Neil Peart Taking Center Stage: Lifetime of Live Performances (Oct 14, 2011)



The cover depicts a photo of Neil Peart throwing a drum stick up in the air which you can check out here. At the time of the update he'd also launched a website for the book at TakingCenterStage.net, but the content has yet to be updated; it has only a photo along with links to a Facebook page and Twitter feed (neither of which have been updated recently).

Filmed in various locations over the course of a year, Neil Peart takes you on a behind-the-scenes look at Rush's 2010-11 Time Machine tour. This includes rare and exclusive footage of Neil's personal pre-tour rehearsals and backstage events at a Rush concert (including a visit to the soundcheck, and an unprecedented backstage interview as Neil warms up for the show). Neil also presents a detailed look at every single song in the tour's set list. Each song features analysis and demonstrations by Neil, which are coupled with a detailed PDF eBook containing transcription of his parts. At the end of each song discussion, the viewer is transported onstage to a Rush concert to see the actual live performance of the song from the perspective of the drum cameras only. 6 hours, 40 minutes.

... The theme for our next collaboration seemed obvious: live performance, preparing for it and surviving it. In early 2010 we began collecting material, now augmented by a new member of the Hudson Music team, Joe Bergamini. ... In April, 2010, the Hudson Music crew joined me at Drum Channel in Oxnard, California, and filmed several days of my rehearsals for the Time Machine tour. In July they filmed an entire Rush show, in Saratoga Springs, New York, with supplementary "drum-cams" on me. They also captured the soundcheck and pre-show warmup, when I did a bit of talking to the camera, as I had during the Drum Channel filming in April. However, we would need to shoot some more "talkie bits" to go before each of the songs from the live show, explaining about special problems or challenges in a particular song, and technical highlights. ...