but that might have been a factor of both volume and poor acoustics - and seating.

I've been to enough concerts (both by Rush and by other artists) in enough different venues and in enough different seating locations to learn that it's not the "house" or the "seats". It's the amplification equipment combined with the guys at the mixing board operating the equipment. I think Rush needs to quit hiring sound companies with deaf employees.

I thought Alex's guitar sounded awesome, and there were points where it was very distinct, in a good way.

Now THIS makes me feel better. One of my complaints of past tours is that Al's sound was just basically a wall of faint background noise, you couldn't hear any individual notes, just a dull roar.