Three Rush Fans and Rush's 2026 Comeback Tour: From the Room and From Afar

Gig Gab episode 538 for Monday June 15th British Beer Day or Beer Day Britain

I think I've already Americanized the thing uh 2026.

Oh, Lord.

Greetings, folks, and welcome to Gig Gab, the show by, for, and about working musicians, usually.

And here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

And this episode is going to be a little different.

My guest co-hosts today are two Rush fans.

And this episode is going to just be, you'll get to be a fly on the wall for

conversations that were going to happen anyway.

And when we realized that, we decided, well, we'll just kind of like do this

together. We'll press record and see what happens. And if you're hearing this,

it means that it didn't go all together badly.

I don't know if I would go so far as to call any of us Rush nerds.

I'll let you folks be the arbiters of that. But we're definitely going to get

nerdy and let our excitement for Rush's current tour and just Rush in general sort of lead the way.

um whatever other reasons you might know of any one or more of the three of

us for today's episode we are rush fans and with that with that i am happy to uh,

welcome two people one person who's brand new to the show you've never been on this show before uh,

my son but also rush fan lucas hamilton hey.

Great to be here yeah

Good to have you.

And then because what choice did you have growing up with this guy i mean you

know you didn't really have a choice right

I didn't no This is my first time on Gig Gab, but not my first time on any of

his podcasts. So that's true.

That's true.

Yeah. Pulled into it before.

And if that voice, that third voice isn't familiar to you, not his first time

on Gig Gab, I believe you this would be make it your fourth appearance,

but never do public math. Yeah.

and among all the many other things rush fan robert scoville thanks for coming on the show.

Amen brother yes uh yes i'm one of the rush faithful that is no doubt about that

So let's start with nerdiness but i do want to get into the the the rush origin

stories which you already sort of um alluded to with with lucas uh it so uh,

i believe if i have these stats right again public math bad idea uh every one

of us here has seen rush with two different drummers not necessarily the same two,

you've seen rush with three different drummers robert okay see i should never

do public math were you in los angeles this week did you see them with anna oh well no.

Okay so yes okay point of emphasis there yes i've not seen

Them live live yes yes yes yeah yes okay all right sorry.

That's yes okay yes your honor that is correct

So we've each seen rush with two different drummers but not the same two for

all three of us um and while we're in the stats,

market uh at the moment that we are recording this but probably not once it

comes out and certainly not once everybody's listening to this uh at this moment in time,

lucas and anika niles are tied for the number of rush shows that they have attended.

It's true it's sad to lose my lead last night but that's it

That's an awesome statistic right there

Yeah so but i think if we're gonna do that statistic and carry it to the end

i i believe it would be alex lifeson at the top of the list for number of rush shows attended

uh and then getty right behind him but but there was like a moment where where

getty was not playing in rush now i don't know if they did gigs as rush or if

it was hadrian at that point in time yeah i don't know good questions right

but then you see you've got getty and alex,

you know alex and getty somewhere at the top there and then blah blah blah blah

robert scoville and then blah blah blah blah dave hamilton and lucas and anika man i didn't.

Know we were going to nerd this hard man i mean that's

I that's going strong right now there's somewhere in there there's blah blah

blah and then there's you and then blah blah i mean you've been to a lot of

rush shows but but let's let's start with with that origin story because you

when we first nerded out on rush uh,

without the the tape rolling you the the whole two drummer thing i did not realize

how long ago you became a rush fan robert.

Oh my gosh yes i mean

uh you know well i lived in st louis you know i grew up in st louis which is

one of the towns they broke in that was one of the early towns uh early cities

for rush and i remember seeing them at a kc flight kind uh kite flying contest

oh it might have been gosh i don't even don't even know who they were opening

up for they might even been the headliner i don't know but this was early 70s

wow and it was with rutzi they didn't they didn't have neil at that point right

yeah wow i didn't even know about the whole neil thing until i saw them on don

kirschner's rock concert and i was like who's the new drummer you know i mean

it was one of those kind of moments wow

Huh that's amazing so you you found rush because of working man and like all of the the initial.

Things man that song that song that album was huge in st louis man oh it was

just a huge deal there fascinating they were they were it was a big city for them

Yeah and and am i correct that you have seen rush at least once per every tour

that they've done is it would that be probably right.

That is right up until i don't think i saw anything on clockwork uh i mean uh

on uh yeah clock on clockwork

Angels yeah yeah.

I don't think i saw any of those shows but i i saw snakes and okay and i had

seen every tour up until the moment i went to work for them

So yes that's right.

Right.

So, yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the other things, for those of you who don't know,

one of the other things that Robert did was you mixed front of house for Rush

from Presto through Test for Echo?

Presto through Test for Echo, yeah.

Right. Okay. Yeah. But you're not here today in that role. You're here today

as a Rush fan, which we've already established.

I'm here today totally in that role. And as I kind of alluded to you in the

email, I was a little uncomfortable coming on. It's like I don't.

I want to be careful here. I want to stay a rush fan and look at it through

that lens because it's so exciting right now. Yep.

But I don't want to throw any shade toward that production or those people that

have put that together. I mean, they've achieved an unbelievable thing here

and they deserve every ounce of credit for it. Don't let me steal any of that spotlight.

Yeah, no, that that's not why I asked you to be here.

This was a very last minute thing that sort of all just fell together in less than 24 hours.

And it was, yeah, it was just, okay. I want to talk to other rush fans about

this. So, uh, Lucas, you're, Why don't you explain your Rush origin story so

people understand what we just did this week and why?

Yeah, so I had never really listened to Rush before R40. I knew that Dave was

a huge Rush fan growing up because I grew up around the house with him,

and that was hard to miss.

But as R40 came around, I quickly got the sense that this was something that

was going to be very important. We were all going to go.

And like I do for a lot of concerts that I go to, I prepped and listened to

the music before we went. And he put together a nice playlist of what they'd probably play.

And we went and it was incredible, obviously.

And after that, I just kept listening and figured maybe I'll see him again. Maybe R50.

Because I knew at that point it had been about every 10 years and figured,

all right, give it another 10.

And then thought maybe this won't happen. And here we are. We just came back

from LA. So yeah. I feel you. It's been a long time coming.

Similar, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. We, I've been a Rush fan since I was about 14 and saw him starting

with the Power Windows Tour.

So I've now seen Rush with, I believe, four different front of house people,

right? Because that would have been John Erickson.

That would have been Erickson,

Yeah. Then you, then Brad, and now Brian Worthen is doing it.

