RUSH members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reunited onstage during a tribute concert for the late Canadian songsmith Gordon Lightfoot on Thursday (May 24th) at Massey Hall in Toronto.
The star-studded concert saw a plethora of Canadian artists paying homage to their fellow songwriter and countryman, who passed away last year.
Lee and Lifeson took the stage alongside alt-country vets Blue Rodeo for a performance of Lightfoot’s “The Way I Feel,” making a surprise appearance after being billed as “L + L” prior to the sold-out show.
The ensemble stretched the cover into a six-minute psych-folk workout, which in turn allowed Lee and Lifeson to go full-on prog and stretch out themselves, musically speaking. Geddy got feisty with his bass runs, and Lifeson carried the rhythm section with physical and impassioned strumming. The consummate professionals in Blue Rodeo sat back and let it ride.
“It was important for us to pay tribute to Gordon,” Lee told Variety. “Not being folk or pop artists, Alex and I were looking for one of Gordon’s songs that might better suit our style of play and we found that in ‘The Way I Feel.’ Its structure was loose and more open to interpretation than many of his more popular tunes.”
He added: “After the gig, Gordon’s daughter Meredith [Moon] said to us, ‘Leave it to RUSH to make ‘The Way I Feel’ sound prog,’ so I think we succeeded.”
Lee and Lifeson also joined the evening’s other performers for the ensemble finale of “Summerside of Life.”
As previously reported, Lee and Lifeson have been regularly jamming RUSH songs together, though the latter has insisted there is no intentions of reuniting the band. Since the passing of RUSH drummer Neil Peart in 2020, the pair have only given occasional performances, playing a Taylor Hawkins tribute concert and the South Park 25th anniversary concert in 2022. Lee also embarked on a spoken-word tour in support of his recent memoir, My Effin’ Life.
Below you can watch audience footage of Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson performing at the Gordon Lightfoot tribute show.