Geddy Lee: I don't think in our heart of hearts we believed it was the end of Rush

Rush’s Geddy Lee says that the band didn’t really believe that their R40 North American tour would be their last.

The trio have been on hiatus since their final show together in Los Angeles on August 1, 2015, with vocalist and bassist Lee reporting last month that Neil Peart had retired from playing drums altogether.

In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, Lee says: “I don't think in our heart of hearts we believed it was the end, even though it did turn out to be the end.

“Maybe we would have served our fans better if we had just accepted that reality, that, 'Yeah, this is going to be our last tour,' and tell everybody. But they had that sense and they came out because of it anyway.

“I wasn't really interested in capitalising on something that may not be true. So it seemed to me much hipper just to go out and play – and if it's the end, then it's the end. Whereas I hear Kiss are doing their first farewell tour!”

Last month, Lee released his Big Beautiful Book Of Bass, while Rush’s classic 1978 album Hemispheres was reissued in November to mark its 40th anniversary.

Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book Of Bass

<a href="https://target.georiot.com/Proxy.ashx?tsid=38569&GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Famazon.co.uk%2FGeddy-Lees-Beautiful-Book-Bass%2Fdp%2F0062747835%3Ftag%3Dhawk-future-21%26ascsubtag%3Dhawk-custom-tracking-21" data-link-merchant="Amazon UK"" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book Of Bass
The Rush bassist, vocalist and keyboardist has launched this lavish book which celebrates the history of the bass and features contributions from artists including Les Claypool and Robert Trujillo.

Rush: Hemispheres Special Edition

<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07HPY6792/?tag=georiot-trd-21&ascsubtag=hawk-custom-tracking-21" data-link-merchant="amazon.co.uk"" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rush: Hemispheres Special Edition
Rush’s classic 1978 album Hemispheres celebrates its 40th anniversary with this special edition. The package includes live cuts, rare tracks and 5.1 mixes.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.