“Yes, seeing their excitement was great. I was moved to tears more than once, and it wasn’t just me,” my client wrote. He was describing Rush’s concert earlier this summer in Fort Worth, Texas.
Touring for the first time since 2015’s R40 Live Tour, which celebrated the 40th anniversary of drummer Neil Peart joining the band in 1974, and following Peart’s passing in January 2020, this tour feels like both a remembrance and a time of healing, with Anika Nilles delicately taking the drum throne with deference and unquestionable skill.
In our conversation, knowing that Rush will be in Boston, MA, for two shows this weekend—Saturday and Monday night—you asked, “Were your ears ringing? I was about to call you.”
“Happens to me all the time,” I said.
“Are you going?” he asked.
“I don’t have tickets,” I said. “But I’m working on it.”
“Go,” he said. “It was amazing.”
And this comes from someone who saw Rush from the beginning, fifty-something years ago, and on every tour in between. Bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee, he told me, is playing the best he’s ever played, and you can tell he has worked on his voice since their last tour—apparently taking voice lessons like he’s a kid. Anika’s drumming and the sound of her drums, are amazing. And Alex’s playing? He’s playing “La Villa Strangiato.” Enough said.
P.S. Rumor has it that after the world tour, which ends in April, Rush will do a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas in late 2027.
Check out keyboardist Loren Gold in the intro to “Camera Eye.”
Had to put this in for Neil.
