Roll the Bones / Grand Finale

Rush 2015.05.12 @ The Xcel Energy Center, St Paul, MN.

In the range of songs about ice and fire, Rush's work seems to fall on the side of fire, at least in terms of the intensity of their stage imagery and effects and the matching fast-paced hard-rock presentation of this tour.  For R40, the entire concept was a journey back through their catalog.  This would have had more impact if it were not for The Time Machine tour in 2010 (never-mind the R30 tour).  Starting with Clockwork Angels the set went in reverse chronological progression.  As far as a a setlist design, this seems rather unworkable to me, but it did provide an interesting study of their music.  As a whole, the set felt rather imbalanced, starting with a heavy emphasis on a Clockwork Angels for the first half hour (material which was featured quite heavily on their recent tour).  The next hour of the first set showcased 2011-1981.  The remaining hour and half covered 1980-1973.  So, while there were a number of interesting rarities (including Jacob's Ladder, Natural Science and Lakeside Park among songs which had not been played in 38 years), their peak years in both popularity, and in my opinion, artistic achievement, were rush-ed through. Presto and Hold Your Fire were unfortunately completely omitted, as was Power Windows.  The only inclusion from Vapor Trails was the weak One Little Victory (the previous night's debut of How It Is would have been a far superior  inclusion, and a live debut of Vapor Trails would have been even better).  Animate and the return of Roll the Bones were a welcome high point which finally animated the crowd, with the former involving video appearances by Jason Segel, and Peter Dinklage (whose brother appeared as a member of the orchestra on the last tour).  More interesting than the set selection was the stage show.  Starting with props from the Clockwork Angels and Snakes and Arrows tours, jumpsuit covered crew members dismantled the stage in an actualized Moving Pictures cover, until the encore consisted on only some on-stage spotlights, a gymnasium background, and a disco-ball - the setup of an aspiring garage band.  What was most notable through the musical thread was what began as hard and progressive opened up into a spacious, melodic, song-oriented material, and then faded back into long-form progressive hard rock.  While coming full circle, dismantling was the theme, as they deconstructed all of the superstructure that had been constructed over their music for several decades, leaving only their original essence. If they're true to their word, this was their last major tour.  It's likely they will appear again in some form, but if this isn't the end it is the beginning of the end.

Setlist:

The Anarchist / Clockwork Angels / Headlong Flight (with "Drumbastica" drum solo) / Far Cry / The Main Monkey Business / One Little Victory / Animate / Roll the Bones / Distant Early Warning / Subdivisions / Tom Sawyer / YYZ / The Spirit of Radio / Natural Science / Jacob's Ladder / Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part I: Prelude / Cygnus X-1 (The Voyage Part 1 & 3 with drum solo) / Closer to the Heart / Xanadu /2112 Part I: Overture / 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx / 2112 Part IV: Presentation / 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale/ Lakeside Park / Anthem / What You're Doing / Working Man

+: What was presented of the middle years: Animate, Roll the Bones

-: Too much Clockwork Angels, over-played 2112 & Moving Pictures