The Music Never Stopped: What Are You Listening To? **ONLY ONE LINK PER POST PLEASE**

Neil Peart was a remarkable human. The world lost a giant. ?

I know Rolling Stone has their "Top 100 Drummers" list and accordingly Neil is in the top 5 on that list. When it comes to bands and the musicians within a band drummers are where my focus always goes. I love hearing the drums in a song. Probably my honest to god first band that drew me to listening to the drums in their songs was Led Zeppelin. That pink 8 track tape my Mom had in her car, Led Zeppelin II, blew my mind when the first song was "Whole Lotta Love".

Now nobody in my family was a Rush fan but we were all rock fans and listened pretty much to rock music on the radio. I remember hearing "Tom Sawyer", "Subdivisions", and "Limelight" on the radio and liked those songs but I wasn't really drawn to find out more about the band Rush. It wasn't until I finally receive the gift of a lifetime when local cable finally picked up MTV and I began to really investigate bands.

For me the ah-ha moment for my liking of Rush was their release "Roll the Bones". Most Rush fans really dislike that album since it was pretty commercial, I love it. "Ghost of a Chance" is my favorite Rush song which puts most Rush fans against me....I don't care. But that album made me really deep dive into Rush and their previous work. Now I am NOT a big Prog Rock guy but I do love all the musicianship within that genre. Rush, Yes, old Genesis, and Kansas are amazing bands for their musicianship and lyric content.

Circling back around to the drummer thing though. John Bonham is remarked by most all rock drummers as their influence. But Neil Peart is usually the second drummer to come out their mouths as an influence in just about every interview I've seen or read about from a drummer. Rolling Stone may have their list but I think most every rock drummer would put Neil Peart a very close second to John Bonham for all time influences of definitely the rock genre but just about every genre.

One last plug about Neil Peart. For you book readers, give Neil's first book "Ghost Rider: Travels of the Healing Road" a read. It chronicles his 55,000 mile motorcycle journey after losing his oldest daughter to a car accident and his first wife to cancer. It is an amazing read on how he dealt with loss, his own mortality, and how he was going to continue to live his life either with or without music in it.

GOAT.... :rim:

Absolutely devastated by the Neal peart news...saw them for the 1st time at met center in mid 80's iirc and many time since...they me they got better and better the older they got

Amazing drummer and I believe he wrote most or all of the songs...

Bummer at 67, real bummer

That is the crazy thing about Rush is that Neil was the main songwriter. I remember an rare interview of him where he stated that his lyrics came from whatever style of books he was reading at the time. Reading was his escape while touring constantly over the years and that was his influence on his lyrics.

He was a Very cool dude

Been down A Jayhawks rabbit hole on YouTube today. Very underrated imho.

Juxtapose, "She's Leaving Home" from Sgt. Peppers and, "Helter Skelter" from The Beatles. I can't even.

Got a bit dusty when watching tonight's performance at the Grammys:

https://pitchfork.com/news/grammys-2020-watch-camila-cabello-perform-first-man/?fbclid=IwAR1lvjp6lPro2bHkJFmdXYuEGO03nV_3wntbs8ro_piSUzysoUqoapJ_dns

All the yes

Definitely need to talk to facilities about the cleanup crew around here... way too much dust.

Well, going to live my old high school dream - just bought tickets to GNR at Target Field for this summer.

Better show up on time because now my ass is to old to stay awake if they're late.

I just have NO desire to see Guns live...ever.

And miss a chance at Hawkey's self-promoting Summer Slam?

Guns N Roses at Target Field July 24

That’s the one... looking forward to it. Checks a teenage bucket list item.

Rage Against the Machine is coming back to Minneapolis this spring. Tickets starting at the low price of $128.

Pet peeve: How difficult it is to find prices for concert tickets before they go on sale. You really have to dig around to find an actual price and even then it's just a base price. Nothing about different values for different seats.

The Suburbs tonight First Ave

50 years ago today. The Who perform at Leeds University.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/who-live-at-leeds-interview-951916/

Great tune! I wish I could remember the name of the small venue (club) in Boston where my two roommates and I first saw them live. This was way back in 1969, and I believe that was the first concert in the States introducing "Tommy" to their U.S. fans, which they supplemented with other hit singles from the 60's. We had great seats, and it was unbelievable...too bad they didn't record that one with high quality equipment!

