RUSH’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson played live with the band’s new touring drummer, Anika Nilles, for the first time earlier tonight (Sunday, March 29) at the Juno Awards in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They opened the event with a surprise performance of “Finding My Way”, the first track from RUSH’s debut album, 1974’s “Rush”. Keyboardist Loren Gold, who will also join RUSH on its upcoming tour, rounded out the group’s lineup for the Juno Awards appearance, which can be seen below.
Regarding why they chose to perform “Finding My Way”, Lee told reporters afterward: “You really can’t ask us what song to play. If we have to choose one song, it’s almost impossible. We have so many. So we just asked management, and they said first song, first album.” “Also,” Lifeson quipped, “it’s the only song we know how to play.”
Lee and Lifeson’s first official shows under the RUSH banner in 11 years will begin in June at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, site of the last RUSH concert on the legendary Canadian band’s “R40” anniversary tour.
The 2026 leg of the “Fifty Something” tour, which will cover Canada, USA and Mexico, initially consisted of 22 dates, which sold out immediately, prompting the addition of more shows. The tour now totals 58 shows across 24 cities, with over half a million tickets sold for 2026.
In February, RUSH announced the addition of South America and Europe tour dates to the “Fifty Something” tour, in early 2027. The dates will be the first time the band has played in Europe since 2013 and 17 years since visiting South America.
Performing 24 shows across 13 European countries, 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 will build each night’s setlist from a catalog of more than 40 songs, including their greatest hits and fan favorites.
Last month, Geddy told Darren Redick of U.K.’s Planet Rock about RUSH’s decision to tour again: “What started this whole thing is [Alex and I] started jamming, and the jams were kind of interesting, but in the middle of it, after we sort of got tired of jamming, we said, ‘Well, let’s play a RUSH song.’ And then it changed the subject. So we got to the point with that where it was either we’re going to follow through on this or we’re never gonna talk about it again, because you can caught in this thing, ‘Shall we? Shall we not? Shall we? Shall we not?’ And for me, it was, we’re not getting any younger. If we’re gonna do it, let’s do it now, or let’s just not do it.”
Regarding how Nilles ended up joining RUSH’s touring lineup, Geddy said: “My bass tech Skully [John McIntosh] — he hates when I tell this story, but he had been on tour with Jeff Beck; he worked for Jeff Beck for the last three, four tours before [Jeff] sadly passed away. And on the last tour, there was a drummer, Anika Nilles. And he came back from that tour just raving about how great she was and how nice she was. And he said, ‘Well, if you ever decide to do a solo project or something with Al, think about it.’ So here it was. I had done some investigation about her — I’d watched her videos and listened to her play — and she’s deeply talented. And so I brought her up to Al, and he went out and did his own research on her and came back and said, ‘Wow, she’s great.’ So we just arranged a Zoom call with her, and it went really well. And we said, ‘Would you come to Canada very quietly and jam with us for a few days and play a few RUSH songs and see how that goes?’ She said, ‘Sure, I’d love to.’ And that’s how it all began. And by the end of five days, we sort of had a drummer.”
Asked what the “challenges” are of putting the “Fifty Something” tour together, Alex said: “We always rehearsed a lot, and in the past we would rehearse on our own individually for maybe a month, and then we would get together and rehearse for a month, and then we’d do a couple of weeks, full-production rehearsals in a venue. So by the time you hit the stage on the first show, you’re seasoned; it’s like the 20th show. The difference this time around is that we’re rehearsing for about a year — seriously — before the [first] show. We just really wanna be at our absolute peak by the time we start the tour in earnest.”
Geddy added: “And it’s a lot for Anika to take on. Even though we’re rusty on some songs, they’re lying in the grooves in the brain somewhere, and it comes back. But she’s starting from scratch. And she’s starting from scratch trying to fill the shoes of a guy whose shoes are impossible to fill. So she has her work cut out for her. But she’s incredibly, deeply talented, both technically and from a musical knowledge standpoint. She’s got a fantastic work ethic. She’s easy to be around. She’s a great person, and she’s ready to take on the inevitable scrutiny of RUSH fans. And so far they’ve been very welcoming, they’ve been very warm, and she’s really appreciative of that.”
Geddy went on to say that the overwhelmingly positive response from RUSH fans to the tour announcement took him and Alex by surprise.
“Originally the tour we wanted to do was just going to be six or seven cities and we would thought we’d do these small residencies,” Lee explained. “And when we announced it, people went crazy, and we were taken aback. Our new management was very heartened and very bullish. They thought the shows would do well, obviously, but we didn’t expect them to sell out in a few days. It was insanity. And so we had not been prepared for anything beyond that. But management always thinks ahead. And we had hoped that we could come to the U.K. in the fall of 2026, but we couldn’t get the dates. So we added an American leg, which is also selling incredibly well. And so finally we can organize coming over to Europe and the U.K. [in 2027].
“So it’s a lot to take on,” Geddy admitted. “We haven’t done a tour that big in many years, so we’re just gonna make sure that it is effing note perfect.”
Legendary RUSH drummer Neil Peart died in January 2020 after a three-year battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 67 years old.
RUSH waited three days to announce Peart’s passing, setting off shockwaves and an outpouring of grief from fans and musicians all over the world.
Since Peart’s death, Lifeson and Lee have not recorded any new music or performed live under the RUSH 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.