How did you feel when you found out about Neil?

[MeanMeanPride]

Obviously I feel a little sad. Mostly daunted by the thought of a world without Rush playing and writing new music. This is a new paradigm for everyone now.

 

That said, it is and always has been Neil's prerogative. We got 40 badass years from the guy which included some of the greatest rock drumming ever. What more can we ask for?

 

The guy should go and be with his family now. It's what he's always wanted.

[RUSHFREAK101]

Hey Guys here is Geddy's response to what Neil has said about retiring

There's really nothing to say. I think Neil is just explaining his reasons for not wanting to tour, with the toll that it's taking on his body. That's all I would care to comment on it. We'll get together eventually and chat about things. But in my view, there is certainly nothing surprising in what he said. Neil just feels that he has to explain with all the thousands of people asking, 'Why no more tours?' He needs to explain his side of it."

Asked whether he feels Peart's quote was taken out of context, Lee adds: "I think that's absolutely right. That's their job. Talking about something when there's nothing to talk about." ..

 

 

and here is another quote from Neil himself

MD: What's in the future? If Rush isn't touring, will you still record? Write prose? Be a dad?

Neil: You just answered it. There's no strict answer, but those possibilities are all there.

[New World Kid]

I think the chain reaction of my thoughts were like this:

 

Oh. I saw that coming.

 

That kinda sucks, but I could never afford Rush tickets anyway.

 

Or do you think he means more than touring?

 

How can he mean more than touring? You can't just retire from being a musician. It's not like iron smelting. I play music, even when I'm a hundred miles away from my own drumset, I'm still thinking up parts.

 

Maybe he meant he's done touring and recording.

 

Well, if that's what he means, The Garden was a hell of a note to go out on.

 

-shrugs-

 

I'm hungry.

Edited December 8, 2015 by New World Kid

[Hemispheres4Echo]

I had expected this. When I read about that Neil is retiring I felt incredibly happy that I've got to see him play live in concert once (Clockwork Angels). I also felt happy that he calls it a day while he is still at the top of the game. Thank you for the concert Neil. Thank you for inspiring me in playing the drums. Thank you for the music. Thank you.

[Khan]

[Starman2113]

I was a bit sad, but after all the years he spent drumming (and doing it the way he did) and all the pain he's endured, I'm kind of happy for him. He deserves it and I wish him the best.

[Mr. JD]

Here is what Donna Halper said about Neil's retirement on Facebook;

 

"I love a good rumor as much as anyone, but here's what I know regarding Neil and his retirement. He does not want to tour any more, for a number of reasons (health, wanting to be with his family). So yes, in that sense, he has retired. But he is open to getting together with Alex & Geddy at some future point to create some new music. Nothing has been decided about where or when. That's the only news I can share at this point in time. If I have more, I'll be happy to let everyone know."

Edited December 8, 2015 by Mr. JD

[Fred Star]

So who d'ya think would replace him.. should the others decide to carry on a little while longer that is ?

[EagleMoon]

Here is what Donna Halper said about Neil's retirement on Facebook;

 

"I love a good rumor as much as anyone, but here's what I know regarding Neil and his retirement. He does not want to tour any more, for a number of reasons (health, wanting to be with his family). So yes, in that sense, he has retired. But he is open to getting together with Alex & Geddy at some future point to create some new music. Nothing has been decided about where or when. That's the only news I can share at this point in time. If I have more, I'll be happy to let everyone know."

 

I read that too. This makes a lot more sense.

[Digital Dad]

I think everyone needs to chill the f**k out.

[Lucas]

I think everyone needs to chill the f**k out.

 

http://imgfave-herokuapp-com.global.ssl.fastly.net/image_cache/133639847669352.gif

[Digital Dad]

I think everyone needs to chill the f**k out.

 

http://imgfave-herokuapp-com.global.ssl.fastly.net/image_cache/133639847669352.gif

 

 

Ummm...ok

[RUSHHEAD666]

I was happy for him for living a dream and going out on his own terms. The sad thing is so many pathetic turds won't let him.

 

Those turds are having zero effect on Neil Peart and his life. The only people they're hurting are themselves.....in the form of self-embarrassment.

well said

 

Well it IS the end of the world for some people..... :o :|

...and I feel fine... ;)

 

I love it! I am one of the biggest Neil admirers in the world. To be a broken record and to be honest I don't care, Neil got me into drumming back in 1980. I was in the 7th grade. I was in concert band. However my parents bought me a nice Pearl kit which was actually pearl white.

