Well, I'm off to see Rush play at Wembley Arena, London on Thursday night - woohoo!

I was contemplating going to see them in Birmingham, based on a remark the band once made about a previous gig at Wembley Arena during the Moving Pictures tour; they said that they didn't perform as they might have because of the atmosphere at Wembley venue. On the particular night I was there they gave an amazing performance IMHO. I don't know if it was the audience on the night in question or the venue (or something else) but since I'm not a performing musician nor have I seen them at any other venue, who am I to argue? Anyhow, I have since paid a good chunk of money at eBay for my ticket (singular - my regular Rush-fan friends can't afford to go, their loss (and mine too although I did offer to lend them the money )

In any event I'm really excited at the prospect of seeing them perform again - I really thought that they'd never play London again after such a long absence. It must be at least 11+ years (Roll The Bones?) since they've played here (If I've missed a concert then please don't point that out, I'd rather not know!:) ).

Anyhow, I have two questions before I head off to Wembley tomorrow night; one aimed at anyone who has seen them on this tour and the other aimed more at people familiar with getting to Wembley:

Is there anything in particular that I should look out for? I don't mind spoilers etc. For example: Is Aimee Mann(?) likely to appear singing live on Time Stand Still or something?!

I'm going to drive to Wembley from Reading rather than use public transport. Setting off at 4PM for the 7.30PM kickoff - If anyone in the "know" here wants to tell me that the North Circular Road (from the A40) is a "NoNo" please go ahead now before I head off!

Now my second question: A few days ago I could have booked VIP parking at the Arena for £15. I dithered until tonight when I found out that the booking website no longer offers pre-booked parking, I suspect that I left it too late. Four days ago, none of the spaces had been taken. I've submitted this request via a web form to the company that manages this (CS Parking) but does anybody know of a number I can call to pre-book a parking place? I've even tried tampering with the querystring paramaters to try and get the Rush venue's booking details to show up to no avail. From memory, the VIP parking will save me some good time getting into the Arena and considering London traffic, that might just be crucial!

Edit: And a third question and how could I forget; am I likely to encounter any 'security' problems taking my empeg in there? I sure as hell don't want to leave it in the car?

North Circular during rush hour??

Admittedly you'll be going against most of the traffic. You will want to cut up the A404 to Wycombe and get on the M40 - you should be able to get there by 4.30 before that snarls up. Alternatively, cut up the M25 instead (shorter...but it's the M25. ) Either way, you want to avoid approaching the Hanger Lane Gyratory from the North Circular itself, and in my experience the NC can be bad south of the HLG. North of the HLG shouldn't be too bad as you don't actually have to travel far on it, and the next major jam point is a bit further north. (Admittedly, this is based on experience about 8 years ago, I suppose things could have changed.)

Heard a report on another forum that they were excellent and apologised for the 12 year gap and played for 3hrs+ or summat.

Gareth

Yeah, the set list for their current tour is about 3 hours. I was pretty happy with the song selection.