Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reveal farewell tour regret

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Nearly 10 years after they played their final shows, Rush bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson have opened up in a new interview with Classic Rock magazine about their regrets from that last tour.

Lee admitted that the band “let our British and European fans down” by not bringing their 2015 R40 Live Tour overseas.

“I’d pushed really hard to get more gigs so that we could do those extra shows and I was unsuccessful,” Lee told the outlet. “It felt to me incorrect that we didn’t do it, but (the band’s late drummer) Neil (Peart) was adamant that he would only do 30 shows and that was it. That to him was a huge compromise because he didn’t want to do any shows. He didn’t want to do one show.”

Lifeson also spoke about not being able to add concerts in some other markets outside of North America, when the tour wrapped Aug. 1, 2015, in Los Angeles.

“There was a point where I think Neil was open to maybe extending the run and adding in a few more shows, but then he got this painful infection in one of his feet,” Lifeson added. “I mean, he could barely walk to the stage at one point. They got him a golf cart to drive him to the stage. And he played a three-hour show, at the intensity he played every single show … that was the point where he decided that the tour was only going to go on until that final show in LA.”

Lee said that he opened up about Peart’s 2020 death in his memoir, My Effin’ Life, because he felt he “owed an explanation to them, the audience.”

“This is how complicated the whole world of Rush became since August 1 of 2015 until January 7th of 2020 when Neil passed. Those were very unusual, complicated, emotional times. Fans invested their whole being into our band and I thought they deserved a somewhat straight answer about what happened and how their favourite band came to end,” he said.

In a 2022 interview with Postmedia, Lifeson said that after Rush played their final show, he still felt there was more gas left in the tank for the band.

“I still felt we could have worked some more and I think Geddy felt the same way. But for Neil, it was difficult. He had the toughest job of all of us. The way he played for three hours a night, full on, was unbelievable. We could all understand that, physically, he had had enough,” he said.

As for Rush’s final show at the Los Angeles Forum, Lifeson said it was “bittersweet.”

“That night, I was trying to take in every little thing I could. I remember looking at people I’ve seen for years and years and years coming to our shows. I don’t know them by name, but I knew them as fans who had long supported us. Neil came out from behind his drum kit for the first time in 41 years,” Lifeson recalled. “Everything that happened that night was so profound, and walking off the stage with our arms around one another was bittersweet for sure. But, at the same time, even though I felt we could have gone longer, I also think that the legacy you leave is based on the last thing you do, and we had a great night on a great tour, and that was a show we were really proud of. We played really, really well. That’s the way I would like to be remembered. We were as professional as we could be right to the very end.”

Last year, Lifeson, who went on to co-found Envy of None in 2021 with bassist Andy Curran, lead singer Maiah Wynne and multi-instrumentalist Alfio Annibalini, told Ultimate Classic Rock that he and Lee have been playing old Rush songs during weekly hangouts.

“We decided that we would play some Rush songs. Because, you know, we haven’t played these songs in 10 years,” Lifeson told the publication. “We started that a couple of weeks ago. We get together one day a week over at his place. We just picked some Rush songs and we started playing them and we sound like a really, really bad Rush tribute band.”

But he cautioned fans not to expect Rush to reunite with a new drummer.

In a separate chat with Rolling Stone, Lifeson said his sessions with Lee are for their ears only and that remounting Rush would possibly tarnish the trio’s place in rock history.

“I don’t think I would be happy in my heart if we were to do something like that. I really would feel like we were doing an injustice to our fans and that would be just a money grab. We get offers all the time, and they’re pretty substantial, but I don’t know. It’s not enough for me. How much do you need? I’m trying to get rid of stuff. I sold the bulk of my guitars. I had some cars. I sold those. I had a house in the country that I sold. I want to be slimmer and a little tighter, in my life with fewer anchors around my neck,” he said.

mdaniell@postmedia.com