Here is a clip from Wednesday’s episode of The Cobert Report – the full show is available here. Thanks to the brother-in-law, Rob for sending me the link: I hadn’t even heard of The Colbert Report before, but it looks OK. A bit like the Daily Show. It is notable for being Rush’s first appearance on US TV for more than 30 years.
The amazing thing is how many Rush fans seem to not grasp the fact that the end of the show was a joke and that the band was in on the joke.  They must suspect that the band have a sense of humour – as proof, here is how they have been starting their shows…
I have never been to see Rush but have a few of their live DVD’s. Magnificent live. I must next time they tour. They are really unsung amongst the greats of the last 30 years. Bands like Oasis, Coldplay and Blur have over the years been called the “best band in the world” whilst ignoring massive stadium fillers like Rush, Yes, ELP and the like.
I love the way the next night’s episode of the show opens with Rush still playing!
I like it 🙂 Is there any particular reason they haven’t been on US tv for so long?
Yeah, The Colbert Report is a cousin of The Daily Show, and more a direct spoof of right-wing chat show hosts. He sometimes drops the character for interviews like the above, though.
I loved the question about whether they ever had a song so long that by the end they had been influenced by their own work at the beginning.
Gotta love the prog-rock.
Maybe the reason they have not been on US TV is that proggy music is, despite a legion of fans, not really mainstream?
I’m sure Yes haven’t been on British TV much but is that because they shun the publicity or that they wouldn’t really fit in on Pebble Mill at One? (Or modern equivalent)
Now that’s a band with songs so long they make Rush’s effort seem like a radio jingle by comparison! Imagine them popping up on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and playing Gates of Delerium in its entirety.
Rock Band | wongaBlog // Jul 23, 2008 at 10:27 pm
[…] Here’s a terribly facile observation: the secret is to make sure you’re finding it difficult. It’s still fun if you’re hitting most notes, but you need to be out of your comfort zone for the real adrenalin. When you hit the solo, or nail a particularly tricksy section, or just finish the song without failing, it’s really quite the feeling of success. It’s actually possible to do so badly you get kicked out of the song, but other players can save you if they’ve hit particular targets. But only up to three times. This is clever – each player can set their own difficulty level, so you can try something tricky and have it be dangerous but not so much that it’ll spoil everything. And it’s perfectly possible to substantially improve between the start and end of a song. Particularly one by Rush. […]
I don’t know about Yes not being on British TV much – Rick Wakeman’s a bit of a fixture though…