[NEWS, WEATHER, and SPORTS - September 26, 2007: Shunpikin' it Old Skool]
Just as he's been doing for each break on the tour thus far, Neil Peart has taken advantage of Rush's current break between the end of the North American leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour and the beginning of the European leg to write another news update to his website. Neil talks mostly about his motorcycle travels between shows, focusing on the concept of shunpiking; the practice of avoiding turnpikes and freeways - something that Neil and Michael have become experts at. Rush and the tour itself are barely mentioned at all. Neil seems like he's still having fun but the road is beginning to take its toll:
... our manager’s old line about how my approach to touring was “a long motorcycle trip where you can earn a little gas money along the way.” As our traveling circus of band and crew has continued to mount and perform our roadshow almost fifty times now, earning that gas money has continued to be a difficult, physically demanding job. As always seems to happen in the middle of every tour, when the routine grinds on into the third and fourth months, the mood at work among band and crew can sometimes sink to a tense, dark state of mind that combines homesickness, fatigue, edginess, frustration, friction, physical pain, and a feeling that threatens to approach “fed up.”
Still, most of us “keep the shiny side up.” Daily smiles and nightly jokes leaven the potential for tedium, and—most important—the band has continued to play to a high standard, supported by a first-rate, and highly entertaining crew (we entertain the crowd; they entertain us). The audiences have been fantastic everywhere, and the shows have been going well, but—like the gas that goes into our motorcycles—it just keeps costing more. ...
Sounds like they really need this short break before the European leg. Then they'll get a nice long break over the winter and should be fully recharged in time for the 2008 leg.
NOTE: Posts over 10 years old are partially archived. All comments, images and other embedded media have been removed.
