Progressive Rock
Alex Lifeson has launched Strings For Kids, which puts up for sale the guitar strings he has played on Rush’s Fifty Something tour. Net proceeds go to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, and the guitarist has started it off with a personal donation of $100,000.
“I’ve played thousands of notes on these strings and will kick off this project with a personal donation of $100,000, which feels like a dollar per note,” Lifeson says. “Together, we can make a profound difference for these kids and their families. All strings attached.”
There are two ways to buy in. The first is a set of concert-used strings with the original packaging signed, a collector’s bag and a card with a note from Lifeson; the second is a framed presentation holding the strings, a signed setlist from the show, a live photograph and a plaque. Two charity VIP upgrades have been added as well, one of them including a meet-and-greet with Geddy Lee and Lifeson himself.
A week ago, the St. Catharines council signed off on the delivery plan for the Neil Peart memorial at Lakeside Park, to which Lee and Lifeson had given $785,000. Fifty Something is Rush’s first tour since R40 in 2015, and they are playing it with Anika Nilles on drums.
Text by Guillem Cardós