And, and, and I, I mean, I could sit here and try to compare who was the best

sound engineer for rush, but, but like the equipment's so different.

I don't, it's meaningless.

Yeah.

It's me.

It's, I look at them as just different errors,

Different errors. And candidly, and I don't say this to, to inflate,

well, maybe it's to inflate everybody's ego. That's ever been tapped to, to do that role.

Rush has always sounded great live. And that like in today's world, that's table stakes.

you know in the 80s it was not it.

Was not a

Given it was not a given given no i remember seeing you too even in the 90s,

in san antonio and they were halfway through with playing i will follow,

And this was a song that I had probably played a hundred times in bands that I had covered.

And, and it was, they were halfway through before I realized what song it was.

Ooh, yikes. Yeah. It's so, I mean, the sound just, you know,

nowadays we're very spoiled and I, and I'm, I'm here for it.

I love it. That kind of thing gets lost in the romance a lot where,

you know, there's a temptation to look back on it and go, Oh,

it was all great before we've messed it all up now. It's like,

Oh, I don't think he actually walked down those paths back then.

You know, if you really believe that.

Yeah, no sound wasn't a given, but rush always sounded good. i i was always.

Well that's because they always they always sounded good before they ever got

to the microphone i mean they had it so sorted out that that was one of the

the magics of that thing is that the sources were so

Incredible yeah it makes sense i mean that that like that's we talk about that

on this show for you know for yeah for over a decade.

Try to put it back into

Musicians yeah it's like you have to you can't just expect someone else to fix

garbage like if you make it sound good first and then their job can actually

be to produce you live, not just,

you know, deal with a mess, but that's a, that's a different episode.

That's a whole different episode. Yeah. But what I love talking about,

what I know is they're, they're an exceptional example of it.

Yeah. And they are, and they, and they sounded fantastic. Uh,

these last, we saw, we saw, so Lucas and I saw the first two nights.

I, when rush announced their tour last summer, um,

they initially announced only 12 dates now it's like 88 dates or something yeah

and and i i mentioned this on the the when i had howard on a couple of months

ago before the before he was like you know sequestered into rehearsal mode,

but i i when they announced 12 dates i thought okay well,

wait a minute so i got home i had a rehearsal that night on the way home it

kind of hit me and i had a conversation with lucas uh but i i sat down or i

didn't sit down my wife was sitting down and i walked in the house my wife was

a rush fan before i met her too uh,

she had a quote from uh something for nothing calligraphied on her wall so when

i when i first walked into her place that my the joke is you know i asked wait

what dude lives here with you uh,

but you know it turns out it was okay.

The fun follow-on to that story just quickly is that that same calligraphy is

now in my apartment it's survived however many years it's still there

Yeah yeah family heirloom when done it is a family

Owner that's right yeah yeah and you have you have my signed um a show of hands

poster too right yeah yeah that's right yeah,

which was just gifted to me by a woman who owned a record store in connecticut

i just walked in one day and she was like hey you like rush you should have

this it's like holy crap um.

You want to know my favorite rush memento i've ever

Gotten yeah.

So you know who gary larson is right

The the far side.

Yeah the far side comic are you familiar you're familiar with the Farside cartoon

that is the guy sitting at the soundboard is Raymond's last day as the band's sound engineer.

Where he's grabbing the suck knob.

Yeah. So I was in rehearsals with Rush in Toronto when that was going,

released to the public.

Right.

And about 30 versions of it with Raymond scratched out and Robert put in there

came through the fax machine aimed at me.

Right. Of course.

So I, I bundled all those up. I knew at the time that Gary Larson was working

at the Kansas city star in Kansas city.

So I packaged them up and I sent a little note into Gary and I said,

clearly you were thinking of me or you had been to one of my shows when you

made this cartoon, right. And sent it to him. Didn't think a thing of it.

He sent me back the original vellum of that cartoon autographed by Gary Larson.

It's hanging in my office. It's one of my, my most prized possession.

That's outstanding. Oh, dude, that's great.

That's awesome. So that, you know, I mean, if you notice it's a three piece band on stage.

Yeah. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Could have been triumph. You never know.

Could have been triumph. I'm just saying.

So it's, so anyway, I get home that day and I, i tell lisa i'm like hey uh i

think i'm due for a midlife crisis,

and she says that she asked the correct question what's it going to cost us and i said.

No the correct question is another one

Oh yeah there you go i'm sorry and no that's good and and i said well the good

news is i don't want I want a Ferrari for my midlife crisis. I want a red Barchetta.

And I said, she's like, and she knew the announcement had happened that morning

about the tour or whatever last September or whatever it was.

And I said, I think I'm just gonna go to all 12 shows. She's like,

oh, that's way cheaper than a Ferrari. She's like, enjoy. She's like,

can I go to some of the shows with you? And I was like, of course.

She goes, whatever, sure, yeah, it's fine.

And when.

When Neil, when the band kind of announced their retirement,

which was sort of a soft announcement, but it was pretty clear,

you know, in the in the in a lot of you can read it.

He didn't have to read too many tea leaves to realize, OK, Neil has made it

clear he doesn't want to tour anymore.

And I kind of figured at that point, Lucas was just becoming a Rush fan, like he said.

And I kind of figured, well, those other guys want to play.

They're going to convince him to do a residency somewhere, probably in L.A.,

like near his house. So that he can be home with his family.

He can take his kid to school. He can go to work.

He can come home. Like, it's all fine. Right. Like a fair, this is going to happen, you know?

And then of course, January of 2020 came around and I'd never even,

I don't think I'd ever even shared this idea, but I figured,

well, when they do that, Lucas will be off at college or whatever.

And, and wherever he is and wherever I am, we'll just fly to whatever city it

is and we'll go see rush. Like, it'll be fine. You know, it'll be like, it'd be great.

and then of course when neil passed that that uh that idea that dream went away

and then last september it sort of came back and so i called lucas and i told

him i'm like i had this idea

uh that i never really told you about because you know it kind of died on the vine so to speak

and uh i said but now we'll just pick a city and let's go and he said because

they weren't those first 12 dates none of them were within like driving distance

of us i think new york was maybe I want to say.

But that's about a five hour drive so we'll just pick wherever you want to go

and it didn't take very long for us to say well if we're going to do this we're going to opening night,

obviously we're going to do this and so that's what we did this week was we

saw nights one and two of the tour in LA and that's kind of how we got there but yeah let.

