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If any question exists for whether Rush fans would readily embrace Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson creating music again and taking it out on the road, the answers sure sounds like a resounding, YES!
Geddy Lee, singer and bassist for the iconic band Rush, was greeted with a raucous standing ovation from a full house, all who showed simply to watch an in-person interview with Lee for his My Effin’ Life In Conversation Book tour at the Moore Theatre Friday in Seattle.
Lee wrote his memoir My Effin’ Life during the pandemic after losing his friend and drummer Neil Peart to cancer and watching his mom decline to the ravages of dementia. Peart’s death on Jan. 7, 2020 pretty much ended all hope for any type of new music, tour or residency for Rush. However, the book tour has thrust Lee back into the limelight and in interviews has opened the door to working with Lifeson on new music, though the subject was not specifically addressed on this night.
Each spot of the tour features a mystery guest interviewer and Seattle got Nirvana co-founder and bassist Krist Novoselic. The evening in many respects began 10 minutes before showtime when photos of Lee circulated on the big screen behind the stage. This continued for about 25 minutes until, finally, Novoselic emerged, introduced himself and discussed his personal history with Rush before introducing Geddy Lee.
Lee looked great, in fact, hardly aged since 2015 when Rush last toured. Novoselic “interviewed” Lee for about 50 minutes or so and though he claimed to have read the book, at times, seemed oddly unprepared. Some good questions, yes, but also various pauses when Novoselic was unable to follow up an answer with a question. Several times he looked away and wondered out loud what to ask next. Much of the discussion kept circling back to the “controversial” years with Rush, as Lee put it, when the band relied heavily on keyboards.
But as a result, Lee confessed it was during the 2112 sessions he got the first glimpse into what keyboards offered. No secret to Rush fans that Lifeson was bothered with the heavier use of keyboards in the 80s but Lee said his bandmate was a gentleman throughout that era when the keys overtook the band’s sound. Counterparts ended the reign of electronics and when Lee showed up at the studio with his stash in hand, Lifeson (we can only assume jokingly) said “What are you doing with those?”
A side story also resulted when Lee discussed getting kicked out of Rush briefly in 1968. He asked Lifeson the real story behind the firing when he interviewed the Rush guitarist to help him resurface memories for the book. Lee never gave much of an answer, only to say Lifeson shuffled his feet a little much like former band member Lindy Young did, when he was given the task of relieving Lee of his duties many decades ago. Basically, read the book to find out!
After the interview portion, Lee read a lengthy excerpt from My Effin’ Life talking abut his voice, the critics and singing with a cold and a bloody nose. This narrative ended with Lee recounting the experience when his ENT doctor poked a hole in his eardrum to release built up fluid. His scream apparently heard in the waiting room. Upon leaving the doctor’s office, he saw a young boy in the waiting room looking quite petrified at him, and as Lee walked by the lad he said “You’re next.”
After a 15-minute intermission, Lee returned and read another lengthy excerpt from My Effin’ Life this time the tale of Lifeson getting wildly drunk concluding with a humble apology and handshakes with the hotel staff the next morning. “We had fun” Lee said at one point during the evening, his Lifeson story no doubt one of many narratives shared in the book. So maybe a more appropriate book title My Blessed Life. Cause it sure sounds like it.
Lee briefly discussed Peart’s death saying when you lose someone you end up remembering everyone in your life who has passed. Lee was 12 when his father died and talked about one of several Jewish customs requiring no music in the house for a year which kicked playing or listening to music off Lee’s radar. When the mourning period ended he was musically starving and jumped right back in. Also, one of his mother’s friends suggested Lee train to become a cantor, a Jewish choir director. Lee had no interest. Fun fact: Neil Diamond was a cantor.
The audience Q&A went approximately 40 minutes. Questions were submitted through an online form available before the sow date and Novoselic read from a pre-assigned list. My question of Lee saying Test for Echo almost became a double album and what happened to that music and if any appeared on follow-up albums was not answered. Sad face emoji. After I submitted earlier last week, I thought how nice it would be if we had some type of tool to look things up. Oh, the internet! Oops, maybe a dumb question. But I looked and could not find record of that interview from 1997. Oh well.
Some questions revealed the song Lee never gets tired of playing: “Working Man.” His favorite bass parts: “Headlong Flight,” “Freewill” and the middle section on “The Mission.” “The Anarchist” turned out to be one of the hardest songs Lee had to figure out how to play live. Life advice from his mother that stuck: “Be a leader not a follower.” He said “Maybe it’s her fault I’m Mr. Bossy Pants.”
Lee said every part of his life has been about humor and music, something fans will no doubt get doused with in the 507-page My Effin’ Life. Those in attendance received a copy of the book as well as a smaller pamphlet featuring anecdotes from the original 1,200 page draft.
Lee plans to release two songs next week that he left off his 2000 solo album My Favorite Headache. One was played before the show started and the other during the intermission. “Gone” sounds like a gem, which Lee wrote after Peart lost his daughter and wife in 1997. Lee said he felt it too personal to release at the time.
But as for that new music with Lifeson?
The time is now. Again.
*Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases
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