Rush – R40 Live (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Rush – R40 Live (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 03:16:08 minutes | 2,30 GB | Genre: Progressive Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New Rounder Records

Recorded during two sold-out hometown shows at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto in June 2015, R40 Live is a career-spanning live retrospective from Rush, celebrating the band’s over 40 years together. The centrepiece is the remarkable setlist, as Rush works backwards from the most recent to the oldest songs in the band’s catalogue.

Recorded and filmed over two (sold-out, of course) evenings at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre in the midst of the band’s 35-date North American R40 tour, the aptly named R40 Live finds Rush at a crossroads. On the one hand, it’s a festive affair that sees the stalwart trio performing a lethal mix of classics, deep cuts, and recent triumphs with the gusto of men many years younger, but that carnival atmosphere is tempered by the fact that after 41 years, the band may be finally exiting stage left. Neil Peart’s chronic tendonitis may be the biggest contributing factor to the band’s retirement from the road, but one would be hard-pressed to find any flaws in his performance. In fact, R40 Live may be the band’s most dynamic live LP to date. Boasting a career-spanning set list that works its way backwards, beginning with a thunderous rendition of 2012’s Clockwork Angels highlight “The Anarchist,” R40 Live is best experienced with the show’s visuals intact, as the band pairs each song with the era-correct tour staging, from the whimsical laundromat dryers of the 1990s to the pared-down classic rock/curtained theater vibe of the 1970s. Also, fans of the band’s oft-used comical tour videos will be treated to a bevy of special guests including the likes of Les Claypool, Peter Dinklage, Chad Smith, Jason Segal and Paul Rudd, Tom Morello, and Jay Baruchel, but there’s still plenty of pure audio to please the hardcore base. All of the usual suspects are accounted for (“Tom Sawyer,” “The Spirit of Radio,” “Closer to the Heart,” “2112,” “Subdivisions,” etc.), but the addition of Permanent Waves fave “Jacob’s Ladder” and Signals’ “Losing It,” the former of which hasn’t been performed live since 1980 and the latter which finds its way to the stage for the very first time, helps to make the delightful R40 Live a must for any true Rush devotee.

Tracklist:
01. Rush – The Anarchist (07:07)
02. Rush – Headlong Flight (08:45)
03. Rush – Far Cry (05:31)
04. Rush – The Main Monkey Business (06:07)
05. Rush – How It Is (04:45)
06. Rush – Animate (06:15)
07. Rush – Roll The Bones (06:05)
08. Rush – Between The Wheels (05:58)
09. Rush – Losing It (05:55)
10. Rush – Subdivisions (05:48)
11. Rush – Tom Sawyer (04:59)
12. Rush – YYZ (04:31)
13. Rush – The Spirit Of Radio (05:03)
14. Rush – Natural Science (08:31)
15. Rush – Jacob’s Ladder (07:34)
16. Rush – Hemispheres: Prelude (04:19)
17. Rush – Cygnus X-1 / The Story So Far (Drum Solo) (09:21)
18. Rush – Closer To The Heart (03:07)
19. Rush – Xanadu (10:39)
20. Rush – 2112 (12:15)
21. Rush – Lakeside Park / Anthem (05:29)
22. Rush – What You’re Doing / Working Man (09:35)
23. Rush – One Little Victory (05:47)
24. Rush – Distant Early Warning (05:24)
25. Rush – Red Barchetta (07:08)
26. Rush – Clockwork Angels (07:46)
27. Rush – The Wreckers (05:38)
28. Rush – The Camera Eye (10:21)
29. Rush – Losing It (06:13)

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