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Exit Stage Left? Inside Rush's 'Farewell' Show


sun dog
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Asked recently whether this would be Rush's swansong tour, guitarist Alex Lifeson replied: "I don't think we'd have much difficulty thinking about it as possibly the last."

 

Remind Geddy Lee of this today and he laughs. "That's not true," says the bassist and singer. "I'm having great difficulty thinking like that. Alex is not speaking for me, and I don't think he's really speaking for himself either. I think he has mixed feelings. I don't want to speak for him. You can ask him. He can tell you his own lies."

 

http://cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/classic-rock-10.2015.php

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It just literally makes me sick to my stomach to read this article. I've never been as depressed over a band as I am at this point.
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Terry Watkinson (not Wilkinson) was Max Webster's keyboard player. Gary McCracken was their drummer. Not sure what you mean by "backed out."
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Terry Watkinson (not Wilkinson) was Max Webster's keyboard player. Gary McCracken was their drummer. Not sure what you mean by "backed out."

I thought it was pretty clear. They asked him and he said, "yes," but then came back a few days later and said, "no." If that's not backing out, I don't know what is. Moment of irony--finishing this article, and then going to rush.com to find the site completely down (as if to say, "ok, we don't need a website anymore."). Best line in the article--"There was women and pie. I don't know what we were more excited about." Favorite bit of history--opening for Sha Na Na. Made me think of my brother playing guitar in Bill Haley's Comets (yes, it's true--he toured with the original bass player, who had the rights to the name) when the band had to back John "Bowser" Bauman, who turned out to be the biggest dick of all time. They quickly learned to hate his guts and turned up way too loud intentionally. Bowser did the whole show with his hand waving behind his back like he was fanning a smelly fart, trying to get them to tone it down.

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Hey Thunder Bay - I think I was having a senior moment! Of course Gary McCracken. My mistake. I attended many of those Max Webster shows back in the day, so that shows my age. Awesome drummer regardless - one of my favorites from one of my favorite bands. And yes the way I read it he had the job, then decided no. That was the first I had ever heard that story, even after countless accounts of how Neil joined the band.
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The way I read it was not that Alex's health was the reason they decided to stop touring--it was the reason Neil agreed to do it at the time they did it. Alex wasn't sure how he'd recover from surgery and wasn't sure how his arthritis would feel if they waited, so he said he'd rather do it sooner than later. That was all back in November. Now Alex has mixed feelings about touring, Geddy is all in and Neil is "done." Alex has stated more recently that he could see doing the odd show or few nights of shows here and there rather than a tour. That seems to be a realistic scenario for all involved. Neil's objections are with being away from family for months at a time, and the physical toll of playing 3 hours every other night for months at a time. No need for any of that if it's just one show or 4-5 nights in one city.
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The way I read it was not that Alex's health was the reason they decided to stop touring--it was the reason Neil agreed to do it at the time they did it. Alex wasn't sure how he'd recover from surgery and wasn't sure how his arthritis would feel if they waited, so he said he'd rather do it sooner than later. That was all back in November. Now Alex has mixed feelings about touring, Geddy is all in and Neil is "done." Alex has stated more recently that he could see doing the odd show or few nights of shows here and there rather than a tour. That seems to be a realistic scenario for all involved. Neil's objections are with being away from family for months at a time, and the physical toll of playing 3 hours every other night for months at a time. No need for any of that if it's just one show or 4-5 nights in one city.

 

Neil doesn't need the band anymore. He's got his books. It wouldn't surprise me if we see him start dabbling in writing fiction before long.

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The way I read it was not that Alex's health was the reason they decided to stop touring--it was the reason Neil agreed to do it at the time they did it. Alex wasn't sure how he'd recover from surgery and wasn't sure how his arthritis would feel if they waited, so he said he'd rather do it sooner than later. That was all back in November. Now Alex has mixed feelings about touring, Geddy is all in and Neil is "done." Alex has stated more recently that he could see doing the odd show or few nights of shows here and there rather than a tour. That seems to be a realistic scenario for all involved. Neil's objections are with being away from family for months at a time, and the physical toll of playing 3 hours every other night for months at a time. No need for any of that if it's just one show or 4-5 nights in one city.

 

Neil doesn't need the band anymore. He's got his books. It wouldn't surprise me if we see him start dabbling in writing fiction before long.

I agree that I think you will see fiction by Neil before too long. I actually think he would do a good job at it, I enjoyed Drumbeats, which I believe he co authored

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Yeah reading this has colored my opinion....the soloing article made me think.."See...NP is excited about playing"....this article with the Jack Black reference made me think.....shit.

 

NP may feel he's done all with drumming he possibly can ( he hasn't but I get it)......

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(sentence from wrong thread)

Yeah reading this has colored my opinion....the soloing article made me think.."See...NP is excited about playing"....this article with the Jack Black reference made me think.....shit.

 

NP may feel he's done all with drumming he possibly can ( he hasn't but I get it)......

 

I think he likes drumming but hates touring. He wanted to call it quits back in 1989, and just do studio albums, but had an epiphany that a band is only a band if they play live.

Edited by antiquark
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