Rush Announces First Tour Since Neil Peart’s Death in 2020

Rush will kick off the Fifty Something tour in June. These shows mark their first performances since drummer Neil Peart died in 2020. Frontman Geddy Lee told The New York Times the shows are meant to honor Peart and celebrate nearly 50 years of music they created.

"In the back of my mind and in the back of my heart, it's felt like unfinished business, like we owed him a proper thank you and a celebration," Geddy Lee said. "Not a morbid, funereal type of thing. We want to celebrate the wonderful music the three of us spent almost 50 years writing together."

Anika Nilles will play drums. She said Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson helped her grasp what Peart meant when they started working together. "I got a really good idea of what Neil was to the guys as a band member, but also as a friend. So you cannot replace that, you know?" Anika Nilles said. "I'm basically here to help them to get their music back onstage and make it feel right for them and make it feel right for the fans."

The two remaining members took part in tribute shows for Taylor Hawkins in 2022, which planted the seed for returning to the stage without Peart. Geddy Lee said the shows "taught us something really important about music. A band can end, but the music lives on."

He also described how they had put their work aside after Peart's passing. "I think for a while we put Rush in a box and put that box in our closet, and it's almost like we felt weird to open the closet and open that box," Geddy Lee said.

The Taylor Hawkins events changed that perspective for them. "It's like we had taken the box out of the cupboard and we had opened it up. And you know what? It was OK," he said.

The Fifty Something tour dates are listed on Rush's official website.