During a recent conversation with The Washington Post, bassist and singer Geddy Lee shared that he’s open to bringing Rush back with Alex Lifeson. In that particular conversation, Lee spoke about what it was like playing tunes from the Canadian rock band’s catalog alongside Lifeson at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts in 2022.
These shows had quite an impact on Lee, and along with the actual performances themselves, the Rush member noted that Paul McCartney of The Beatles congratulated them and encouraged them to get back on the road.
In a new chat with Rolling Stone, Lee goes into further detail regarding this conversation with McCartney and speaks to how The Beatles member encouraged him and Lifeson to tour again. Upon being asked about this conversation with McCartney, Lee shares the following:
“Dave [Grohl] was so sweet. He comes up to us at rehearsal and he goes, ‘Paul McCartney’s up next to rehearse, and he’s outside, and he said to me, ‘Dave, I’ve never met anyone from Rush before.”
“And I said, ‘I’ve never met him! Bring him in, please.’ And he came in. He’s just a very lovely man. A very positive person.”
Lee is then asked if he had a sense that McCartney knew his music, and in response, he goes into the conversation that took place between him, Lifeson, and McCartney:
“No, but I got the sense he knew who we were and had heard about us. He had never listened to us. So at the show, he was there. He watched the set. I think he was really curious because people probably had mentioned us to him.
“But after the show, he was incredible. He was so warm and embracing and positive. He came and sat and drank with us. We all got plastered together. And he was very emphatic, talking about, ‘You know what Ringo always says: ‘It’s what we do.” And I said, ‘Talk to Al, because he’s the stubborn one.’ And so he was lecturing Al about how great it is to tour. ‘You have to do it, man. You have to get back out there, man.’ And Alex said something like, ‘I’ll do it, if you’ll be our manager.’ ‘I’ll manage you, mate!’ It was really fun, really funny, but he had a point. That’s the way he looks at life. He’s ageless because he really, truly believes he was born to do this. That’s what you do. And you just do it. You don’t question it. And I think we all sometimes forget that.”
In another interview, Lee spoke about the idea of a hypothetical Rush tribute concert down the road.