Rush's reunion tour has barely begun, and already the band have been forced to postpone multiple shows. It's an unwelcome reminder of another difficult stretch nearly 50 years ago, when Alex Lifeson suffered a finger injury that derailed part of the Hemispheres tour just as Rush were becoming one of rock's biggest live attractions.
After their first show in Fort Worth since returning from an 11-year hiatus was postponed due to travel restrictions, two more shows have been rescheduled after bass guitarist and vocalist Geddy Lee contracted laryngitis and bronchitis.
“This is incredibly disappointing for all of us,” the band said in a statement. “We know many of you have made travel plans and have been counting down the days to these shows. Please know this decision was not made lightly. After more than 50 years of touring, we’ve always believed that if we’re going to step on stage, we owe you the very best performance we can give — and right now, that simply isn’t possible.”
As the statement suggests, Rush have never taken canceling shows lightly. But there was one other memorable occasion when injury forced the band off the road. In 1979, while touring Hemispheres, Lifeson broke the ring finger on his fretting hand, leading to three canceled European dates just before one of the biggest festival appearances of the band’s career.
The opening Paris show was canceled after the venue caught fire shortly before the concert, forcing the band to reroute through Belgium. Worse was still to come.
Lifeson brushed off both the injury and its cause, saying simply, “I was foolish, and I hit it,” as seen in the footage below. But the band’s press manager offered a far more colorful explanation, claiming the guitarist trapped his finger between the bed and the mattress while spending time alone with his wife — a story that has raised eyebrows ever since.
Whatever actually happened, the cancellations gave Lifeson the best chance of recovering in time for Pinkpop, where Rush shared the bill with The Police, Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, Peter Tosh and the Average White Band before a crowd of roughly 50,000.
Remarkably, there was little sign the guitarist was hampered. During a blistering performance of “La Villa Strangiato” — later considered strong enough for release on a live album — Lifeson tore through one of Rush’s most technically demanding pieces. At the start of the performance, however, Lee couldn’t resist pointing to the heavily bandaged hand.
“This finger canceled three shows on this tour,” he tells the crowd.
Lifeson had undergone a procedure to prevent mallet finger, an injury in which damage to the extensor tendon causes the fingertip to droop. Even so, Pinkpop wasn’t finished testing the band.
“One of our roadies jumped over a concrete wall with the firm idea that the ground behind it was at equal height,” Lee later recalled via 2112.net. “He didn’t know that the level was split and fell 30 feet downstairs and broke both his feet. He was immediately carried off to the hospital. We missed him very badly during the show because we had a man short on stage.”
The performance has since become one of the defining live documents of Rush’s classic era, making the circumstances surrounding it all the more remarkable.
Lifeson, meanwhile, is no stranger to playing through adversity. The guitarist has spent the past two decades managing psoriatic arthritis, which causes chronic pain and inflammation. He’s previously said that if fans notice him shaking out his hands during concerts, it’s simply part of managing the condition.
Lee’s illness has temporarily sidelined Rush’s long-awaited return to the road. But compared with the chaos of the Hemispheres tour — fires, broken fingers and canceled shows — it’s another reminder that even one of rock’s most reliable live bands hasn’t always been able to outrun bad luck.
