>http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6950271/rush-guitarist-confirms-band-retired-from-touring
>
>I have been to quite a few "last before retiring" gigs from groups not needing any additional selling push, which [or should that be lowercased "who"] changed their mind later on: latest were Simply Red and Scorpions. And I am happy to see any group with a long history and some tunes I heard often and still like as long as they have fun on stage.

I truly believe they are done touring. (I still think there is a chance they might go back into the recording studio one more time, if even for just a few new tracks).

Alex Lifeson has very bad arthritis, and he does not move around stage very well. He was very iffy about the last tour. He's still a kid at heart, but at this point it's too much for him.

Neil Peart has chronic bursitis and tendonitis. He had to be talked into the last tour. He has a five year old daughter with his second wife (remember, he lost his first wife to cancer and his first daughter to a car accident in the late 1990's), and made recent statements that no one should expect him to be away from his daughter anymore.

Geddy Lee would probably be OK with one more tour if Alex/Neil wanted to - but he also knows that his vocals just aren't strong anymore in concert. It's been obvious the last two tours that all the decades of performing have done serious damage to his vocal chords.

They have many pursuits outside of music, and I personally want them to have a good happy (and long) rest of their lives.

They were "righteous". They were the rock music version of Superman - peaceful/goofy nerds away from the stage, and deadly-serious masters when they put on their capes.

Rush was the only rock group my parents weren't able to hate. My father had been a drummer in a jazz band and my mother sang in a group. I once played a few tracks from Moving Pictures and they admitted that Rush was obviously an intelligent group.

(And of course, Rush is the first music group...and to my knowledge, the only group....to create an album based on Ayn Rand's ideas) :)

There's a scene from the movie/documentary "Beyond the Lighted Stage" where an entertainer/actor (I forget if it was Jack Black or someone else) tells the story of how he felt so depressed and disconnected as a teen. He played the song "Entre Nous" (which is a song from the viewpoint of a teenager trying to communicate to his parents) to his parents and started crying and said, "this is the only thing in the world I can relate to. These words are the only thing I can understand. These words say what's on my mind better than I can"

Considering all the problems teens go through, getting hooked on Rush is about a thousand times better therapy than turning to pot. :)

Yes, I can ramble on and on about Rush. Because they gave the music world a ton to ramble on and on about.