RUSH: Beyond the Lighted Stage – Review

My wife and I saw the RUSH documentary ‘RUSH: Behind the Lighted Stage’ last night, and man, oh man what a show.  I was glad that I went, and it exceeded all my expectations – a great documentary.

We saw it at the Rave theater in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  The large theater room was about 2/3 filled.  I did not see a single person leave during the entire show – no bathroom breaks, no popcorn runs, nothing.  We were hanging on every word.  Including my wife, I think there were three women in the audience.  When it comes to RUSH, women mostly don’t seem to ‘get it’.  On the other hand, I am not sure that many of the men who were there were … ‘getting it’ if you know what I mean (RUSH is kind of nerd rock after all), which might also explain the lack of women in the audience.  At the end of the movie there was applause.  Real, mature, appreciative applause.

The movie follows the lives of the band members from the very beginning (I was born…) up to today.  You get a great feel for the personalities and character of each member.  There is an impressive amount of very early footage from their humble beginnings.  The balance of the talking and the music is just right, and I love how they would show some of the original lyric drafts during many of the songs.  Live concert footage and music video accompanies many of the songs.  What struck me most was what a genuine friendship and love these guys have for each other.  Also how willing they were to make fun of themselves – it was a very open, honest look inside.  The bad critical reviews, the horrible fashion sense, the (unfortunate?) synthesizer era, the geek/nerd perceptions were all there with no sense of defensiveness.

The endorsements of many rock celebrities was interesting to hear.  KISS, Metallica, Sebastian Bach, Jack Black, etc. all gave such insightful, genuine compliments and observations.  Jack Black seems like a true fan, as does Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), and Kirk Hamett (Metallica).  It was nice to see and hear this. 

Also this movie was quite funny.  The sense of humor of RUSH is very underrated.

There also seemed to be a subtle purpose to this documentary – get these guys in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  This was not a major part of the film, but the HofF snubbing of Rush was presented – almost like some quiet conspiracy at Rolling Stone to forever keep RUSH out.  Again, this was not overdone, just presented.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this film.  If you missed it, I am sure you can view it through Netflix someday – I highly recommend it.