Neil Peart - Dead at 67

[lonestar]

Thanks for sharing TV.....


Thanks for sharing everybody. I really don't think I've seen this level of emotional outpouring over an individual. As I've been doing my discography run, I was going through 2112 yesterday, cranking it in my car as I ran errands. I pulled up to the UPS store and got out. There was a guy about ten years younger than me, with his kid. He just looked at me, tapped his heart, and said "Neil"...and walked away. I have people who I had zero clue were Rush fans expressing their dismay at his passing. I'm so glad I don't have to just sit with myself and the music, I'm so grateful that we're all sitting in this together, it really means a great deal to me.

[Lethean]

TempusVox, I'm sorry for your loss. 

If you feel like talking about it, how did you come to know Neil?  (Totally understand if you don't.)

[fadetoblackdude7]

Thank you for your post TV, I’m sorry I just dropped my post right after yours like that. I’m sorry for your loss and I’m glad you cherish your relationship with such a great soul like his.

[SoundscapeMN]

I'm sure I'm not alone with the feeling of tracing what music means to me, that can be traced to finding Rush's music, and it brings back so much nostalgia.

And with Neil dying, it's the feeling of my youth dying.

But wanting to hold on and remembering the memories of especially when I fell in love with them, and by extension music in general.

I kind have always felt I owe nearly all of my love for music to loving Rush.

I guess that is why this loss feels more impactful than others.

[Tick]

https://www.facebook.com/kevin.savo.7/videos/10218992164709522/UzpfSTE3MTUzMjk2NTY6MTAyMDc0MjYyNzMyMTEwOTI/
A great tribute a friend of mine did. Very well done. It has definitely gone viral and has over 50k views.

[Podaar]

Thanks, TV.

I'm sorry for your pain, but if it helps, your post has helped me through some of mine. Again, thank you.

[New World Rushman]

A little late posting here as I generally only stop by the forum while at work.

This was a rough one...

My daughter called me as I was arriving home from work Friday afternoon:
"Are you driving?"
Just got home, sitting in the driveway
"Have you been on Facebook or Twitter lately?"
No
"Umm, Neil Peart died..."
Silence
..................................................

I took her to R30 when she was just 11 years old, she's 27 now. Her first concert, she knew how much this would crush me.

I sat out in my garage man cave for most of Friday night, raised a few beers to toast the man. Listened to Rush all night with a pair of drumsticks in my hand (I'm not a drummer, it just felt right).

I'm no wordsmith, so I will paraphrase a few things I read by others over the weekend that stood out to me, or gave me comfort:

"The earth is 5 billion years old, and we were lucky enough to exist in the same time as Rush"

and

"He was your favorite drummer's favorite drummer"

..................................................

RIP Neil Elwood Peart, "The Professor"

..................................................

Edited to ad my Rush shows:
1980 - Permanent Waves - The Palladium, NYC
1981 - Moving Pictures - Madison Square Garden, NYC
1983 - Signals - Convention Center Arena, San Antonio (was stationed here in USAF)

**Big gap**

2002 - Vapor Trails - Continental Airlines Arena, NJ
2004 - R30 - PNC Arts Center - NJ
2007 - Snakes and Arrows - PNC Arts Center, NJ
2011 - Time Machine - Madison Square Garden, NYC
2015 - R40 - Prudential Center, Newark, NJ

[Stadler]

Thank you for your service; I was not in the USAF, but I spent a lot of time doing environmental work at Air Force facilities, and so spent a goodly amount of time in San Antone, particularly at Kelly AFB. 

[TempusVox]

Thank you for your post TV, I’m sorry I just dropped my post right after yours like that. I’m sorry for your loss and I’m glad you cherish your relationship with such a great soul like his.

Please don't apologize. There is absolutely no need to apologize for sharing your feelings.  It's difficult for so many of us to process this loss because of what the music meant to so many of us. My pain is maybe different perhaps,  but no more deeper than anyone else's. Thank you all for your kind words, though. It means a lot right now..

