What's the Rush?
Sep. 19th, 2010 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greatbearYesterday evening Jeff and I headed down to Nissan Pavilion Jiffy Lube Live to see my boys, Rush. We had the tickets for several months, and now was finally the time to see my favorite band perform their "Time Machine Tour" which, among other older songs, the entirety of Moving Pictures album was the highlight. I had purposely avoided reading the setlist on fan pages, blogs and the like. Doing so kept the songs a complete surprise as each one opened. And damn what a setlist! I swear this band has only gotten better over the years.
As I said previously, we had these tickets for quite a while and that was before I started having serious issues with my lower spine. As this day approached I was worried and sometimes downright upset that I might not be able to make it to the show, since there's more than a fair amount of standing and walking involved. Still, I made it my mission to ignore all that, after all, this is my band we're talking about. But make it I did. After finding my way to the seats, the band was spot-on, they played most of my favorites, with lots of surprises to boot.
When we finally got to our seats, we were surprised to learn that we were at the front of that particular section, with lots of room between us and the section ahead of us which had tables and chairs. Bonus! We were off to the left, but still had a great sight-line despite the distance to the stage, as seen below:
Before
Our last visit to this venue to see Rush was a lot of fun as well, but we had issues with so many people standing during the entire length of the concert in the seats right ahead of us. We hoped that this time, with the extra room and space between our seats and the ones ahead of us that we'd be golden. Here again, that was not to be. If I sat down, this would be my view:
And After
I knew we were in trouble when the folks in the section in front of us stacked all their chairs into one pile, knowing they'd be standing the entire time. And that they did. Three guys next to me who had come all the way from Wyoming for this show were pretty cool, at least at the start. Once the music started, they were up on their feet, thrashing and screaming and having the time of their lives. One of them is the guy in orange above. Granted, once I told the guys they were spreading out too far and ending up directly in front of me, they would make sure that I was not being bothered by them. Hey, the guys were obviously having the time of their lives, and I would not want to interfere there. However, their antics were just a drop in the bucket. Being stuck beneath, between and behind an entire stadium full of screaming, jumping, dancing fans who were having more than one or two overpriced alcoholic beverages made having an uninterrupted sight line impossible. So, for the entire show, I had to stand up to see what was going on down on the stage. This took it's toll on me big time, but I stuck it out. A lot of my better photos were ruined by the show of hands in the camera eye. But all this did not really bother me as much as seeing the expression on Jeff's face. After the amusing intro and the first couple songs Jeff sat back down, he also had hurt his leg somehow during the week. He sat there with an angry look on his face for the better part of the show's remainder, upset that the big money spent on this concert was not intended to have us staring at the backs of some drunken yahoos. He mentioned wanting to go back and sit in the car, but he did stick it out for the entire concert. I was heartbroken at seeing this. It was all I could to to resist losing it with everyone in front of us. It would have been pointless anyway. The design of the seating in the venue ensured that once the people in the front row stood up, the people behind them had to stand as well. Repeat until it you're past the back seat in the pavilion and onto the lawn.
In the end Jeff did enjoy the music, but was very angry with the crowd. I guess we have to be selective as to the venue and the acts these days. I guess we're just getting old. I'm no longer in the mood for fighting crowds and tolerating nonsense. Yeah, people are entitled to their fun, but no one seems to consider the people around or behind them. Lessons learned. But seeing Jeff so upset put a huge damper on my enjoyment too. I hope the next time Rush is in town the circumstances will be different.
A few more photos from the concert are in this Flickr set.
We have tix for Cirque du Soliel next Saturday. I think I'll try the best I can to get to that show too. After that, I'll have to wait and see. We gave up tickets for a Penn State football game we had for a while, since there was no way in hell I could do that amount of walking, even if I were to be dropped off right at the stadium doors. We do have tickets for the final game at the end of November. With luck I'll be healed up enough. If not, maybe he can take a friend. I don't want him to miss out on his guys.
As I said previously, we had these tickets for quite a while and that was before I started having serious issues with my lower spine. As this day approached I was worried and sometimes downright upset that I might not be able to make it to the show, since there's more than a fair amount of standing and walking involved. Still, I made it my mission to ignore all that, after all, this is my band we're talking about. But make it I did. After finding my way to the seats, the band was spot-on, they played most of my favorites, with lots of surprises to boot.
When we finally got to our seats, we were surprised to learn that we were at the front of that particular section, with lots of room between us and the section ahead of us which had tables and chairs. Bonus! We were off to the left, but still had a great sight-line despite the distance to the stage, as seen below:
Before
Our last visit to this venue to see Rush was a lot of fun as well, but we had issues with so many people standing during the entire length of the concert in the seats right ahead of us. We hoped that this time, with the extra room and space between our seats and the ones ahead of us that we'd be golden. Here again, that was not to be. If I sat down, this would be my view:
And After
I knew we were in trouble when the folks in the section in front of us stacked all their chairs into one pile, knowing they'd be standing the entire time. And that they did. Three guys next to me who had come all the way from Wyoming for this show were pretty cool, at least at the start. Once the music started, they were up on their feet, thrashing and screaming and having the time of their lives. One of them is the guy in orange above. Granted, once I told the guys they were spreading out too far and ending up directly in front of me, they would make sure that I was not being bothered by them. Hey, the guys were obviously having the time of their lives, and I would not want to interfere there. However, their antics were just a drop in the bucket. Being stuck beneath, between and behind an entire stadium full of screaming, jumping, dancing fans who were having more than one or two overpriced alcoholic beverages made having an uninterrupted sight line impossible. So, for the entire show, I had to stand up to see what was going on down on the stage. This took it's toll on me big time, but I stuck it out. A lot of my better photos were ruined by the show of hands in the camera eye. But all this did not really bother me as much as seeing the expression on Jeff's face. After the amusing intro and the first couple songs Jeff sat back down, he also had hurt his leg somehow during the week. He sat there with an angry look on his face for the better part of the show's remainder, upset that the big money spent on this concert was not intended to have us staring at the backs of some drunken yahoos. He mentioned wanting to go back and sit in the car, but he did stick it out for the entire concert. I was heartbroken at seeing this. It was all I could to to resist losing it with everyone in front of us. It would have been pointless anyway. The design of the seating in the venue ensured that once the people in the front row stood up, the people behind them had to stand as well. Repeat until it you're past the back seat in the pavilion and onto the lawn.
In the end Jeff did enjoy the music, but was very angry with the crowd. I guess we have to be selective as to the venue and the acts these days. I guess we're just getting old. I'm no longer in the mood for fighting crowds and tolerating nonsense. Yeah, people are entitled to their fun, but no one seems to consider the people around or behind them. Lessons learned. But seeing Jeff so upset put a huge damper on my enjoyment too. I hope the next time Rush is in town the circumstances will be different.
A few more photos from the concert are in this Flickr set.
We have tix for Cirque du Soliel next Saturday. I think I'll try the best I can to get to that show too. After that, I'll have to wait and see. We gave up tickets for a Penn State football game we had for a while, since there was no way in hell I could do that amount of walking, even if I were to be dropped off right at the stadium doors. We do have tickets for the final game at the end of November. With luck I'll be healed up enough. If not, maybe he can take a friend. I don't want him to miss out on his guys.
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Date: 2010-09-21 05:02 am (UTC)