But a lot of bands add non-member touring musicians and I don’t think their fans really care. Rush are slaves to their audience in that their fans are nerdy they would actually care. I think this is part of why they are talking about not touring any more, they are in their 60s and poor Geddy Lee has to act like a circus clown juggling multiple instruments. I bet if you surveyed most Rush fans, and told them that Rush would continue to tour but they were adding a backup drummer and a keyboardist to help out the old geezers, they’d still go to the shows.
I remember an interview with Alex years ago when he said something to the effect of “For years we agonized in the studio over making songs we could play exactly the same on stage as we did in the studio. At some point we said screw it, we’ll figure it out when we have to.” Earlier songs were not as complex or layered. Later songs need some work arounds. It’s all done flawlessly still.
The current concert tour is a good example. It is a passage back in time. They start with their most recent songs and end with their first album. Throughout the show roadies are taking things away from the set and from the kit Alex and Geddy work with. By the end it is a bare stage with a couple of speakers on chairs and the backdrop is the high school gym they started playing in.
The last tour (Clockwork Angels) they had a full string section on stage after the intermission for the entire second half and encore.
First, Rush not my number band, Beatles are and I can guarantee McCartney’s keyboardist is using triggers and samples.
First lesson: every single drummer in the free world and not free world who EVER used electronic drums triggered ( for those not familiar with the term, it means say a drummer hits an electronic drum which sends a signal to make that drum sound like a snare. This can be classed as triggering ( the sound) which in most cases the sound is produced by either a sampler or control box producing synthesized sounds).
If you see something of being triggered that does not appear to be possible by Geddy is because Alex and Neil also trigger loops and samples. Now let’s not get silly that samples are cheating. They are more accurate reproduction of sounds and analog or digital as they are generally real recorded instruments. Say a violin part, a violin is sampled playing one note and when a musician triggers or plays that note it us produced. I hit a C note, even if the violin part was sampled playing A it plays C.
Of course then there is midi where just an example you have one keyboard on stage and in a rack you have three samplers or keyboard workstations. I hit a pedal, pedal sends midi signal to all units saying change to this and when I play this pattern you other three keyboard units I will call them play, violin part, the other an organ and the last last live records what I played and keeps repeating it until I press the pedal say stop. The last part is looping and can be done live.
Why do I know, I do it. I play bass, keys, lights, and sound at same time. I use a sampler and a workstation (synthesizer ) and effects pedals that if I play a certain pattern, I press record while playing live, hit play and it keeps my bass part going as if I was still playing. I have a pedal board that I use to trigger say a siren or vocal part I sampled before hand. I sampled my bass so if I play keys I can split the keyboard and the left uses the sample and do when I play keys it sounds like my bass instead of cruddy analog basses.
There is no dating or hidden musicians in Rush. Just seen them twice three weeks ago in fact. The amazing part is that all these triggered parts are played and they don’t change speed. Neil has to pay the exact same speed every time,every night. No he does not use a click track to keep time.
Many bands use samples and loops if they have the resources to do so and thanks to midi it makes it all possible. I can hit one button and my effects change to what I need, send the lights into chase mode, tell the keyboard to change to program 10 and tell the sampler to load horns that I will then use another pedal to play the sampled horns while I play bass.
In the end, if you do not have any idea of musical technology I can see someone writing daft comments like they are dating. They are not Madonna or Brittney Spears lipsyncing, they are real musicians playing all the parts. Triggering a sample of a female singing three words, no different than triggering a sample of a plane at the beginning of Back in the USSR when McCartney does it.
Look up an article about Geddys keyboards revealed I believe, explains everything going on. It’s by his keyboard technician.
It is hard no matter who is doing it. However, I suspect that Lee could probably sit in for the vast majority of church organists while there are probably not a lot of church organists who could fill Lee’s shoes. Lee is one hell of a bass player.
I respect anyone who can get multiple things going on at once. I used to be a pretty good guitarist but could barely play and talk at the same time. These days I don’t get to play much…
slee
First, Rush not my number band, Beatles are and I can guarantee McCartney’s keyboardist is using triggers and samples.
First lesson: every single drummer in the free world and not free world who EVER used electronic drums triggered ( for those not familiar with the term, it means say a drummer hits an electronic drum which sends a signal to make that drum sound like a snare. This can be classed as triggering ( the sound) which in most cases the sound is produced by either a sampler or control box producing synthesized sounds).
If you see something of being triggered that does not appear to be possible by Geddy is because Alex and Neil also trigger loops and samples. Now let’s not get silly that samples are cheating. They are more accurate reproduction of sounds and analog or digital as they are generally real recorded instruments. Say a violin part, a violin is sampled playing one note and when a musician triggers or plays that note it us produced. I hit a C note, even if the violin part was sampled playing A it plays C.
Of course then there is midi where just an example you have one keyboard on stage and in a rack you have three samplers or keyboard workstations. I hit a pedal, pedal sends midi signal to all units saying change to this and when I play this pattern you other three keyboard units I will call them play, violin part, the other an organ and the last last live records what I played and keeps repeating it until I press the pedal say stop. The last part is looping and can be done live.
Why do I know, I do it. I play bass, keys, lights, and sound at same time. I use a sampler and a workstation (synthesizer ) and effects pedals that if I play a certain pattern, I press record while playing live, hit play and it keeps my bass part going as if I was still playing. I have a pedal board that I use to trigger say a siren or vocal part I sampled before hand. I sampled my bass so if I play keys I can split the keyboard and the left uses the sample and do when I play keys it sounds like my bass instead of cruddy analog basses.
There is no dating or hidden musicians in Rush. Just seen them twice three weeks ago in fact. The amazing part is that all these triggered parts are played and they don’t change speed. Neil has to pay the exact same speed every time,every night. No he does not use a click track to keep time.