Me ask the elephant in the room question right are you not just emotionally emotionally

just exhausted but at the same time just exuberant from seeing that shows those

shows i mean i i mean i watched it from afar and i i am still buzzing

Yep yep yeah you want to take it i mean you're gonna you're gonna put one of

us in tears here if not both robert and hey man i've been there.

Same i feel seen right now yes i feel seen oh

Yeah i mean.

I knew that this was gonna be an emotional trip and weekend and all of that going in. But

when I first saw them on stage, and I'm not gonna ruin anything.

Oh no, actually, I'm gonna stop right here. We're gonna allow spoilers for this

episode. So if you haven't seen Rush on this tour, this is probably a great

time to stop listening if you don't wanna learn the set list. There you go.

Great disclaimer, I was about to spoil things.

No, it's great, yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, so when I first saw Geddy and Alex silhouetted behind those flames in their double necks.

It just all hit me at the same time. And especially once I started seeing them

and seeing just how happy the two of them and Anika all are and all are together.

It just hit me and it broke out in tears listening to Xanadu.

And it was I knew it was going to happen eventually and it kept happening.

But that was for me the culmination.

And really throughout both nights, the thing that kept hitting me.

yes it's amazing that I get to see this music and I get to see it with my dad

that has been 10 plus years in the making uh but seeing them all so happy playing

this music together again that was really the unbelievable part that uh

Yeah, that first night, I mean, Lucas said it very well, like going in,

I knew that this was going to be an emotional thing.

Like, this is a band that I've loved since I was 14 years old.

There's no, and I loved, I was looking forward to that. I didn't,

I didn't know when it were, how it was going to hit, but I knew it was going

to hit and I was going to like embrace it with open arms.

and um yeah that first night.

Was like all emotion um because here are these songs that i never thought i'd be able to see when i went,

primus um i don't know sometime 2019 i think it would have been toured and played

a farewell to kings the entire album for their second set and they were playing like 5 000 seaters,

and i remember being there and thinking okay dave soak this in,

because these songs are built to be played in larger venues and sure i can go

see great rush tribute bands and there are some fantastic ones and i can see

them play those songs in 500 seaters and that's like great sure,

but like to be able to experience this with thousands of people,

i i thought the primus thing might be the last time and i remember like being

intentional about like just like,

really take this in and you know when everybody screams xanadu at the top of

their lungs like just enjoy that moment and so to have that moment come back

around with rush in an arena playing it was,

very like i'm getting chills just reliving it here yeah.

Yeah well the fact that they opened with Xanadu too was just,

to me, it was just, I mean, you talk about making a statement, right?

And, you know, it's kind of, I, you know, I'm older now, you know,

so I keep having all of these kind of circle of life moments.

And that's one of them for me because, you know, Farewell to Kings,

like I was a huge Rush fan, but when Farewell to Kings came out, that was kind of

Okay, game on. I mean, something has really morphed here.

Like they've taken a huge step forward here. Now think about the albums that came

Before Farewell to Kings.

And yet when he got there, it was just like, and for me, it was the whole package.

Like I remember hearing that record.

I remember opening that record and looking at those photos that are on the inside,

like reading the credits, everything.

and then you know the song xanadu it was just one of those moments like where

is this coming from yep like this you know even at that age i mean i think i had this moment of

this is i've said this before they are a singularity there's nothing like them

no musically and one of the things like that backs me up when i say this is

when you listen to their music try to identify their their influences

it's very very difficult to

Do yeah you can do that with the earlier records right i mean very easily in

fact with this you know the first record for sure but even you know like one

two three maybe maybe like 2112 like there's moments of

i don't know where this came from

and then moments of like i know exactly where this came from yeah yeah.

Well and and you know by the time they got to farewell the kings and think about

this statement i'm going to make here now compared to 2112, et cetera,

the whole thing became so cinematic.

Like just the production, the sound quality, everything was just,

it just moved up a huge level.

A whole different thing.

And it was really validating for me to kind of think these kind of things when

Rick Beato did a breakdown of Xanadu. Have you seen it?

Yes.

It's absolutely awesome. And I just remember, and then I kind of think back

to the first time I ever mixed that song live.

I mean, it was a complete moment of validation. I mean, it was just like, wow.

I mean, it's like, you know, intrinsically, I knew every move of every part

that was coming in that song. I didn't have to rehearse it.

Yeah, right. Before you got the call for the gig even. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

So it was, you know, the fact that they were going to now open with that,

I was just like, hell yes.

And, you know, there was much discussion online and speculation and even just

amongst Lucas and I was like, well, I wonder what they're going to open with.

It's like, you know, it's probably going to be something like Spirit of Radio

or, you know, one of those sort of classic rush opening songs that they might do.

And I mentioned to him, I was like, you know, though, like Moving Pictures Tour, they opened with 2112.

Like, can you imagine being the and there's a lot of people,

probably many listening here, the kid who bought Moving Pictures and knew like

Tom Sawyer and Limelight.

And now, you know, the lights go down and you get that.

Right. And it's like different. And I think we even had that conversation sitting,

waiting for the show to start. Yeah. Yeah. And and then, you know,

they go through the whole opening video and sequence, which which really kind

of delivers you to Xanadu.

But but even like even with that delivery.

like i still didn't expect it until it was like wait holy crap they're playing

like and the two of us looked at each other like what they're.

Gonna open with

They're gonna do it like they already made this decision like this well.

Like you know and part of the thing

i loved about it and i mean we're just guessing here yeah i mean we're

Just making that's the beauty of this yes none of us knows anything that you don't think.

I don't have any inside track to any of this information but i thought wow what

a perfect song to introduce annika to the audience here right because it's got

all of neil's atmospherics in it

The first thing she's doing is playing like wind chimes and temple blocks yeah you know.

All of this stuff that neil i don't want to say invented but he really took

that to a new level in that genre of

Music yeah the orchestral elements of percussion integrating the orchestral

elements of percussion that way with the drum set and it really was like a farewell

to kings like that that's where that that really happened yeah that's what.

That's kind of what i'm saying you know so it and then on top of it not that

we have to go here but i just thought this was like the magic moment of her fumbling a stick

That was.

One of the early

Fills it was one of my faith it was like we it was so being in the room and

there are there are many videos of of what we're talking about here uh yeah,

but the the one you want to find is one that's not some iphone camera close up on her.

No one's the one side camera

Yeah no don't find the side camera find the one that shows the full stage because

this is they do xanadu and she's doing her thing and you know like playing the

parts and it's like holy crap here we are like this is amazing and i turned to lucas,

And I said, you know, and there was much discussion of, you know,

is she going to play Neil's like signature fills and all that stuff?

