Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson has confirmed that the beloved Canadian progressive rock band is officially a thing of the past, ending hopes for an eventual reunion between himself, drummer Neil Peart, and bassist/keyboradist/vocalist Geddy Lee. In a new column published last week in The Globe and Mail, Lifeson seemed to officially put any lingering hopes for another Rush reunion to bed. “It’s been a little over two years since Rush last toured,” he explains. “We have no plans to tour or record any more. We’re basically done. After 41 years, we felt it was enough.”
In 2014, the trio celebrated their 40th anniversary together with a worldwide farewell tour, dubbed “R40”, immortalized with a concert film/feature-length documentary entitled Time Stand Still. After the tour, Peart announced his retirement, citing chronic tendonitis and other ailments. At the time, Lifeson conceded that while this was likely the “end of touring,” he and Lee still had desire to play together. “[Neil’s] shoulders were hurting, his arms were hurting, his elbows, his feet, everything,” Lifeson said to Rolling Stone in 2016. “He didn’t want to play anything less than 100 percent. He was finding it increasingly difficult to hit that mark on this last tour. So, all those things combined, I get it. I’m disappointed and I think Geddy [Lee] is very disappointed and we’d love to continue this tour a little bit longer, but we’re off now.”
Watch a trailer for Time Stand Still below:
Even still, he left open the possibility that the band could reunite for one-offs or shorter runs. “Maybe next fall or something like that, we’ll plan something,” he predicted. “We took a year off before the last tour and we didn’t discuss anything about the band or work, and everybody had a great time, and we came back from that.”
Now, with Peart enjoying retirement, and Lifeson and Lee both working on a variety of other new projects, it seems we can let go of the idea that Rush might rock again.
[h/t – Consequence of Sound]
[Cover photo via Billboard]