Song: “Limelight”
Heading out on tour again, one of their classics is more relevant than ever
It seems like we perform all the time these days. Whether we’re performing in traditional ways via theater, music, or spoken word, or in the more modern sense of being “performative” on social media, a larger proportion of people are “living in the limelight” than ever before.
Limelight was invented by the Scottish engineer Drummond in 1816. When a core of limestone (calcium) is heated to a glow by burning a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen, it creates a brilliant light that can be focused.
Limelight was first used in the theater in 1855 and became widely used by the 1860s. It produces realistic light, but the limestone has to be turned as it burns and the gases adjusted to keep the light constant. It’s finicky.
“Living on the lighted stage” is the first line of this 1981 classic from Rush. Drummer and lyricist Neil Peart was especially leery of fame and renown, realizing early on how catering to fans stressed him and his introverted nature. He became relatively reclusive, allowing his more gregarious bandmates — Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson — to engage with fans. Even they found it sometimes stressful.
Shakespeare’s 1599 play As You Like It was a consistent source of inspiration for Peart, with the band naming their first live album All the World’s A Stage (“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”), and then adapting the line as a lyric for “Limelight” (“All the worlds indeed a stage, and we are merely players.”)
Peart passed away in early 2020, and Rush officially retired as a band. However, more than five years later, Lee and Lifeson announced a return to the stage to perform the music of Rush again, this time with an excellent young female drummer taking over the kit and a keyboard player added to free Lee from those extra duties. The tour, announced this summer, immediately sold out, and additional dates were piled on. It now looks like a monster return for the duo and their new ensemble.
Lifeson’s ear-bending guitar solo is properly revered as one of the most creative and musical ever.
This live performance is from 1981 in Montreal, the year the song was released. The album, Moving Pictures, was Rush’s biggest album, with other hits like “Tom Sawyer” and “Vital Signs.”
The tension of living on the lighted stage remains, and we are merely players, performers and portrayers, each another’s audience beyond the gilded cage.
Enjoy!
