{"id":570149,"date":"2026-03-30T05:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T05:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/570149\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T05:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T05:59:11","slug":"rush-debut-new-drummer-anika-nilles-at-2026-juno-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/570149\/","title":{"rendered":"Rush Debut New Drummer Anika Nilles at 2026 Juno Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tRush<\/a>\u2018s Geddy Lee<\/a> and Alex Lifeson<\/a> teased something special for tonight\u2019s Juno Awards<\/a> \u2014 and they came through in a big way by opening the show with a live performance featuring their new drummer, Anika Nilles<\/a>, for the first time. They chose \u201cFinding My Way,\u201d the first track on their very first album, 1974\u2019s Rush, which featured John Rutsey on drums in the studio, rather than the late Neil Peart, who didn\u2019t join the band until afterward.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFormer Jeff Beck drummer Nilles, in what was likely the most pressure-filled moment of her career, simply excelled, playing a huge kit with the Rush logo on the bass drum, bashing her way through virtuosic fills. Lee and Lifeson, meanwhile, seemed energized after their long break, with Lee hitting notes at the top of his youthful range. Keyboardist Loren Gold, who will also join the band on its upcoming tour, rounded out the expanded lineup. Behind the musicians, vintage Rush footage that included Peart flickered on screen, a reminder that the evening was as much a tribute as a comeback.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAnika Nilles of Rush performs onstage during the 2026 JUNO Awards<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCindy Ord\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tThe performance at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario marked the first time Lee and Lifeson played as Rush since they wrapped their career-spanning R40 tour at the Forum in Los Angeles on Aug. 1, 2015. In the decade-plus since, the two appeared together only sporadically, billed only their own names rather than as the band, including at tributes to the late Gordon Lightfoot and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou really can\u2019t ask us what song to play,\u201d Lee told <\/a>reporters afterward. \u201cIf we have to choose one song, it\u2019s almost impossible. We have so many. So we just asked management, and they said first song, first album.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAlso,\u201d Lifeson added, \u201cIt\u2019s the only song we know how to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe appearance served as a preview of the Fifty Something tour, which is set to begin<\/a> on June 7 at the Forum in Los Angeles, where Rush played its final show with Peart in 2015. What was initially announced as a modest 12-date run has since ballooned to 58 shows across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with four nights at Toronto\u2019s Scotiabank Arena in August. Each concert is planned as an immersive two-set evening drawing from a rotating selection of approximately 35 songs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rush\u2018s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson teased something special for tonight\u2019s Juno Awards \u2014 and they came through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[108831,108832,49,48,75,108833,34567,56410],"class_list":{"0":"post-570149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-alex-lifeson","9":"tag-anika-nilles","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-geddy-lee","14":"tag-juno-awards","15":"tag-rush"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570149","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=570149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}