While the concert DVD and CD are fun souvenirs of a giddy (and finally, 30 years on, loose!) two-set marathon of never-hits, the real treat here is the bonus DVD of never-before-available interviews and early live performance promo clips (er, videos, before there were videos).
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To commemorate Rush’s overwhelmingly successful 2004 30th anniversary tour, the band released the inevitable souvenir concert DVD, R30, in two versions: a no-frills single disk set featuring only the concert (a Frankfurt, Germany, show recorded in sparkling high-definition widescreen), and for ten bucks more, a loaded-with-extras deluxe edition including a second DVD of early, previously unreleased live footage, videos, and interviews and a two-CD version of the same concert. But wait! There’s more—I just couldn’t fit all of these goodies into one sentence. Pointless but totally awesome extras also include a mini “tour program” filled with rare career-spanning photos, an “all access” sticker from the tour, and two guitar picks cradled in separate slots marked Stage L and Stage R, bearing the R30 tour logo and, respectively, bassist/singer Geddy Lee’s and guitarist Alex Lifeson’s signatures. What, no Neil Peart–signed mini-drumsticks?
While the concert DVD and CD are fun souvenirs of a giddy (and finally, 30 years on, loose!) two-set marathon of never-hits, the real treat here is the bonus DVD of never-before-available interviews and early live performance promo clips (er, videos, before there were videos).
While part of Rush’s appeal to middle school nerds of the ’70s to ’90s (present company included) was the band’s underexposure media-wise—the only successful band seen talking on TV less was, well, nobody, really—to finally have access to so many lengthy interview clips and even a freaking awards ceremony retrospective (the band’s 1994 Juno Award Hall of Fame induction, featuring taped congrats from Rush fans and fellow back-slapping Canadians Mike Meyers and, um, Barenaked Ladies) makes one long for the days of chubbied, mulleted pimple-dom when a bounty like this would have meant more than seeing a real pair of actual live boobs.
Most of the interviews feature the band’s intelligent and chatty rhythm section of Lee and Peart. Anyone who has read an interview with Peart knows the man can speak as eloquently and super-quickly as he can play, a talent he displays charmingly in a 1990 reminiscence about his skepticism in taking over for original drummer John Rutsey in 1974. Fans of Lee will enjoy a priceless local-news interview from 1979’s Hemispheres tour, showing a shy-but-confident acne-laden and seemingly 14-year-old Lee discussing the band’s burgeoning fame and upcoming theatre tour of England (not to mention a you-are-there clip of the band that same day soundchecking a yet-to-be-released “Spirit of Radio”). And while Lifeson barely makes a peep in the earlier group interviews—his only contribution in a lengthy 1981 full-band interview is some junior high clowning in a green monster mask—he finally proves that he can speak full sentences in a fancy-schmancy posed-and-tastefully-lit 1990 interview with some interesting commentary on how the band’s dark (and commercially repellent) 1975 epic Caress of Steel became a turning point in the band’s career, acting as the catalyst for the creation of 1976’s enormously successful (ironically) red-state classic rock staple 2112.
Unfortunately, the band’s 30th anniversary coincided with the release of their completely disposable classic rock covers EP Feedback, which is featured far too prominently in a set so focused on comprehensively spanning the band’s three decades worth of material. I mean, four freaking cover songs? It’s doubtful many of these rabid Rush fans were interested in hearing the band’s take on “Summertime Blues” or “Crossroads.” And honestly, is anyone really clamoring for a live version of a lukewarm late-career taffy-pull like 2002’s “Earthshine”? A for-the-fans show like this would have been the perfect opportunity to dust off a few more fan-fave rarities—say, A Farewell to Kings’ title track or Hemispheres’ “Circumstances” or, shit, anything not from the band’s less than stellar last few albums—in place of the momentum-killing (and super tired) “unplugged” set featuring the momentum-killing (and super tired) “Resist” from 1996’s Test for Echo. But what created the perfect restroom-and-beer break during the live show will be one of the few points skipped-over on this otherwise fan-boy-pleasing DVD.
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