The surviving members of progressive rock titans Rush will reunite for a fiftieth anniversary tour in 2026.
Rush co-founders Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will play 12 dates in honor of the band’s late drummer Neil Peart, whose monumental percussion skills made Rush a defining act in prog rock. The tour will start June 7 on the Kia Discussion board — the positioning of the band’s final present with Peart in 2015.
“In any case that has gone down since that final present, Alex and I’ve carried out some severe soul looking and are available to the choice that we f— miss it,” Lee mentioned in a press release saying the tour. “And that it’s time for a celebration of 50-something years of Rush music.”
The query of a Rush reunion with out Peart, who died of mind most cancers in 2020, was a fraught one. Even as much as final 12 months, Lifeson had informed Rolling Stone that “there’s no likelihood that we’re going to get a drummer and return on the highway because the rebirth of Rush or one thing like that.”
For this tour, the band shall be joined by Anika Nilles, a German drummer acclaimed for her work with Jeff Beck.
“As everyone knows, Neil was irreplaceable,” Lee mentioned within the band’s assertion. “But life is stuffed with surprises, and we’ve been launched to a different outstanding particular person; an unbelievable drummer and musician who’s including one other chapter to our story whereas persevering with her personal fascinating musical journey. Her identify is Anika Nilles, and we couldn’t be extra excited to introduce her to our loyal and devoted Rush fan base, whom, we all know, will give her each likelihood to stay as much as that near-impossible function.”
In their very own assertion, Peart’s spouse Carrie Nuttall-Peart and daughter Olivia gave their blessing for the tour: “We’re thrilled to help the Fifty One thing Tour, celebrating a band whose music has resonated and impressed followers for generations, and to honor Neil’s extraordinary legacy as each a drummer and lyricist.”