And the answer is for the most part, yes. Like she understood the assignment.

Oh, yeah. She got the assignment.

Absolutely. No question. Yeah. And I turned to Lucas as like Xanadu is,

you know, it's sort of warming up.

Unfolding.

And I said to him, like, you know, that first fill that she has,

that's a big one. That bracken, bracken, bracken, bracken, and then the whole band's in. Right.

and uh and i'm like that's what i like that's trial by fire right there i love

it and she nailed that that was great and then they're in the group and then

they get to that that two measure kind of thing where they're going bam bam

bam bam you know that whole thing,

and that's the moment that the cameras are like the if the venue cameras are

close up on her for the first

time oh my gosh and she's in the middle of this field like it's this big roundhouse

thing you know and in the middle of it her the,

stick in her left hand is no longer in her left hand right and she has this

look on her face of the look on her face was even better than the recovery but

the recovery was it was just as smooth.

She has the recovery was phenomenal

Was phenomenal yeah like audibly you didn't hear any problem but everybody in

the venue knew that this happened because there's this you know 28

foot anika niles on the screen and and all you can see is her face And she's

like turning towards the camera as this is happening and drops the stick.

And you see this kind of in like very brief look of like, oh,

and and then she just like grabs the stick and starts laughing as she finishes

the fill and lays back into the groove.

And that was the moment where it was like, OK.

not that i was concerned i like she's a great player but you don't know like

you don't know what you don't know i'll.

Tell you what i think happened there and i i'll say this looking at it through

the lens of somebody who's had to not necessarily perform but do my thing in

front of 50 60 70 8 000 people when you make a mistake like that early it just

Relaxes you that's the thing.

It just relaxed her and just kind of went okay all right yep let's just go do it

Let's just now we got the first and i i think what i turned to luke i mean we

laughed at it and i turned to lucas because i mean even if you're in front of

five people it's the same thing you get the first one out of the way

and then everything's good like after that like the pressure's off it's like

okay but you know what there it was that was the one.

Yeah i'm human just it

Turns out yep live music folks this is live art.

That's why they make them

Alive that's right yeah it was um yeah that That was, and,

you know, the emotion of that, especially that first night,

didn't really stop. It ebbed and flowed a little bit.

Oh my gosh, dude. Again, as the outsider, just looking in on this,

and I don't know whether things are just perfectly timed like this or not,

but I have never experienced that much joy in my feed.

Like every clip of it that comes by, you know, has crowd in it.

And they're, you know, they're just cheering these signature fills that they happen as they happen.

I've never seen, and just collectively between the audience and the band,

I've never seen so much joy.

That was true throughout, throughout both nights. It was incredible.

The cheers for every signature fill.

Like, would you say, like, it almost got, like, I don't want to say it was overdone.

But like no but it was also a example of that joy that everyone was just so

happy that they were playing and that she could hit all these fills and play everything and yeah

the second night i would say less so but the first night every fill was a huge it had to

Be a sense of kind of relief to some degree to the audience to go wow yes this can actually happen

It happened it's happening like yeah it's happening and the the Neil tributes,

were the songs that they chose for Neil tributes were interesting to me from like a,

a set list architecture standpoint because these neil tributes are the same

songs every night as far as we know and and i think it will remain based on

what the tour book says they they you.

Know they've they've probably anchor use those as an anchor in the set

List they have been anchors that's right yeah but it's it's two songs that were

not like i figured limelight would be one of them uh because you know neil's

daughter and uh and his uh,

his widow talk about how that you know that's daddy's song right you know and

that kind of thing lyrically.

I mean it was

Such a correct yeah lyrically yeah.

A point of emphasis in their

Career yeah um but it's not limelight limelight's not one of those they are

playing limelight on the on the tour but uh it's bravado in the first set and

time stands still in the second set and,

um time stands still that you asked about emotion that first night time stand

still was having amy on stage are you kidding me so it but it starts with,

two and a half minutes of of just

like neil and you hear neil's voice and like that's how these neil tributes

start is yeah you hear him and there's some

you know background of him playing like some of his drum solos but it's mainly

just him the interviews with him that they you know kind of chopped up and are

replaying showing pictures and that sort of thing and then and they they have a,

um a video screen that's sort of sitting at the front of the on the stage,

raised up for most of the night.

But for those songs, it's right just above the band. Like it's halfway down

between all the way up and then sitting on the stage.

So it's hard to sort of see the band without watching this Neal tribute, which is the point.

Like it's, they are lighting the band, like they are making some lighting changes,

but by and large, you're watching this Neal tribute. So like seeing this,

hearing Neal's voice and then,

i did not expect i was hoping to hear time stand still but i did not expect

to hear time stand still and so for that song to kind of burst out of the.

This neil tribute was like oh man holy crap like they're gonna play this song like uh-oh okay.

Great the poignancy of that moment

Yeah yeah and then right and and the that song lyrically,

i loved it when it came out when i was a teenager i didn't i couldn't have understood

it when i was a teenager like that song has,

like there i understood it for for what i for what my life experience at that

time was and then now that i've had different more life experience it means

different things to me and i i realized i'll go.

Out on a limb and say they didn't get the poignancy of that song when they wrote

it right what it was going to be 40 years later correct they couldn't have known it that's fair

And then all of a sudden to realize wait amy man's on stage too like what this

is too much it was too much and then you know and and not,

like not the least of which was you know standing there with you with lucas,

and like you know we were in tears during that that last verse that you know

summer's going fast nights growing colder children growing up old friends growing

i mean you're gonna make me cry It was insane, like same, but it was, it was awesome.

Like, sorry, Lucas, it was like, it was like, oh man, I just,

it was just one of those moments. Like, holy crap. Yeah.

That's one song in the second one.

And that's one song. So, so like, and we said this when we were out there in

LA, like that first night was amazing.

And, and they played a fantastic Getty's voice, like,

i'm i'm i'm impressed whatever his health routine is i want to know um yeah but um,

going into the second night we were even saying to each other like i'm looking

forward to this being more like going to a rush concert,

than going to experience this hugely emotional thing with you know months nay

years of buildup right you know and and it was.

