{"id":299633,"date":"2026-02-24T11:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299633\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T11:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:04:08","slug":"i-mean-its-a-terrible-position-to-put-someone-in-they-would-always-be-compared-to-the-man-geddy-lee-on-why-he-and-alex-lifeson-chose-jeff-beck-drummer-anika-nilles-to-fil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299633\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI mean, it\u2019s a terrible position to put someone in. They would always be compared to the man\u201d: Geddy Lee on why he and Alex Lifeson chose Jeff Beck drummer Anika Nilles to fill the late, great Neil Peart\u2019s role in Rush reunion tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was no escaping it. When frontman\/bassist Geddy Lee<\/a> and guitarist Alex Lifeson<\/a> decided that they wanted to take to the stage together as Rush<\/a>, for the first time since their 2015 farewell show, they faced an impossible decision. Who would be behind the drum kit<\/a>?<\/p>\n

The loss of Neil Peart<\/a>, the band\u2019s chief lyricist and drummer, who died in 2020, was incalculable. There was no question; the Professor was not someone they could replace, and nor would they try. This reunion is about celebrating Peart\u2019s life and legacy, performing the songs they wrote together. They needed someone special<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There would be no shortage of willing candidates. In April 2025, Lifeson spoke of the unedifying spectacle of seeing his inbox being filled by emails from drummers in the immediate aftermath of Peart\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter Neil passed, it didn\u2019t take more than a few minutes before we started getting emails from all kinds of drummers who wanted to audition for the band, thinking that we were just gonna replace somebody that we played with for 40 years who wrote all the lyrics for our music,\u201d said Lifeson<\/a>, speaking to Out Of The Box on NY classic rock station Q1043<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know what some of these people were thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee reported much the same experience. It was inappropriate. But when it came down to it, choosing a drummer for the tour proved easy. Speaking to MusicRadar, Lee says Anika Nilles<\/a>, the German drum ace who had previously been playing in the late Jeff Beck<\/a>\u2019s group, was the first person he thought of, and it\u2019s all thanks to his bass guitar<\/a> tech.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was on tour with Jeff Beck<\/a> for, I don\u2019t know, a number of years while I was quiet in the touring world, and he was on the tours that Anika did, and so he knew her well,\u201d says Lee. \u201cHe knew her playing well. And I remember him coming back from a tour, saying, \u2018Dude, if you\u2019re gonna do something musical, think about her. She\u2019s amazing.\u2019 And so I just filed it away after I\u2019d looked her up and listened to her playing, I was like, \u2018So impressive.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI just loved it. There was just something about her that just felt really special to me, really different. Not a typical rocker. Because she really wasn\u2019t a rocker in that context of her videos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

Lee kept Nilles in mind. And when he and Lifeson started talking seriously about this reunion project, Nilles was the first person Lee suggested. Lifeson approved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe loved the fact she was not part of the scene of people that we knew,\u201d says Lee. \u201cShe was an outsider, so to speak, and I thought that was very healthy for Alex and I \u2013 and also healthy for our fans, that they wouldn\u2019t be making comparisons with every other band they knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"A\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Richard Sibbald)<\/p>\n

Lee and Lifeson are well aware that this is not an easy gig to step into. It is only natural that fans will inevitably compare her to Peart, willingly or not.<\/p>\n

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She was jet-lagged. We had assembled a kit for her there. She just showed up with her drumsticks in hand, and we had at it, and by the fifth day we were convinced she could handle it<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s a terrible position to put someone in. They would always be compared to the man,\u201d says Lee.<\/p>\n

The three convened over a Zoom call, a quick interview to see where everyone\u2019s head was at. \u201cShe was great,\u201d says Lee. They duly invited her to Canada to see how it would work playing the material. They would spend five days in the spring making some noise together in a rehearsal space.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was up for it. She was really up for it. And that\u2019s what we did! It took a few days to get used to it,\u201d says Lee. \u201cShe was jet-lagged. We had assembled a kit for her there. She just showed up with her drumsticks<\/a> in hand, and we had at it, and by the fifth day we were convinced she could handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Nilles would have room to stamp her own personality on these parts. There was no question of her using Peart\u2019s old drum kit<\/a>, or anything like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want that,\u201d says Lee. \u201cShe\u2019s got her own identity. She needs her own kit. It\u2019s not about\u2026 I think we have to be respectful to the things that were Neil, and respectful to the music, obviously, and his drum parts, but also respectful to Anika and her individual personality \u2013 that has to be a consideration. So no, she\u2019s playing her kit, and she learned very quickly she can\u2019t play those songs on a small kit, so her kit has grown I will say! [Laughs]\u201d<\/p>\n

But Nilles is not the only personnel update. Rush has added keyboardist Loren Gold to the lineup, and having played with the Who<\/a> and Chicago, he will also be supporting Lifeson on backing vocals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a four-piece setup, so when you walk in the building and you see it, you\u2019re gonna know it\u2019s something a little different,\u201d says Lee. \u201cAnd I\u2019m very excited about that, but the mandate is to be true to the recorded versions of the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rush have just announced the expansion of their blockbuster Fifty Something Tour<\/a> with UK, European and South American dates confirmed for 2027. Head to <\/a>AEG Presents for UK ticket details<\/a>. Tickets will go on sale Friday, 27 February at 10.00am local time \u2013 and there are VIP<\/a> and travel packages<\/a> available too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was no escaping it. When frontman\/bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson decided that they wanted to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-299633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}