Guitarist Alex Lifeson of Rush has told Billboard magazine that the band will be adding a string section for their upcoming tour in support of Clockwork Angels. The album was released last Tuesday and is expected to debut at number 2 this week.
Lifeson said that there would most likely by eight to ten strings in the ensemble with the music arranged by David Campbell. "It's just something different for us, and I can't wait to hear what it sounds like."
As far as what the set list will look like, there will be a number of songs from the new album.
The set list is quite fluid these days. We're dropping and replacing songs constantly, and that's the way it always goes before we get into rehearsals. There's a great deal of pressure on us now to do the whole record, which we don't anticipate. I think our intention is probably to prepare the whole thing; whether we'll do it or not we're still not sure, especially on the first leg of the tour. There's still a lot of older stuff we want to do, and we've got some great songs lined up from the past. We'd be loath to drop them to add more of Clockwork Angels, at least on the first leg. It's always nice to switch up on the second leg and make it a little different.
In a separate, Rolling Stone interview, Lifeson also talked about the ongoing campaign to get Rush inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Honestly, we really, really don't care about it. It's someone's thing, and they can do whatever they want with it. They can have whomever they like. It's their thing.
It's a little bit different here in Canada. We've received awards that mean an awful lot more to us than being in the Hall of Fame. We got the Governor General's Performing Arts Award a couple weeks ago. That's really the highest accolade you can get in this country for the performing arts, and it's recognized nationally, and I felt so proud as a Canadian to be in this esteemed group of artists that have been there for the last 20 years.