And the possibility for a huge kind of letdown is there right when you have

a show that's that emotional and that big in scope

to then and i think the genius of what they did here i'm going to throw this

out early yeah the genius what

they did there is completely change the set list for that second night

if you had to come out and just repeat that set list the second night it would

have you know the chances of it being a limp noodle are there you know that's

fair because everybody's you know emotionally just going to be kind of like

well how do you top that first night you don't

Know you don't but i think that that quote-unquote first night is probably,

like not probably definitely still going to happen not for them but for many

people in attendance at every show right so for sure like the fact if you didn't get to the first night

your first night's coming if you want to if you want it to right you can still

go to his show folks so you know.

Yeah but but even for them right i mean that first show all questions were going

to be answered in one way or

Another yeah yep yeah.

So yeah there's a lot at stake there you know

Like that second night um what,

what shocked me in the moment that really but it felt more like an inspired

concert moment not this like hugely emotional thing was when we realized they

were playing all of 2112 oh yeah yep,

um that because that was pretty cool uh oh.

Heck yeah man yep

That the last time they did that you mixed it.

Correct yeah that was been on test for echo

Tour that's right yeah and even we did it.

As we broke apart the set into two pieces and the second half was all

21 was 21 12 yeah.

Yeah it was another one of those circle of life moments you know

I i um the the lighting and everything was fantastic we're talking about this

a little bit pre-show but i i remember and and this This is my memory.

So you have more of these memories than me. So correct me if you remember differently.

But my recollection when they did 2112 on the Test for Echo Tour was that the

lights went back in time, too.

The way the stage was lit was it looked like yellow PAR cans.

Whether it was LEDs or PAR cans, I don't know. But just the look of it was like,

oh, this is what it would have been.

This is what lighting looked like in the 70s, not the 90s. yeah.

I and i don't want to speak for howard here but i sure i always got the impression

that there was this attempt to get back to all the world's a stage

Yes for a.

Few minutes you know

That's what it felt okay well i mean so you and i had the same interpretation of that and.

We can i was like bring it

Yeah we can ask howard oh yeah we were all i remember being there with a band

i was playing with we were all rush fans and and uh,

it was like oh the lights like that's like that's like all the world's a stage

right it did it looked like that well that did not happen this time this time

No, and I love it, right? This time.

Oh, I think it would have been inappropriate here.

Right.

Now you just, I mean, you've got so much media at your fingertips, you go all in.

We were in the cave. Like, that was, like the venue was the cave. That was pretty cool.

I mean, you know, this is a sidebar on this, but you know, I've seen talk here

Recently, I actually posted a post that was like this the other day that was

saying, you know, all of this technology, like, you know, video,

all this stuff has ruined music now. It's ruined rock music now.

You know, we need to get back to what we used to be. And my first thought was

when I'll use 2112 as the example.

If 2112 would have come out and we would have had this capability,

they would have absolutely used it.

Yes.

They would absolutely used it to try to create this visual narrative at the show.

Everything that i saw there were moments and 21 12 was a hundred percent one

of them that said okay whatever needs to happen to make this happen at the sphere,

needs to happen because like like that that's the cave right there that's.

The cave you want to be in the

Cave i'll put you in.

The cave here we go um

But that that was and and uh yeah that was that was especially because the first

night they just did um the the overture and syrinx and then,

grand finale and so when alex didn't immediately go to grand finale the second night it was like,

what's happening here and it was

like oh holy crap like they're gonna play 2112 like all of it like head.

To toe here

We go toe and the videos changed and everything was like okay they're really

like they mean they mean business here and you knew that coming out of the gate the second night,

the the second song was different like they they started with xanadu but then

it was like okay we're just and you know i've been thinking about this lucas

i should have done this is not the kind of public math to do,

um i should have looked at the set list and because you can kind of figure out

which songs by this point we know which songs are the anchors which songs are kind of the swaps,

if if they were to like Like even play the same songs, but in a different order,

how many permutations of those songs exist?

And is it more than 88?

Because if it is, then no show on this tour has to be exactly the same.

Yeah. And I mean, I'll throw this out for some context here.

That actually turns into something that is a little off-brand. Very.

Because like in my era that I was mixing in, man, I mean, once that set list

got made, it was pretty in stone.

They might change one or two songs in there, but it was head to toe, let's go.

So that concept is kind of off brand historically for them.

But by the same token, what is on brand for them is, and I get this sense,

again, I have no direct influence of this or direct information of this,

but I get the sense that Alex and Ged have this mindset of, okay,

this may be the last time,

We are going to do it absolutely the way it needs to be done.

Like there are no whole, no holds barred, you know, let's do this thing right

and go out and get it done.

You know, it's what it seems like there.

I mean, and I think that's behind the physical regimen. I think that's behind

the voice lesson, you know, the voice coaching, all of it, all of it plays into this thing. Okay.

We're at 50. Let's, let's do this with no, no holds, no holds barred. Let's do it right.

Well and they they went and did um and i don't know why we didn't like think

that this was like why it didn't dawn on us that this was going to happen when

we realized what songs were in the in the rotation uh,

but night three which we did not attend they played they opened the second set

with moving pictures from start to finish oh yeah.

Which why wouldn't you

Why wouldn't you right of course yeah.

That's freaking awesome man i didn't know that they'd

Done that they did that last night yeah we're recording this on friday the 12th

for anybody that hasn't done the math yet yeah yeah yeah yep.

Yeah still my heart

I know like and i don't know why we why it wasn't obvious to us because.

After night two the only song on moving pictures they hadn't played was camera i think

I think that which is one.

Of my all-time favorite songs of that record

And we had a sense i think we'd saw i don't know some leaked set list that had

camera eye as an extra on there so we knew it was potentially in the list and

still didn't cross our minds that they might

Do that.

Or play all of moving pictures in a night even that didn't come up.

And in the, there are videos online, of course, of everything.

Uh, but I, I, you and I both watched the video of, uh, the, the beginning of camera.

I, uh, which, which featured someone that, that, that I think understands exactly

what their job is and is very happy with it.

Even though the fans don't quite understand why Lauren gold might need to be there.

but lauren gold is he is he is doing.

I you know i i know we have the fact that it works with annika to thank for

this tour even like happening who knows if they would have auditioned more drummers,

uh if it didn't work with annika they might have just taken that as a sign and

then you know this conversation,

just you know when you have over here right yeah exactly uh but maybe british beers for the day but um,

sorry but lauren gold is playing keys and singing harmonies and,

He is like, I believe the first reason he is there is to take the away any obligation

that Getty and Alex would have with their feet.

Getty is no longer having to do any of that with his feet. Agreed.

And it like it's it clearly makes his job easier.

However, the part that really made a difference for me is all those live harmonies.

