Alex Lifeson Joins The Rheostatics On Stage For Sold-Out The Great Lakes Suite Premiere in Toronto
Alex Lifeson joined The Rheostatics on Friday and Saturday night for two sold-out shows at the TD Music Hall in Toronto, premiering their new collaborative album, The Great Lakes Suite.
The show celebrated The Rheostatics’ 45th anniversary and brought the ambitious, 18-track project to life. The album, which features primarily improvised music and spoken word, showcases a broad roster of talent beyond the core Rheostatics members and Lifeson, including Tanya Tagaq, Laurie Anderson, and the late Gord Downie.
The performance was met with high praise, featuring highlights like Lifeson's appearance on "Mishipeshu/The Drop Off" and a thematically appropriate cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
Alex offered insight into the making of the unique album, contrasting it with his other projects.
"There is no mystery or much forethought in approach; the freedom to play whatever your brain convinces your fingers to do is the charm of this project," Lifeson said, calling the sessions an "entirely organic experience." He noted that this free-form approach is distinctly different from the "more traditional studio approaches" required for Rush and his band Envy of None.
Rheostatics member Kevin Hearn also commented on Lifeson’s contributions, highlighting an aspect of his playing rarely heard by fans. "Working with Alex was amazing... He was playing a lot of acoustic guitar on this record, which is an aspect of his playing that I'd never really heard before. So that was really cool."
While his work with The Rheostatics is a passion project, Lifeson's return to the stage may also be viewed as getting his live performance "chops ready" for Rush's "Fifty Something" tour in 2026.
The Rheostatics’ The Great Lakes Suite is now available on all streaming platforms, as well as a double-vinyl release.
Photos of the two-night events are presented below, courtesy of Ray Wawrzyniak (Thank you, Ray!)
Night Two
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