[EPICVIEW]

Im still very down over the loss of Neil   
I realize it was prob 1979 I first saw them on the Hemispheres tour,   it was really amazing

[Samsara]

Like everyone, I was playing RUSH nonstop at home over the weekend. I was doing some reorganizing of our den, which is a music shrine, and discovered while taking some things out of storage and putting it into bookcases, that I still had my Rush VAPOR TRAILS tour tourbook. I flipped through it and man, it just hit home. I can't believe I saw that first show back in Hartford, 2002.

[KevShmev]

Great post by TV and so many others.

I get why some are having trouble listen to Rush in light of this news, but it has been the opposite for me.  I have listened to nothing but Rush since Friday afternoon, and I am viewing it as a celebration of all of the music that Neil, Alex and Geddy gave us for 40 years.

[Samsara]

Great post by TV and so many others.

I get why some are having trouble listen to Rush in light of this news, but it has been the opposite for me.  I have listened to nothing but Rush since Friday afternoon, and I am viewing it as a celebration of all of the music that Neil, Alex and Geddy gave us for 40 years.

Amen. That's what I'm doing. Most of us didn't know the man. We just know what we heard, and what glimpses he gave us. And I can't think of a better tribute to Neil (speaking as just a fan). Rush marathon.

[vtgrad]

Thank you for your post TV, I’m sorry I just dropped my post right after yours like that. I’m sorry for your loss and I’m glad you cherish your relationship with such a great soul like his.

Please don't apologize. There is absolutely no need to apologize for sharing your feelings.  It's difficult for so many of us to process this loss because of what the music meant to so many of us. My pain is maybe different perhaps,  but no more deeper than anyone else's. Thank you all for your kind words, though. It means a lot right now..

Your pain is a bit different because of your personal connection and experiences with Neil... we all feel pain, but perhaps you feel it in a different way.  So,  prayers for you and your family, prayers for Neil's family, and prayers for the DTF family as a whole.  As written here by many others, music is the soundtrack to our lives, and when the music stops for one of "us", it makes all of our lives darker and all of our lights flicker with the passing.

[Juular]

R.I.P. Neil.

I heard the sad news last friday night. I woke up the next morning and felt like I needed to do something in his honour. So I sat down with my guitar, learned and recorded a little cover of YYZ (I found the backing track online). I had never played this song before, so it was quite a challenge.

Hope you enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XwSiwooMM0

[EPICVIEW]

found this tribute to the man and legend Mr Neil Peart


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWoMIlivrtU

[Dublagent66]

Great post by TV and so many others.

I get why some are having trouble listen to Rush in light of this news, but it has been the opposite for me.  I have listened to nothing but Rush since Friday afternoon, and I am viewing it as a celebration of all of the music that Neil, Alex and Geddy gave us for 40 years.

I'm listening to Rush all week.  Started with Fly by Night and will continue through the entire discography including live alums. 

[Stadler]

Great post by TV and so many others.

I get why some are having trouble listen to Rush in light of this news, but it has been the opposite for me.  I have listened to nothing but Rush since Friday afternoon, and I am viewing it as a celebration of all of the music that Neil, Alex and Geddy gave us for 40 years.

That's kind of me.  I get it, of course, and to each their own, but Chris Squire and John Wetton meant more to me personally, and for me, the gift of all these people is that they took an instrument - the same instruments I have/had in my own bedroom and played for people - and made a connection that I can only dream about.  So why not celebrate that and remember and embrace that connection?   

I was working on my Jeep this weekend and I put in Fly By Night, Caress Of Steel, Exit...Stage Left, Signals, and A Show Of Hands and just let it play.  At one point, I was under the Jeep inspecting the fuel tank assembly and tapping along to Jacob's Ladder on the differential.

[Art]

Hard to find words.

Just RIP, and lots of love to his family.

This one hit really hard

[pg1067]

I saw on Facebook that there are a couple billboards off the 95 near Philadelphia that say, "Farewell to the King - Neil Peart 1952-2020," with a picture of Neil at the drumkit.  Very cool!

[Dublagent66]

That's awesome! 

[skydivingninja]

Thought of everyone here after hearing the news Friday afternoon. I just got back home from a vacation and got some new blisters on my fingers playing along to some of my favorite songs, and listening to my favorite Neil lyrics. It stings a bit instinctively air-drumming and realizing he's gone, but overall the effect has been positive.

