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Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Mon, Nov 25, 2024

Rush's R40 Live concert video reviews, and Lakeside Park/Anthem (Live) video available online

Wed, Nov 25, 2015@9:16PM | comments

Rush's R40 Live concert film officially released last Friday in North America (it releases December 4th in Europe) just in time for the Holidays, and is available as 2 DVDs, 1 Blu-ray disc or 3 Audio CDs along with various combo packages. The Rush Backstage Club includes an optional t-shirt (seen here) with any purchase, and Best Buy's package includes a Rush Starman flashlight (video of it in action here). Earlier today Rush posted the video of Lakeside Park/Anthem from the show's encore to YouTube at this location. Previews of Xanadu, Subdivisions, Tom Sawyer, The Spirit of Radio, Roll the Bones, Closer to the Heart, and Jacob's Ladder are also available for viewing online, along with a 2-minute trailer for the film here. R40 Live's tracklisting mirrors the Friday, June 19th Toronto show setlist, with One Little Victory, Distant Early Warning and Red Barchetta from the June 17th Toronto show as bonus material on the DVD/Blu-ray. The CD also includes audio for Clockwork Angels, The Wreckers, The Camera Eye and Losing It with Jonathan Dinklage as bonus material. Last week Sirius XM's Classic Rewind (Channel 25) hosted the radio premiere of the R40 Live CD, and they'll continue to broadcast the audio every other day or so from now through December 6th with the full broadcast schedule available here. John at Cygnus-X1.net has posted the liner notes, track list, artwork and more here. R40 Live reviews have been rolling in over the past week. Brad Birzer of Progarchy.com loves the quality but takes issue with the packaging:

... In terms of sound and visuals, this is an extraordinary release that absolutely captures the spirit of the tour. There are a number of things I'd not noticed when sitting high in the bleachers in Lincoln. Peart has a World War I RAF roundel in his drum set; Geddy has rearview mirrors on his keyboards; and there are lots of plastic dinosaurs near Alex. Additionally, things on stage really never stop moving. Lights change, props arrive and disappear, and there's constant motion. ... The packaging for R40 Live is simply of poor quality. Not the disks. They're fine. But, the cardboard holding the disks together is flimsy, and, even with the best care, I doubt it will last long or wear well. This is unfortunate, and I'm sorry the record label chose to put such a masterful moment in Rush's history in such an ephemeral box. Talk about incongruous. Still, R40 Live is well worth owning, as it captures such a crucial celebration. The blu-ray, especially, sounds extraordinary. As well it should.

You can check out the full review here along with some other reviews at these links:

[JP's Music Blog]
[Classic Rock],
[PopMatters.com]
[Progarchy.com]
[A.V. Club]

You can order the various R40 Live packages at the following links:

[3-disc CD/Blu-ray Combo]
[3-disc CD/DVD Combo]
[3 Audio CDs]
[Blu-ray only]
[DVD only]