The 2015 JUNO Awards are bringing Rush back into the limelight, this time to honour their philanthropic record, according to TimesColonist.com. The Toronto power-prog trio has been named as this year's recipient of the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award.

The veteran rockers will accept the award at this year's JUNO Awards in Hamilton on March 14th.

Rush have long worked with the Toronto Food Bank and have held benefit concerts to raise money for United Way and AIDS research. Recently, the band donated $100,000 from a Winnipeg concert for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and gave the same amount to Brad Pitt's Make it Right Foundation to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Since 2010, they've donated $1 from every concert ticket sold to various charities including Doctors Without Borders.

 

 

"We are sincerely grateful to be recognized as this year's recipients of the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award," said the band's Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee collectively in a statement. "We are proud, honoured and humbled to be in the company of all Canadians who find it within their hearts to help those in need."

In a recent interview, Rush drum legend Neil Peart discussed the dilemma he's facing with committing to yet another epic tour:

"It’s a true dilemma – there’s no right answer. People say to me, ‘Are you still excited when you go on tour?’ Should I be excited about leaving my family? No, and no one should. It’s as simple as that: if you put aside the fantasy of it, it is what it is and has to be done. And that’s fine and I pour my entire energy and enthusiasm into it, but of course, I’m of two minds about the whole idea."

And he says the thought of leaving his five-year-old daughter Olivia leaves him with feelings of guilt.

He continues: "I’ve been doing this for 40 years – I know how to compartmentalise, and I can stand missing her, but I can’t stand her missing me and it’s painful and impossible to understand for her. How can a small child process that? And there’s the guilt that comes with that – you fell guilty about it, of course. I’m causing pain."

Click here for the complete article.

Rush Is A Band is reporting Ticketmaster has listed a June 23rd Rush show in Boston, MA, leading credence to rumors of a tour beginning in the Northeast in early June.

 

 

The links on Live Nation and Ticketmaster are no longer active. There was also a posting yesterday (December 29th) on Ticketmaster listing a June 29th show in New York at Madison Square Garden.