His words keep speaking to me as different songs become more relevant to my life as I get older. Never pretentious, never stuck in just one way of thinking, and always relevant to anyone who wanted to listen. I'm thankful I got to see them on the R40 tour one last time, and I hope his last days were as peaceful as they could have been.

[frogprog]

Yeah that was cool driving home a seeing a billboard on 76 in Philly this afternoon. I also have to give props to THE radio station in Philly that's been here for 51 years, WMMR. They paid tribute to Neil for about 3 1/2 hours yesterday and then again for a couple of hours today. Very classy. MP even called in yesterday for about 20 minutes or so, which was really cool

[TAC]

As sad as it is that Neil has passed, and as sad as I am for seeing another chunk of my youth fall away, I keep going back that there's a 10 y/o little girl, who spent the last couple of years watching her father die, now without a Dad.


I'm on S&A right now, and for all its warts, this album might have my favorite line of Neil's in the entire catalog.

"Though we might have precious little
It's still precious"

[Podaar]

As sad as it is that Neil has passed, and as sad as I am for seeing another chunk of my youth fall away, I keep going back that there's a 10 y/o little girl, who spent the last couple of years watching her father die, now without a Dad.

Yeah, that's what keeps throat punching me.

[jammindude]

I've been watching the show The Expanse on Amazon.




In episode 5, they need to rename their ship.







They decide to call it The Rocinante.















I ****ing.......LOST....IT.   


It took me 5 minutes to compose myself so I could explain to my wife what the heck just happened. 

[ProfessorPeart]

I've been watching the show The Expanse on Amazon.

In episode 5, they need to rename their ship.

They decide to call it The Rocinante.

Pretty sure that was a Rush nod as one the earliest tweets I saw regarding Neil's death was from the account of James S. A. Corey.

[RodrigoAltaf]

Here's what I wrote about losing Neil: https://www.sonicperspectives.com/features/a-reflection-on-the-loss-of-neil-peart/

[romdrums]

As sad as it is that Neil has passed, and as sad as I am for seeing another chunk of my youth fall away, I keep going back that there's a 10 y/o little girl, who spent the last couple of years watching her father die, now without a Dad.

Yeah, that's what keeps throat punching me.

Same here.  Having gone through this with my Dad a few weeks prior, I'm sad he's gone, but I really feel for my son and my niece and nephews who won't get to keep making memories with their Grandpa.  My brother's kids lost both of their grandpas, 2 great grandparents, and one of their uncles in the past two years.  That's a lot of death for kids that are 5-7 years old.

Watching someone slowly die of cancer fucking sucks.  My Dad fought like a champ, but watching what the various treatments do to the body, the cure is almost worse than the disease.  As I stated earlier, my Dad was born a few weeks earlier than Neil Peart, and he died a few weeks before him as well.  Seeing my Dad in the hospital at the end was one of the toughest things I've ever had to deal with.  My Dad was indestructible in my eyes.  Neil as well.  I can and can't imagine how hard it was for Neil's wife and daughter at the end.

Neil as a drummer was one of my all time favorites, but I'm glad Neil wrote his books, too.  It was great to get a window into how he thought and lived while still maintaining his privacy, if that makes sense.  I gained a whole new level of respect and admiration of Neil through his books and his writings on his website.  It helped humanize him in my eyes.  My Dad was the one who discovered Neil's books and let me borrow Ghost Rider.  I'm looking forward to reading that again.

Death really puts things in perspective.  The passing of my Dad and Neil, while sad, gives me two shining examples of how to live going forward.  They both had three year battles against aggressive cancers that they fought until they couldn't any more.  I'm glad I got the time I did with my Dad, and I hope Neil was able to get quality time with his wife and daughter.

[Podaar]

Here's what I wrote about losing Neil: https://www.sonicperspectives.com/features/a-reflection-on-the-loss-of-neil-peart/

 

Thank you, that was helpfully healing.

[ReaperKK]

Nice to read everyone's comments. It's insane the amount of people Neil touched.

