Originally Posted by: PRSplayaI had never heard or seen much of Alex Lifeson until I watched the Rush in Rio DVD. I must say, I was impressed and enjoyed his playing, and also enjoyed his stage presence. Defanately an underrated guitarist.

I watched that Rush video on TV last night. Like, totally blow me away with how old they looked. Especially Alex Lifeson.
I've got an old VHS tape from back in 1984 that I threw in while I was watching it and started a/b'ing the two. ALex had a typical 80's hairdo and was jumping all over the stage and Neil Peart had hair down his back.

Now Alex is just standing still and balancing his guitar on his beer belly while
Neil Peart is wearing a hat to cover his bald spot.

Gotta say though.... they rock like hell and it brings back memories of when
bands were actually talented and more concerned with the music and technicalities of their playing than just playing open chords and trying to look cool.

It brought back major memories too..... listening to 2112 in my friends Bug smoking a huge pipe and filling the car with so much smoke you couldn't see outside.

The freaky part was I didn't realize how much Alex Lifeson had influenced my own playing style. Especially that open 1st and 2nd string on chords like barred A, G and B.
I think I spent more time doing air drums to Rush than the guitar parts cause I still know all the rolls.

On a side note: it's too bad that Geddy Lee was forced to stop screaming with his voice years ago. I remember way back when he was told by doctors that if he didn't stop screaming he'd ruin his voice so all the albums after 2112 were a little lacking in the vocal department. You can tell in the video that he's purposely avoiding the high notes.

And another side note: Geddy Lees mom runs a store on main street here in Newmarket so if you ever wanna gab with her or get memorabelia, just head down to main street.