Also they gave me drum set lessons too.

I was ok but lacking something. I listened to "Permanent Waves" for the first time and my life changed.

Even at a very young age I wanted to learn and digest how these drums were played by some Professor dude.

I was clueless so I stuck to playing safe albums by STYX or Donna Summer or even Fleetwood Mac.

 

Yep it's true.

 

Well in the 8th grade I made jazz band on a full drum kit. No more snare only or big bass drum holding bullshit for me.

 

By then "Moving Pictures" had hit the street and I was all over "Tom Sawyer" as cliche as it is to seems now. But YYZ really struck me as my favorite track on the record.

So one day at drum practice my instructor by the name of Ray Libby wanted to do a headphone section. He wanted both of us to play to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams." I remember that it was cool but not very challenging.

A week later I brought Ray my cassette of "Moving Pictures." I told him that I wanted to learn "YYZ." He laughed but agreed.

Well I played it many times with him and practiced it 2112 times at home.

 

My point is that Neil will forever be my mentor and influence. I'm overboard as all of you know but I don't care. Playing along to Neil makes me very happy and it is still a challenge today. I love him. Hence that's why I knew that I had to get my ass down to The Forum to see the final show.

I have never seen so many tears shed at a show.

I teared up myself but what the hell right? It was the end of a drumming legend. A hero. A stranger who will never be along awaited friend of mine.

 

The end of the world might be coming, but don't blame Neil for that reality.

 

I support and respect Neil's decision to retire. He's my MAN!

 

So leave my thing alone, I mean LEAVE HIM THE FUKK ALONE!

 

That "FUKK" is your you Neil!!!! FUKK EM!

 

I've been blessed to have seen RUSH 60 TIMES! I AM BLESSED!!

 

Wait....

 

 

"Some are blessed and some are cursed!"

 

I am both!!

 

Signed,

 

OXYMORON

[patjnev]

I may get some pushback from this but I was relieved. I hate seeing one of my favorite bands play the way they have since 2000. Geddy's voice to me is unlistenable on some songs. Alex's new guitar parts don't inspire me like they used to . Neil on the other hand well he's just Neil. It was obvious to me that the post 2000 Rush was a money grab and I will always feel that way. Rush always had integreity and I am happy they achieved all they did post 2000 but to me they cashed just a little of it in to get there. Which at the end of a career is perfectly alright. And that is what I hope it is . The End. I may kid around on other posts but I really don't want some bastardization of Rush just because someone in the band wants to keep going. If they want to keep going join The Who.

[RUSHHEAD666]

I may get some pushback from this but I was relieved. I hate seeing one of my favorite bands play the way they have since 2000. Geddy's voice to me is unlistenable on some songs. Alex's new guitar parts don't inspire me like they used to . Neil on the other hand well he's just Neil. It was obvious to me that the post 2000 Rush was a money grab and I will always feel that way. Rush always had integreity and I am happy they achieved all they did post 2000 but to me they cashed just a little of it in to get there. Which at the end of a career is perfectly alright. And that is what I hope it is . The End. I may kid around on other posts but I really don't want some bastardization of Rush just because someone in the band wants to keep going. If they want to keep going join The Who.

 

No pushback from me. You are a realist.

Only the idiots spar on here who want to keep the Rush Reality alive. It's dead.

 

Nothing on the earth will ever touch the Mercury Recordings.

[Slim]

Not 100% sure what's happening but I think it's time. This is what I posted on Facebook:

 

Some of my Rush pals are contemplating the End of Rush. I think it might indeed be Game Over, though I'm not sure. When I think of my relationship with Rush it's the first few years I think of. Discovering All The World's A Stage one evening in January or February 1977 at a friend's house .. making a tape copy and nearly wearing it out, immersing myself in that concert hall in Toronto time and time again. Seeing them for the first time a few months later four weeks before my 17th birthday - that was absolutely jaw-dropping.

 

Two consecutive nights spent in a literally freezing cold Newcastle Central Station following gigs on the A Farewell To Kings tour. Taking the first train to Newcastle one morning in 1979, then queuing up around the City Hall to get tickets from the box office for the Hemispheres tour in the snow - some of my fellow Rush fans amused themselves by assaulting passing cars with snowballs. One driver took great exception to this and got out of his car to confront his attacker. He was hit by about a dozen snowballs aimed at him from every section of the queue before he'd got six feet from his car and had to beat a hasty retreat back into it.

