Rush manager Ray Danniels says the chances of the band’s upcoming US tour being their last are “somewhere between possible and probable”– but that no one wants to treat it as a farewell.
The Canadian giants have announced a 34-date trip starting in May after spending months deliberating over whether to hit the road at all.
Drummer Neil Peart spoke of not wanting to leave his family for extended periods of time, while guitarist Alex Lifeson reflected they’d got used to home life after taking a year off.
Now Danniels tells Celebrity Access: “There are some of us who would keep going for ever and there are some of us who wouldn’t. So it’s a process of working that out – and what somebody thinks today may not be what they think in a month.”
Asked about a change of heart at the end of the tour, he says: “That’s possible.”
He adds: “I’m focused on making this as good as it can be and then seeing where we are. I didn’t want to do a farewell tour – there was no one in the band who wanted to do that. Nobody thinks it’s that final, or thinks they won’t make music or do something.
“But I’m probably not going to be able to get a band full of 65-year-olds out again on the road. Neil is as much an athlete as a musician, but with these three-hour length sets, I don’t know if it’s possible to keep up with that demand.
“They each want to go out on top in every single way – to play at the level they’ve been able to play.”
Last month frontman Geddy Lee said: “It’s clear we are at a point in our career that we have to slow down, and slow down dramatically,” but added that he could see a future for the band in a downsized format.
