jacklifeson

When i first saw that Phil was going to be sitting, in some rando office chair, i was like...huh? But, there are alot of things likely going on: Payday. Not just for him but everyone else involved. Thats a big thing IMO. Alot of other people are benefiting, not just Phil. From what i read, it seems that Neil only partly agreed to doing the last Rush tour because of the money. Giving the fans, and themselves, one last time. Its not ideal, but at least he is trying to let their loyal fans have one last time to see them before calling it quits. Not a bad thing IMO. I understand Alexs comment but, with the parallels to Rush's final tour you would think he would understand a little better. Phil has had health issues but who wouldnt want one last opportunity no matter what?

I think the most of the lyrics are right up there with Neil's. Its IMO of course, and Neils could get clunky but, "I watch the sea, what do you want from me?"

I think generally his singing on the later albums was good...LIVE...thats another story. I loved going to see them live and still would if Neil was still around and into it, but I was ok with them retiring mostly because Geddys singing wasnt great. Weird because Geddy said he was really pushing to keep going and touring, but, didnt he or the others notice how cringey it could sound.

I like alot of the songs but man, the lyrics and not good.

As some others have said...I equate selling out with drastically changing your sound so you can sell more. Rush incorporated sounds of the time, and I think they overdid it with Power Windows and Hold Your Fire, but I wouldnt say they sold out. A recent example of this is Maroon 5. They had a decent (not earth shattering but ok) first album then totally sold out with 15 "producers" and 6 "beat makers" for each song. Its like a local restaurant with decent food suddenly pumping out Big Macs to make more money.

Funny, I read parts of Sammy Haggars book too and he said he asked Ray Daniels, who he didnt like, why Rush wasnt the next Led Zeppelin. Ray supposedly said its because of Geddys voice..."if they only had a singer..." Daniels does come across as a snake and its a miracle he didnt mess up Rush, but likely most managers are like that. I do think Rutsey was fired. Probably a combination of things and pinned mostly on his health. Not saying it was a bad move, sometimes to get ahead you have to make hard decisions. Dont think Rush gets to where they went with him though. A few albums and likely done imo.

Could Neil swing and drive a band like Buddy Rich? No, but Rush isnt big band music. Its like saying, "Eddie Van Halen is ok but he cant ska".

Its been over a week now since the news, and while Im still bummed he is gone, Ive come to accept it and feel better. Heart broken for his family, and while he did have major tragedies, he also had an amazing life. Not many will enjoy his level of success and be remembered like he will be.

I also think they stopped touring at the right time. As much as I wanted another tour so I could take my son (he was 10 at R40), Geddys voice was shot. I mean, I still loved the shows, but his voice sounded awful. S&A tour it sounded ok, and R30 was good. Anything newer was bad (IMHO of course). The contorting, yodeling, and just natural aging Im sure caught up with him, but I would have found the best vocal coach I could and worked on how to sing effeciently. Maybe he did for all I know, but I doubt it.

Didnt someone here say that they heard he was having pain at the top of his head when things got grueling/stressful on the R40 tour? Thought I read that, and if Im wrong I apologize.

Yeah I had a similar thought too last week reading through Wandering The Face.... Probably a weird coincidence but it wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened to me. We are foolish to believe we understand how everything works... Same here. Happened many times and Im sure its just a coincidence but still..."sometimes catch a window..."

Im in PA, an hour north of Philly, and that is on the electronic billboard just down the street from my house too. I took a pic, ill have to upload it.

I had not been on here much in recent years, and at one point in the last year I went to Neils site expecting something recent, but found nothing. For a split second, I thought that was odd, but it was a fleeting thought. Enjoying retirement I concluded. And, the kicker (I think someone else here, or maybe on FB, cant remember, posted the same thing which is eerie) is last Tuesday Im listening to Sirius in my car on my way to a client. New World Man comes on. For a few seconds, the thought popped in my head..."I wonder when and how one of the boys will end up passing away". Tuesday. Tues-a-freakin-day. Again, fleeting and it was just as I was pulling up so my focus changed quickly. So eerie to think that the day he passed.

Yes from me

I completely agree. I've found this news difficult to process, and I'm not even sure I can explain what I mean by that - something to do with what the band meant to me when I was younger, a sense of finality, an oddness that something that meant so much to me has been so irrevocably damaged and broken without anything actually changing in a practical sense. I'm not sure. Perhaps the best way I can put it is that it feels like a significant moment. The nature of something that's been part of me since I was 16 has changed forever. Whatever Rush is to me, it's different now. But while I think it's really sad that Neil had to cope with this terminal illness so soon after his retirement, and that his loved ones have to do without him, I'm not one of them. I haven't been hurt or upset by this. I'm certainly not mourning. No offence whatever to those of you who have taken it hard. But I don't get preparing for the death of someone you don't know, and haven't been in touch with in any sense for years. By the way I do believe this is my landmark 400th post here. I believe I joined up in 2004, so it's taken a while. Aside from the fact that I didn't know anything about Neil other than what he wanted to be known, it's sad on multiple levels. Knowing that he had a relatively young family, I feel bad for them, but I think a lot of fans would admit that they are probably more sad for themselves. I see this incident as part of the "melting away" of my youth...something that's gone and can never be recaptured again. I'm sure some fans feel closer connections to celebrities that they admire than I do. I'll just listen to Rush more than usual for a couple days and then get on with it. For me, it really is about something thats been with me since childhood being gone forever. Its almost like a yardstick. I didnt get into them until Power Windows/Hold Your Fire timeframe, so later than some but still over 30 years now. Where did 30 years go? In my late 40s now with growing children (one being a daughter the same age as Neils...another thing that is killing me...imagining getting the news you have brain cancer and then trying to soak up all the little moments you can before its too late), and both my parents went in their 60s. Im way more healthy than they ever were, but there are no guarantees. Ive been thinking about whats to come for myself.

