Watch Drummer Play All 175 Rush Songs in Neil Peart Tribute
Drumming tuition program Drumeo decided to mark the second anniversary of Neil Peart’s death with an ambitious project – the performance of all 175 songs released by Rush during the band’s career.
The feat was pulled off by Brandon Toews, “a huge Neil Peart fan,” and took several weeks of rehearsal, kit arrangement, performance and editing. The resulting video, which includes a few seconds of each song in chronological order, can be seen below.
“It’s hard to imagine that the world lost Neil Peart two years ago,” Drumeo wrote in the video's description. “We’re grateful that his legacy will live on through his incredible work with Rush. So today…you’re going to hear the best parts of every single Rush song ever.”
Toews “recorded full takes in their entirety (nope…we didn’t just piece this together song by song) and used transcriptions available in DrumeoSONGS to learn the parts …The setup Brandon used for this performance incorporates different elements from the drum kits Neil used over his 40 years with Rush. This includes the legendary tubular bells, gong drum and electronic pads. Enjoy this Rush medley in memory of Neil Peart and original drummer John Rutsey.”
Peart passed on Jan. 7, 2020 after a three-year cancer battle that he’d kept private. “He just wanted to be in control of it," Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson said later. "The last thing in the world he would want is people sitting on his sidewalk or driveway singing ‘Closer to the Heart’ or something. That was a great fear of his. He didn’t want that attention at all. And it was definitely difficult to lie to people or to sidestep or deflect somehow. It was really difficult."
Watch Brandon Toews’ Tribute to Neil Peart