rolling around on the floor during Count Floyd’s intro. Great shots of Alex during the solo - and he’s using Hentor. Same for Witch Hunt.

Red Strat for Between the Wheels!!! First official video of him playing this guitar. Alas the solo is utterly out of sync. Just incredibly sloppy editing in this.

Hentor for Red Barchetta. Better editing on the guitar shots but still not perfect sync. Appears to be taken from 9/21 performance based on the 9/21 AUD.

Hentor for Distant Early Warning. Wide shots out of sync. Great closeups of Hentor during first chorus.

Closer to the Heart - Alex starts on the Ovation, and switches to the Porkflapsocaster, same as original video. BUT then, after the solo (which appears to be the same video as the old version), he’s using the HENTOR!!! As the song ends and Geddy and Alex are by the drum kit, there is a clearly reused shot as Alex is rapidly strumming in the video but there are chord stabs in the soundtrack. Also watch for Al to “scribble” at Geddy when he sings “draw the chart” in the original video, but this clip is misplaced and shown from a different angle in the new video.

Pork Flapsocaster out for Red Sector A. This looks like the same oversaturated footage from the original release. It’s not! The new video runs faster than the original and there are significant changes in the editing. Different shots of Alex are used for the guitar solo too.

Medley: Hentor for YYZ. This edit sucks too, lots of mistimed shots of Neil and Geddy. Tom Sawyer solo (1:18:39) is out of sync, looks like it might actually be different footage. Closer look reveals that the original audio is preserved on the new video. I believe this is from 9/21 as well.

Cross-referencing this audio, it appears that the original video of Finding My Way was taken from the 9/21 performance, and this is from one of the other nights.

 

[antrecords]

Great synopsis! The only thing I can add is the Spotify audio mastering offers a fraction of the fidelity of the 128kbps YouTube audio. Sounds like it's compressed under three blankets (sounds like 2026).