{"id":496530,"date":"2026-02-24T15:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/496530\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:15:11","slug":"rushs-journey-from-2015s-last-aftershow-to-the-big-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/496530\/","title":{"rendered":"Rush\u2019s journey from 2015\u2019s last aftershow to the big comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lifelong Rush<\/a> fan Philip Wilding, who\u2019s been connected with the band for decades, recalls the backstage emotion of their final show with Neil Peart<\/a> in 2015, and the events which led to the band\u2019s upcoming return with new drummer Anika Nilles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Geddy Lee<\/a> said it wasn\u2019t over. He told me that in the back of our car as we drove to the penultimate Rush show at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in 2015. A strangely glorious setting for a long goodbye.<\/p>\n

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I remember a roadie wandering past during soundcheck wearing a handmade R50 top, which must have seemed funny or hopeful at the start of the tour.<\/p>\n

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Alex Lifeson<\/a> said it might be the end of the band; he doubled down on that later. And for Neil Peart<\/a>, absolutely \u2013 he\u2019d promised his friends one final tour, and this was it. You could see the finish line up ahead. His mood got brighter with each show, Ged\u2019s a little darker as the road began to run out.<\/p>\n

Not that Neil was talking officially. He said hello to me backstage at both those last gigs and at the final aftershow, polite and warm as always; but he didn\u2019t want to do a formal interview. Why would he? What was left to say?<\/p>\n

Rush | Tom Sawyer 2003-2015 (Megamix) – YouTube
\n\"Rush<\/p>\n

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Earlier that hazy August day, rumours circulated that Neil had asked that his tour drums be shipped home after the show, and not back to storage for a next round of gigs. The circus was leaving town; the big top dismantled one last time.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written enough about that last show \u2013 not least in 2025\u2019s gargantuan Rush 50<\/a> box set \u2013 about how the band travelled back in time during the performance, starting with Clockwork Angels<\/a> and stripping away the layers, until two hours later they were playing Working Man before a set designed like the high school shows they\u2019d played before Neil was even in the band. It was brilliant, a fitting end. \u201cNot that it was meant to be,\u201d said Geddy when I brought it up later that evening.<\/p>\n

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The only thing he asked me to do, when I helped present his My Effin\u2019 Life<\/a> UK book tour, was give him the opportunity to tell each audience why Rush hadn\u2019t made it across the Atlantic for that last run. It was important to him that they knew it hadn\u2019t been by choice.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to early autumn 2025, and a brief chat about Rush during dinner with Geddy in London. Our dinners rarely touch upon the band \u2013 they\u2019re usually about baseball, and we\u2019d debated what the Yankees and Blue Jays might do as our thoughts turned towards the World Series.<\/p>\n

I knew he and Al were jamming together at least once a week (I\u2019d written about it ) and I probably asked after Al and the stuff they were playing. \u201cIt,\u201d said Geddy with a sideways glance, \u201cis evolving.\u201d And we went back to our bottle of excellent Riesling.<\/p>\n

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Rush: Distant Early Warning (R40 LIVE) | Cinema Strangiato 2019 – YouTube
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But that evolution had to be Darwinian: if it wasn\u2019t going to be a reunion \u2013 how could it be?<\/a> \u2013 then we were as sure as hell going to celebrate one of the greatest rock bands of the last four decades.<\/p>\n

In a statement Lee said (I\u2019m paraphrasing), \u201cWe\u2019ve a lifetime\u2019s worth of songs that we put our cumulative hearts and souls into writing, recording, and playing. After all that has gone down since that last show, Alex and I have done some serious soul searching and come to the decision that we fucking miss it.\u201d Though possibly not as much as we did.<\/p>\n

I think about one of the last things Geddy said from the stage that night \u2013 that they\u2019d see us down the road some day<\/p>\n

And what of that fabled drum stool? I once sat behind one of Neil\u2019s unfathomable kits in a rehearsal room in Toronto. He was about 10ft away. I did my best to recreate the roll that ushers in The Temples Of Syrinx from 2112<\/a>. Neil gave me a look that suggested he\u2019d just stepped on a plug. I was never really in the running for the role.<\/p>\n

Geddy has a mind like a steel trap. When he told The Guardian in 2023 that he\u2019d \u201cheard this drummer the other day; I think her name is Anika,\u201d and added, \u201cShe played on the last Jeff Beck tour, and I thought she was terrific!\u201d we should have all probably been paying more attention.<\/p>\n

Since then, pieces began to fit into place, with talk of an extra keys player onstage \u2013 though Geddy will still be striking the familiar keyboard motifs of Tom Sawyer<\/a> and Subdivisions \u2013 and a tribute to Neil making up a centrepiece in the show.<\/p>\n

Rush | Far Cry – R40 LIVE – YouTube
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We\u2019ve seen the initial run of shows across North America sell out and expand, with the internet shrieking about dynamic ticketing \u2013 though it appears most of those spikes in prices are in the resale seats, where opportunistic touts have bought up tickets and then instantly put them back on sale at an extortionate mark-up. (There\u2019s a special place in Hell for those people, and let\u2019s hope Old Nick charges them extra to get in.)<\/p>\n

On a more personal level, my inbox has been noticeably busy, mostly from people who I\u2019ve never met. Can I get them into the US shows to meet the guys? Not a chance. Can they take photos at the Toronto show? Keep moving. Why are tickets so expensive? See above. Are they going to play here? Who knows?<\/p>\n

One thing I do know is that on August 1, 2015, standing among droves of people literally in tears at the thought of there being no more Rush, the Forum house lights coming up on their pain, as Neil waved his bandmates goodbye one last time\u2026 in my heart I knew it was over. The 15-year-old in me was crushed forever.<\/p>\n

And now I think about one of the last things Geddy said from the stage that night \u2013 that they\u2019d see us down the road some day. Somehow, somewhere around that far bend of blacktop and just out of sight, the unthinkable is being imagined. And now, before we even know it, that day will be here.<\/p>\n

Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Anika Nilles Talk 2027 Rush Tour Dates – YouTube
\n\"Geddy<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lifelong Rush fan Philip Wilding, who\u2019s been connected with the band for decades, recalls the backstage emotion of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-496530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}