Lauren can sing and he and Getty sing really well together.

there are moments where he getty and alex sing well together and time stands

still with four of them singing that chorus those four-part harmonies especially

the second night that sound i we were in a different slightly different location of the venue and and,

like that you know it's a big room it's going to get a little bouncy where we

were was not bouncy and those harmonies were like dialed in and they sounded great,

man it was like well imagine.

How liberating it is for good yeah get Back to being a three piece.

I mean, like a literal three piece, you know, and having some of those support

pieces taken care of. I mean, it's got to be just so liberating for him.

Yeah. He doesn't have to play the role of a fourth person, which is what he

spent most of the career doing.

I still hold that as one of the most amazing things I watched happen in my time

there was watching him learn to sing, play.

all of those parts because they're just they're beyond counterparts you know

i mean you look at the rhythm that's being sung versus the bass that's playing

a rhythm and melody that's being played versus what he's having to do with his

feet you just go that's not possible no human can do that yeah you know with

any sort of confidence you know it was mind-blowing to watch him

And none of the parts were easy either let's no that's my point this is just

like you know, okay, figure it out.

We're not playing eights on the bass here. No, no.

The moments that stood out to me the most of, maybe not the most,

but that stood out to me of appreciating Lauren was watching in some of those

parts where Getty would normally be, you know, playing with his feet and his hands.

Instead, playing with his bass and jumping across the stage,

presumably in joy with a big smile on his face, because you could just enjoy

playing the bass and being in those songs and not focusing on doing three different

things at once and getting that taken away from him. Um,

it's it's a great thing to see and i'm sure it feels even better for him than it does for us to watch

It oh i'm sure man yeah although i haven't.

Seen smiles on those faces like that in a long

Time well what was what we noticed though was that,

getty i mean for like his entire touring career up until now has always had

to be sort of stationed over there for much of the show even when he's not singing

because he's like doing all the things and now he has a new place that he goes.

He does. Yeah. He loves to stand center stage with his back to the audience

and just lock in with Anika and yeah, for all of the same reasons that I've

mentioned, it's incredible to watch those two.

Yep.

But it's like, you know, does he know that there's like 18,000 people behind

him? I don't think so. Oh, he knows.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't like he's fine with it. He's yep. Yep. He's fine with it.

I saw a clip the other day of him talking about the composition of yyz yeah

you know and talking about that he and neil essentially wrote that that's right

it was a day where alex wasn't in the in the room yeah and i guarantee you that was the look like i was

standing center stage looking at neil and they came up with that whole thing

yep and you know that song is also i mean because of the way they did it is

a testimonial to alex's vision of a song i mean he he comes in and lays think

about the parts that are played on top of that there

and the movement in it, it's just, I mean, I've said it before.

I'll never tire of saying it. Alex Lifeson is the most underrated guitar player

in the history of rock and roll.

There you have it folks.

100 underrated underappreciated yep you look at the scope of his work the scope

of the texture that he's created the scope of the parts the composition that

he's created man find me another one like that one i i just

He is unique he and and and extremely talented like you know in all those ways.

Yeah see you know this is where i go with i mean you want i know we're getting

close on time here so or at least i think we are we do we have more time yet

I i i have time do you.

Have all the time in the world but you know i was thinking about and this is

gonna this is gonna sound like i'm trying to bring sobriety to this joy fest

and maybe i am a little bit but i i i have to say this

you know we're at this thing with annika and you know where the band has chosen

them which i i will also say i think is a perfectly on brand moment for them to pick her to do this

i mean you know somebody would have been an obvious choice like you know simon

phillips or somebody simon

Phillips mike portnoy right like i mean there's a there's a lot of obvious people

that you could tap and and probably would have been able to get themselves up

to speed faster oh because.

They could have done it i mean there's no question that they could have executed

it in my mind and and i mean i adore simon phillips as a

Drum same yeah.

I think he's the greatest

I didn't i.

Mean he was my favorite

I don't think it was the right pick of the who that wasn't i.

Didn't know see that was my favorite interesting absolutely my favorite huh

Yeah I mean and that's the beauty of music right is like there is no right answer

there's no wrong answer like we we each we each have our things yeah yeah so,

I thought I thought Zach was the best fit for the who.

Zach was a really good fit don't get me wrong Zach was a really good fit

um what I was going to say was you know Annika is this thing now who's come

out and come and prove beyond any doubt how can there be any doubters now that

she can get out and execute this thing but this takes me back to

conversations that i used to have as a budding musician in high school where

everybody was trying to play rush

What what instrument do you play i've never asked you this.

Question you're

A drummer okay yeah i had no idea look at that yeah i mean i kind of figured but you know.

So the thing was you know can you play i figured out this song i know i can

play it so but as you start to mature as a musician you start to hopefully start

to have this realization of well it's not about just playing it like

given a blank slate would you have composed that part

and the answer is you absolutely would not have composed that part no

so you know that that's why i call russia singularity here like if you even

just break down neil's stuff measure to measure and i think and i heard anna

could talk about this a little bit when she was trying to learn it she goes

it's an exercise in memory as much as anything

because no two measures even in the verse are the same

you know snares in a different place in the second measure snares in a different

place in the fourth measure kick drum has a different accent throughout you

know it's one of these things and it just spoke like as a musician when you

listen to that music at least for me it spoke to freedom

right yeah that's what i hear when i hear that especially the early set of records

the first you know at seven eight records was there was this freedom in their composition

that if you were a producer you you would just be crucified if you would break

that down and tear it back down oh yeah no we need to just stay in straight

time here yeah no no shut up we're gonna go create we've

Already made this thing just press record monkey like that's it.

I I mean, it's a testimony to, you know, Terry Brown and Peter,

you know, that they let them be what they were going to be.

Yeah.

But it speaks to the singularity thing. And, you know, the next test for Annika,

if there's going to be a test in my mind, and again, I don't want to step on

any joy here because we're all in the mindset.

We get to just be in joy. Yeah, yeah.

If they make a record, what will she create? Yeah.

I hope she has the abilities, but I like, we've heard, well,

if you care to, you can go online and hear, I mean, she was a YouTube star,

right? Like she's got tons of tons of things of her original music.

And she creates parts that are very much hers.

They don't sound like, they certainly don't sound like Neil Peart.

They don't sound like anybody else. She is, she is also that kind of singularity.

So I, I would be very eager.

