R40 Live

R40 Live
Live album by Rush
Released	November 20, 2015
Recorded	June 17 and 19, 2015
Venue	Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada
Genre	Progressive rock hard rock
Length	195:57 (CD version)
Label	Anthem
Producer	Allan Weinrib
Rush chronology
Clockwork Angels Tour (2013) R40 Live (2015)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

R40 Live is the last live audio album release and the last live video release of Canadian prog-rock band Rush, recorded on their high-grossing R40 Live Tour. Both formats were released November 20, 2015. The performances were filmed on June 17 and 19, 2015, at Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada.^[2] R40 Live is noted for containing the live debut of "Losing It", from the band's record "Signals". During set 1 of all disc formats, Benjamin Mink is featured as the guest violinist (although he plays an electric violin in concert). The album's common description, written by Philip Wilding, states: "The version [of Losing It] on the Signals album was raised ever higher by Ben Mink’s...wonderfully affecting violin part, the recreation of which had always put the song beyond the band’s live set."^[3]

The audio CD album consists of three discs. Disc 1 contains the entire first set, disc 2 contains the second set, and disc 3 contains the encore, and seven bonus tracks.

The video DVD/Blu-ray versions only contains the first three of the seven bonus tracks. It was also the last official live album to feature drummer Neil Peart before his retirement from touring due to health issues in 2015 and his death in 2020.

Best Buy sold two deluxe edition box sets of R40 Live: CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray. Both of these included an exclusive and limited-edition Starman projector flashlight, that projected a white Starman logo when the button was held. The metal flashlight is black with a gray label that reads "RUSH R40", and features a keychain on the end. These box sets were the only way to get the concert video and CD soundtrack together in a box set. Best Buy also made a promotional video for these deluxe box sets.

It was on this album that "Lakeside Park" was played live again after a (at least) 39-year hiatus, due to Alex Lifeson's interest expressed in doing so.

Track listing[edit]

This is the track list for the three audio CDs. Track variations for the video DVD/Blu-ray discs are detailed below.

The following info is on the CD bonus performances:

Track 2, "Distant Early Warning", was recorded at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada on June 17, 2015.

Track 4, “Clockwork Angels”, was recorded in Denver, Colorado on July 11, 2015.

Track 5, "The Wreckers", was recorded in Buffalo, New York on June 10, 2015.

Track 6, "The Camera Eye", was recorded in Kansas City, Missouri on July 9, 2015.

Jonathan Dinklage played the violin part for track 7, "Losing It", which was recorded in Los Angeles on August 1. He performed with the band during their earlier Clockwork Angels Tour, as part of the Clockwork Angels String Ensemble.

DVD/Blu-ray notes[edit]

The DVD/Blu-ray discs contain various videos that were used during the show. The following four were used during the beginning, middle, encore, and end of the show chronologically and respectively:

• "The World Is...The World Is..." - Played before Set 1; an animated presentation of the band's advance through changing fashion/music styles over their entire career; it includes a chronological list of the band's songs played as audio tracks; some of which were synced with the animations; 10 of these songs were played on the tour itself. The animation was created by Norma V. Toraya, more commonly known as Crankbunny, as listed in the shows credits.
• "No Country for Old Hens" - Played before Set 2; a montage of jokes and outtakes (mostly chicken-based) from the videos used in the band's four previous tours: Clockwork Angels Tour, Time Machine Tour, Snakes & Arrows Tour, and R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour.
• "Mel's Rock Pile" - Played before the encore; features Eugene Levy as his Second City Television character Rockin' Mel Slirrup, a 1970s-era DJ who introduces the band as an up-and-coming act
• "Exit Stage Left" - Post-show video and closing credits, in which the band's dressing room is commandeered for a party by the characters from their album covers.

