CBC News<\/a>, Geddy Lee<\/b> of RUSH<\/b> spoke about the band’s decision to reunite for a tour in 2026. The dates \u2014 Lee<\/b> and guitarist Alex Lifeson<\/b>‘s first official shows under the RUSH<\/b> banner in 11 years \u2014 will begin at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, site of the last RUSH<\/b> concert on the legendary Canadian band’s “R40”<\/b> anniversary tour. Joining the duo on the trek will be Nilles<\/b>, who toured with legendary guitarist Jeff Beck<\/b> in 2022 and has been rehearsing with Lee<\/b> and Lifeson<\/b> in preparation for the tour, dubbed “Fifty Something”<\/b>.<\/p>\nAsked how he is feeling about the prospect of going back on the road for the first time in more than a decade, Lee<\/b> said: “Well, I’m a bit overwhelmed right now, to be honest. Alex<\/b> and I took a long time trying to figure out if we could actually do this ever again. And when we did<\/i> finally decide, of course people were optimistic, but we really didn’t expect the kind of overwhelming response our announcement has brought forth out of our fanbase. It’s just been a remarkable few weeks around our homes, but very exciting \u2014 very exciting.”<\/p>\n
Regarding what it is like to playing with a new drummer, following the 2020 death of RUSH<\/b>‘s iconic drummer and lyricist Neil Peart<\/b>, Geddy<\/b> said: “Well, of course it was a very difficult decision to go back on the road, and that was the main stumbling block, obviously. How do we replace the irreplaceable, so to speak? And we have been fortunate to have been introduced to the name Anika Nilles<\/b> through one of my road crew \u2014 my bass tech Skully<\/b> [John McIntosh<\/b>], who was on tour with Jeff Beck<\/b>, and she was the drummer for Jeff Beck<\/b> on his last tour. And he came home from that tour raving about her. And so when we made the decision to see what it’s like to play with another drummer, we contacted her, and she’s just a fantastic person. And she came to Canada and we very surreptitiously snuck into a studio and worked out for about a week. And by the end of it, we were convinced that this would be a go for us. Yeah, she’s just a tremendous player.”<\/p>\n
Asked if he gets a sense at all that Anika<\/b> is a little intimidated by the challenge of stepping into RUSH<\/b> as a replacement for such a legendary musician as Peart<\/b> was, Lee<\/b> said: “Oh, of course. When she first came over here [to Canada], we started playing some of the songs, trying to translate RUSH<\/b> music to someone who didn’t really grow up as a RUSH<\/b> fan; she was not a RUSH<\/b> fan. She knew, of course, of Neil<\/b>‘s playing \u2014 every drummer knows who Neil<\/b> is, or Neil<\/b> was, I should say \u2014 so it was a bit of a daunting task. And we had to go through each song and explain the nuances of the song and the idiosyncratic nature of how our songs are put together. So at times she was a bit overwhelmed, but she’s an incredibly hard worker. She’s got great technical facility and she’s just got a really positive attitude, and that’s really good for Alex<\/b> and I to be around right now.”<\/p>\n
RUSH<\/b> will perform multiple shows in cities across Canada, the United States and Mexico, beginning June 7, 2026 at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles. These special “evening with” shows will find the band playing two sets each night. Each show will feature a distinct selection of songs and RUSH<\/b> will build each night’s setlist from a catalogue of 35 songs including their greatest hits and fan favorites.<\/p>\n
After Lee<\/b> and Lifeson<\/b> announced RUSH<\/b>‘s initial 2026 tour dates in early October, they instantly sold out. They then doubled the tour’s length due to increased demand before adding even more dates to the trek.<\/p>\n
At the moment, the North American leg of the “Fifty Something”<\/b> tour is scheduled to stretch into the fall and early winter, with sold-out shows in Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York and Toronto, as well as dates in Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., to name a few. Lee<\/b>, Lifeson<\/b> and Nilles<\/b> will then take the tour to South America and Europe in 2027. They also announced that keyboard player Loren Gold<\/b> will be joining them. South American dates run from January 15, 2027 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to February 4, 2027 in Bras\u00edlia, Brazil. The trek will then head to Europe starting February 19 in Paris, with dates running until April 10 in Helsinki, Finland.<\/p>\n
