Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Reveal Why Rush Didn’t Extend Their 2015 Farewell Tour

After decades of making great music, Rush played their final concerts in 2015. The R40 Live Tour celebrated Neil Peart’s 40th year in the band and served as their farewell tour. The 35-stop tour was shorter than most of the band’s previous outings. In the years since the trek ended both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson admitted that they tried to schedule more dates. However, Peart was adamant about keeping the tour short.

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Peart was already looking to retire when the band began planning their farewell tour. However, his bandmates hoped they could still talk him into extending the trek. “I’d pushed really hard to get more gigs and I was unsuccessful,” Lee told Classic Rock in a joint interview with Lifeson. “I really felt like I let our British and European fans down,” he added.

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“It felt to me incorrect that we didn’t do it, but Neil was adamant that he would only do 30 shows and that was it,” Lee explained. “That, to him, was a huge compromise because he didn’t want to do any shows. He didn’t want to do one show,” Lee added.

“Ged and I were disappointed that Neil demanded playing only a limited number of dates, which precluded a U.K. and European run,” Lifeson said. “I think a dozen or so more dates would have made us a bit more accepting,” he added.

Neil Peart Pushed Through Pain During Rush’s Final Tour

Neil Peart didn’t want to go back on the road with Rush. Instead, he wanted to retire from music completely, something he would officially do months after the tour ended. However, that doesn’t mean he phoned in his performances during the run.

“There was a point where I think Neil was open to maybe extending the run,” Lifeson recalled. “Then, he got this painful infection in one of his feet. I mean, he could barely walk to the stage at one point,” he added.

Lifeson recalled that Peart had to use a golf cart to get to the stage because walking was too painful. However, once he was behind the drum kit, he was all business. “He played a three-hour show, at the same intensity he played every single show,” Lifeson said of the late drum legend.

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