Legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart sadly passed away in 2020. Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson told Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk of the band’s final tour which concluded in 2015: “We were in our early 60s when that tour ended,” Lifeson said. “After the number of dates that we did do, which was about half of what we would normally do, we were all starting to feel the fatigue, as you normally would. And had it been a normal tour, we have gone out for probably another month and then taken a month off, or maybe a couple of months off, and then picked it up for another three or four months.”
“I think personally, and I think the same for Ged [Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee], we were really excited about the show, the presentation of the show, the whole concept of going back through our history,” he continued. “I thought we were all playing really, really well, and I probably could have continued to do another 30 shows, and I think Geddy felt the same way. But it was becoming really difficult for Neil to play at that level, and unless he could play a hundred percent at that level, he really didn’t wanna do any more shows, and he didn’t wanna be that person that should have taken it. And it was hard for him — a three-hour show playing the way he played. It’s a miracle that he was even able to play.”
This week, Lifeson and Lee reunited on stage to perform “Closer To The Heart” as part of “South Park: The 25th Anniversary Concert.” Two shows took place at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver marking a celebration of the music of the long-running animated hit, “South Park.” The concerts will air this weekend on Comedy Central and stream later on Paramount+.
“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are big Rush fans and have referenced the band multiple times over the years including in 2011’s “Royal Pudding” episode when was Rush is tapped to perform at a vigil after the princess of Canada was abducted before her wedding. The group is shown on stage playing a mock version of Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind”, sung as “Flower Breaking Wind”, which results in Lifeson and some members of the audience committing suicide. The band also featured “South Park” characters in a video they showed live before they played “Tom Sawyer” during their last few tours. In 1999, Lee and Lifeson teamed up with Parker and Stone to record a rocking version of “O’ Canada” for the film “South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut”.
The “South Park” concerts also featured Ween and Primus, and Parker and Stone performed numerous classic songs from the show.
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