10/16: 2112 (LIVE)

When I was a girl, my parents never would have allowed 2112 into my house.

We’ve taken care of everything
The words you read, the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eye
One for all and all for one
Work together common sons
Never need to wonder
How or why

As a kid, I often had to pre-censor my media consumption, sticking only to books or CDs that my parents wouldn’t object to. And they objected to a lot, often without much rhyme or reason that I could figure. (When a boyfriend lent me his worn copy of Shogun, I was grounded for a month, yet somehow Lolita made it through unremarked. Beastie Boys were a no-go, but Nine Inch Nails were a-okay.)

Thankfully, my parents didn’t know much about Rush, so I was able to bring home their albums without much comment. However, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that they’d never have let me possess an album with a naked man on the cover, so I never even bothered with 2112.

As a result, I don’t have the same nostalgia for 2112 that many other fans do. In fact, the first time I’d ever heard anything off the album was in 2002, the first time I ever saw Rush live. They played “Overture” and “Temples of Syrinx,” as they often did, and while I didn’t understand why people were shouting “HEY!” at certain points, it was pretty easy to pick it up and join along.

This version, recorded in Brazil for the Rush in Rio album, is about as close to that performance as I can get, but you might notice the audience shouts a few more “HEY!”s than they do in North America. That’s not an accident. Apparently the Brazilian audience had invented a whole different set of vocalizations and cheers. If you listen closely, you might even hear them elsewhere on the album!