Rush opened its Fifty Something Tour on June 7 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, and the first thing the crowd heard from Anika Nilles was a roar when the 43-year-old German drummer struck her first cymbal. It was the band’s first tour in any form since 2015, and the first since Neil Peart died in 2020.
The Los Angeles-area start also gave fans their first look at a lineup built for a return that had felt impossible for years. Geddy Lee, 72, handled bass and keyboards, Alex Lifeson, 72, played guitar, and the group stretched the night to nearly three hours with 24 songs and a 25-minute intermission. For a band whose name is now being searched again by people wondering whether Rush still sounds like Rush without Peart, the opening answer came fast: yes, and then some.
That matters because replacing Peart was always going to be an unenviable challenge. He was one of the most respected and beloved drummers in rock history, and any musician taking that chair would be judged against a standard most players would never want. Nilles did not try to shrink from it. She was met with approval from the first crash, and the set that followed made the point with force: 'Xanadu' opened a Rush concert for the first time, and the night also included 'Limelight,' 'The Spirit of Radio,' 'Red Sector A,' 'By-Tor and the Snow Dog' and 'Freewill.'
Rush also leaned into the occasion with a cinematic intro that featured a haunted retirement home and cameo appearances by Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, before Aimee Mann came out to sing on 'Time Stand Still.' The show was the first of four sold-out nights at the venue, and the tour is now set to move through 58 dates across the U.S. and Mexico before wrapping in Canada in December, with European shows beginning in January. The bigger question is no longer whether Rush would come back at all. It is how Nilles will be received once the tour leaves Los Angeles and the novelty gives way to the long road ahead.