Ughh, i saw this earlier and it broke my heart. My daughter is the same age.

OK, spill it! What industry rumors? Are you in the industry? ;) I was shocked when I heard but I suppose I thought it would all work out alright in the end! :sigh: Just curious how widespread these rumors were at the time? Did you hear that he specifically had terminal brain cancer? Or just that he was in declining health? This still is so awful. RIP Neil. I had just read a couple of people that were close to Neil say that they knew as far back as 2016. One was the guy that he wrote Clockwork Angels with. The other someone Ive never hear of, and it was on his IG page. So, Im guessing it wasnt "public" but many people knew. There was a pic of Neil sitting with his daughter, she holding his hand, and him reading to her. My daughter is the same age. Broke my heart.

I asked my wife over the weekend, who is s psychologist, why Im so bummed about Neils death. Ive never met him. He likely wouldnt want to have met me as he was very private. She said, its both part of your childhood thats now gone, and also pushes your own mortality into the forefront. Im in my late 40s and my kids are growing up so fast. And she is right. And it sucks. Thanks for posting this. When I heard the news Friday afternoon, I admit, I shed a few tears. I felt like a part of me died. After a few minutes, I thought I must be out of my mind. I didn't lose a family member or even a friend I knew. What right did I have to be so upset when Neil's family and friends were filled with grief? Three days later... I'm still bummed. Then, I read your wife's response. I'm not so bummed anymore. Now it makes sense. I'm lucky that my parents are still alive and in good health. I forgot that they, nor I, will live forever. Neil's unfortunate passing was a reminder that we are not immortal. I was 12 when I became a Rush fan. Now, I'm almost 48. That part of my childhood may be gone, but I'm so glad Rush's music was a part of my childhood and adulthood. I will always have the music, the videos, and the memories of the many concerts I attended over the years. For that, I will be forever grateful. Maybe this line from the movie Almost Famous sums it all up?: "To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts." Then you and are about the same age. The only thing I regret is that I never got to take my son to a Rush concert. He recently asked in the car as we were driving if Rush would ever play again. This was about a month ago. Hes not a huge music fan either. I said that if they ever do, we are going. He was 10 for R40 and the only gig I could make was in Newark NJ (a pretty decent drive from me). I didnt want to drag him along because of that and his age. We had terrible seats too. Now, I wish I had. Have to admit, the "makes you think about your own mortality" is really hitting home and the words of the Garden keep ringing in my head. And I admit, i have been spending alot of time in recent years worrying about my business and working, and im not "tending to my garden" enough. Sounds weird to even write for me, but its true. Maybe the lesson from all this is to get busy living and dont forget about your garden.

Vapor Trails came out the same year my mother passed away at age 62. It was sudden. She went home sick from work, crawled into bed and never woke up. The thing I remember vividly is how the rest of the world just keeps going around you, even though you are frozen in grief. Almost like her life was "washed away like voices in a hurricane". And how "you can never break the chain". Its still hard to listen to all these years later. I asked my wife over the weekend, who is s psychologist, why Im so bummed about Neils death. Ive never met him. He likely wouldnt want to have met me as he was very private. She said, its both part of your childhood thats now gone, and also pushes your own mortality into the forefront. Im in my late 40s and my kids are growing up so fast. And she is right. And it sucks.

Yeah I thought he looked a bit out of shape on R40...but figured he is in his 60s, rich, and enjoying the finer things. As someone else here said, he could have been experiencing effects of his disease without knowing it. I would be surprised if he didnt, but who knows. I remember there being some rumors going around, pre-internet, in the early 90s (I think) about how he looked really skinny and shaved head and if he had some sort of cancer back then.

Playing Limelight at the stadium in Baltimore

Rics used to have whats called Horseshoe pickups, where metal was bent under, around and over the strings in that position you saw the hole. When they changed to more a "regular design" pickup without that metal, they would put on a plastic piece to emulate what the Horseshoe used to look like. Completely useless and cosmetic. Everyone takes it off and it exposes that hole. These days you can get an aftermarket thing that fits in there and mine even has a thumbrest on it. http://www.rickresource.com/stt-research/horseshoe.jpg

Yes! Just heard it and did hear Limelight on the earlier game too.

Geddy and Alex knew...Mike Portnoy posted in his tribute to Neil that he knew of Neils declining health for a few years.

Dont kill Pratt, its bad for business!!