{"id":205171,"date":"2025-10-06T15:08:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T15:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/205171\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T15:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T15:08:07","slug":"geddy-lee-and-alex-lifeson-return-to-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/205171\/","title":{"rendered":"Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Return to Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tRush<\/a> co-founders Geddy Lee<\/a> and Alex Lifeson<\/a> will return to the road as Rush next year for a 50th anniversary tour dedicated to the memory of their late bandmate Neil Peart, they announced Monday. German drum virtuoso Anika Nilles, who\u2019s previously backed Jeff Beck, will join them for the 12-date, seven-city Fifty Something tour, which kicks off June 7 at Los Angeles\u2019 Kia Forum \u2014 the same venue where Rush played their last show with Peart in August of 2015. \u201cAfter 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 Lee said in a press release. \u201cAnd that it\u2019s time for a celebration of 50-something years of Rush music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLee and Lifeson, best friends since high school, spent the last few years in a friendly public debate about the prospect of touring again without Peart, their drummer and lyricist, who died in 2020 after a quiet battle<\/a> with brain cancer.\u00a0 Lee told Rolling Stone that he\u2019d been\u00a0working\u00a0<\/a>to convince Lifeson to go out, and even Paul McCartney had told the duo that\u00a0they needed to tour again. As recently as last May, Lifeson was still resistant, at least in public, telling<\/a> Rolling Stone, \u201cthere\u2019s no chance that we\u2019re going to get a drummer and go back on the road as the rebirth of Rush or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFinding Nilles, a widely acclaimed 41-year-old drummer \u2014\u00a0who happens to be known for playing in the kind of odd time signatures that are Rush\u2019s specialty\u00a0 \u2014 to step into what may be the most intimidating open chair in all of rock may have made the difference. \u201cAs we all know, Neil was irreplaceable,\u201d Lee said.\u00a0 \u201cYet life is full of surprises, and we\u2019ve been introduced to another remarkable person; an incredible drummer and musician who is adding another chapter to our story while continuing her own fascinating musical journey. Her name is Anika Nilles, and we could not be more excited to introduce her to our loyal and dedicated Rush fanbase, whom, we know, will give her every chance to live up to that near-impossible role.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tPeart\u2019s widow Carrie Nuttall-Peart and daughter, Olivia, fully endorsed the tour in a joint statement. \u201cWe are thrilled to support the Fifty Something tour, celebrating a band whose music has resonated and inspired fans for generations, and to honor Neil\u2019s extraordinary legacy as both a drummer and lyricist,\u201d they said, adding that \u201cNeil\u2019s musicianship was singular\u201d and \u201cas both drummer and lyricist, he was irreplaceable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a novel move, Rush plans to add other backing musicians for the tour to \u201cexpand our sound a wee bit,\u201d said Lee, who previously handled both keyboards and bass while singing. He had previously told Rolling Stone he was looking forward to that approach as a way to make touring \u201cmore fun, less work,\u201d acknowledging \u201cthat we are a little bit older now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEach show on the tour will feature two sets drawn from a pool of 35 songs, spanning the band\u2019s greatest hits and fan favorites. The announcement comes alongside the release of Rush 50, a 50-track anthology spanning their entire career.<\/p>\n

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

\n\tArtist presales begin October 13, with general on-sale starting October 17.<\/p>\n

\n\tRush Fifty Something Tour Dates:
June 7 \u2013 Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
June 9 \u2013 Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
June 18 \u2013 Mexico City, MX @ Palacio de los Deportes
June 24 \u2013 Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
June 26 \u2013 Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
July 16 \u2013 Chicago, IL @ United Center
July 18 \u2013 Chicago, IL @ United Center
July 28 \u2013 New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
July 30 \u2013 New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
Aug. 7 \u2013 Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
Aug. 9 \u2013 Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
Sept. 17 \u2013 Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Arena<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rush co-founders Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will return to the road as Rush next year for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[117965,88,117966,72063],"class_list":["post-205171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-alex-lifeson","tag-entertainment","tag-geddy-lee","tag-rush"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}