“It had been a taboo subject, but it’s nice to know that we could do that now”: Geddy Lee says he’s open to performing with Alex Lifeson as Rush again
He says the “elephant in the room” – playing without drummer Neil Peart – “kind of disappeared” after the pair played at last year’s Taylor Hawkins tribute shows.
![[L-R] Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee of Rush](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Rush@2000x1500.jpg)
Credit: Frederick Breedon/Getty Images
Potentially good news for Rush fans: Geddy Lee says he’s open to performing with guitarist Alex Lifeson under the Rush name again.
The pair called it quits in 2020 following the death of longtime drummer Neil Peart, but Lee has now offered some promising words in an interview with The Washington Post.
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As he explains, it was the Foo Fighters Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts – which both he and Alex Lifeson performed at – that relit the Rush fire within him. Initially, he says, he had his reservations, and was keen not to do classic Rush songs a disservice without Peart.
At both shows, which took place September 3 and 27, 2022 in London and LA, respectively – the duo played 2112 Part I: Overture, Working Man and YYZ, and Peart’s drum parts were handled by a revolving lineup of Dave Grohl, Chad Smith, Danny Carey and Omar Hakim.
And as Lee recalls, at one of the show’s after-parties, Beatles legend Paul McCartney congratulated him and urged him and Lifeson to get back on the road.
“It had been a taboo subject, and playing those songs again with a third person was the elephant in the room, and that kind of disappeared,” he says. “It was nice to know that if we decide to go out, Alex and I, whether we went out as part of a new thing, or whether we just wanted to go out and play Rush as Rush, we could do that now.”
As things stand, Lifeson had surgery in July for long-standing stomach problems, and so Lee doesn’t plan on broaching the topic of a reunion quite yet.
“He needs to feel good and feel healthy and strong,” Lee says. “And then maybe we [can] have a discussion.”
Lee’s comments are of stark contrast to those made by Alex Lifeson in 2021, when he said there’s “no way Rush will ever exist again”.
“Rush ended in 2015,” he said. “There’s no way Rush will ever exist again because Neil’s not here to be a part of it. And that’s not to say that we can’t do other things and we can’t do things that benefit our communities and all of that.”
So while anything concrete has far from been confirmed, the fact a reunion is even being considered is welcome news for prog fans everywhere.