Rush frontman Geddy Lee admits it’s time for the band to slow down – but he won’t say their next tour is their farewell.
The Canadian giants last month confirmed that a run of North American shows were “most likely the last tour of this magnitude,” while guitarist Alex Lifeson said the trio had begun to enjoy life at home instead of being on the road.
Asked whether the trip is effectively a farewell, Lee tells VH1: “It’s very hard to answer that question for a lot of reasons. The three guys in this band have different opinions on this point – everyone’s in a different space right now.
“Neil Peart has a young child at home and he’s said numerous times that it’s very hard for him to leave his daughter. She needs him.
“It’s clear we are at a point in our career that we have to slow down, and slow down dramatically. I’m not a guy who’s in love with the farewell tour idea – but it’s clear this is going to be the last big tour we’re going to do, for a while anyway.”
Lee says the shows will represent every era of Rush’s career, and their current prospective setlist runs to five hours of music, before it’s edited down.
He insists: “In terms of, ‘Are we still a band?’ yeah of course we’re still a band. Do we talk about writing? Yes. Will we do gigs in the future? I don’t see why not.
“But when you’re talking about a tour that’s 35, 40, 50 shows at this point in our lives, I don’t know how many of those are still in us.”
Rush are gearing up to release a vinyl edition of classic album 2112 which features holograms embedded in the disc. It’s set for launch next month as part of their 40th anniversary celebrations.
