I Seen Geddy, He Looky Real Old

On June 14th, after Trinks dance recital, Metsfan came down and we got into the van with my friend and his friend and daughter to go and see Rush at the Wachovia Center. Nothingknew will surely make fun of me for this as he always says I am unaware that there was music created after 1980. I would argue that there was more sucky music created after 1980 then in the entire history of music, combined. For some reason, Buster Poindexter's Hot-Hot-Hot and it's poor man's cousin, Electric Avenue, by Eddie Grant, come to mind, But I digress.
Anyway, the drive to the Wachovia Center was the type of drive loved by Preparation H (or Tucks Medicated Pads, if you go that way) - a real pain in the ass. We drove up 495 to 95, no trouble there. Then we got within 2 miles of Broadstreet and we barely moved. The exit on Broadstreet was more full than Kate Moss after a binge at Old Country Buffet. Relying on my past instances of driving in from the New Jersey side, I decided to blow past all this traffic, switch onto 76, and take Packer (insert euphemism here) Avenue to 10th street and turn down that way. It worked out great, until we hit where 10th and Broad Intersect. Just for the hell of it, I decided to go straight where everyone else was going right and ended up cruising through a few sets of gates. The gates led out onto some road that looked right out of the opening credits for Night Court, and we were winding our way around the stadium trying to find one damn gate that was actually opened. I had literally just passed a gate when they opened it behind me. After the 2 cars behind me uturned, I decided to go for it and last we were inside about 7:15, 15 mins before the show was supposed to start. Along the way we had found out that the Philadelphia Soul were playing at the Spectrum and Jimmy Buffet was playing at Citizens Bank Park. I should add that this was the first time I had ever seen anyone wear hula skirts and eye patches in South Philly (unless there is some flamingly gay street gang that I am unaware of). We remarked that it should be a lot less crowded leaving since most Jimmy Buffet songs are about 4 minutes long and eventually he would run out of material. Despite AC/DCs success to the contrary, there are only so many songs you can sing related to sex and drinking.
Once inside the stadium, the Irish Curse, as I will call him, had to remind me to stop him from spending an additional $75 on a shirt that he had previously bought at the last concert. My remark to him was "I should have stopped you from the 8 or 9 beers you had prior to buying said shirt."
So we make our way down to the seats and boy did we have good ones. We had sixth row about half way between the stage and the back of the stadium. For once, I would not have to shift back and forth trying to get a clear path of sight, like we had to at the E-Center, or whatever the hell they are now calling it. Also, I wouldn't have to try and do that behind a 350lb guy that barely fit in the seat. If you've never been to a Rush concert, you might not know that such an eclectic mix of hard rock fans existed. You had everything from biker guys, women in their 50s who used be hot, current hot women, pasty white men, and kids - Yes, Nothingknew, there is a new generation of Rush fans. Right behind us and to the side of us were kids under the age of 18. The decrepit old men (in their 50s) who sat in front of me could not even stand up for an hour and a half without complaining (Oy, I got such a crick in the neck).
The show ends up starting about 20 mins late, which was great since my last friend, arriving from NJ had almost suffered a heart attack running across the parking lot trying to be in time for the show. They opened with "Limelight" - always a crowd-pleaser. I forgot just how loud an indoor show can be, since the last 3 I had been to were all outside. You couldn't hear much except the music. One thing that was noticed right away when the concert started is how old the band looked. I'm not sure what I was expecting, since they are all nearing 55. In five years I can take one of them to a movie for a senior citizen discount. Looking old does not equate to sounding old or having to fudge music, somewhat like what Phil Collins had to do for some of his drumrolls on the Genesis tour. The band was as tight as ever. We were all trying to figure out what the videos before, during intermission, and after the show was over were about. The main theme was chicken. Yes, chicken. On stage, one of the props they used were actually three sets of rotisserie chicken roasters, and during one of the songs a guy dressed in a chicken suit came out and fiddled with the roasters. Perhaps Nothingknew can come up with some explanation of this theme.
The band played for a total of three hours. Geddy can still hit the high notes on "Freewill". Alex is good as ever, and Neil is still the best drummer around. After the show ended we all met back at the van and the drive back, although still fraught with traffic, was far better then going there.