Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

RUSH. You're going to have one of three reactions to that title. One: Who are they? Two: Oh yeah, some group that recorded Tom Sawyer back in the day. Three: Awesome kings of Rock 'n' Roll! I used to be a massive Rush fan up until around their Test For Echo album. Major life changes and having gotten too frustrated with their 80's synthesizer work put them on the back burner for awhile. I had, however, been to the Counterparts concert and was exhilarated by their fun performing. I was so excited to see the boys in this documentary though. The documentary is fairly simple: some concert footage, talking heads from Rush themselves or people who worked with them/admired them, a little footage of the band just goofing off together, and you've got your film. So don't go to this documentary expecting a breakthrough in the film genre. It is a solidly produced and edited movie that has an undercurrent of positivity, fun, and honesty. You feel like you get to know the band, and they come across as good friends, good husbands, and good guys. It's something awesome to see hard rockers getting hit with success but never giving in to the usual temptations of infidelity, casual sex, and heavy drug usage (except for pot). There's a sense of righteousness about this band, in a weird way.

Much is focused on the band getting little critical respect, but winning devoted fans worldwide. I remember growing up I actually got teased for having them as my favorite band. As I watched the film, I had a big smile on my face as memories flooded back from how I tried to cop Neil Peart by taking pots and pans and drumming on them. Their epic song story concepts always fascinated me. But they were always on the edge of mainstream. Now Rush seems to be cool again. Rush fans, we can come out of the closet and enjoy them once again publicly. This movie is not for someone who is not a Rush fan, but it is very endearing for those who enjoy them. I have been listening to my old Rush music since seeing this documentary and marveling once again at their craftsmanship.

Firstly, I am not a hardcore Rush fan.They are a great band and I always marveled at their sheer musicianship.

This doc covers the early years with their struggles on the club circuit, getting signed, early tours etc. The things you would expect from a Rock Doc that is covered in other reviews here.

What I liked so much about this were the people. Geddy is interesting and articulate and has that nice ability to tell a story ( a bit like Alice Cooper can.) Alex who is funny and well, pretty normal. And of course the intensely private Neal who has been a Demigod in drumming circles for decades who is intelligent, and surprisingly engaging for a guy with a surly reputation.

In addition to that, you could feel on the screen what great friends these guys were and was especially punctuated towards the end of the film when they were discussing Neils tragedies. To me personally this had two stories, one about a band called Rush and the other story about three great friends overcoming the odds over the years. The other interesting thing is their manager seems to have been with them the whole time which says a lot.

Billy Corgen offered the most celebrity insight, and I found his observations really good.

I liked some of commentary by Geddy about bands they had toured with like Kiss, they are not the type to put people down because they are superior musicians.

I have never given anything a 10, but this was really good. My wife even liked it and she was not familiar with them at all.

I just wish it was a bit longer.

Just to get it out of the way, if you have zero interest in Rush, proceed with caution. I am a casual fan and thought this was great. The best thing is it explores the relationships between the band, from the beginning. Also, along with insightful commentary from various musicians, the guys tell their own story. Always maligned by critics, this is an exploration into why they are still so popular. Even better, all three guys, especially Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, are just good people. Neil Peart is a bit more difficult to warm up to, but you'll like him also by the end (actually, way before that). You get concert clips and the aforementioned commentary and what basically comes through is that these guys deserved every bit of fame that came their way. They are all superb musicians, actually all three amongst the best in rock. While Geddy Lee's singing voice takes a bit of getting used to (there is a funny part where various people quote critics on what they thought his voice sounded like), by the end you realize that its also part of what makes the band unique. That over 30 years on they can still sell out tours is amazing, and it really is about time they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The only reason I didn't give it a ten was that if you have little knowledge of the band you may feel its a bit much to go through the records one by one. However, as I am a casual fan only (to date, I have "Permanent Waves" and the two disc compilation "Chronicles" only), this documentary makes me want to go out and buy more Rush music. If that isn't an endorsement for this film, then there just isn't one. Congratulations on their well earned success and bravo to this career spanning, insightful and thoroughly entertaining documentary.

