Rush To Be Honored With ‘Living Legends’ Award

It’s the typical Rush reaction: “It’s a little embarrassing for me. The whole award thing is still not super comfortable…” The words of frontman Geddy Lee are perfectly in line with what we’re all accustomed to when someone or some organization wants to compliment or honor them in one way or another.

In this particular case it is the the “Living Legends” award that will be bestowed upon the Canadian trio at the Marshall Classic Rock Roll Of Honour Awards which takes place tonight in London. Although Rush is obviously honored to receive this award, Lee falls back on his sense of humor, as members of the group often do when faced with these admittedly uncomfortable moments in the spotlight.

“We are thrilled to receive the ‘Living Legend’ award from Classic Rock. It’s much better than the alternative! Seriously, we are humbled and very appreciative,” Lee was quoted as saying.

Despite decades of performing in front of packed venues and selling millions of albums, the attention Rush has been on the receiving end of in recent years seems as if it may be a bit of a surprise for them.

Finding themselves invited to be part of a major motion picture (I Love You Man), asked to appear and perform on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report and finding themselves directly in the crosshairs of a critically-acclaimed documentary (Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage) arguably marked the group’s emergence from their status as a cult band and nudged them into the mainstream.

As Lee reveals while addressing the group’s feelings regarding this most-recent award, Rush, as a group, are primarily interested in being recognized as good musicians and are less concerned with being treated like rock stars.

This, which comes as no surprise to dedicated Rush fans, has made the group popular among other musicians since their music first hit the airwaves, particularly after drummer and lyricist Neil Peart joined the group and helped transform the group into a cerebral rock powerhouse.

As for the future, Lee confirmed that he and his band mates are not yet contemplating retirement. After the positive experiences they had performing during the summer at some of the major music festivals in North America, they sound like they are much more open to the idea of doing it again. They are contemplating bringing their Time Machine tour to Great Britain next year and Lee hints that they could be open to the idea of performing at events like Glastonbury.

Rush is also working on their 19th studio album, Clockwork Angels, which is set for release sometime during 2011. After more than four decades touring and pumping out gold and platinum albums, it seems Rush is closer than ever to becoming a household name.

Reporting that more women are showing up at their shows than ever before, Lee says: “I’ve actually seen women fans with boyfriends that they’ve clearly dragged to the show. They’re not pleased to be there, while their girlfriends are singing every word.”

I can’t help be reminded of the old saying that laments the perception that “Youth is wasted on the young.”

Rock on.

For more, check out the BBC.