The following is a list of any videos or screen effects used during the songs in the show chronologically:

• "The Anarchist" - The Anarchist features a video of rapidly changing cities and buildings. The majority of the time, a distorted rainbow (and occasionally black) fuzz effect covering videos of the band's immediate playing. During the prechoruses of the song, a video showing a giant moving telescope is displayed, with smaller ones on the screens on either side of it. This is similar to the video used during the Clockwork Angels Tour. During the final chorus, a silhouette of a man is displayed, with moving white stage lights used as eyes for the man.
• "Headlong Flight/Drumbastica" - During Headlong Flight and Drumbastica, two things show up: the majority of the time, a fancy picture frame outlines the middle screen where the band's immediate playing is shown, but an occasional clip of a red hurricane eye with the Clockwork Angels symbol wheel around it is shown. The two smaller screens on either side of it show moving controls on a panel, supposedly from a flying vehicle, hence Headlong Flight.
• "Far Cry" - A video is played throughout Far Cry, which presents the single's art cover as a moving scene, featuring moving water, flying baby carriers, and lightning strikes. Some of the lightning strikes are synced with the song.
• "Animate" - When the band plays Animate, a short clip is played prior to it, which includes pictures of crowds of fans and floating covers of their previous albums.
• "Roll The Bones" - During Roll The Bones, the cover art for the album of the same name is displayed and moving on all three screens. The band also added a video during the rap section of the song, which featured lip-syncing cameos of Peter Dinklage, Chad Smith, Jay Baruchel, Les Claypool, Tom Morello, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, as well as John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells, and Mike Smith, best known as leading actors in the Canadian mockumentary "Trailer Park Boys".
• "Subdivisions" - Subdivisions features clips from the promotional music video for the song.
• "Tom Sawyer" - During the 7/8 breakdown section of Tom Sawyer, two videos are shown: first is a clip of monkeys dressed as the band playing their respective instruments. The second is a clip of the live band members playing each other's instruments: Geddy Lee on drums, Alex Lifeson on bass, and Neil Peart on guitar.
• "YYZ" - During the 10/8 section at the beginning of YYZ, a video is played that features a Moving Pictures workman first: ducking as airplanes pass by on the Moving Pictures cover location, and then climbing atop a skyscraper and waving while planes pass him.
• "The Spirit of Radio" - Throughout nearly the whole song, a clip of moving white airwaves in the shape of a circle plays on all three screens. During the interludes, a video of quick-moving helicopter shots of fan crowds is shown on all three screens.

The following songs contain video footage:

• Natural Science
• Jacob's Ladder
• Closer to the Heart
• Xanadu
• 2112
• Lakeside Park/Anthem
• What You're Doing/Working Man
• One Little Victory
• Distant Early Warning
• Red Barchetta

These discs contain only the first three of the seven bonus tracks.

On the top menu page, after waiting for some time, a list of puns and video clips are shown in a sequence on screen.

1. It starts with showing the R40 logo for a time.
2. Next, it switches to saying "OUR 40", and shows a picture of the band in its early years.
3. After a bit of time, it shows an animated clock ticking with the text "HOUR 40" beside it. The clock has a ticking sound effect, and every time the clock strikes 12, a snippet of "Anthem" is played.
4. Then, it says "ARF 40" and shows a video of two terrier dogs moving while playing an unknown song.
5. Finally, the text switches to saying "AAAR 40", and a video of Geddy Lee dressed as a pirate with a fake parrot on his shoulder pops up. Lee opens a creaky ship hatch and says, "Aaar...forty! Eat, Polly! [Polly squawks as he tries to feed her a cracker] Aaar...stupid bird." Afterwards, he closes the hatch.
6. There is a then a countdown from 9 that stops at 4, where is says "4D" and the screen goes black for 7 more seconds. Afterwards, the menu sequence starts over.

5 and then 6 were the opening clips to "No Country for Old Hens" during the actual show.

The credits feature some R40 art and a special version of "Closer to the Heart".

Personnel[edit]

• Geddy Lee – vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, rhythm guitar
• Alex Lifeson – guitars, backing vocals
• Neil Peart – drums, percussion

Charts[edit]

Audio

Certifications[edit]

DVD

References[edit]