Rush released "Rush 50" in March. It was a collection of the band's greatest hits from all of their albums and ended with the...
.jpg "Rush Sets 2026 Reunion Tour; Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Discuss the ‘Difficult Decision’ of Finding a New Drummer After Neil Peart's Death")
But the Canadian band knows how to throw a curveball, just like Geddy Lee's favourite Toronto Blue Jays. Lee and Alex Lifeson are coming back to the stage as Rush for a summer 2026 headline tour. Anika Nilles, a German composer and producer who has won awards and toured with Jeff Beck and put out four solo records, will play drums for the band. The Fifty Something tour is a "celebration of Rush's music, legacy, and the life of late drummer and lyricist Neil Peart." It will stop in seven places across North America, starting with two nights at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on June 7 and 9. Rush's last show was at the same venue, which makes the booking even more emotional and important.
The tour will then end with one show in Mexico City. It will then go to Fort Worth, Chicago, New York, and Toronto, among other places, for two nights, before ending with one show in Cleveland on September 17. (Scroll down for a full list of dates and places, as well as links and times to buy tickets.) Some fans and members of the media were the first to hear about the tour at a top-secret private event at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Sunday night. The event included watching Rush's induction speech and performance and finished with an open and fun interview with Lee and Lifeson. The news of the band's reunion was dropped on the shocked crowd in Cleveland in the middle of a talk that was supposed to be about something much less important. The "fan question" from "C.B. from Highland Park, Ill." was likely from Cliff Burnstein, co-founder of Q Prime Management, who was there and asked if the band would go on tour again.
Before Lee said, "I kind of think that we should tour next year," the players joked around and thought about it for a while. At first, people in the crowd were shocked and wondered if he was joking. But when it became clear that he was serious, they erupted in applause. (There were loud cheers again when it was said that Cleveland was on the tour schedule.) Lee said that going on tour was a "very difficult decision," in part because of the work that would be involved and in part because of Peart's "devastating" death. "It was a very sad time, and it took us a while to even think about it," he said. "And how do you replace someone who can't be replaced?"
But Lifeson and Lee said that they had started playing Rush songs together in secret, for fun and with no plan. At that point, things changed for both of them. Lee said, "We were laughing so hard and having so much fun. It was almost like playing those songs took away the dark clouds." Olivia Peart, Peart's daughter, and his wife, Carrie Nuttall-Peart, have backed and praised the Fifty Something tour. In a press release, the two families said, "We are thrilled to support the Fifty Something tour, which honours Neil's extraordinary legacy as both a drummer and lyricist and celebrates a band whose music has resonated and inspired fans for generations." As the band starts this new phase, it looks like it will be one they will never forget. We can't wait to see how their new plan works out and hear this famous music played live again. At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame event in Cleveland, media historian and professor Donna Halper gave a stirring welcome of Lee and Lifeson. Halper broke Rush in the US while working as music director at WMMS, Cleveland's famous rock radio station. Halper got the first copy of Rush's self-titled album from a friend at Moon Records in Canada and played "Working Man" on the radio. People really liked the song, and import copies of the LP did well in local record shops. This made it possible for Rush to get a record deal in the U.S. and become famous all over the world.
Geoff Edgers, an author and Washington Post reporter, then talked to Lee and Lifeson. The conversation started off light, with questions about Lifeson's famously empty Rock Hall acceptance speech (the guitarist admitted he hadn't told his bandmates ahead of time he was pulling a stunt), the two musicians' close friendship, their musical influences, and a funny story about Rush touring with KISS in the 1970s. (It turns out Lee does a great Ace Frehley version.) Then came the funny, relaxed announcement of the night's big news.
The main question was how and why Fifty Something came to be. Since Peart's death, Lee and Lifeson have played together several times, including at shows honouring the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022 and at the 25th anniversary concert for "South Park." Lifeson also records a lot with his new band, the shoegaze-influenced Envy of None. Lee, on the other hand, has written many books, including the new one called "72 Stories: From the Baseball Collection of Geddy Lee."
But Lifeson has had some health problems lately that have made it hard for him to tour. He was very clear in talks with the press that another Rush tour was not going to happen. But Lee told the people in Cleveland that his bandmate is "pretty effing healthy right now."
Lifeson said that he had liked getting to know Rush songs again and that the difficult material had energised him. He said, "To be challenged with that again was really, really exciting." "I fell in love with the idea of playing again the more we practiced and played."
John "Skully" McIntosh, Lee's bass tech, told the band about Nilles while he was on tour with Jeff Beck and loved the drummer. The artists were interested, so they brought Nilles to Canada in secret, but not to try out, as Lee put it, but as a "experiment." Lee says it wasn't easy for the three of them to play well together because fitting in with Rush requires a lot of skill and feel, as well as being able to communicate unique musical details.
Lee said, "No matter who the drummer is, they all have their own idea of what it's like to play a Rush song, and that idea might not match up with how we play Rush songs." The crowd laughed. "So whoever we picked would be hard, and there would be a translation."
In order to make more room on stage for himself, Rush plans to hire a piano player, and Lifeson as well, because "Alex loves to dance," Lee joked as the guitarist did a little seated jig. They want to have "35 to 36 songs" ready so that they can change the set list every night. Rush is "certainly going to play over two hours," Lee said, adding that long three-hour sets are probably not in the cards. They've already been practicing. He also gave fans peace of mind by saying that Peart would be remembered during the tour and that the band would honour the drummer "at least a couple of times during the show in our own way" every night.
He says, "Our plan wasn't to try to be Rush 2.0." "We want to honour our music, honour our late brother, honour the songs, and honour the songs." Lee said this in a press release: "It's been more than 10 years since Alex and I played Rush music with our late bandmate and friend Neil." There were songs that we had written, recorded, and played on stage together that we had dedicated our whole lives to. That being said, a lot has happened since the last show, and Alex and I have really thought about it. We've decided that we miss it, and it's time to celebrate something like 50 years of RUSH music. To honour our past and Neil, my best friend Lerxst (real name Alex Lifeson) and I are going to go on the road again in 2026 to play a bunch of RUSH songs in a few places. That wasn't easy, because Neil was too important to lose.
"Yet life is full of surprises," Lee went on, "and we've met another amazing person—a great drummer and musician who is adding another chapter to our story while continuing her own fascinating musical journey." Anika Nilles is her name, and we can't wait to introduce her to our devoted RUSH fans. We know they will do everything they can to help her succeed in that almost impossible job. Before we go on stage, we'd also like to add one or two more musicians to make our sound a little bigger and give Alex and me a chance to show off our new dance moves. ... We (Lerxst, Anika, and I) and many of our long-term crew members have been working hard to practise and plan the kind of Rush show you've come to expect from us. We really hope that you will join us in celebrating our past.
LA, CA, on June 7, Sun Kia Forum
Tuesday, June 9, Los Angeles, California Kia Forum
Thursday, June 18, Mexico City, MX The Palace of Sports
Wed, June 24, 2017 Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas
Friday, June 26, 2009, Fort Worth, Texas
Thursday, July 16: United Centre in Chicago, IL
Sat Jul 18, United Centre in Chicago, IL
Tuesday, July 28 New York, NY Garden in the Square
Thursday, July 30 New York, NY Garden in the Square
Friday, August 7 in Toronto, ON at Scotiabank Arena
Sun Aug. 9 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON
Wednesday, September 17 in Cleveland, Ohio