Singer-bassist Geddy Lee, left, and guitarist Alex Lifeson, the surviving members of Rush, will begin their Fifty Something tour on June 7.Richard Sibbald/Supplied
Canadian rock group Rush, who last toured in 2015 and whose drummer-lyricist Neil Peart died in 2020, have announced they will reunite for a short headline tour in 2026. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members will play a dozen shows in seven cities next summer.
The news of the reunion concerts comes as a considerable surprise. In 2018, Alex Lifeson told The Globe and Mail that Rush had no plans to ever tour or record again. “We’re basically done. After 41 years, we felt it was enough.”
As recently as this year, the 72-year-old guitarist insisted the trio’s successful 40th-anniversary tour in 2015 was its last.
“Rush went out on a high note playing as well as ever with one of our best stage shows on R40,” he told Classic Rock magazine. “I guess I’d rather be remembered for that legacy than returning as the top Rush tribute band.”
Surviving members Lifeson and singer-bassist Geddy Lee made an unannounced appearance at a tribute for Gordon Lightfoot in 2024 at Toronto’s Massey Hall, where they covered the late singer-songwriter’s The Way I Feel with Blue Rodeo. The two Torontonians also joined multiple artists for the concert finale, Summer Side of Life.
The tour is dubbed Fifty Something because the band released its first album 51 years ago. It kicks off June 7 at Los Angeles’s Kia Forum, where in 2022 Lifeson and Lee participated in a star-studded tribute to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. They performed three Rush songs (Working Man, YYZ and a portion of the prog-rock opus 2112) with a variety of drummers.
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The arena tour continues to Mexico City; Fort Worth, Tex.; Chicago; New York; Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena (Aug. 7 and 9); and Cleveland.
In a statement, the 72-year-old Lee said that after “some serious soul searching,” he and Lifeson decided to return to the road to pay tribute to the band’s past and to Peart: “No small task, because as we all know Neil was irreplaceable.”
Sitting in for Peart will be German drummer Anika Nilles, a former member of the late Jeff Beck’s touring group. Lee said the band hopes to add one or two musicians “to expand our sound a wee bit.”
The nightly set lists will draw from a catalogue of 35 tunes from a band known for songs Fly by Night, Closer to the Heart, Tom Sawyer, The Spirit of Radio, New World Man and 1981’s Limelight, about playing for fans: “Living on a lighted stage approaches the unreal.”
Over the past three years, Lifeson, an avid golfer, has released two albums and one EP with his band Envy of None. He also appears on the forthcoming Rheostatics album, The Great Lakes Suite.
Though Lee has been less active, the Toronto Blue Jays season ticket holder is often seen during game broadcasts in his seats behind home plate at Rogers Centre.
Ticket presales for the concerts begin Oct. 13, with general sales starting Oct. 17.