Back in March, Rush released “Rush 50,” a career-spanning greatest hits collection that ended with the final songs the band played at their final concert in 2015. Given the January 2020 death of drummer/lyricist Neil Peart from glioblastoma, it’s been assumed that a Rush live reunion wasn’t in the cards.
But like Geddy Lee’s beloved Toronto Blue Jays, the Canadian band knows how to throw a good curveball: Lee and Alex Lifeson are returning to the stage as Rush for a summer 2026 headline tour.
Drumming for the band will be Anika Nilles, an award-winning German composer and producer who previously toured with Jeff Beck and has released four solo albums.
The tour, dubbed Fifty Something, is described as a “celebration of Rush’s music, legacy, and the life of late drummer and lyricist Neil Peart” and is slated to hit seven cities in North America, kicking off with two nights at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on June 7 and 9. (The booking is poignant and significant: Rush’s last show was at the same venue.)
The tour will then go to Mexico City for one show and then hit two nights in multiple other cities — including Fort Worth, Chicago, New York and Toronto — before concluding with a single concert in Cleveland on September 17.
The tour news was first shared with select media and fans at a top-secret private event Sunday night at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland that included a viewing of Rush’s induction speeches and performance and ended with a loose, animated interview with Lee and Lifeson.
The reformation of the band was casually dropped on the surprised crowd in Cleveland partway through what started off as a far less momentous conversation.
Source: Variety
