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As Rush prepares to make their grand return to touring next month, Alex Lifeson has been discussing what’s in his reunion rig – and a copy of Kirk Hammett’s legendary Greeny is a surprise addition.
Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and former Jeff Beck drummer Anika Nilles will kick off the Fifty Something tour in Los Angeles on June 7. It’s the band’s first tour without stalwart drummer Neil Peart, who passed away in 2020.
After soft-launching their comeback at the Juno Awards, Lifeson is looking forward to bringing some new axes to the stage.
“Kirk Hammett gave me one of his Greenys,” he says in the new issue of Guitar World. “I’ve been having fun with that. It’s a pretty raunchy Les Paul, for sure. The Gibson Custom Shop did such an amazing job on it. The relic’ing is just spectacular, and it sounds really, really great.”
Hammett is the third owner of the fabled Greeny Les Paul. It made its name in the hands of Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, who then personally chose Gary Moore as its caretaker when he left the music scene entirely in 1970. Hammett then bought it for a “very realistic” price after the Irishman’s passing.
A slew of affordable and definitely-not-affordable reissues have come since, with Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil among those to have stumped up $20K for a Custom Shop model.
For Lifeson, there are other electric guitar changes afoot, too.
“My original ES-355 has gone to someone else, but I have one of the reissues that I’ll have on the road,” he says. A new Epiphone reissue of the guitar has also been teased.
“I’m still sort of building that arsenal,” Lifeson expands. “I think I had 23 guitars on the last tour. I’ll probably have 15 or 16 [for this tour].”
“Last tour, I had 27 vintage bases,” Lee takes over. “I don’t know if I’ll get through 27 this time, but it’s a slightly shorter show, and I’ve fallen in love with my beautiful ‘62 Jazz Bass. I’m going to play that on quite a few songs, but I’m also planning to bring some unusual things out. I’ve got a couple of classic Rickies that I’ll bring out.
“I’ve got some Hofners and T-birds that I’ve fallen in love with. I’m going to have, I don’t know, maybe 10 to 15 instruments I’ll try to work into the set.”
The band has credited their appearance at the Taylor Hawkins tribute show as the spark for their reunion, although Lee has said it was “distasteful” how many drummers came forward following Peart’s passing, each with an eye to taking his drum throne.
Rush are the cover stars of the latest issue of Guitar World. Print and digital copies can be ordered from Magazines Direct.
