Rush

Snakes & Arrows Live (Zoë/Anthem)

Beautifully Rotterdam-shot complement to the audio document earlier this year turns on judicious camera angles and editing, which allow you to actually watch one of the all-time great trios ply its craft (“Witch Hunt”). Old pug nose Neil Peart plods precise, Geddy Lee sings at lower latitudes, and an ever well-manicured Alex Lifeson cascades ancient riffs smoothed down into almost progressive blues. Age has liberated the guitarist/comedian. Snakes & Arrows LP cuts torpedo the second set/DVD, while a third disc fries up some 30 additional minutes onstage in Hot ‘Lanta. Live lights: Hemisphere‘s “Circumstances,” new instrumental “Malignant Narcissism,” encore “A Passage to Bangkok.” Retire please: “Mission.” Concert video accompaniment outtakes are a genuine hoot (mon), while “Digital Man” as the second number remains an inspired piece of set-listing from 2008, just like at the Frank Erwin Center in April.

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This article appears in December 26 • 2008.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.