Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson announced in a social media post on Monday that they have been rehearsing about 35 songs to take on tour next year as Rush.
Tour dates announced so far run from June through September 2026 in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, with two shows scheduled in August in Toronto.
Rush played its last concert in Los Angeles in 2015. Any hint of a reunion ended when powerhouse drummer Neil Peart died at 67 on Jan. 7, 2020, three years after being diagnosed with the aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma.
Anika Nilles is shown at a May 5, 2023, performance of the Martin Miller Session Band in Montreaux, Switzerland. (Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images)Joining the band as drummer will be Anika Nilles, a German whose previous credits include her own albums, as well as being in the touring band of the late guitar legend Jeff Beck.
Lee acknowledged the challenge of "replacing the irreplaceable" Peart, but said that in rehearsals, the chemistry with Nilles was undeniable.
"You and I playing with her started to put a charge in us, when we heard our songs coming back to life," he said as the pair announced the tour in a social media post.
WATCH | Lee on how Peart departed from tradition in final show: Rush lead singer Geddy Lee answers eight rapid-fire questions from The National’s Ian Hanomansing about his musical inspirations and memories.Lifeson said that while each show will have its own unique aspects, "we'll always have a part of the show that's a tribute to Neil."
"It's going to be beautiful to celebrate him every single night," he said.
Lee and Lifeson have occasionally joined forces onstage since Peart's death, most notably for tribute shows for Gordon Lightfoot and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters.
The two Canadian Music Hall of Famers have kept themselves busy with side projects. Lee released his autobiography in 2023, while Lifeson has released two albums with his group Envy of None.
Lee and Lifeson said it is also likely they will add a fourth musician for the Fifty Something tour, likely on keyboards, departing from their classic power trio lineup.
WATCH | Lifeson on personal, professional challenges after Peart's death:
The musicians have spoken at length in the past of the challenges of the live show for Lee, known for handling the bass and keyboard parts in the studio.
"It will be very liberating for you and we can start working on those dance routines that we wanted to do for so long," Lifeson joked to his friend of nearly 60 years.
Lee and Lifeson, both 72, first met at junior high school in North York, Ont.
Bonding over music and groups like Cream and The Who, they played in a series of bands before Rush coalesced around 1970. Original drummer John Rutsey departed shortly after the release of their first album, to be replaced by Peart, who was from St. Catharines, Ont., in 1974.
With Peart on board not just as drummer, but as the band's primary lyricist, Rush won most promising group in 1975 and group of the year in 1978 and 1979 at the Juno Awards.
After years of supporting bands ranging from the New York Dolls to KISS to Nazareth, and powered by popular radio songs like Fly By Night, Closer to the Heart and Tom Sawyer, Rush eventually became a headlining act in arenas and stadiums in the U.S. and beyond.
WATCH | Lee, Lifeson and Peart perform Limelight in 1981:
The band's future was open to question in the late 1990s, when both Peart's first wife and his daughter died. But he pronounced himself ready to return in 2001, and the band would tour off the strength of three more studio albums until 2015.
Lee, in his memoir My Effin' Life and for its subsequent book tour, admitted to being resentful for a time toward Peart. The drummer had made the decision to bow out after 2015, wanting to spend more time with his second wife, with whom he shared a daughter.
For his part, Lifeson said as recently as January 2024, in an interview with Sirius XM, that there were no plans for Rush to tour again.
Rush is just the second Canadian group, after the Band, to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. That 2013 honour is among a number of accolades they've received, which also include induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame (1994) and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (2010), as well as the 2012 Governor General's Performing Arts award for lifetime artistic achievement.