brendaNdoug and fam: August 2013

Last weekend was very nice. Friday, Brenda and I went down to one of the stages of the Tour of Utah bike race. The stage we saw was in SLC. It was a 5-loop course- very fun to watch. On some of the downhill streets, they were going over 60 mph! I got up to 40 once on my bike- I was scared out of my wits. Thought I was gonna puke and then die. But, I live to tell the tale.

One thing though, those guys on their bikes, as good as they are, were just not good enough- they didn't stand a chance against all those cops on motorcycles.... how is that fair?? ;)

Then on Saturday night, we went to the Utah Symphony and the Music of the Rolling Stones up at Deer Valley in Park City (hangin' with the cool peeps). We took a little picnic basket with goodies and enjoyed the cool mountain air. NOTE TO SELF: Next time, take a jacket. The Stones are not my fave, but the impersonators played some of their best stuff. I like their older stuff better- personally. Man, I thought people at the Rush concert were old! Nothing to compare to the OLD people at this concert. I mean, Mick Jagger just turned 70, so, I guess there would be some oldies about. They were all drunk and dancing with wine glasses in there hands, shakin' and grindin'- hilarious! We did get up and shake it a wee bit, but we just haven't had the practice dancing with wine glasses in our hands, so we did not partake in those activities :) We had a good time.

After long months of patiently waiting, the time finally arrived- Rush's Clockwork Angels tour rolled into town! A few pix follow. Not the best photographymanship... it's hard to keep that phone/camera still when you're jumping around- yo!

Brenda and I decided to make a night of it. Since we were down SLC way, we had wanted to try this bbq place down in Grantsville, UT. Grantsville...where the Sam Hill is Grantsville you may ask? And, now that I think of it, who the Sam Hill is Sam Hill? (I just Googled it... interesting). Anyway, I digress... so, we went to Grantsville to eat at Richard's Roundup BBQ. Pretty good food, but I'm still wondering why they didn't put Grantsville a little bit closer?

After quickly eating, we buzzed on over to Usana Amphitheater which is on the other side of the mountain from Grantsville- thought we'd be late to the show for sure since they put Grantsville so far away, but we made it with time to spare. Seats weren't too bad, just a wee bit more off to the side than I liked- oh well, next time. Luckily the couple that was next to us (closer to the middle) moved to the handicap zone as the guy had a bad back... we just slipped over to their seats. It's amazing what 2 more seats to the center will give you for stage viewing.

The show was suppose to start @ 7:30, but it didn't start until about 8, probably on account that the sun was still blazing. Alex had to don some shades, of course Geddy wears his sunglasses at night, and Neil just squinted until the sun went down.

They took a break after playing quite a few songs from their previous albums, cause as Geddy said, they're a million years old (he just had his 60th birthday last week, Alex next month, Neil's already there). They came back and cranked out a bunch from the Clockwork Angels album. Brenda really liked Clockwork Angels and Headlong Flight- why wouldn't you? They were excellent. They had a seven-piece string orchestra that started the second half to cover the new album and many songs after that. I thought it was a pretty cool addition. After playing songs from the new album, they went back to more of their older songs- so awesome. They then bid goodnight which was much too soon. Brenda asked what they could come back and play for an encore- "there are so many"... I said, "Well, they can always come back and play Tom Sawyer and 2112 cause they haven't played them." They must have heard me, cause that's exactly what they played! Then they bid adieu until next time, that was about 11pm.

They played a lot of songs- many favorites, but they couldn't play them all of course. It was so much fun letting the hair down for a bit and getting crazy. It doesn't happen very often. We're usually very mild-mannered as you know ;) Brenda and I wondered how much longer Rush was going to keep this up... of course, all Rush fans have wondered that for some time now. Brenda said "Can you see them doing this @ 70?". I don't know... can you? Let's hope so. So what if they have to be wheeled out in a wheelchair or gurney- The show must go on! Thanks Neil, Alex, Geddy- we had a splendid time. And here's to at least 10 more years of timeless rockmanship!