Just saw Danny Carey did a tribute to him during a live show https://youtu.be/zfIqkT8Y6do

[Architeuthis]

Here's what I wrote about losing Neil: https://www.sonicperspectives.com/features/a-reflection-on-the-loss-of-neil-peart/

That was very heartfelt Rodrigo, thanks for sharing!
 I was just watching Rush in Rio with a friend last night, and I happened to notice the "we are not worthy" gestures during Freewill.  That is such a great show! 
  I was also watching on YouTube Rush at The Gorge 2011 time machine tour, final show of the tour. I remember Neil posting on his website that it was the best show they had ever played in their career, that night at the Gorge. I could actually feel the vibe, even from the YouTube videos. 
   I missed that show due to bummer "circumstances" I won't go into, but I had a friend that went and he said it was the most awesome thing he had ever witnessed in his life!
  I'm grateful for being able to see Rush 10x in my life and getting to know them as a band.  Neil's books are fantastic and give a lot of insight to the depth he has as an individual. I read Ghost Rider, Roadshow, and Traveling Music. Neil's attention to detail is amazing and he had quite extensive knowledge on many subjects. That also shows in his lyrical contents and how he constructed the drum parts to each song. 
Very inspirational, and he will be truly missed!  My heart goes out to Neil's family, friends, and Geddy and Alex.  Thank you Rush for creating a wonderful soundtrack to a big part of my life, which also inspired me to become a musician myself.  I never knew music could be so cool until I discovered Rush music.   

[jammindude]

Here's what I wrote about losing Neil: https://www.sonicperspectives.com/features/a-reflection-on-the-loss-of-neil-peart/

That was very heartfelt Rodrigo, thanks for sharing!
 I was just watching Rush in Rio with a friend last night, and I happened to notice the "we are not worthy" gestures during Freewill.  That is such a great show! 
  I was also watching on YouTube Rush at The Gorge 2011 time machine tour, final show of the tour. I remember Neil posting on his website that it was the best show they had ever played in their career, that night at the Gorge. I could actually feel the vibe, even from the YouTube videos. 
   I missed that show due to bummer "circumstances" I won't go into, but I had a friend that went and he said it was the most awesome thing he had ever witnessed in his life!
  I'm grateful for being able to see Rush 10x in my life and getting to know them as a band.  Neil's books are fantastic and give a lot of insight to the depth he has as an individual. I read Ghost Rider, Roadshow, and Traveling Music. Neil's attention to detail is amazing and he had quite extensive knowledge on many subjects. That also shows in his lyrical contents and how he constructed the drum parts to each song. 
Very inspirational, and he will be truly missed!  My heart goes out to Neil's family, friends, and Geddy and Alex.  Thank you Rush for creating a wonderful soundtrack to a big part of my life, which also inspired me to become a musician myself.  I never knew music could be so cool until I discovered Rush music.   

I did not know he said that about the George show.   That makes me wish I would have gone.  I only passed on it because I had just seen the Time Machine Tour the previous August at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn.   

[SystematicThought]

As sad as it is that Neil has passed, and as sad as I am for seeing another chunk of my youth fall away, I keep going back that there's a 10 y/o little girl, who spent the last couple of years watching her father die, now without a Dad.

I think that’s one of the things that makes me really sad about the whole thing. If it’s one thing that is conveyed throughout Ghost Rider is that he was truly a loving father and really involved and losing his daughter sent his world crashing down.

He got another opportunity to be a father and as much as we don’t know much about Olivia, we do know again what a loving father he was and how his world revolved around her. I would presume that’s part of why he wanted to stop touring, to be with his daughter more. MP talked about how a lot of Neil’s emails would revolve around Olivia and fatherhood.

Now, like Neil losing his child back in the 90s, Olivia loses her dad. Neil was a great dad from what little we knew and it makes me sad that she won’t get to grow up with him in her life. Hopefully with the diagnosis what it was, they had time to make some great memories together.

I’ve still thought about Neil almost everyday. For as private as he was, we knew a lot about him and his feelings and thoughts. I think that’s what makes this one hard. I felt like I knew him

[Cool Chris]

That is crazy that with 30+ years of touring experience one can pinpoint one's best show. Not crazy in a "I don't believe that shit" way, but in a "damn that is amazing" way.

Looked at the calendar for that show, Julu 02, 2011. My first daughter would have been about 6 weeks old. I have never been a big concert guy, but this is one of a very few shows I'd make a point to see if I could go back in the "Time Machine." Only been to the Gorge once, back in 2000(?). Always think of it as the venue stoners go to to see Dave Matthews.