‘Fans invested their whole being into our band and I thought they deserved a somewhat straight answer,’ bassist says in new interview
Lee admitted that the band “let our British and European fans down” by not bringing their 2015 R40 Live Tour overseas.
Lifeson also spoke about not being able to add concerts in some other markets outside of North America, when the tour wrapped Aug. 1, 2015, in Los Angeles.
“There was a point where I think Neil was open to maybe extending the run and adding in a few more shows, but then he got this painful infection in one of his feet,” Lifeson added. “I mean, he could barely walk to the stage at one point. They got him a golf cart to drive him to the stage. And he played a three-hour show, at the intensity he played every single show … that was the point where he decided that the tour was only going to go on until that final show in LA.”
“This is how complicated the whole world of Rush became since August 1 of 2015 until January 7th of 2020 when Neil passed. Those were very unusual, complicated, emotional times. Fans invested their whole being into our band and I thought they deserved a somewhat straight answer about what happened and how their favourite band came to end,” he said.
“I still felt we could have worked some more and I think Geddy felt the same way. But for Neil, it was difficult. He had the toughest job of all of us. The way he played for three hours a night, full on, was unbelievable. We could all understand that, physically, he had had enough,” he said.
As for Rush’s final show at the Los Angeles Forum, Lifeson said it was “bittersweet.”
“That night, I was trying to take in every little thing I could. I remember looking at people I’ve seen for years and years and years coming to our shows. I don’t know them by name, but I knew them as fans who had long supported us. Neil came out from behind his drum kit for the first time in 41 years,” Lifeson recalled. “Everything that happened that night was so profound, and walking off the stage with our arms around one another was bittersweet for sure. But, at the same time, even though I felt we could have gone longer, I also think that the legacy you leave is based on the last thing you do, and we had a great night on a great tour, and that was a show we were really proud of. We played really, really well. That’s the way I would like to be remembered. We were as professional as we could be right to the very end.”
“We decided that we would play some Rush songs. Because, you know, we haven’t played these songs in 10 years,” Lifeson told the publication. “We started that a couple of weeks ago. We get together one day a week over at his place. We just picked some Rush songs and we started playing them and we sound like a really, really bad Rush tribute band.”
But he cautioned fans not to expect Rush to reunite with a new drummer.
“I don’t think I would be happy in my heart if we were to do something like that. I really would feel like we were doing an injustice to our fans and that would be just a money grab. We get offers all the time, and they’re pretty substantial, but I don’t know. It’s not enough for me. How much do you need? I’m trying to get rid of stuff. I sold the bulk of my guitars. I had some cars. I sold those. I had a house in the country that I sold. I want to be slimmer and a little tighter, in my life with fewer anchors around my neck,” he said.