And you know i i can't i'm i'm on pins and needles i can't wait till they create

with her and create this alternate identity and you can it is unquestionably

going to be a different identity no it already

It already is like watching she is playing the songs the way they need to be

played because there are complete like like we just said neil,

composed these drum parts and then also played them but like the the composition of them,

no no they're parts and they evolve and like the the way you know the the fill

into the first chorus is different from the fill into the third chorus because

it's it's going to build energy and we're going to wait for it and all those

things like yeah yeah like the,

the rest i know to use the word restraint with uh talking about neil peard's

um trump the drumming is is maybe

not the first word people would use but there's a ton of it there right he.

I think there's

Tons of it correct i.

I i say it's i i would suggest to you that it's restraint with this beautiful combination of intent

Yeah yes everything.

Everything's like every snare that was not in the place you expected it to be

seemed to have intent and it was like well yeah of course you put

That there of course you.

Put it there

And annika perfect for the most part i mean she certainly plays all the signature

fills most of the grooves are as you would expect there were a couple where

it was like oh that's interesting uh she made some some,

minor changes to the groove in spirit of radio which surprised me but but it

didn't bother me i mean it it it it kind of took me out of it for a second like

wait, wait, where's that extra snare hit?

Like, wait, I know that's gotta be right where it's, uh-oh.

Well, I think we were probably all waiting to see if she could do the ride cymbal

snare drum paradiddle groove that Neil has all done.

And she doesn't really. She does her own version of that, right?

Which I love. And it pushes the songs forward.

On night two, we were closer to the stage up on kind of up on the on the side

in the in the first section there,

and watching her play a passage to Bangkok was like you like,

I like that groove.

She laid it down like so deep. She was basically headbanging behind the kit.

And it was right. Right. This is the kind of groove. That's her thing.

Like, this is what she does.

Yeah, you can see where her pocket is.

Lucas even had, you had a-

I had the thought before Bangkok came on of, all right, she learned 38 songs

or whatever, probably more that she tried to learn and, you know,

they whittled it down to 38, whatever.

There must have been some that she had a say in, that she said,

I like this song. I love this one. This one's easy for me. Let's do it.

And as soon as Bangkok came on, it was clear to me that that was probably one

of them. She was so happy.

More in her wheelhouse, yeah.

Yeah, crushed it.

And she crushed it.

That speaks to this idea, too. And, you know, I mean, imagine the expectation

and the microscope that was going to be on for these first few shows.

Did you see the interview that she did? come.

Back and see her and listen to her in a year from

Now i want to yeah i know i cannot.

Wait for those

Even even three months from now yeah like it's going to be a different a different thing she's.

Just going to so settle in and lock in it's just going to be amazing to watch that

Did you see the video that rick beato did with her came out on tuesday so two days

i have not seen it yet so it was really interesting i just happened to be on

my computer we were sitting in our the airbnb be that we had in la and i'm like oh hey lucas uh

there's this 20 minute video we got to watch before we leave for the show,

and and it was because you know he had done the getty and alex ones the two

weeks ago or whatever it was,

and then uh and it's anika one showed up and it was like all right we got to

watch this and rick did a really good job of saying something like uh you know

i i decided to wait until after the first show to release it it's like that's

nice of you to say that rick uh i'm pretty sure that someone uh told you that's

how it was going to be But that's just you know, that's just my assumption.

Nobody I have no extra information.

But anyway It was about 20 minutes long and it's great and they nerd out about

drums Like he did a great job kind of getting her, you know comfortable and

like it was really he really I mean He's a master interviewer.

He's it was really great fantastic and and at one point he says to her it's

a great clip to watch he says hey, um I,

You know, there's going to be people, like even non-drummers,

air drumming these drum fills.

This is actually the clip I saw. Yeah.

And her response is, I know.

I know. Yeah. Yeah. But she crushed it. She really, she did. She did.

Like, I'm so happy. And like, I'm happy that she is, I mean,

she really was the key that unlocked all of this.

but then also she delivered like it well if.

I had any concerns coming into it was that whether she was going to be able

to play with the power that neil played with and all of that was erased for

me in the first clip i saw it i was like oh yeah she's in the game right now

Yeah time even when she played finding my way at the junos it was like that's

what answered it for me it was like oh okay yeah.

No she's she's in you know she's all in the game right now yeah and she looks

please don't take this as a derogatory comment she looks strong at the kit

She i i the first thing i noticed was like her biceps when we were watching

it was like okay somebody.

I saw somebody mentioned the gun

Show yeah yeah it was like okay she's.

Been we're gonna go there

Huh well she's been working on it like like and she even said it in the rick

beato interview she's like i've been you know going to the gym she's like my

body is shaped differently than the guys and for me it's like technique and

strength training and I have to do it all because otherwise I can't do this gig. Yeah.

You know, and she's going to, I mean, look, I mean, Neil was the living example of the toll of,

that playing that kind of set for 30, 40 years takes on your body,

you know, on his joints, especially, you know, I mean, I, he was starting to

struggle with that even at the end of my tenure there.

That's right. He was, he was wearing an elbow brace during test for echo.

Yeah, that's right. I forgot about it. It was that early.

You know, I, I, if I have any concerns, I worry about her a little bit on that.

It's like, this is going to be a pretty brutal touring schedule here.

Yeah. You know, I hope she's going to be able to maintain that physicality and they do get,

They do get nights off. They're not doing any nights back to back. So that's good.

That will get, that will be, that'll be a huge change. I mean,

that'll be huge help for them.

It'll be a help for dead too. I mean, I assume, I assume it was for it primarily for his voice.

Cause it's not cheap to rent those venues for extra days.

Well, don't think about it just for voice. I mean, this idea of,

you know, exhaustion plays for everyone on the tour. I'm telling you,

it's not just the musicians.

But you know, for Neil, I mean, it was such an incredibly physical thing for him.

you know certainly in in the years that i worked for him it was just an amazing

thing to watch and witness yeah yeah very inspiring no

She um yeah they i mean they all they all looked really good like super energetic.

Well you want to believe in my heart of hearts i want to believe that they had

a moment where they realized it had all gone away

Right.

I mean, it was like, Hmm.

Yep.

I mean, I lived through one of those moments where you think,

Hmm, that feels like that could be done.

Oh, we all, I mean, when, when test for echo ended.

Like that, there was a moment, I lived it. Like I said, it was,

Yeah. And you probably, I don't, I don't want to put words in your mouth,

but you probably, you, you, you were certainly closer to the camp than,

than any of the rest of us fans. But like, it was, I understood that rush was done.

like that that was my interpretation of that even though there were no announcements

or anything but it was kind of.