During an invite-only gathering of 150 fans, media and dignitaries at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame’s Foster Theater in Cleveland, Ohio on October 5, 2025, Geddy<\/b> and Alex<\/b> of RUSH<\/b> spoke about their decision to reunite for a tour next year. Regarding how they decided to tour as RUSH<\/b> again, more than five years after iconic RUSH<\/b> drummer Neil Peart<\/b>‘s death, Alex<\/b> said: “When we finished the [‘R40’<\/b>] tour [in 2015], it was difficult for Neil<\/b>, and he’d had enough by that point. I think Ged<\/b> and I still had gas in the tank and we still wanted to continue working. But it was what it was, and the further I got away from it, the more I thought, ‘It’s okay. We had 40 years. I’m tired of hanging around a hotel, being away from family and all of that stuff.’ And I felt that way for most of the last 10 years, really. I thought we had a great legacy, and it’s okay. Then this guy” \u2014 referring to Geddy<\/b> \u2014 “came along and had some big ideas. And we talked and we started playing. And then I realized that I love it so much \u2014 I love playing so much. And I’ve continued, over these last years, doing other projects and still playing a lot. But when we sat down and started playing some of the RUSH<\/b> stuff and I realized how hard it was to play these songs\u2026 When you do it every day for 40 years, it’s not a big deal, really \u2014 you’re used to it \u2014 but when you’re away from it and you are a little more objective about the intense complexity of the music and the feel and the nuances and all the things that go into making a RUSH<\/b> song and performance, to be challenged with that again was really, really exciting. And the more we started rehearsing and playing, the more I just fell in love with the idea of playing again.”<\/p>\n
Added Geddy<\/b>: “It was a very difficult decision on many levels, first of all, because what it entails in terms of work, but also what had transpired. Losing a member like Neil<\/b>, it was devastating and it was a very sad time, and it took time for us to even contemplate it. I mean, this is a relatively recent decision. And I would say it was kind of out of the question for the longest time because of those circumstances. And how do you replace someone who’s irreplaceable? So, we would joke about it sometimes, and Al<\/b> was doing other things, I was writing books and something happened in the last couple of years that brought us back to jamming in the studio. He would come over, drink my coffee, hang around, we would jam and we would laugh. And then one day \u2014 I don’t know why \u2014 we started playing some RUSH<\/b> songs for fun. And God, we were laughing so hard and we were enjoying it so much. And it was almost like playing those songs dispelled the dark clouds. It was not an easy decision to come to, and this is really the first time we’re talking about it out loud in front of other people. So, yeah, it feels right, and we’re gonna do it.”<\/p>\n
Asked how they found the right drummer to step in for Neil<\/b> on the “Fifty Something”<\/b> tour, Geddy<\/b> said: “Well, our idea was not to try to be RUSH<\/b> 2.0, just to pay homage to our music, pay homage to our lost brother and represent the songs and celebrate the songs.<\/p>\n
“I haven’t talked about this before, but\u2026 So, my bass tech Skully<\/b> [John McIntosh<\/b>] was working with Jeff Beck<\/b>. He was on tour with him for a few years. And on the last tour he was playing with this drummer named Anika Nilles<\/b> \u2014 an incredible drummer. And he would come home, he would rave about her, what a brilliant player she was and great person, and blah, blah, blah. So I kind of looked her up. And she’s all over YouTube<\/b>. She’s fairly well known in her own world of music. And then we started talking about playing again. I said to Al<\/b>, I said, ‘Check her out. Maybe that’s an interesting way to go.’ And so one thing led to another, and when we made the decision we wanted to see if it would work, what’s it like to play with another drummer \u2014 we’d had that experience, of course, at the Taylor Hawkins<\/b> tributes [in September 2022]. So we know how difficult it is \u2014 no matter who<\/i> the drummer is, they all have their own perception of what it’s like to play a RUSH<\/b> song, and they may not line up with the way we play RUSH<\/b> songs. So whoever we were going to choose was going to be difficult and there’s going to be like a translation. And so we very secretly brought Anika<\/b> to Canada. And it wasn’t an audition, ’cause at that point we weren’t really sure that we were going to tour. It was all an experiment. Anyway, I’m very happy to say that she is fantastic to play with. And we’ve had now a number of sessions with her and we are going to go on the road with her. I think she’s a remarkable story. And she’s much younger than us\u2026 And I like that, that she came to RUSH<\/b> music without any preconceptions. It also made it very difficult, ’cause we had to explain nuances and work on subtleties, and she had to really try to get into Neil<\/b>‘s headspace and his feel. A lot of drummers can play Neil<\/b>‘s drum fills, but to combine that with the feel of those songs, so that it feels the way you guys wanna hear those songs, that’s work \u2014 that requires work. And so she’s winning.”<\/p>\n
As for what RUSH<\/b> fans can expect from the upcoming concerts, Geddy<\/b> said: “I don’t think we can do a three-hour show the way we did when we were in our younger years, but we’re certainly gonna play over two hours. And we’ll get a lot of songs in, for sure.”<\/p>\n
Lee<\/b> went on to say that “it’s not an accident” that he and Alex<\/b> chose Los Angeles’s Kia Forum \u2014 where RUSH<\/b> played its last-ever show with Peart<\/b> in 2015 \u2014 as the location of the first gig of the tour.<\/p>\n
“It’ll be, I think, quite an emotional moment,” Geddy<\/b> said. “And I have to say also a thank you to [Neil<\/b>‘s widow] Carrie Nuttall<\/b> and [daughter] Olivia Peart<\/b> who have been very supportive and are supporting us for this tour, and we really appreciate that, and that makes things better. And we also plan to pay tribute to Neil<\/b> at least a couple of times during the show in our own way. And that’ll happen every night, we’ll pay tribute to him.<\/p>\n
“After Neil<\/b> passed, COVID hit and we never really were able to do any kind of tribute to him \u2014 not a tribute concert,” Lee<\/b> explained. “And so this is one way that we pay homage to the music and the lyrics and the incredible drumming of our pal and partner, and at the same time celebrate the music that [the fans] have thankfully shown up for, for all these years. And we’ll just endeavor to do our best to make [the fans] happy.”<\/p>\n
When the “Fifty Something”<\/b> tour was announced on October 6, 2025, Carrie Nuttall-Peart<\/b> and Olivia Peart<\/b> said in a statement: “We are thrilled to support the ‘Fifty Something’<\/b> tour, celebrating a band whose music has resonated and inspired fans for generations, and to honor Neil<\/b>‘s extraordinary legacy as both a drummer and lyricist.<\/p>\n
“Neil<\/b>‘s musicianship was singular. Compositions of intricacy and power that expanded what rhythm itself could express. As both drummer and lyricist, he was irreplaceable. Inimitable in his artistry, and unmatched in the depth and imagination he brought to the lyrics that inspired and moved so many, he profoundly shaped how fans connected with him and the band, giving voice and meaning to their own lives.<\/p>\n
“As the band enters this new chapter, it promises to be truly unforgettable. We are excited to see how their new vision unfolds, and to hear this legendary music played live once again.”<\/p>\n
On October 6, 2025, fans got the news via a RUSH<\/b> newsletter from a home video that announced the celebration of upcoming dates with Lee<\/b> and Lifeson<\/b> at Geddy<\/b>‘s home studio.<\/p>\n
Peart<\/b> died in January 2020 after a three-year battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 67 years old.<\/p>\n
RUSH<\/b> waited three days to announce Peart<\/b>‘s passing, setting off shockwaves and an outpouring of grief from fans and musicians all over the world.<\/p>\n
Since Peart<\/b>‘s death, Lifeson<\/b> and Lee<\/b> have not recorded any new music or performed live under the RUSH<\/b> name, although both of them confirmed that several drummers reached out to them in the days after the legendary drummer’s passing about the possibility of stepping in for Neil<\/b>.<\/p>\n