 

The two stellar shows at Stafford Bingley Hall in September 1979. The second of these was the night before I moved into my halls of residence to start a degree, away from home for the first time and I've always thought of it as an odd sort of closing ceremony for my life's first chapter.

 

Listening to the Moving Pictures album for the first time, scrutinising every detail of the cover, being really quite surprised by the elegance and polish of the production and the songwriting, and amazed by the off-the-wall adventurous sophistication of the instrumental track YYZ, very different from anything they'd recorded before yet apparently effortless.

 

There are more of these memories of course from the '80s, the '90s and later but they are fewer as time passes and much less an important part of who and what I am than those I have recounted already. If it's the end now I really don't mind at all. I'm not sure it is but it would be good to have a sense of closure, like having reached the end of a good book that you can put away with a sense of satisfaction. They won't tour the UK again either way. Most of the records, and they are relatively few, of the last twenty-five years or so are frankly poor, but the last one was actually pretty good.

 

Let's quietly close the back cover and put it away.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Slim

[Blue J]

I think everyone needs to chill the f**k out.

 

http://imgfave-herokuapp-com.global.ssl.fastly.net/image_cache/133639847669352.gif

 

Bwahahahahahahaaaa!!!

[Blue J]

Not 100% sure what's happening but I think it's time. This is what I posted on Facebook:

 

Some of my Rush pals are contemplating the End of Rush. I think it might indeed be Game Over, though I'm not sure. When I think of my relationship with Rush it's the first few years I think of. Discovering All The World's A Stage one evening in January or February 1977 at a friend's house .. making a tape copy and nearly wearing it out, immersing myself in that concert hall in Toronto time and time again. Seeing them for the first time a few months later four weeks before my 17th birthday - that was absolutely jaw-dropping.

 

Two consecutive nights spent in a literally freezing cold Newcastle Central Station following gigs on the A Farewell To Kings tour. Taking the first train to Newcastle one morning in 1979, then queuing up around the City Hall to get tickets from the box office for the Hemispheres tour in the snow - some of my fellow Rush fans amused themselves by assaulting passing cars with snowballs. One driver took great exception to this and got out of his car to confront his attacker. He was hit by about a dozen snowballs aimed at him from every section of the queue before he'd got six feet from his car and had to beat a hasty retreat back into it.

 

The two stellar shows at Stafford Bingley Hall in September 1979. The second of these was the night before I moved into my halls of residence to start a degree, away from home for the first time and I've always thought of it as an odd sort of closing ceremony for my life's first chapter.

 

Listening to the Moving Pictures album for the first time, scrutinising every detail of the cover, being really quite surprised by the elegance and polish of the production and the songwriting, and amazed by the off-the-wall adventurous sophistication of the instrumental track YYZ, very different from anything they'd recorded before yet apparently effortless.

 

There are more of these memories of course from the '80s, the '90s and later but they are fewer as time passes and much less an important part of who and what I am than those I have recounted already. If it's the end now I really don't mind at all. I'm not sure it is but it would be good to have a sense of closure, like having reached the end of a good book that you can put away with a sense of satisfaction. They won't tour the UK again either way. Most of the records, and they are relatively few, of the last twenty-five years or so are frankly poor, but the last one was actually pretty good.

 

Let's quietly close the back cover and put it away.

 

While I don't agree that the past 25 years' output has been poor...nonetheless, this is an excellent post.

[Segue Myles]

New Dream Theater, Lacuna Coil...Nightwish at Wembley...FINDING DORY NEXT YEAR!

 

New Temperance Movement, possible new Within Temptation, did I mention Lacuna Coil have a new album?!?

 

Ain't got no time to cry over Peart!

 

He is happy, I am more than happy.

 

World is bigger than Rush.

 

And...did I mention the new Lacuna Coil?

 

Oh, I didn't...

[Chicken hawk]

I was prepared......just not ready yet.

[Ron2112]

Not 100% sure what's happening but I think it's time. This is what I posted on Facebook:

 

Some of my Rush pals are contemplating the End of Rush. I think it might indeed be Game Over, though I'm not sure. When I think of my relationship with Rush it's the first few years I think of. Discovering All The World's A Stage one evening in January or February 1977 at a friend's house .. making a tape copy and nearly wearing it out, immersing myself in that concert hall in Toronto time and time again. Seeing them for the first time a few months later four weeks before my 17th birthday - that was absolutely jaw-dropping.

