Rush - Montreal Forum 4/8 or 9/83 (video)

I’m a little confused on the date for this show as it was supposed to come as a pair on the 8th and 9th. I thought I’d seen the 9th gig before but that’s the date that pops up when this pops in. For many fans this is basically right at or after the end of Rush’s classic era, as well as being the waning of my interest in the band when I was much younger, some time after Signals. It’s the whole show and very long, featuring a set that’s kind of like Exit Stage Left with Signals material thrown in. The band isn’t particularly bad or good on this and with the video being from far enough back to turn the members into tiny figures on stage, it really starts to get a bit rote after a while. You can see Alex Lifeson’s hair part though, I remember it like it was yesterday…

Joni Mitchell - “Joni Mitchell Sings the Songs of Joni Mitchell” BBC In Concert 9/70

I don’t know Joni’s music all that well, probably because I had it impressed upon me at one time that this was my folks’ music (nor am I a particular enthusiast of the whole singer/songwriter thing), but this rebroadcast is a joy to watch. It’s delicate, folky and wasn’t really all that different from what some of the English folksters like Fairport were doing at the time. It all strikes me as fragile, crystalline and delicate, and above all it makes me want to look a little deeper into her music. Job well done.