Geddy Lee Talks Rush’s “50 Something” Tour, Tone, Set List Choices, and Anika Nilles
As Rush gears up for their historic “50 Something” tour, Geddy Lee sat down with producer and YouTube music guru Rick Beato to talk about a wide range of subjects. Beato begins by asking about preparing for the concerts, which mark Rush’s first tour in a decade, but quickly gets into the nitty-gritty. Here are some highlights.
Getting Geddy Lee’s Sound
Lee is notorious for having an immense bass collection. However, he says a lot of his sound is from his right hand attack.
“I think most musicians that have experience and have built a sound for themselves and have created a voice for themselves as players,” he says. “It comes from [the fingers] because I sort of confirmed that theory on the last tour in 2015. I played 27 different basses on that particular tour and I think it sounded like me every song. You can adjust things, obviously. I think essentially a musician’s tone comes from their digits and their [heart].”
What Songs Are Going to Be Played on the “50 Something” Tour
Beato acknowledged that Lee wouldn’t tell him the set list, but he asked about the process of choosing songs. Of course, they’ll play megahits like “Tom Sawyer,” but Lee says the process of creating the list was difficult.
“Our original list was like 45 songs,” he said. “And then you start working through them and see which ones you can still do justice to and which ones are too much of a pain to relearn and which ones you really love. And the problem is Alex and I started falling in love with all our songs again and that was a problem. We have a large number of songs that we have learned and now are refining.”
Lee also opened up that the hardest songs to play are “YYZ” (just for consistency) and “The Anarchist,” which has a line that’s difficult to play while singing the chorus. “They’re in two different worlds and somehow you have to make that work. I don’t think I ever spent longer on a [bass line] because of the vocal part.”
Guitarist Alex Lifeson joins the conversation and names “Marathon” as his favorite of Lee’s bass lines.
Geddy Lee on Working with Anika Nilles
This will be the first tour since drummer Neil Peart’s passing in 2020. Anika Nilles has joined the fold to complete the trio, and the process to prepare for the tour is new for all of them. Lee says she brings something fresh and that they’re lucky to have her.
“For this tour, we’re starting from scratch and we’re really teaching an incredibly talented, exciting drummer that comes from a very different school of music how to understand 40 songs from this weird, idiosyncratic band. That’s a horse of an entirely different color. And that was difficult, but also exciting because when all the tumblers fall into place and she gets the vibe and she’s feeling it, and her and I are playing together, and we’re smiling. And it’s, like, ‘Oh, this is gonna be so much fun.’ And she’s embraced it. She’s an amazing talent, but she’s such a great person. She’s got the right attitude. She works hard. She’s not afraid to work hard. And she loves to play the same way we love to play, so we have that in common.”
Watch Geddy Lee’s Interview with Rick Beato
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
