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So, why does Rush, or any band, go out on tour? I am not, nor have I ever been, either a musician or a psychologist, but as far as I can imagine, touring is driven by some combination of rewards of money and ego, counterbalanced against things like personal inconvenience, physical ability, etc., and weighed against the same balance for alternative sources of providing money and feeding ego. It's also possible that a sense of loyalty, to a band member's band mates, if not the fans, also plays a role, although I think that fits into the ego aspect. Are the rewards for touring the best direction for satisfying these human desires? Do the negatives outweigh the positives? Are there alternative means of securing income without incurring the same costs? Can ego find any other high to match audience accolades? Are valued friendships lost through a desire to cease touring, or leaving a band? These are the types of things that I think would go into such an assessment. Each day, all of us make similar decisions, regarding such things as food, leisure activities, and work choices, driven by the same imperatives of money and ego, although likely both the money and ego angles come in at much lower levels. From what we've been able to see, the balancing for Neil clearly weighs against touring. Perhaps money is less of an imperative at this stage in life, perhaps ego is fed more by daily interaction with Olivia, and perhaps, as I believe, his ebbing abilities have truly made him concerned about playing on stage like "the guy that used to be Neil Peart." Again, ego. So, those of you hoping for future live shows because somehow they owe us, or they didn't play where you wish they'd played, or you didn't like the last setlist, are out of luck, as I don't think those things, in their literal sense, have any role in the balance described above, except to the extent that they impact money and/or ego. What sort of things might actually tip the balance toward more live shows for Rush? Again, I think you should focus on money and ego, the two presumed drivers for this activity. If bands were allowed to auction off seats, at least in the first twenty rows, that would put more money into the band's pocket that currently goes to unrelated entities through Stubhub, etc. Auctions would increase the money reward for touring, which might adjust the balancing. Or if Olivia expressed an interests in having more adult memories of her father playing on stage, that too, might tip the balance. What if Neil got to a place mentally where he felt that by not playing live, he was depriving future drummers of inspiration? Would things like that be enough to overcome Neil's inertia? Will Neil continue to balance these factors over the next few years? I don't have answers to these questions, of course, only Neil does. But I was thinking about them this morning, and thought I'd see if others had any thoughts on the subject.