When Rush took their final bow during the R40 tour, fans knew they were witnessing history. For the legendary Canadian prog-rock trio, it marked the end of an era — and for drummer and chief lyricist Neil Peart, it was a farewell to the stage for good.
The R40 tour, named in honor of Peart’s forty years with the band, was both a celebration and a goodbye. Yet behind the scenes, there were tensions as two-thirds of the group — guitarist Alex Lifeson and vocalist/bassist Geddy Lee — still had the itch to perform. Lifeson, looking back, admits (via an exclusive interview in Classic Rock magazine transcribed by Cygnus-X1): “We were playing well, the show was so much fun for us and our audience, and we had good energy despite playing three-hour shows in our sixties.”
However, Peart had set his boundaries. “Ged and I were disappointed that Neil demanded playing only a limited number of dates… I think a dozen or so more dates would have made us a bit more accepting,” Lifeson shared.
At one point during the tour, it seemed Peart might reconsider extending the run. Lifeson revealed that the momentum of the shows gave Peart a temporary second wind, but an unexpected setback dashed any hopes of more dates. “Then he got this painful infection in one of his feet. I mean, he could barely walk to the stage at one point. They got him a golf cart to drive him to the stage,” Lifeson recalled.
Still, Peart powered through the pain. “And he played a three-hour show, at the intensity he played every single show,” Lifeson marveled. But that resilience also marked the breaking point. “That was amazing, but I think that was the point where he decided that the tour was only going to go on until that final show in LA.”
The final performance, held at the Forum in Los Angeles, was as emotional as it was momentous. For fans, the highlight came when Peart did something he had never done before in forty years: he embraced his bandmates at the show’s end. Geddy Lee recalls the poignant moment: “The first time in forty years he’d done that, it was a beautiful moment.”
Lifeson, too, was struck by the gravity of the occasion. “I remember being on stage and thinking how many times we’d played the Forum and wondering just how many times we’d done Working Man there because it’s pretty much been in the set since day one. It was a weird feeling knowing that was likely the last time we’d play any of those songs together.”
What made the night even more bittersweet was the connection with the audience. “I tried to soak in every moment and object at that last gig. I counted down the minutes on the giant clock they had there, you could see it from the stage. And I stared at all these faces, people that I didn’t know personally, yet happily greeted when I saw them return to so many of our shows over so many years; I looked at my bandmates and missed them already and I felt sad to see such joy in Neil’s face when we were down to the last few bars of our last song played together, as we finally finished our set,” Lifeson said.
The end of Rush’s touring days didn’t come as a complete surprise to fans, especially after Peart’s candid remarks in Drumhead magazine later that year. “Lately Olivia has been introducing me to new friends at school as ‘My dad — He’s a retired drummer.’ And it does not pain me to realize that, like all athletes, there comes a time to… take yourself out of the game,” Peart wrote.
While Peart’s retirement signaled the beginning of the end for Rush, the official disbandment didn’t happen until 2018. Now, with the release of the forthcoming R50 set— a comprehensive collection of the band’s live archive housed in a lavish box with new essays — Lee and Lifeson are taking time to reflect on their journey. One of the most recent significant moments was their return to the stage when they took part in the two Taylor Hawkins tribute shows in September 2022, playing Rush songs without Neil.
“Dave [Grohl] just called me out of the blue and said, look, we’re going to put together a tribute, two shows, and Taylor would have loved you and Alex to be part of it. I said, well, you had me at hello. But he’s very wise, and he’s a very smart guy, Dave. He said, look, one thing we have to do is make sure it’s not just one drummer because you don’t want people thinking this is Rush 2.0. And he brought Omar Hakim on board, and they both flew up to Toronto to rehearse with me and Al. They made everything so easy for us. Al and I were pretty nervous about doing that show, about being Rush again, and he did everything he could to put us at ease,” Geddy recounted.
“And, of course, Dave introduced us to Paul McCartney. We were at rehearsals at a recording studio here in London. Dave came up to me and goes, have you ever met Paul? And then he went outside, and Paul said to him, I’ve never met the boys in Rush before and he just brought him in. He was, of course, completely charming. Just talking about the forthcoming gig, just musician to musician. Every bit a gentleman,” Alex added.
“He was so enthusiastic after our show. He was like our biggest promoter. He was trying to convince Al to go back on the road,” Lee recalled.
“The energy was fantastic around that show, I know, and some days I wake up wanting to go out and tour again, and some days I don’t. For forty years Rush included Neil, and I don’t think putting some new version together would have the same magic,” Lifeson remembered. “It was an incredible experience working together and making so much music. It was beautiful how much we loved and respected each other, and how much we laughed but everything, amazing or not, dies eventually and we are left with the memories.”
“After those two gigs and the months of prep Ged and I went through, I was excited by the response and to be in the dressing room again with so many fellow artists in Wembley and LA I respected and felt a kinship towards. But after a few weeks that wore off and it occurred to me that despite all the pain of loss, Rush went out on a high note playing as well as ever with one of our best stage shows on R40. I guess I’d rather be remembered for that legacy than returning as the top Rush tribute band.”
Lee added: “We were on a high those few days, it felt good to be playing our material and interacting with different musicians. They wanted to play with us and some of the drummers we admired so much got to share the stage. Although we were all gathered there for a very sad purpose, it couldn’t help but be also a tribute to our own lost partner and a reinforcement of community. I’ve never seen so many musicians from different walks of life all rooting for each other.”
Check out the full interview in Classic Rock magazine issue 336
2 Comments
My all-time favorite trio. Thanks for all you do and have done
Rush is and will ALWAYS be a part of my soul. Thank you love. ALWAYS and forever shanna