Rush launched their final tour in 2015, which hit only the U.S. and Canada, and surviving band members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reveal they regret they couldn’t bring their show to other countries.
“I’d pushed really hard to get more gigs so that we could do those extra shows and I was unsuccessful,” Lee tells Classic Rock in a new interview. “I really felt like I let our British and European fans down.”
He adds, “It felt to me incorrect that we didn’t do it, but Neil (Peart) was adamant that he would only do thirty shows and that was it. That to him was a huge compromise because he didn’t want to do any shows. He didn’t want to do one show.”
“Ged and I were disappointed that Neil demanded playing only a limited number of dates which precluded a U.K. and European run,” Lifeson adds. “I think a dozen or so more dates would have made us a bit more accepting.”
He says Neil almost agreed to do more shows but his health got in the way, sharing, “[H]e got a painful infection in one of his feet.”
“I mean, he could barely walk to the stage at one point,” Lifeson says. “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.”
He adds, “That was amazing, but I think that was the point where he decided that the tour was only going to go on until that final show in LA.”
The R40 Live Tour wrapped Aug. 1, 2015, and Peart announced his retirement that December. He passed away Jan. 7, 2020, following a battle with brain cancer. He was 67.
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