Rush's long-awaited reunion tour is underway, with co-founders Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson performing the band's music together for the first time in more than a decade.
The Fifty Something tour launched June 7 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles — the same venue where Rush played their final show with drummer Neil Peart on the R40 Tour on Aug. 1, 2015. According to SWOMP, the run includes multiple shows in seven cities across Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Confirmed stops listed in the announcement include Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City on June 18 and two nights at Madison Square Garden in New York on July 28 and 30, both of which have already taken place. Each performance is billed as an "evening with" show featuring two sets, with setlists built nightly from a catalogue of 35 songs drawn from the band's greatest hits and fan favourites.
The tour celebrates more than 50 years of Rush music and honours Peart, the band's longtime drummer and lyricist, who died on Jan. 7, 2020 after a battle with brain cancer.
In the announcement, Lee said it had been more than 10 years since he and Lifeson had performed Rush's music alongside their late bandmate, and that "it's time for a celebration of 50-something years of RUSH music." He described the decision to return to the stage as the result of "some serious soul searching" and said the pair would pay tribute to Peart by performing "a vast selection of RUSH songs in a handful of cities."
Filling Peart's seat behind the kit is German drummer, composer and producer Anika Nilles, who has played more than 60 shows as Jeff Beck's drummer and has released four solo albums. Lee said the band also hopes to add another musician or two to expand its live sound.
Peart's widow, Carrie Nuttall-Peart, and daughter, Olivia Peart, said they are "thrilled to support the Fifty Something tour" and to honour Neil's legacy as both a drummer and lyricist. In a joint statement, they described his musicianship as singular, adding that "he was irreplaceable."
"We are excited to see how their new vision unfolds, and to hear this legendary music played live once again," the statement said.
For Lee and Lifeson, the tour marks their first performances together since the R40 finale 11 years ago. It also comes as the band released RUSH 50, a 50-track super deluxe anthology tracing the trio's career from a reissue of their 1973 debut single to a live recording of the final song Lee, Lifeson and Peart played together at the Forum in 2015. The anthology is available in five configurations, including vinyl, CD and digital editions.
Rush, formed in Toronto, has sold more than 45 million albums worldwide and earned seven Grammy Award nominations. The band has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Lee, Lifeson and Peart were named Officers of the Order of Canada in 1996 and received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 2012, and the band holds stars on both the Canada Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