Also, at that same club we saw Jethro Tull and Ten Years After perform. They were great too but The Who - on that special night - were the best of the three.

Years later my wife and I saw The Who live at the old Civic Center in St. Paul. Unfortunately, by then Daltry had lost his voice, the band wasn't nearly as tight, and the sound system was poor in the big arena.

I have been to every Twin Cities TOOL concert since 2001 (minus the outdoor one), and a handful of others (Des Moines, Chicago, Charlotte, Denver). I cannot recall a concert that didn't sell out the day they went on sale... Usually within minutes.

Tool is returning June 6th to Target Center, tickets went on sale Feb 28th, and as of March third there is still a LOT of tickets remaining... I didn't look because I will be out of town and plan on going to a different show, or even skipping this leg of the tour.

I think they finally reached their tipping point with ticket prices. $147 for Lower Level and $122 upper level before fees, a couple $375 (?!?!?!) Floor tickets remain as well. Fees add another $20-$25 per ticket. $172 is just too much for a concert. Add in $25 parking and a $12 beer and you're over $200. Tool is my favorite band, puts on a great show, and I've always said I would pay whatever they charge. Well, they have officially priced me, and given the tickets available, many other people out.

As a metal fan who is typically paying $30-$50 to see shows at much smaller venues, maybe I am out of touch with what arena shows are charging.

I have seen Tool twice. I can tell you that they are extremely boring. They just stand there and don’t do anything. The screen in the background of the last one was just some psychedelic stuff for two hours. It’s not worth the $150 to see them live.

To each their own. I saw Lamb of God a few years ago, really enjoy them. Their lead "singer" Randy spent so much time running around from side to side that he seemed out of breath for chunks of songs, kind of annoying to me. The other guys just sung their hair around, haha. Or lead singers that have to try and hype up the crowd the entire time "I need a big circle pit right here" - "I want you to all jump up and down"... I'd rather experience the concert how I want to and let things happen organically than be told what to do.

I love that Tool is about the music. I love that they kick people out who hold up their cellphones in front of everyone to take crappy photos they'll never look at again. I enjoy that at least 3-4 of their live songs get stretched into extra 3-4 minute ebbs and flows of the music. Everything is technically right there, nothing ever feels off (to me). I don't need big video screens or lasers, lights, and fog (granted they have plenty of that) I just want to hear the music.

I save the tracklist from every concert I go to and make a playlist (setlist.fm is so nice for filling in gaps). Every time I see Tool I think "god I hope they play 46 & 2..." forgetting that they have played that and stinkfist at every show I have gone to except 1 where they didn't play 46 & 2. So I've essentially seen the same show over and over again, but still excited to go.

At the same point in time, $150 is too much, in my book, to see anyone live.

While Tool is not my cup of tea, NO artist is for a $150 ticket to see them. My boss disagrees with me and he shelled out $200+ to see Guns N Roses at US Bank and he is shelling that out again to see them at Target Field. $50...maaaaybe $60 is my limit on what I will spend on a concert. I completely understand that touring is the only way that any music artist makes money nowadays but there is a ceiling to what I will spend.

I am with you about the lead singer yelling instructions to the crowd on how to enjoy the concert. Even my favorite band Sevendust is guilty of that. Though, my funniest memory of a 7D show was the last time they were in Mankato a pit was going. There were two girls in front of me right on edge of the pit but they had a friend of theirs protecting their blind spot from the pit. One dumb fucker decided to come at the big friend. Said dummy jumped at said big guy, big guy just held up his forearms and dummy ate those and ended up scorpioning himself to the ground. I never laughed so hard in my life.

I have issues with most lead singers anyway since it's always about them. But I don't want the lead singer to go all Maynard and sink into the background either.

All I can say is without no Flava Flav it ain’t no Public Enemy 😮

While I love me some PE (was cranking Apocalypse '91 this past weekend), Flava Flav is the design on the cereal box. Chuck D is the actual cereal. Flava Flav is in the wrong here.

That being said, he will be missed.

What happened with FF?