Music is probably the most elusive of the arts, especially from the listener’s perspective. Why do we like something, yet dislike something that to the casual ear sounds the same? There is something far more opaque than just taste at play here. Why otherwise would I like such vastly dissimilar acts as, say, Venom and Pan-Thy-Monium, Dimmu Borgir and Vangelis?

Yesterday, at Rush’s Ziggo Dome performance as part of their Clockwork Angels tour, I felt the answers to these questions flooding in. During some songs (“Subdivisions”, “Territories”, “Manhattan Project”)  I was transported to a more innocent and careless time, during another (“Bravado”) to a time in my life that was both exciting and scary and cool. Music transports you back to a time, a place, a mood of yesteryear. And when they played tracks off their latest album, I felt new memories being shaped almost palpably.

Although I never regarded Rush as my number one band, I came to realise they have been the soundtrack of my adolescent and adult life. Now in the forefront and then almost faded into the background, Rush were always there. Like an old friend that you might not see for years but instantly feel comfortable with whenever you meet. Maybe it’s their development through the years, maybe the way they piece together their chord progressions, maybe it’s knowing Neil Peart has been through so much hardship, but quite certainly it’s the fact that these guys are talented and their combined efforts have made music that stands the test of time like, well, rock.

Yesterday’s show was a sonically excellent, visually overwhelming experience that I somehow intimately shared with thousands of like-minded total strangers. We jumped shoulder to shoulder to “YYZ” and “2112”, pumping our fists in unison, cried lyrics and wanted more until our voices had gone hoarse. Magically, we played that most chimerical of instruments, the air-guitar-drum-bass, accompanied by one of the very best rock bands on the planet. We witnessed them blasting through tracks old and new (9 songs off “Clockwork Angels” alone), part of a harmony that felt quite profound.

When the “2112: Grand Finale” notes had died out after over two and a half hours of incredible, I think everybody was left somehow feeling bereft and filled with sweet sorrow, until next time we meet.

Now I am hoping there’ll be a DVD release of this tour.