As a woman who has seen them 4 times, I can attest that this is definitely not true.
I also wonder if Olivia Peart, who is now well into her teens, will play at any of the shows, a la Taylor Hawkins’ son at his tribute concert. She was taking drum lessons from her dad in his final years.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen Rush. Somewhere around ten. Always a great show. I’ll be trying to get tickets to one or both MSG shows.
I understand the limited number of shows. It’s getting harder for Geddy to sing. Alex has tendinitis problems. They aren’t playing two nights in a row. Better that than having a short show. The plan seems to be they will have around 35 songs ready to go with each night being different. 2 sets with an intermission. Probably 3 hours total.
Geddy is saying he wants to spend more time as a bass player so they will most likely wind up bringing on a keyboard player. I’m hoping for Jordan Rudess. I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring on other players.
They had other musicians on stage with them in the past. During the Clockwork Angels tour they had a string section for half the show. During their last tour they had Jonathan Dinklage (Peter’s brother) come out and play violin on one song. For most of their career they were obsessed with being able to reproduce everything they did in the studio on stage with only the three of them. They got more relaxed about that over the years.
I saw Rush on every tour from A Farewell To Kings to Grace Under Pressure, quit paying attention for a couple decades, then saw them again on the Time Machine tour. I’d love to see them one more time but with a limited tour in just a handful of cities, that’s probably not going to happen. Hopefully they put out a DVD.
I see they’ve already added more tour dates - two more to almost all of their existing venues (so four in LA, four in NY, etc.). The only exceptions are Cleveland (still two so far) and Mexico City (still one).
It kind of makes sense - less wear and tear on the guys if they can stay in the same place longer. I wonder if they’ll add any more. I’d love it if they’d come to the Bay Area, but two California dates seems greedy when so many people all over want to see them.
I’ll definitely be on the presale Oct. 13 trying to get tickets to one of the shows!
She’s only sixteen, so I doubt it. Would be interesting, though.
Yeah, that was “Losing It,” which is a beautiful, haunting song and one of my favorites. He did it again at Bubba Bash this year (the Neil Peart tribute concert where a bunch of musicians get together and play Rush covers to raise money for glioblastoma charities) and it never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
Tickets at the United Center in Chicago, the closest venue to me, are starting at $412.
That is not a typo.
Think I’ll pass. Sorry.
Woof - that’s for a concert venue of 23,500. I wonder if that’s the effect of dynamic pricing. I wouldn’t really doubt it considering Rush’s cult status binging out the devoted in droves. If so, I hope Anika Nilles negotiated a percentage rather than a set touring fee. Either way should be a tidy semi-retirement payday for Lee and Lifeson.
Yeah. No. This is Sad.
You can’t replace/substitute Neil with anybody. Geddy sounded like shit on the Farewell Tour. He even said it ain’t gonna ever happen. Goddammit!
No. Just no.
I guess my Big Question is “Why?”
Geddy and Alex seemed so content with the way shit ramped down and knowing that a third was gone, never to make a whole again.
They can’t need the money. Maybe players just gotta play. But don’t bill this as Rush. I’m not gonna go to any shows, even if they were within 500 miles of me. And they won’t be. I’ve seen Rush many, many times. Don’t need to see this.
I might guess that they were simply given an offer that was too good to pass up.
But that goes against everything that I know about them.
I’m falling back on “Players Gotta Play”
I won’t pee on this thread by going on about how this isn’t a reunion and how it’s an awful idea and that Rush with Peart isn’t Rush, so I’ll just say this …
I have a better idea. What they should’ve done is Alex should’ve started a band with two other guys and Geddy should’ve started a band with two other guys. Then they could’ve toured together, alternating headliners and jamming out together for encores.
Heh, Rush was Rush before Neil joined. They were better with him, but they certainly released a record under that name before he joined that certainly hinted at where they were going.
I do love Niel as a drummer, but he wasn’t the most awesome lyricist. That said, there are plenty of people walking the planet that can recreate his drum parts and even elaborate on them to express themselves. If Alex and Geddy found someone who can do that and that they can also work with is no skin off my back. In fact, I’m glad for them. Their motivations are their motivations.
All of that said: Yeah, I’m not traveling to head to any of the shows on this tour. I have three of my weekends in the next two months already booked. They’ve all released new records recently. None of those artists are on a 401K tour. I wish this incarnation of Rush luck and tons of success, but that’s what they’re doing. At least they didn’t go to Vegas.
Tell that to his dissertation
But can she growl “subdivisions”? 
Cool! Best decision was to play drums for Genesis’ Seconds Out tour then leaving it to Phil and Chester.
Can’t wait for Steven Howe’s dissertation.
Yes, and the first Rush album with their original drummer sounds very different. And excellent!
I assume Geddy and Alex just really want to play, which is why they’re musicians. It must be very difficult on Geddy, what with his voice aging. Paul McCartney seems to have the same issue and they just can’t reach the high notes they used to.
From what I hear The Rolling Stones don’t see each other except when they are on stage. Even while they are on tour they stay away from each other. In contrast Alex goes over to Geddy’s house just about every day and they play in Geddy’s studio. They love playing and they love playing together. I don’t think it’s any more complicated than that.
Probably. The adrenaline rush of playing in front of a live audience I’m sure is very addicting. I remember an interview with Mick Fleetwood some years back (but he was probably already over 70) where he mentioned that as much as he loves his wife and spending time at home with her, he’s never happier than being on tour in an endless procession of hotel suites. It’s why tons of famous musicians have little touring side projects after their big band breaks up.
Oh, I can testify to this. One of the biggest highs I’ve ever had was a club filled to the gills with a crowd that was going crazy for the band I was in.
Which probably answers why they’re touring pretty clearly. I was wondering a bit, because if they just wanted to play, they were already playing in Geddy’s studio every day. But that is nothing like the rush of being on stage with a crowd that loves you.
Bolding mine – pun intended?