Neil Peart on Rush Tour: ‘It’s a True Dilemma’
Rush‘s Neil Peart expressed ambivalence about future touring in a new interview. Currently, the trio is deciding whether or not it would tour this year, but the drummer recently told Prog magazine that he’s conflicted about leaving his family – especially his 5-year-old daughter, Olivia – for an extended period of time, according to Classic Rock.
“It’s a true dilemma – there’s no right answer,” he said. “People say to me, ‘Are you still excited when you go on tour?’ Should I be excited about leaving my family? No, and no one should. It’s as simple as that. If you put aside the fantasy of it, it is what it is and has to be done. And that’s fine and I pour my entire energy and enthusiasm into it, but of course, I’m of two minds about the whole idea.”
Regarding leaving Olivia to tour, Peart said that he could “stand missing her” but that he couldn’t bear the idea of her missing him. “How can a small child process that?” he said. “And there’s the guilt that comes with that – you feel guilty about it, of course. I’m causing pain.”
Last year, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson told Rolling Stone that the group was plotting a “41st anniversary” tour for this year. “There are already plans being made for spring of 2015,” he said at the time. But later in the year, singer-bassist Geddy Lee said that the band was still undecided. In a Rolling Stone interview, he speculated, “If we’re going to do some sort of anniversary thing, it’ll probably be a ‘trip through the years’ kind of thing,” but said that the band had not yet decided on a plan.
Despite the uncertainty, Rush celebrated their 40th anniversary with a box set of their concert films. Among the release’s 10 DVDs, R40 also contained a bonus disc of more than two hours of previously unreleased material dating back to the band’s early years.