Rush singer/bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson made a surprise appearance Thursday night at “Celebrating Gordon Lightfoot,” the star-studded tribute concert to the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter lineup at the Carnegie Hall of the country’s music world, Toronto’s Massey Hall. Lightfoot, who wrote such classics as “If You Could Read My Mind” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” died last May at the age of 84 — he had played the historic venue 170 times.
Lee and Lifeson, billed on the private performer rundown and setlist only as “L+L,” were backed by Canadian Music Hall of Famers (and the evening’s house band) Blue Rodeo on Lightfoot’s song “The Way I Feel,” complete with an acoustic guitar solo from Lifeson.
The poetic song about abandonment and heartbreak appeared on his 1966 debut album, “Lightfoot!,” then re-recorded as the title track for his 1967 follow-up.
“It was important for us to pay tribute to Gordon,” Lee told Variety. “Not being folk or pop artists, Alex and I were looking for one of Gordon’s songs that might better suit our style of play and we found that in ‘The Way I Feel.’ Its structure was loose and more open to interpretation than many of his more popular tunes.”
The sold-out crowd of 2,750 — most of whom, to hazard a guess, might never have seen a show by Rush despite the musically ambitious trio’s 40-year-plus run — nonetheless responded ecstatically to the unexpected addition of the national heroes, who have sold 45 million albums worldwide, as did the beaming members of Blue Rodeo. Rush’s “All the World’s a Stage” live album was recorded over three nights at Massey Hall in 1976.
“After the gig, Gordon’s daughter Meredith [Moon] said to us, ‘Leave it to Rush to make ‘The Way I Feel’ sound prog,’ so I think we succeeded,” Lee added.
Lee and Lifeson also came out for the ensemble finale, “Summerside of Life,” featuring all of the evening’s performers, including Moon, Burton Cummings, Tom Cochrane, Sylvia Tyson, Allison Russell, Murray McLauchlin, City and Colour, William Prince, the Good Brothers with Travis Good of the Sadies, Serena Ryder, Aysanabee, Tom Wilson, Kathleen Edwards, Julian Taylor, Damnhait Doyle (the evening’s host), Caroline Wiles, Bob Doidge, and the Lightfoot Band (Rick Haynes, Barry Keane, Barry Keane and Carter Lancaster), which played with their eponymous leader for decades and served as the house band for the first half of the tribute concert.
The last time Lee and Lifeson were onstage together at Massey Hall was in early December for Lee’s book tour supporting his memoir, “My Effin’ Life,” for which Lifeson was the surprise guest interviewer. That laughs-filled sold-out event was filmed by CBC Music for the Live at Massey Hall series. Thursday night’s “Celebrating Gordon Lightfoot” concert was also filmed for CBC.
The day before the book event, Lifeson performed on the Massey stage as part of the Andy Kim Christmas show, an annual charity concert by the “Sugar Sugar” writer that follows the same multi-act format with house band.
Since Rush stopped touring in 2015 — drummer Neil Peart died from cancer in 2020 — Lee and Lifeson have played together in public just four times: the 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction of progressive-rock legends Yes, for which they also gave the induction speech; both 2022 tribute concerts for late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, a massive Rush fan, in London and Los Angeles; and a cool surprise for South Park co-creator Matt Stone, also in 2022, when they showed up to jam with him and Primus for the animated series’ 25th anniversary concert in Colorado.
Massey Hall has been dubbed “the House that Gord built” because Lightfoot performed there more than any other artist in the soft-seater’s 129-year history (Blue Rodeo is a distant second with 43 shows). He was also the last to play it in 2018 before the $135 million renovation and the first to open it, in 2021. Proceeds from “Celebrating Gordon Lightfoot” went to Massey Hall, which is now a not-for-profit institution. Doyle also announced onstage that “in accordance with Gordon’s wishes, The Estate of Gordon Lightfoot will be auctioning off memorabilia of Gordon Lightfoot, including his incredible and unique guitar collection.” The bidding will start in November via Heritage Auctions.