Pop Reviews : Rush Delivery: They Could Have Mailed It In

Rush has always been a large target for critics and consumers who like their rock to roll, and to have at least a little passion.

Opening a two-night stand Thursday at the Forum, the Canadian trio turned in a set that showed why it attracts those salvos: The show was unquestionably high-tech--and high-technique--but emotionally parched.

When singer-bassist Geddy Lee is concentrating on dispensing those thick, busy bass lines, the band is on fairly firm, focused ground. But when he presided over his array of synthesizers, Rush produced some high-falutin’ orchestral maneuvers--symphonic rock that, especially on the longer pieces, involved too many movements and too little movement.

Rush’s music tends to be precisely constructed and, even live, precisely executed. So you’re more likely to admire the end product than be swept up by it.

Maybe the threesome recognizes that the music itself is far from bracing, which would explain why they checked in with this season’s second-most impressive and/or silliest visual presentation (after Pink Floyd).

Presumably to help underscore their lofty lyrics about such topics as time, the future, nuclear energy and libertarianism, they trotted out all manner of lasers, films and state-of-the-art lighting.

Thing were so high-tech, in fact, that when Rush performed “Time Stand Still”--the single that features til tuesday’s singer Aimee Mann--the absent Mann’s face appeared on the video screen, while her vocal contribution was mixed into the song. The next best thing to being there?