Rush in 5.1 surround

Well I got both Show of Hands and Exit Stage Left DVD's and gave them a spin yesterday.

Verdict =>Show of Hands is much better sound and better video. Xanadu in Exit Stage Left is worth it just for this one track.

Conclusion => mixed bag really. The guitars and vocals are well recorded but that is easy to do. The recording of the drum set is atrocious. No dynamics at all. You can even hear the change in sound level on the Toms as Neil moves across his set. Clearly they lacked the number of microphones (or channels) needed to properly record such a large drum set. At the end of the day two thirds (Alex and Geddy) of what you hear is good and one third (Neil) sounds muted like it was played from inside a trash can.

A pity but then again Rush never produces good recordings. I suspect Lifeson had something to do with the mix/master of the sound, as the guitars are very good.....Neil got the short end of the drum stick it seems!!!!

If you like watching amazing guitar work it is still a pleasure to own this DVD.

Shadorne,
did you purchase the R30 box set?

No I did't get the R30 box set. I thought about it though as it was a pretty good deal - if you wanted all three concerts. (The separate 2007 DVD's are the same though - so I was told at HMV)

Well I got the R30 set and listened last night - I guess I was curious to see if it was better.

It was and it wasn't.

The venue acoustics were terrible...and the guitars and vocals were rather muffled and often distorted....it seemed to suffer what vinyl fans would call digititus or compression distortion.

The drums were indeed much better recorded on R30 than Exit Stage Left and Show of Hands. The video is tremendous quality on R30. So this is big plus for those who concentrate on video!! However, the band is not tight! Serious timing errors occurring on a regular basis and Geddy's voice ain't what it used to be. Still amazing for a bunch of aging rockers - few bands could pull of such an amazing performance but it is only a pale shade of what Rush could pull off in their early years.

Overall verdict, after reviewing extensively all three ( Exit Stage Left, Show of Hands and R30), I prefer Exit Stage Left for the sound and musicianship ( nice analog sound and great venue acoustics ). Exit Stage Left is an awesome concert and the musicianship is first rate - they are at their peak and you can hear it - you just can't see that much as video is crap - although seeing Neil play such an assortment of percussion is impressive. R30 is frankly kind of ho-hum musically - the timing is more often off than on. Show of Hands is also very good and better sound than Exit stage Left....but Exit Stage Left is the one to get...it is a classic. This is the only one I will replay.

Going to the Dr. today to get my ears checked.. My hearing must be off. I find the R30 to be the best the band has put out both audio and video...

Ghost_ Rider,,,you out there??? Any thoughts on this one??