Some time ago, Rush‘s bass player, keyboard player and singer, Geddy Lee, spoke to SiriusXM about the end of his band. If you haven’t seen or heard it yet, it’s worth those three minutes of your time…
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“I’m comfortable with the way Rush ended. That last gig was a difficult night but what we’re talking about is what really was going through Neil’s [Neil Peart – the band’s drummer] mind. Throughout that tour, he was struggling to play at his peak because of physical ailments and other things that were going on with him. He is a perfectionist and he did not want to go out and do anything less than what people expected of him. That’s what drove him his whole career and that’s the way he wanted to go out, and I totally respect that. For Alex [Alex Lifeson – the band’s guitarist] and I, of course, we’re not drummers so we don’t take the same physical abuse, although Alex does suffer from arthritis and he was having a very difficult time on that tour playing three-hour shows. It was clear that whatever happened in the future was not gonna be like that. I spent a lot of time designing that tour with all our great creative people trying to make sure that it told that story [of Rush] in reverse. It was great fun to do. I think my sadness was just the fact that I was so happy we pulled it off with the whole reverse chronological thing. I would like to have had the rest of the world that couldn’t come to those cities experience that. That’s really the only regret I have – that we couldn’t do more shows. In hindsight and with the benefit of time, I’m very happy with the way it went down. It just didn’t sit right for me to do a farewell tour and try to capitalize on that. It wasn’t the easiest thing to pull off but I feel good about our body of work and I feel good about the way it ended. You know, onward and upward...”