In general, documentaries, even those exploring the careers of high profile bands, are not renowned for being particularly fun or interesting to watch for those not already enraptured by the subject matter, providing interesting supplementary informational tidbits for established fans, but unlikely to draw in anyone else. Bearing this in mind, it takes a pretty exceptional music documentary to feel like a concert, cultural history lesson, lively standalone film and hangout session with the band in question all at once, yet directors Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen manage to pull off such a daunting task with Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage with exultant ease.

Canadian rockers Rush, despite copious success and a tenaciously loyal band of fans (several interviews have concert-goers amusing admitting to it being their one-hundredth Rush show), have always had difficulty courting mainstream critical or commercial success, the "superstar band never to be fully acknowledged as superstars", and Beyond the Lighted Stage delves into the interesting interplay between fanaticism and indifference, managing to shed light upon the mainstream's elusive distaste for the band (too quirky? too nerdy? too many long songs? not firmly mainstream or firmly progressive enough to be easily categorized? not "hummable" enough?) while also delving to the heart and essence of the band and illuminating why the appeal really should have caught on. Furthermore, the film is particularly credible as being the rare documentary to match up to its subject matter cinematically with uncommonly masterful structure and composition. Perfectly paced, Beyond the Lighted Stage swiftly doles out its tidbits of band biography and the cultural reaction to them as if exhilarating plot twists rather than drab, necessary context, lending the film as lively and propulsive a tone as any good Rush song, of which the soundtrack offers enough to prove a comprehensive musical history of the band in itself.

More importantly, through comprehensive interviews with the naturally giving musical trifecta as well as those associated with them (interviews with the mothers of all three rockers are adorable) or simply admirers (with particularly effective use of Gene Simmons - "I couldn't understand how a band so good would go back to their hotel rooms without taking up the chance to get laid... those crazy Canadians" - and Jack Black - "Just when you thought the bottle of rocket-sauce that is Rush had run out, they just keep pumping out the rocket-sauce"), the film offers a genuine human, emotional anchor behind the music. As told by wacky but wise bassist/singer Geddy Lee, deadpan twinkling guitarist Alex Lifeson and the less outgoing, perfectionist yet perpetually chuckling drummer Neil Peart, what could have been a banal slab of backstory instead surpasses anecdote to become a vivid, kinetic journey. From their inglorious origins (playing high school dances, being too young to play higher profile clubs), struggles with their own musical complexity and refusal to curb to ascribed expectations (when asked to write more songs "designed to be singles", they churned out twenty-one minute long rock odyssey "2112", inspired by the writings of Ayn Rand - subsequently a massive hit), the evolution of their musical form (with an amusing, retrospective debate about the overuse of synths between Lee and Lifeson) and the haunting tragedy of the loss of Peart's daughter and wife, the viewer genuinely feels as if they have risen, struggled and rejoiced alongside Rush, with the trio's "goofy", irreverent sense of humour maintaining the journey remains a consistently offbeat and enjoyable one.

Just as likely to pique the interest of those unfamiliar with Rush as placate the enthusiasm of die-hard fans, Beyond the Lighted Stage proves one of the most satisfyingly effective documentaries in years, as much an extended thesis for the relevance and appeal of Rush (who, at the time, had yet to even be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame) as as comprehensive overview of their backstory. Whether a Rush fan or not, such a kinetic, energetic and vivacious piece of film-making should be considered near essential viewing, even for those who have yet to fly by night alongside the unmistakably unique rock band.

-9/10

I have been a fan of this band since I was 14 years old. I first saw them live at Madison Square Garden in NYY (1981). My two older brothers introduced me to Rush and I have loved them since.

This film / documentary chronicles the band from their very beginnings to today. If you are a Rush fan or if you want to learn about a band from Canada that has influenced so many other bands around the world you need to check out this film.

Check it out just to listen to their music.

A band from Toronto with a song called YYZ, can you ask for anything more!