“What the f**k should we call it, Iron Maiden?” Geddy Lee says he and Alex Lifeson “twisted ourselves into a pretzel” coming up with a reunion name that wasn’t ‘Rush’
This June, Rush’s grand Fifty Something reunion tour will finally be kicking off at LA’s Kia Forum, the very same venue where guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist Geddy Lee performed their final show with the late Neil Peart in 2020. For years, the band weren’t sure they’d ever feel comfortable performing again without their iconic drummer – let alone under the Rush branding.
While the band ultimately decided to go by Rush on their comeback tour, it was a hot topic of debate amongst the team. But, as Geddy Lee says in the latest issue of Classic Rock, “What else do you fucking call it?” when you’re performing a back-to-back set of Rush cuts.
READ MORE: Rush have performed for the first time since reforming – and you can watch it right now
“When the band ended, we said it’s only Rush with Neil in it,” he explains. “Which of course is true. Rush as most people know it. But, you know, over five gigs we will be playing forty Rush songs. So what the fuck should we call it, Iron Maiden?”
While the band will be touring with new drummer Anika Nilles, Peart’s family has given their blessing for the group to tour under the Rush name once again. Because, when it comes down to it, Lifeson and Lee have gone by Rush for over five decades – it’s a part of them. “We were twisting ourselves into a pretzel to try to avoid using the name that we have had for fifty years, and even before Neil came,” Lee says.
Of course, the tour opening at the venue that played host to Peart’s final Rush performance is the band’s way of respecting their late drummer’s legacy. But they won’t let the loss define Rush and confine it to the annals of history. “It just seems silly to go on as Lee and Lifeson Present The Music Of…” Lee concludes. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Let’s just be who we are and have been for over fifty years.”
And Neil’s presence is going to be felt every night, so he wont be forgotten. Lee expressed his sadness elsewhere in the new Classic Rock interview: “Without Neil… I’ll be frank. There are some songs you play where it kind of hits you, it’s bad, and it feels weird. And it’s appropriate that that happens. You know what I mean?”
“If we just picked up and went on without feeling any tug of anything, that would be absurd, that would be a whole other thing. And there’ll be moments in both sets where we’ll pay tribute to him. We’re working hard on that, making sure that it’s appropriate.”
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