15. Natural Science (Rush- Live in Chicago, 3/1/1981)

Time for a very special concert! This is a very famous show from the Moving Pictures Tour, this is the FIRST recorded show on the tour (8th show overall) featuring the first recorded performances of "The Camera Eye", "YYZ", "Red Barchetta", and "Vital Signs", capturing the band's fourth night (yikes!) at the International Ampitheatre in Chicago. The audio from the show has been commonly circulated, and is up already, and also up is a VIDEO of the show, 20 minutes or so of silent 8mm film, with an audio synchronicity done by the Youtube channel "ProgVault". So I combined the video and audio to create the ultimate version of the show! The audio sound quality is FANTASTIC, one of the best sounding boots (not sure if it's a soundboard or audience) and is 99% complete (Slight cut in "Natural Science") The video quality is very good, and captures a great insight into Rush's performance. Being an 8mm film, it is very fragmentary, with only 30 seconds to a minute of each song (Sans "Xanadu" and "Natural Science", which have 2 minutes, I freeze-framed to fill in the gaps), and no footage of "The Camera Eye", "Vital Signs" or anything after "Natural Science". The show is a great one, and since it's early in the tour Geddy's voice is strong. The weak airiness on the Permanent Waves tour has faded, his high notes are much stronger. He starts off weak, but improves dramatically. Some notable performances include: Despite his voice being in better shape "2112" sounds awful, the high notes sound like a munchkin on helium. "Freewill" also has weakness in the high parts too, "Limelight" is filled with intonation problems, the "Hemispheres Prelude" has him falling flat on the F#5s, and "Beneath, Between, and Behind" has him overshooting all the high E5s. "YYZ" also isn't too hot of a performance as since it's still new it's very sluggish. However he, and the show in general, improves dramatically after that. "Tom Sawyer" is the absolute best version EVER as Geddy is completely on the money, nailing the entire song, "Natural Science" has him hitting very strong E5 embellishments and the band playing with fire, "Working Man" is now in a new arrangement (Cut to one verse, done in a goofy reggae style), "By-Tor And The Snow Dog" (also chopped to one verse) is the best version since 1978 as the high notes are strong and not airy, and the first performance of "In The End" is a great one as Geddy hits the D5s and E5s well. The rest of the songs are all typical strong versions. ENJOY!