The future is unwritten (and questions to Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee about any plans for Rush are gently and politely batted back at me), although the past is littered with signposts, and unlikely trigger points, especially for two men who grew up playing and performing together for most of their adult lives.

Thousands of miles – Lifeson at home in Toronto, Lee in London - and a few days apart, the bond between the two Rush members is as tangible as when they were two young men travelling in the back of a van, going from gig to gig across the Canadian wilds. They both look and sound great, vibrant and healthy, belying the fact they’ve both somehow reached 71. Which seems to come as something of a surprise to both of them, that they’re now in what could be described as their third act.

We’re here ostensibly to talk about Rush’s forthcoming Rush 50 set, the latest collection of the band’s live archive housed in a lavish box with new essays. (Full disclosure: I wrote about the band from Vapor Trails through to the final show in LA and everything in between for it.)

Rush 50 also features some unreleased and hard-to-find audio from the band’s very early club and high school days as well as the final song they played together as a band at the LA Forum show on the R40 tour. It’s not only a thing of beauty, but also a bittersweet reminder of just how great Rush were as a live band, regardless of the decade they found themselves in. But, of course, that kind of live legacy only comes from the doing, and with Rush it was years and years of playing every unlit corner of Canada until the rest of the world began to take notice.

“We had trouble breaking out of Ontario,” says Geddy. “But we played all the Toronto bars, Gasworks, Abbey Road Club, Piccadilly Tube. Are you seeing a theme here? And then Ray [Danniels], our manager at the time, would send us out to the boondocks to play bars way up north in places like Smith Falls or Thunder Bay. I have very, very vivid memories of those times. You’ll notice I didn’t use the word ‘fond’.”

Alex Lifeson: “My god, the club owner at the exotic Thunder Bay Motor Inn had us at one end of the motel, as far away as possible from the other five guests at his shitty inn.”

Geddy Lee: “Boy, that was not a pleasant gig. And you’re there for like, I think we were there at least a week, maybe more.”

Feb 2025