Albuquerque, Aug. 21, 2002
Ticket and photos provided by Eric Hansen
Decked out in our Rush finest, my friend John and I left Denver at 9 am enroute to Albuquerque. It took just over five hours to travel the 420 miles south, but it did cost me one speeding ticket!
We checked into our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Tamaya, and saw two big PREVOST tour buses out front. We learned that a VERY BIG NAME BAND was staying there who was playing in Albuquerque that night!!! Who was it? Do I even need to say? .... cough-(journey!)-cough. They were playing the very same night at the nearby Santa Ana Casino. Another act staying at the hotel was country musician Michael Martin Murphy. It was a 5 star joint, probably one of the best in the city, but we got rooms thanks to fellow Rush fans working at the hotel for a mere $85 for one night.
We arrived at the Journal Pavilion at around 5:30, one of the first ones there. Walking in from the parking area, we heard "Red Sector A" playing, and I thought the radio station was playing Rush. Abruptly, the song went into a impromptu jam and I realized it was the sound check, which we could hear crystal clear as we approached the gates. The soundcheck concluded with a bit of "Tom Sawyer".
We walked up to the Will Call window to ask for our Meet and Greet passes, which had been secretly arranged for me by my wife as a 10th Anniversary gift. I had been told not to be late as the doors opened at 6:00, and the Meet and Greet would begin shortly afterwards. The employees at the ticket window new nothing about Meet and Greets, however, and said to check back later! After asking many times, the ticket manager finally sent someone to the backstage area to talk to a band rep about M&G passes. We really started to freak out at this point, thinking we weren't going to make it in, or that the band had cancelled the M&G. Finally at about 6 o'clock, we had our passes, and many sighs of relief were heard. We were eventually led back stage to where the semi trailers were lined up, and waited for the boys to come out. I was really calm until this point, but I was definitely shaken when Geddy and Alex walked out and greeted us. The M&G process was fairly quick, as each group was shuffled in and out after only saying a few words with Ged and Al.
Alex was really into the event, and seemed eager to meet his fans. I wish I had more time to speak with him, but only had time to introduce myself and shake his hand before I turned to Geddy. Geddy was much more restrained, possibly "saving his voice", or he may have been having a bit of "Limelight" complex for lack of a better word (meeting with throngs of fans). I had made a mental list of possible items to talk to them about, but did not have time. The monumental event was over almost before it had begun, but it was a true pleasure.
The concert started shortly after the Meet and Greet at 7:30 sharp, or so it seems in my time-warped memories, and we just had time to get a beer and sandwich before the show. We got to our seats, and I couldn't help but smile. 5TH ROW CENTER BABY!!! Hard to top. My right hand was on Geddy's side; my left on Alex's, my center of sight was the middle of Neil's drum platform. The show was amazing (of course). Some memorable scenes were Alex playing "peek a boo" behind the pillar with the front row stage right fans; Alex doing the "Russian March"; Geddy doing pelvic thrusts in time with his bass solo; Geddy doing the Egyptian dance during the guitar solo to "Secret Touch".
Alex's rant during "La Villa" consisted of his singing an incredibly fast paced vocal solo, which was amazing as it was impromptu. He began with a blues solo (ala Aretha Franklin), "a doo be doo be doo be doo bop bop bee bop", and then sequeyed to square dance style "doe see doe, doe see doe, doe do doe, doe see doe", and then a cool-jazz vocal solo "get down, so low, get down, get down, so low". This had Neil laughing so hard he didn't stop until during "The Spirit of Radio".
The crowd was really into it, and surprisingly to me, the biggest lull was during "Earthshine"! I seemed to be the only one in the center section that knew the words (not to mention the airdrums)! In fact, I was probably one of the few in the center section, first 5 rows, who was singing along to every song word for word. It seemed to me that Geddy made eye contact with me often throughout the show, especially before it got dark, but that may have been my imagination. However...
As the band left the stage before the encore, I leaned toward John and reminded him of the dryer shirts. I really didn't expect to get one, but being 5th row, if a shirt was near, you had better stay outta my way! Alex came out first, drew one shirt from each dryer, threw one into the center section but too far to the left of us, and the other two shirts he threw into the section in front of his stage area. As Al through his shirts, Ged was taking his three shirts out of the dryers. He walked towards the front of the stage, and threw the first shirt directly at me! The shirt was easily 8 to 9 feet up in the air, but at my height of 6'5", no one else in my area had a chance! I leapt, snagged it out of the air, and cradled it like a running back breaking a tackle. Immediately after the band left the stage and the house lights came up, someone approached me and offered me $125 for the shirt. I laughed and said it's not for sale, to which he replied "$150?!?! That's all I got!". I told him they were on ebay for $500 (not that I would have sold it!). Needless to say, it was the perfect end to an already perfect day.
The Power Windows Webmaster, August 2002