Re: Peart in Concert!
I saw Rush on their 30th Anniversary Tour a little over a year ago. And it was the first show of the tour in Nashville. I have a bootleg copy of the concert, and I love listening to it because Neil Peart was the first drummer I ever really liked (of course you could say the same for any other younger drummer starting out). He's got great intensity and is hella tight with his drumming. But Geddy Lee told us that night that since it was the first show of the tour, if we heard any mess-ups to just ignore them.
And Geddy was right to tell us that, because during the show "Earthshine", and I have a recording of it to prove it, Peart accidentally "overplayed" a fill and, wouldn't you know it, missed the 1 count. He recovered just fine, but it goes to show that even the best make mistakes sometimes.
And kazzman, I get what you're saying about Peart's solo structure, but I can only agree with you to a certain extent. While he does follow the same formula and structure in his solos, he does mix things up and add/subtract things so that even if it's the same formula, he's not playing the exact same solo from the last tour or even the last show note for note. In fact, the solo he played at the show I saw actually BEGAN with his electronic kit section, before moving on to the snare rudiments and foot tamborine trigger stuff.
--Jax