Rush rebounds with dazzling opening as Anika Nilles debuts

Anika Nilles – Rush kicked off its Fifty Something Tour at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on June 7 with an emotional, film-led opener and a set that reached from “Xanadu” to deep cuts. With Neil Peart gone since 2020, the band’s comeback also came with a new drummer, A

Inglewood, Calif. — The moment the lights dropped at the Kia Forum on June 7, the Fifty Something Tour didn’t just start. It hovered over the room first.

Screens surrounding the stage filled with a slick. several-minute video depicting a haunted retirement home. then unfolded a string of “if-you-know-you-know” moments for Rush fans. Bassist and singer Geddy Lee appeared disguised as a sausage vendor. Guitarist Alex Lifeson turned up as a military guard with doughnuts. and both wore a pair of “absurdly prophetic” white robes that gave the pair a fountain of youth effect. The cameo parade included Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, and the visuals added animated, blunt-smoking birds.

When the screen rose, Lee and Lifeson stood in cascades of dry ice and the first notes of 1977’s “Xanadu” finally hit. Grown men in the audience nearly wept—partly from seeing their heroes again, partly from hearing the song that had never before opened a Rush concert.

The show at the Kia Forum on June 7 was the first of four sold-out shows at the Los Angeles-area venue, and it carried the unmistakable weight of a band trying to come back without half measures. It was also a test of the band’s most personal change: the era since Neil Peart’s death in 2020.

Rush’s Fifty Something Tour is their first since Peart died in 2020. and it is also their first tour in any form since 2015. After instant sellouts in the first seven cities. the band added 17 more markets for a total of 58 dates spanning the U.S. and Mexico before the tour wraps in their native Canada in December. A run of European shows is set to begin in January.

Early in the evening, Lee looked out over the arena and told the crowd, “You. Are. So. Beautiful,” with a hint of disbelief at the rapturous response.

For nearly three hours, including a 25-minute intermission, Lee and Lifeson fronted 24 songs. The set moved across classic rock radio staples like “Limelight” and “The Spirit of Radio,” then stepped into rarified album territory with tracks including “Red Sector A” and “By-Tor and the Snow Dog.”

Aimee Mann also made an appearance, singing on the recorded version of “Time Stand Still,” and her voice layered honeyed vocals into the chorus.

Lee. 72. maintained his trademark look of shoulder-length brown hair and tinted glasses. bouncing between nimble bass playing and a bank of synthesizers. Journeyman Loren Gold played keyboards throughout. Lee’s voice has long been distinctive—caught between a whine and a yelp—and it remained recognizable throughout. He landed the high notes with varying degrees of success on “Freewill. ” but his vocals sounded strained during “The Spirit of Radio.”.

Lifeson, also 72, matched the energy with razor-sharp riffs on “Freewill” and circular guitar notes on “The Spirit of Radio,” both delivered with undiminished flexibility. His droll wit surfaced along the way, but it was the musicianship—tight, deliberate, and built to last—that carried the room.

Then came the beat the audience had been waiting to hear explained in motion: drummer Anika Nilles.

Replacing one of the most respected and beloved drummers in rock history is an unenviable challenge. Nilles, 43, made it look less like replacement and more like ignition.

From her first cymbal crash, the approval in the arena turned immediate. Fans weren’t just watching a new drummer. They were reacting to someone with the range to absorb Peart’s fingerprints and still bring her own force.

Peart’s drum fills and tempo changes are described here as unusual but iconic—among the most complex in rock ‘n’ roll canon. Nilles proved herself fierce and precise behind the kit. unpacking those nuances with fluid waves of tom-tom fills and snappy hi-hat work. Her recognition during the show arrived in moments like the melodic “Bravado. ” when vintage footage of Peart playing filled the screen behind her—and again after “Natural Science. ” an infrequently played track.

The clearest test of the band’s new rhythm landed after intermission with “2112. ” a three-part suite that brought the show back in full momentum. For fans who know what they’re listening for. it read like a masterclass in musicianship—whether someone is a lifelong devotee of Rush’s winding prog-rock or not.

This crowd—predominantly middle-aged and male—showed what they came for in a way that didn’t require translation. Strangers slapped hands and bonded in their bliss, whether during the guitar solo in “Red Barchetta” or while trading awe for Nilles’ extraordinary playing.

It made the night feel, in their words and their faces, like every holiday rolled into one.

The show’s throwback details landed as well: zigzagging colored lasers. bursts of pyro that momentarily stunned with booms. and the constant focus on performance rather than spectacle for its own sake. With Nilles anchoring the sound, the band’s urgency felt like a reminder of a simpler era of concert-going.

And still, as the lights finally began to settle, the underlying message lingered in the only comparison that mattered. Rush may have surged back with an opener that stirred the room. But with Nilles at the controls and Peart’s memory embedded in the night. the band wasn’t anywhere near done—certainly not ready for that retirement home—despite everything the screens promised.

Rush Fifty Something Tour Anika Nilles Neil Peart Geddy Lee Alex Lifeson Kia Forum June 7 U.S. tour Mexico Canada December European shows January