agristin's Journal: Rush Concert Set List, Los Angeles July 23 2007

Snakes and Arrows Tour. This show was at the Hollywood Bowl which is a fabulous venue. The sound was great, the performance was technically excellent. The band was not "mailing it in", they appeared to be into the music and to enjoy the performance. Rush had no opening act and followed an "evening with Rush" format. They played two sets of about an hour with a 20-25 minute break in between. They did a quick 5 minute break and did an encore.

I recorded the set list as each song played via notes on a cell phone. I'm very sure of the identification of songs. I've been to many Rush concerts, have the entire released catalog and am an amateur musician. I was clean and sober. I did have to look up the title of of Hope on the Snakes and Arrows album, which although excellent, I'm not as familiar with song titles. The song is easy to sonically identify, so there is no mistake. Other songs from Snakes and Arrows that might have been hard to identify the title with out reference were announced. Oddly they played no medleys, which they had been doing to put in a few more songs.

Limelight
Digital Man
Entre Nous
Mission
Freewill
Main Monkey Business
Larger Bowl
Secret Touch
Circumstances
Between the wheels
Dreamline

Intermission

Far Cry
Workin them Angels
Sword and Armor
Spindrift
The Way the Wind Blows
Subdivisions
Natural Science
Witch Hunt
Malignant Narcissism
Drum Solo
Hope (just Alex Lifeson on Acoustic 12 string)
Distant Early Warning
Spirit of Radio
Tom Sawyer

Encore

One Little Victory
Passage to Bangkok
YYZ

As a personal opinion, this is probably the best concert I've seen Rush play since the Hold Your Fire Tour. I've seen every tour since 1988 (except R30), and some tours multiple times. While it is possible to draw up a more ideal set list, the venue and execution of the music were both top notch. The Snakes and Arrows album translated well to live concert format. Which is fortunate because they played most of the album. In a surprise for me, Secret Touch was quite good (better than on album). The versions of Limelight and Subdivisions were quite inspired, the best I've seen them do in concert in some time. The drum solo has been changed since R30 and the last tour and was once again jaw-dropping. Natural Science was moving with intense dynamics. The return of Passage to Bangkok was fabulous and nostalgic. The band even broke out the old instruments, a Gibson ES-335 and Rickenbacker Bass for the tune.

This is not the best concert I've seen ever (it is top 10, the venue and performance are outstanding), but it is probably the best showing for Rush in quite some time.

What is the best concert or tour you've seen?