by Gary Graff, Detroit |
November 18, 2008 4:18 EST
For its new DVD, "Snakes & Arrows Live," Rush took a somewhat different approach than on its last two video releases, 2003's "Rush in Rio" and 2005's "R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour."
"With this one we wanted to focus on the playing," singer/bassist/keyboardist Geddy Lee tells Billboard.com. "So a lot of the camera work features the interaction between Neil (Peart), Alex (Lifeson) and myself, a lot of the details that you don't normally cover in a DVD performance. So for fans of the music who love to see what everybody's fingers are doing and how we interact back and forth with each other, that became the overriding focus on this one."
"Snakes & Arrows Live" was shot with 21 High Definition cameras during a two-night stand in October 2007 at the Ahoy Rotterdam Arena in the Netherlands -- the same shows that produced the "Snakes & Arrows Live" album that came out in April. The two releases were separated, Lee says, because Rush wanted to have something out for its 2008 North American tour and also because "we needed more time to spend on the DVD to make it more special."
Besides the 24-song concert, the "Snakes & Arrows Live" DVD also includes four "authorized bootleg" songs from Atlanta in 2008, alternate versions of the songs "Far Cry" and "The Way the Wind Blows," a performance of "Red Sector A" from the 2004 R30 Tour and the "What's That Smell?" filmed comedic skit that opened the second half of the Snakes & Arrows Tour shows.
Mostly, though, Lee says the DVD confirms to him that "we were playing really well and that everything in the show kind of revolves around that and there was great energy coming from us. That's what I was seeing on the screen."
Lee says "Snakes & Arrows Live" will have to hold Rush fans over for a while. The trio is currently "on a break" and "a little burnt out right now," though he has every confidence there will be another Rush album in the future.
"I think we're gonna stay quiet for awhile and then start writing -- when we're going to start writing I can't say just yet," Lee notes. "It may be in the fall, maybe the spring, maybe the following spring. But eventually we'll start writing some songs and recording them, and hopefully that will be followed up by another tour down the road a couple years from now."
"With this one we wanted to focus on the playing," singer/bassist/keyboardist Geddy Lee tells Billboard.com. "So a lot of the camera work features the interaction between Neil (Peart), Alex (Lifeson) and myself, a lot of the details that you don't normally cover in a DVD performance. So for fans of the music who love to see what everybody's fingers are doing and how we interact back and forth with each other, that became the overriding focus on this one."
"Snakes & Arrows Live" was shot with 21 High Definition cameras during a two-night stand in October 2007 at the Ahoy Rotterdam Arena in the Netherlands -- the same shows that produced the "Snakes & Arrows Live" album that came out in April. The two releases were separated, Lee says, because Rush wanted to have something out for its 2008 North American tour and also because "we needed more time to spend on the DVD to make it more special."
Besides the 24-song concert, the "Snakes & Arrows Live" DVD also includes four "authorized bootleg" songs from Atlanta in 2008, alternate versions of the songs "Far Cry" and "The Way the Wind Blows," a performance of "Red Sector A" from the 2004 R30 Tour and the "What's That Smell?" filmed comedic skit that opened the second half of the Snakes & Arrows Tour shows.
Mostly, though, Lee says the DVD confirms to him that "we were playing really well and that everything in the show kind of revolves around that and there was great energy coming from us. That's what I was seeing on the screen."
Lee says "Snakes & Arrows Live" will have to hold Rush fans over for a while. The trio is currently "on a break" and "a little burnt out right now," though he has every confidence there will be another Rush album in the future.
"I think we're gonna stay quiet for awhile and then start writing -- when we're going to start writing I can't say just yet," Lee notes. "It may be in the fall, maybe the spring, maybe the following spring. But eventually we'll start writing some songs and recording them, and hopefully that will be followed up by another tour down the road a couple years from now."
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