 

Two consecutive nights spent in a literally freezing cold Newcastle Central Station following gigs on the A Farewell To Kings tour. Taking the first train to Newcastle one morning in 1979, then queuing up around the City Hall to get tickets from the box office for the Hemispheres tour in the snow - some of my fellow Rush fans amused themselves by assaulting passing cars with snowballs. One driver took great exception to this and got out of his car to confront his attacker. He was hit by about a dozen snowballs aimed at him from every section of the queue before he'd got six feet from his car and had to beat a hasty retreat back into it.

 

The two stellar shows at Stafford Bingley Hall in September 1979. The second of these was the night before I moved into my halls of residence to start a degree, away from home for the first time and I've always thought of it as an odd sort of closing ceremony for my life's first chapter.

 

Listening to the Moving Pictures album for the first time, scrutinising every detail of the cover, being really quite surprised by the elegance and polish of the production and the songwriting, and amazed by the off-the-wall adventurous sophistication of the instrumental track YYZ, very different from anything they'd recorded before yet apparently effortless.

 

There are more of these memories of course from the '80s, the '90s and later but they are fewer as time passes and much less an important part of who and what I am than those I have recounted already. If it's the end now I really don't mind at all. I'm not sure it is but it would be good to have a sense of closure, like having reached the end of a good book that you can put away with a sense of satisfaction. They won't tour the UK again either way. Most of the records, and they are relatively few, of the last twenty-five years or so are frankly poor, but the last one was actually pretty good.

 

Let's quietly close the back cover and put it away.

 

 

Despite the fact that I've disagreed with pretty much everything you've written on this site or at Counterparts, Slim, this is a great post.

 

But here's the thing: it would seem that at some point, despite there being a clear disagreement regarding the future path of the band, the members of Rush apparently decided to say, "we're on hiatus until further notice" and leave it at that. And it should have just been left at that, despite what I would call a predictable amount of badgering from the music press regarding the band's future plans. While the tour was ongoing, that "we're taking a break and we'll see what happens after that" certainly seemed to be the agreed-upon "official" statement regarding the band's status.

 

Just look at how down Ged is every time he's asked the question. At the Siruis XM town hall, his sadness WRT this topic is palpable. Yet he sticks to the party line. Alex deflects with jokes as we all expect him to.

 

Now, we have Neil, using an anecdote about his daughter -- not even answering directly -- to send a message that he's retired. (And I'm sorry, but no 5 year-old introduces their father as "a retired drummer.") Taken in the above context, on the surface, that suggests an alarming lack of consideration for the others, especially Geddy.

 

So I think the nuance here is that most folks on this forum would absolutely not begrudge Peart his retirement. We have a huge body of work to enjoy and digest. But it's the WAY this is shaping up, that appears poorly-handled, and again, alarming. Of course, none of us a privy to behind-the-scenes discussions, but it just seems wrong that Neil has put Geddy in the position of publicly translating/deflecting the retirement news.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Ron2112

[JohnnyBlaze]

http://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Clockwork.jpg

[WorkingAllTheTime]

Happy for him. To have the means to live comfortably while being a full-time father and husband is a tremendously rare thing. He'd be foolish to pass it up. Good for you, Neil!

 

^ This.

[GabesCavesOfIce]

Of course Neil deserves retirement at 62, but the way the band has been ended by one person, so far...

 

Sorry Neil supporters, but something as great as Rush deserves an end better than this bizarre, abrupt, secret society announcement (Jack Black on Aug 1, this bizarre interview) and the bizarre behaviour of the last couple of years, such as not being candid that he is planning on CA being his last studio album. And tour.

 

Not did he only catch fans by surprise in the spring, when "most likely the last tour of this magnitude" really meant Neil has been eyeing CA as his last album and tour, and had to be talked into R40 by Geddy and Al,that he is in fact done, effective abruptly in 35 tour dates.

 

Is it bizarre he would say nothing during CA? That he is contemplating being a retired drummer as early as 2013?

 

Is it bizarre he would not address this honestly during R40?

 

Is it bizarre he took Geddy, Alex and the entire Rush organization by surprise that he was not winding down, as the band had been doing since 2013, but he is absolutely done, no second leg as has been their norm for a long time, possibly no studio album commitment as promised to the folks that handed over $25 million for their publishing

 

Rush fans deserved better.

 

Geddy and Al deserved better.

 

His family deserved better.

 

..a second leg of 18 or so dates next year would not have been that detrimental, and could have given the fans and band a proper sendoff.

 

.

Edited December 10, 2015 by Gabrielgil513

[JohnnyBlaze]

First line of Anthem (song)