Rush Hours

How you feel about Rush's Snakes & Arrows Live (Zoe DVD) has a lot to do with how you feel about Rush. I'm indifferent, but it's all well executed and I'd never think anyone goofy for being into it or them. I was more entertained by the odd attempts at humor, many of which struck me as successful. The stage set includes a row of rotisseries roasting chickens, and a row of Barbie doll groupies are propped up in front of guitarist Alex Lifeson's effects pedal board. Why? Because. The DVD begins with Lifeson's head in a suitcase made up like Jambi from Pee-Wee's Playhouse. One of the extras is a short film with Geddy Lee as a Scotsman that gives the barest of contexts for the stage oddities. It's all very Canadian and good-natured, borrowing from Monty Python and SCTV. Friends here found the insertion of Cartman's voice into the New Orleans show offputting, but for a band that is as humorless as Rush is in its music, such self-deprecating gestures are welcome.