Rush, Stevie Nicks Still Consummate Crowd Pleasers

Reviews & Photos By John Voket

When it comes to pleasing rock and roll fans, the Mohegan Sun Arena pulled out all the stops in recent weeks bringing in two favorites that kept the packed venue jamming. While the crowd who turned out for a solo Stevie Nicks show July 1 may have little in common with those who came to pay tribute to Canadian power trio Rush July 9, both acts certainly proved they still have the juice to treat their respective followings to riveting performances.

Nicks came out of the gate swinging – or spinning – almost issuing a veiled warning with her opening number “Stand Back.” She delivered this and the rest of her uptempo songs rounding out a nearly two-hour set with powerful pipes and a jamming backup band featuring seminal guitarist/musical director Waddy Wachtel, and a compliment of top West Coast session musicians.

Besides the variety of material, most of which populates Nicks’ latest compilation Crystal Visions, the caped songstress was also uncharacteristically chatty. Early on in her set, she treated her many admirers to a particularly interesting rock and roll insider tales.

She said if it wasn’t for the male members of Fleetwood Mac literally kicking her out of the recording studio during a session for the monster hit album Rumors, one of the band’s most cherished songs would probably never have been written. Nicks said after being ejected by Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Lindsay Buckingham, she wandered around Hollywood’s famous Record Plant until being invited to borrow Sly Stone’s private studio to do some writing.

It was there on Stone’s grand piano, sitting alone enveloped in a dark cocoon of black velvet curtains, that she penned the multi-million selling hit “Dreams,” which helped catapult Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 release to becoming one of the world’s top-selling albums of all time.

She delivered this and other Fleetwood Mac contributions including “Rhiannon,” “Gold Dust Woman” and “Landslide” to the appreciative crowd, several of whom brought their old vinyl record covers to wave above their heads as the songs played out.

In between these popular staples, Nicks wove some of her lesser-known and more mysterious creations, which were greeted with almost equal appreciation. Among them were “Enchanted,” “Still of the Night,” the encore “Beauty and the Beast,” and a fantastic rendition of one of her earliest efforts, “Sorcerer.” Nicks said that while the song might conjure up images of medieval magic, it was actually inspired by her experiences in the music business while she was waiting tables in a West Los Angeles diner between her fledgling Buckingham-Nicks phase and when she accepted the invitation to join Fleetwood Mac.

One of the bittersweet aspects of the Nicks show was the woefully short 13-song setlist, which I thought would limit her to just around 80 or 90 minutes on stage. Although the extra 20 minutes was extracted as a result of some awesome jamming by her backing band, Nicks could have easily trimmed her half-dozen outfit changes down to a couple and performed at least one or two more songs.

The sound production also left much to be desired. And while I initially blamed the basketball arena acoustics, I learned eight days later at the Rush show that the room was not to blame – more on that later.

In the song selection department, Nicks certainly could have scrapped her encore cover of Led Zepplin’s “Rock & Roll,” even though an earlier run through Tom Petty’s “I Need To Know” was one of the most energetic numbers of the entire show. Another high point was the trade-off solo duel between drummer Jimmy Paxon and percussionist Lenny Castro leading into Wachtel’s pumping trademark guitar lick, which in turn beckoned Nicks to the stage for a delirious “Edge of Seventeen” to close out the main set.

Stevie Nicks’ ten-piece band had no problem drowning the Mohegan Arena with loud but generally unsatisfying, even muddy sound. But it was the Rush show a few days later that taught me to stop blaming the room for bad acoustics.

The well-preserved and rollicking trio buzzed in for a July 9 show bringing significantly louder and almost pristinely perfect sound and visions to their – get this – three-hour-plus, 27 song show supporting their 19th studio album Snakes & Arrows.

As a die-hard fan who hasn’t missed a Rush Tour since 1978, I was prepared for the obligatory handful of new songs complimenting plenty of road-tested cuts, and maybe a few surprises thrown in for good measure. What I didn’t expect, and thoroughly enjoyed, were the ten new numbers including all three instrumental cuts from “Snakes & Arrows,” which primarily showcased guitarist Alex Lifeson’s distinguished talents.

With lasers and robotic UFOs bathing the stage in washes of alternating colors, and backed by crystal clear digital video screens showing 20-foot-high close-ups and clever backing video images, singer, bassist and keyboardist Geddy Lee showed he was still in top form at this mid-point of the tour.

Alternating between his low and high punctuating register, Lee kept the bottom end of the material firmly in place with some really energetic bass playing, on occasion singing, playing bass and manipulating additional keyboard parts on a foot pedal Midi rig all at the same time. Lifeson also juggled two guitars during a couple of numbers switching between acoustic six- and 12-string guitars and a variety of Gibsons.

In fact, after seeing Lifeson playing Paul Reed Smith guitars almost exclusively over the past decade, it was cool to see and hear him sticking closely to Les Pauls. It may have been lost on many, but the thicker and beefier Gibsons enhanced both the new and vintage Rush material and added much to Lifeson’s backing rhythms and fierce soloing.

As always, however, it was lyricist and drummer Neil Pert who stole the show on almost every song. His dexterity is as good as ever, and his extended solo late in the show had him pounding away on his kit while a black and white video of his idol, the jazz drummer Buddy Rich, seemed to provide a superimposed mirror to Pert’s perfectly executed flailing.

Opening with “Limelight,” Rush threaded through their discography drawing from much of their catalog with guaranteed crowd pleasers like “Freewill,” from Permanent Waves, “Dreamline,” from Different Stages, “Witch Hunt,” and “Tom Sawyer,” from Moving Pictures, “A Passage to Bangkok,” from 2112, and a stellar “Subdivisions,” from Signals.

“Distant Early Warning” and “The Spirit of Radio” were other classic highlights, along with brand new material including the acoustic-fed instrumental “The Main Monkey Business,” “Workin’ Them Angels,” and the first single from Snakes & Arrows, “One Little Victory.”

Among the newest offerings, “Spindrift” displayed the closest resemblance to the earliest Rush material, harkening back to the days of 2112, and A Farewell to Kings.

Adding to the sheer entertainment value were several new video clips that introduced some of the songs.

Fans got to see pop culture Rush references from Second City’s Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas), the kids from South Park, and a hilarious bit with Geddy Lee playing both himself and his father as a kilt-clad rough talking Scotsman demanding he get out on stage to start the show.

It’s questionable how many more new albums and world tours Rush has in them, but I never pass up the opportunity to see these intense and accomplished musicians performing together. In fact, I may make the trek to Madison Square Garden to catch them again September 17!