Clear the flip side of that is that now you know put 10 years or you know even

after the after they came back yeah put 10 years on that and realize okay we

get to go back and do this again you know i say this

To go back and do it yeah i.

I say this all the time to people i work with you know to try to get them motivated

and stuff like i see them in the morning and catering or something and go,

hey, you know what we get to do today?

We get to go out and make music in front of thousands of people.

Isn't this the coolest thing ever?

To kind of kick them out of, oh, I slept horrible on the bus last night.

You know, the food's terrible. It's like, hey, you know what we get to do today?

Yep. Come on, man. No, come on. And you know what? This supersedes everything.

And that, it doesn't matter if it's thousands of people or dozens of people.

Like if, and cause I have to, I have to tell myself this sometimes too.

It's like, you know, it's like, oh, three in the afternoon. I hope they call

and cancel the gig, you know?

And it's like, do you know what I go get to do tonight? Like it's, it's, yep.

I remember you said that to me, not about music.

I was thinking to say, I used to work at a summer camp and it got exhausting

at times for many of the same reasons that you're, you know,

you don't sleep, you don't get to eat, whatever, you know, you're busy all the

time, you're exhausted.

And there was this sign that they had that said, this is the best job on earth.

And it didn't sink in for a couple of years. And then it did. And it hit me.

And I was thinking of it as you were talking about this, that it is the best

job on earth, whether it's whatever it is that you love doing,

no matter how much it sucks in the moment, it is the best job on earth.

And it's hard to complain about that

In a real sense.

You don't want to realize it after it's all over.

Right.

You don't want to have to be done. And then a year from now,

sitting on your couch going, man, that was the best job ever.

You know, and a lot. So I think they might have had.

That kind of moment,

You know. No, when you said it to me, Lucas, you were 10.

And I remember this. This was before you worked at that summer camp.

I think maybe you had gone there for a year. I was getting ready.

Apple, you know, I have this, the other sort of side of my life is this tech

side. and we were in Mac Observer for a long time and Apple occasionally would

invite me to go to their press events, you know.

And this was when Steve Jobs was running Apple and you would get the invitation like,

10 days before the event eight days before the event right and it's in cupertino

or san jose or wherever it was you know not in new hampshire,

and so and then it was like all right you're invited but there was no like plane

ticket or hotels or anything like you know this was you got an invite if you

were one of the chosen ones right

and so i'm like ah yeah i gotta like we're all waking up he's getting ready

to go to school i'm getting ready to go to the airport and,

i was kvetching about it i'm like stupid apple like i gotta go and like you

know travel for whatever 72 hours for a 90 minute event like this is stupid

and he stops me and he says.

Think about this though he's like look at what you get to do how many you asked

me how many people are going to be there i said,

uh i know this venue it's about 200 people he's like do you know how many people want to be there

and and he's like all my friends at school want to be there he's like i want

to be there he's like there's a lot of people he's like everybody that reads

your website wants to be there wants to be there yep he's like

this is pretty cool he's like and you even you said to me you're like don't like i know it sucks but

like enjoy it for what it is not for not for what it's not and and that stuck

with me it's like yeah it's it's good man that's.

Pretty sage advice there buddy i mean that's good stuff to feed to your dad

there that's pretty good

Yeah he took the wind out of i was in i was like mid rant i had a good one going

he just took the wind right out of those sails.

Let me set you

Straight let me set you straight yeah sometimes we need to be set straight because

you weren't wrong like not not in the least like you were 100 right so yeah all right all right.

Sir well i

Hate to is there anything.

Short here but i have got to

Go here you gotta go all right well we that's that's fine there's nothing else

we need to to like we've we've said it all or we've said what we're gonna say

thank you uh robert for doing this what a blast.

Thank you for inviting me and i i mean i'm honored that you thought of me and asked me to

No i knew I wanted to nerd out about Rush together after seeing these shows.

And then I realized, well, wait, maybe there's an opportunity to do that. Lucas?

Yeah, man. I'll never turn down an opportunity to talk about that man.

I know. I know. I have a question for you. Luke, I'll say thank you.

Lucas, thank you for doing this. Yep.

Robert. Lucas, nice meeting you, man. Thank you.

Great to meet you,

Too. Rush was a band that had a lot of nicknames being thrown around.

Did they ever have one for you?

or did you dodge that bullet?

No, my nickname on the tour was Spartacus.

Wow. Okay. All right. All right. Well, there you go.

There's probably a story in there somewhere, but that might have to say for another time.

I was just going to say, it seems like we're out of time.

I'll just put it this way. Everybody on our bus all had Trojan helmets,

and I was a leader of the Spartacus.

We even had covers for our golf clubs that were Spartacus-like.

Oh, wow. That's pretty good.

All right. all.

Right the great the great late jimmy johnson is i think the one that gave me that

Name okay okay well there you go i i didn't i did not know where the answer to that was going to go.

That's not widely known by

The way i didn't think it was i don't like i i looked like i went back and looked

at old tour programs like it's got to be in here somewhere it's nothing nothing maybe no i.

Don't think it ever made it into print other than in our you know at the time

that i was touring we had our own newspaper on the tour and neil was the editor

of the paper so you know we had that going on

Oh man i hope you saved copies of those news oh yes i have.

All of those

Okay good.

Everybody everybody had to contribute an article every week oh i see

That's awesome that's that's great oh i love that uh i knew i knew we'd wind

up with a rush story out of this i didn't know what one it would be but i knew it would come out yeah.

Those will make those also hit the streets someday those will make it to the public eye

Somewhere there you go yeah maybe maybe they have already maybe they're on ebay

maybe i don't know yeah i haven't i haven't looked but now folks you know to look you know uh,

yeah all right thanks uh robert you've been on this show we we said that there

was not going to be any shade about anything because what shade would there

be like everything well just you.

Know uh not about me here it's about them

Right well but what i was gonna say was the the one that if the not shades were

the wrong word maybe uh the competitive spirit,

this does that being on this episode now puts you on one more episode of gig

than brad maddox so it's like there you go like that's that yes,

Brad still maintains the longest episode by, he beats you, I think by 57 seconds. Oh, I know.

Yeah. Nipped at the wire.

That's right. That's it. So, uh, with that, you've been, you've done this now

three times, Robert. So I'm going to turn it to you, Lucas. Do you know the

three magic words that we say at the end of every gig gab episode? I have a guess. Okay.

I mean, you know, I can, I can put them on the screen.

It was right. Always be performing.

That's it. Thanks for listening, folks, and,

we'll see you next week.