Many bands use samples and loops if they have the resources to do so and thanks to midi it makes it all possible. I can hit one button and my effects change to what I need, send the lights into chase mode, tell the keyboard to change to program 10 and tell the sampler to load horns that I will then use another pedal to play the sampled horns while I play bass.
In the end, if you do not have any idea of musical technology I can see someone writing daft comments like they are dating. They are not Madonna or Brittney Spears lipsyncing, they are real musicians playing all the parts. Triggering a sample of a female singing three words, no different than triggering a sample of a plane at the beginning of Back in the USSR when McCartney does it.
Look up an article about Geddys keyboards revealed I believe, explains everything going on. It’s by his keyboard technician
I see Geddy using Taurus pedals, basically keyboards you can play with your feet. They are on the bottom of every organ except this are midi connected to his synth rack and he is playing string parts
…I didn’t actually realize that looping/etc actually happened until I watched this awesome performance on Letterman by Liam Finn. (Neil Finn’s (Crowded House and Split Enz) son, accompanied by Jimmy Barnes’s daughter Eliza-Jane Barnes.) I didn’t really get it until I saw this.
There is no comparison between doing something like that and playing air guitar.It just seems like so much agony. Its 2015, most fans accept that you cannot duplicate what you did in the studio with only 3-4 musicians, hell look at 4 member heavy metal bands that on their records still have a guitar solo over the rhythm guitar and keyboards. Led Zeppelin never added anyone and their live shows often sucked. No one really gets offended if you add a roadie or two on the stage to do the backup music. I HATE bands that use behind the stage musicians or just deejay in prerecorded tracks.
To me if what everyone say is true about Rush, and I get that this 3 man thing is part of why fans admire them, its a distraction because I still say “no way—theres GOT to be someone Deejaying in the back or a backstage keyboard guy” because that is in fact what a lot of bands do, so to me is it really worth it? Don’t get me wrong–I admire it, but still need a better suspension of belief when I see a show. 
Guitar Hero is an extremely involved game of “monkey see, monkey do”. Nobody’s telling you how to sample or when to synch with what (nevermind what would sound good mixed in…right… THERE)
I’ve posted this video on the board before but it is just a masterful job of a singer recording background vocals on the fly and using various ones at different times in the song. I can’t imagine anyone watching this performance live felt slighted in the least by the singer’s use of looping machines to accompany herself. This is just an incredible performance, I’d strongly recommend watching it all the way through.
Except it has been explained to you that is not what is happening with Rush.
On this video, we see Thomas Dolby just blurring the line between triggers and pre-recorded.
He plays the keyboards, sings and triggers some sounds (drums and some vocals)
There’s a guitar player
There’s a drummer who also sing backup.
He only “cheats” with the pre-recorded synth bass which if more tan a simple one-bar riff.
That part of the article was actually set past tense:
That was set in the '80s. You linked video from 2013. That seems a bit less than kosher on your part.
During that segment, Alex Lifeson has a keyboard set at his feet and is playing them. Also, Neil Peart may be keying some with his drum sets - I don’t know. But it’s visible in the video you showed that Alex is playing them while Geddy is moving about. Ergo, you are simply wrong. You are not looking at the full picture, misreading the video you are watching and using as your evidence, and misrepresenting the quote from Rolling Stone magazine.
So that’s what that was. 
I was thinking we have clear proof Rush is now using a hidden lead singer.
First off, touring is hard, even without all the playing. Second, these guys are artists, and would flinch at the idea that, for instance, Peart isn’t playing his drum sets anymore the way he used to. He’d rather not tour than play part and let someone else flesh out his stuff.
Third, Alex Lifeson has had real medical difficulties, including psoriatic arthritis, bleeding ulcers, and COPD.
Fourth, Peart has a 5 year old daughter that he doesn’t want to spend long times away while touring. Alex wants to spend time with grandkids.
And fifth, listening to Neil’s performance in that video, they’d be better suited to not tour.
All the above is correct. It isn’t only Geddy doing all the work. Alex too plays a certain amount of pedal synthisizer, as well as, along with Neil turning on/off midi (musical instrument digital interface – the basic technology that glues all this together) triggers.
Importantly, understand that a “trigger” doesn’t necessarly imply a single note, chord, sound effect etc. It may initiate a melodic phrase that plays through to its end, or a sequence of notes that repeats until turned off. Or even backing vocals on some songs.
Whether you want to describe such effects as “recordings” (they are, basically) Geddy, Alex, or Neil still have to do the added work of toggling them on/off at the right time, in addition to playing their often complex parts, and in Ged’s case being the singer too.
Rush has always been adamant about performing w/o backing musicians. Speaking as a longtime fan, part of the show’s excitement is seeing only those three guys put on the entire show.
Contrastingly, in the 80’s there was another somewhat proggy trio from Toronto called Triumph, that I was also a fan of. And, they did what you suggest – on their last several tours, they brought a fourth guy on stage to cover additional guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals.
Well, you should have seen the backlash they got from much of the fanbase for this! Like they’d commmited heresy, or something. And, though I don’t truly agree with that sentiment, I do understand: It wasn’t quite as exciting to watch the four piece Triumph put on a show, and seemed a bit like watching a different band.
Heh if you think being a touring megaband isn’t a real job, you’ve got another think coming.
True. But I don’t think the guys would settle into the idea that they needed someone to carry their water for them.
I was hoping one of the boys had stopped by to say hello.
So they missed the beat and lost the rhythm?
No.
They where playing, say, and song in E at 120 bpm. The triggered sound came at 100 bpm and, consequently, in C#.
You can adjust your tempo in two bars but adjusting your chords on the fly without chance of “finding” the chord is almost impossible.