The show Thursday night in Montreal was amazing. The proper way to do a Rush concert is to enjoy a dinner of delicious borscht and perogies at the Euro Deli before the show. In honor of Geddy's Polish heritage of course. Had excellent seats right up front on the side. I agree, the sound wasn't so hot right of the bat. It was a bit thin. I've been catching this band every tour since the early 90s, so I found the setlist to be well-chosen and refreshing. In Montreal this evening, of the two setilsts they've been rotating, I got the one I preferred with 'Bravado' instead of 'The Pass' and also an old fave 'Body Electric' instead of 'Middletown Dreams'. Attentive Expos fans cheered as they caught Geddy's subtle nod to the now defunct baseball team in 'The Analog Kid', a song from 1981 resurrected for this tour. By the 2nd set all the sound issues had been sorted out and the rest of the show sounded very big. Accompanied by a string section, they played most of their new album followed by some old classics. Not all of the new songs are great, but a few of them are real gems, like the riff-tacular 'Seven Cities of Gold', and 'Caravan' and the mellow song 'The Garden'. Geddy was in excellent voice for the rocker 'Headlong Flight'. I thought the string section was a nice addition. They knew when to give and when to take and added a nice visual element. I enjoyed the way one long drum solo was divided up into 3 smaller ones. Neil's third solo featured some sounds that reminded me of many a 'drums' performance at Dead shows. I posted some photos on facebook if you'd like to check 'em out here