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Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Fri, Nov 22, 2024

Geddy Lee on That Metal Show and Rock Icons premieres tonight on VH1 Classic

Sat, Feb 21, 2015@9:47AM | comments

UPDATE - 2/22@5:01PM: The full episode of Rock Icons is now online (thanks Douglas K) at the VH1 Classic website, along with the full That Metal Show episode here.

UPDATE - 2/22@10:29AM: VH1 Classic has posted an 8-minute That After Show clip with Geddy Lee and John Petrucci which you can check out below or at this location.

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UPDATE - 2/22@8:48AM: The Geddy Lee portions of That Metal Show are on YouTube here. Get it while it's hot!

UPDATE - 2/21@9:59PM: In the throwdown segment they pit All the World's a Stage (Eddie, Geddy and Jim's pick) against Exit ... Stage Left (Don Jamieson and John Petrucci's pick).

UPDATE - 2/21@9:45PM: In the 3rd segment they put Geddy through the lightning round where he reveals his love of The Who and that his favorite concert he ever attended was Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick. They then had Geddy rank the first 9 albums from favorite to least favorite. Geddy's rankings starting with his favorite were Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves, 2112, Hemispheres, A Farewell to Kings, Rush, Signals, Caress of Steel and Fly by Night. He then went on to explain his choices.

UPDATE - 2/21@9:33PM: They kicked off the second segment with a throwback clip from the Power Windows era (you can watch that clip online here). Eddie then asked him whether the R40 Tour would be a farewell tour or not. Geddy clearly did not want to commit to calling it that, but does say the following:

... it's clear that we are at a point in our career that we have to slow down - and slow down dramatically. So, I'm not a guy who's in love with the farewell tour idea, but it's clear that this is going to be the last big tour that we're going to do for a while, anyway ... In terms of 'are we still a band?,' yeah, of course we're still a band. Do we talk about writing? Yes, we talk about writing. Will we do gigs in the future? I don't see why not. But, when you are talking about a tour that's 35 shows, 40 shows, 50 shows at our age at this point in our lives, I don't know how many of those are still left in us. ...

He also did not want to reveal any details about the tour or setlist and spoil the surprise, but he did say that it will be "a celebration of our entire history".

UPDATE - 2/21@9:23PM: Geddy's first That Metal Show interview segment is over. He spoke about the upcoming R40 tour and how difficult it is to whittle down the setlist which he jokingly states is currently 5 hours long. They are currently rehearsing separately and they'll begin band rehearsals in April.

UPDATE - 2/21@5:57PM: Here's a preview clip from Rock Icons where Geddy gives us a look inside his bass room:

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Rush fans will be getting their fill of Geddy Lee on TV this evening. Geddy will be the special guest on the season 14 debut episode of VH1 Classic's That Metal Show tonight at 9PM. He'll also be the featured guest on the series premiere of VH1 Classic's Rock Icons immediately following the debut episode of That Metal Show. VH1 Classic posted a couple of preview clips from the debut episode of Rock Icons yesterday which you can check out at this link. In the first video Geddy compares rock stars to superheroes, and in the second he talks a bit about the evolution of Rush's sound over the years. This morning Billboard posted a short throwback Thursday-type clip from the show:

... [in this] clip of Lee from 30 years ago ... he expresses his gratitude for being "voted into the Guitar Player Gallery of Greats for winning a bass players poll five years in a row." The Throwback Thursday-esque segment prompts the TMS panel to rib Lee about his hair, which he wore in a bouffant mullet during the '80s. "How we feeling about the hair from that period?" asks Trunk. "I was just about to say, 'I wish I still had that hat,'" Lee jokes in response. ...

You can watch the clip below or at this location. The season premiere episode of That Metal Show was taped this past Tuesday and host Eddie Trunk posted a recap of the taping to his website, along with this VH1 photo gallery:

... I did ask Ged if this is the last tour, future plans and even talked some baseball. We also show a new release of 2112 and find out what his favorite and least favorite Rush albums are! Had a blast! Can't thanks Geddy enough for returning to the show and being such a great guest. The Rush guys all have a great sense of humor as well and know what it means to be fans and have always been so cool with me. Honored to have their support. Geddy flew to NYC just to do TMS which is so awesome! ... was so cool to have [John] Petrucci on who was a kid in a candy store around Geddy. ...

Trunk was also interviewed by Glide magazine earlier this week to talk about the show. Geddy also called in to the syndicated radio show On Tap presented by VH1 Classic Wednesday night to talk about his appearance on both shows. Last week Rush posted a 30-second, VH1 Classic promo spot for both premieres to their Facebook page. The commercial features a few shots of Geddy Lee, including a short interview snippet from Rock Icons, and you can watch the whole thing at this location. There's also a 30-second teaser trailer for Rock Icons that includes a few shots of Geddy, and you can listen to Sam Dunn of Banger Films discuss the series in this VH1 interview.