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Eleven years after their last bow, Rush is hitting the road again in 2026. In a new interview with CBC News, Geddy Lee spoke about the surprise tour and what it entailed – including getting a certain new drummer up to speed.
The tour will kick off at Los Angeles' Kia Forum, the same stage where the band icons wrapped up their R40 anniversary run in 2015. This time, the pair are joined by German drumming powerhouse Anika Nilles, who famously toured with Jeff Beck in 2022 and has been rehearsing with the band in secret.
For Lee, the return to the road has been an emotional one: "Well, I'm a bit overwhelmed right now, to be honest," he said. "Alex and I took a long time trying to figure out if we could actually do this ever again. And when we did finally decide, of course people were optimistic, but we really didn't expect the kind of overwhelming response our announcement has brought forth out of our fanbase. It's just been a remarkable few weeks around our homes, but very exciting — very exciting."
Of course, stepping back into Rush territory without the late, great Neil Peart was always going to be the hardest part. "Well, of course it was a very difficult decision to go back on the road, and that was the main stumbling block, obviously. How do we replace the irreplaceable, so to speak?" Lee said.
That question led them to Nilles, courtesy of a very rock 'n' roll chain of recommendations. "We have been fortunate to have been introduced to the name Anika Nilles through one of my road crew — my bass tech Skully [John McIntosh], who was on tour with Jeff Beck, and she was the drummer for Jeff Beck on his last tour. And he came home from that tour raving about her," Lee recalled.
"And so when we made the decision to see what it's like to play with another drummer, we contacted her, and she's just a fantastic person. And she came to Canada and we very surreptitiously snuck into a studio and worked out for about a week. And by the end of it, we were convinced that this would be a go for us. Yeah, she's just a tremendous player."
Still, joining Rush is no small task — especially for someone who didn't grow up worshipping their labyrinthine prog epics. "Oh, of course," Lee admitted when asked if Nilles seemed intimidated by the legacy she was stepping into. "When she first came over here [to Canada], we started playing some of the songs, trying to translate Rush music to someone who didn't really grow up as a Rush fan; she was not a Rush fan. She knew, of course, of Neil's playing — every drummer knows who Neil is, or Neil was, I should say — so it was a bit of a daunting task.
"And we had to go through each song and explain the nuances of the song and the idiosyncratic nature of how our songs are put together. So at times she was a bit overwhelmed, but she's an incredibly hard worker. She's got great technical facility and she's just got a really positive attitude, and that's really good for Alex and I to be around right now."
Lee, a lifelong baseball obsessive and Toronto Blue Jays regular, insists that it wasn't nostalgia for the roar of the crowd that pulled him back to the stage. "Actually, no. It never answers my mind, to be frank," he said.
"The one thing I miss about touring is actually the job itself and that marvelous feeling of being in the middle of a 10-minute song and you're caught up on your playing and you're trying your best and everything is working and all your bandmates are clicking. It's that adrenaline that I miss. I had kind of settled into a nice life without the roar of the crowd, and I think I adjusted pretty well to it. But, of course, I'll be very happy to hear that once again."
As for the physical challenge of getting back to rock-god form, Lee sounds determined. "I'm getting ready. I've been playing diligently for about a year and a half now. And it wasn't that we had planned this tour that long ago.
"I had just decided that after writing all these books and having the experience of doing television shows that I needed to make some music again. So I've been working out pretty regularly trying to get my fingers, these little digits, back in shape. And, of course, since we did make the decision to tour, I'm hitting the gym pretty hard, and so is Alex. But we're gonna be ready. We're working at it. We're gonna put a lot of hours into that."
Rush's 2026 tour dates are as follows. Get your tickets here.
6/7 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
6/9 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
6/11 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
6/13 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
6/18 Mexico City, MX Palacio de los Deportes
6/20 Mexico City, MX Palacio de los Deportes
6/24 Fort Worth, TX Dickies Arena
6/26 Fort Worth, TX Dickies Arena
6/28 Fort Worth, TX Dickies Arena
6/30 Fort Worth, TX Dickies Arena
7/16 Chicago, IL United Center
7/18 Chicago, IL United Center
7/20 Chicago, IL United Center
7/22 Chicago, IL United Center
7/28 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
7/30 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
8/1 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
8/3 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
8/7 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
8/9 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
8/11 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
8/13 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
8/21 Philadelphia, PA Xfinity Mobile Arena
8/23 Philadelphia, PA Xfinity Mobile Arena
8/26 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
8/28 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
9/2 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
9/4 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
9/12 Boston, MA TD Garden
9/14 Boston, MA TD Garden
9/17 Cleveland, OH Rocket Arena
9/19 Cleveland, OH Rocket Arena
9/23 San Antonio, TX Frost Bank Center
9/25 San Antonio, TX Frost Bank Center
10/5 Denver, CO Ball Arena
10/7 Denver, CO Ball Arena
10/10 Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena
10/12 Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena
10/15 San Jose, CA SAP Center
10/17 San Jose, CA SAP Center
10/25 Washington DC Capital One Arena
10/27 Washington DC Capital One Arena
10/30 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
11/1 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
11/5 Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live
11/7 Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live
11/9 Tampa, FL Benchmark International Arena
11/11 Tampa, FL Benchmark International Arena
11/20 Charlotte, NC Spectrum Center
11/22 Charlotte, NC Spectrum Center
11/25 Atlanta, GA State Farm Arena
11/27 Atlanta, GA State Farm Arena
12/1 Glendale, AZ Desert Diamond Arena
12/3 Glendale, AZ Desert Diamond Arena
12/10 Edmonton, AB Rogers Place
12/12 Edmonton, AB Rogers Place
12/15 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
12/17 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
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