Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart released several truly memorable live albums throughout Rush’s career. Like many bands, those records helped show fans who had not yet seen them live all the energy of their performances and how their songs could be even more powerful in a concert setting.
The band’s frontman has often spoken about the artists who influenced him and once revealed which two live albums by other artists are his favorites of all time.
The 2 live albums Geddy Lee said are his favorites of all time
The Who “Live at Leeds” (1970)
“As far as other bands there are numerous live albums that influenced me when I was younger. The Who ‘Live at Leeds’ was one of my very favorite albums,” Geddy Lee told VH1 in 2013. The Who’s first live record was released in 1970 and was an inspiration for many future praised musicians such as Eddie Van Halen.
To Geddy, what makes this record so special is the fact that it’s sounds raw. “I was a big Who fan. I still am. Like a lot of people, it started with ‘My Generation for me’. I used to go up to Sam The Record Man in town to get my music. That’s where I got ‘Live At Leeds’ one Saturday morning. And the bass in ‘My Generation’, I mean, John Entwistle, my God, he was such an absolute influence on me. His playing on Leeds is unsurpassable. I’m a big fan of ‘Summertime Blues’ on that album, which we covered, to a large degree because of their version.”
Geddy Lee continued:
“I got to see The Who in Winnipeg, Manitoba of all places. They were incredible, but Moon was already gone by then. I never saw them with him, I’m very sad to say. No matter what they do, Pete Townshend’s writing has always been at the very top of his craft. (It is) the quintessential combination of heavy and melodic. Even today, ‘Live At Leeds’ sounds so alive, it’s a real piece of that period of Rock. It’s like a bootleg, the artwork, the tone; that was their attitude I think. It was raw: ‘Here it is,'” he said in an interview with Team Rock in 2016.
Geddy has said that Pete Townshend is his favorite Rock songwriter and that most bands would not have been the same if The Who had never existed. He also thinks that the late John Entwistle is the greatest Rock bassist of all time.
When talking about them, he often recalls that they are essentially a three piece band, like Rush, if you consider that Roger Daltrey usually did not play an instrument for most of the show. Rush had the chance to pay tribute to them covering “The Seeker” on their 2004 covers album “Feedback”.
Humble Pie “Rockin’ the Fillmore (1971)
“The Humble Pie live album I think was a game changer for a lot of young musicians like myself at that time. Stevie Marriott live is just a thrill, yeah, he’s so awesome. So those are two of my real favorite live albums,” Geddy told VH1. He often mentions that record and the late singer/guitarist Steve Marriott as one of the vocalists who influenced him the most in the beginning of his career. Rush’s sound on their debut album was often compared to Humble Pie and Led Zeppelin.
Released in 1971, Humble Pie’s live album “Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore”, was extremely important to him. “I was a fan of guys with a higher range like Steve Marriott in the Small Faces and Humble Pie. (Humble Pie’s Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore would be a hugely influential record to me and most of my peers. You can hear the influence of ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’ on my early singing.)”
Geddy Lee continued:
“We weren’t so much a product of American blues, as American blues that had been shipped to England, amplified, rock-a-fied and sent back across the water to me sitting in Toronto waiting for my life to begin. I would often later be compared to Robert Plant, and while he certainly pushed me into the higher registers. I do think a comparison with Marriott would be more accurate. He had a soulful voice with a strong vibrato but he rocked,” Geddy Lee said in his autobiography “My Effin’ Life”.
That record ended up being an inspiration for Rush when they recorded “All the World’s a Stage” (1976), their first live album. “(The) management and record company wanted us to exploit the success of ‘2112’ and keep it going. Live albums were kind of the ‘thing du jour’ (thing of the day), you know what I mean? Like the Humble Pie live album had come out and was doing really well. Kiss was (also) doing a live album, all these people started dropping live albums.”
“So they said: ‘You guys have to do a live album as well’. He hadn’t really thought about it until that point. Then, because we were playing three nights at Massey Hall in Toronto. Based on the success of 2112, we thought: ‘Ok, that makes sense. Let’s record our homecoming,’ sort to speak,” Geddy Lee said in an interview with Team Rock (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage)
Humble Pie was formed in 1969 by Steve Marriott (Guitar and Vocals), Peter Frampton (Guitar), Greg Ridley (Bass) and Jerry Shirley (Drums). They recorded the band’s first four studio albums: “As Safe as Yesterday Is” (1969), “Town and Country” (1969), “Humble Pie” (1970), “Rock On” (1971) and the live record “Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore” (1971).
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