RUSH's GEDDY LEE On ANIKA NILLES: 'She's Just Been Perfect For Us'

Ontario, Canada radio station 92.9 The Grand has shared video of the entire press conference RUSH's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson held after the band's comeback performance at Sunday's (March 29) Juno Awards in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. You can watch the question-and-answer session below.

The Canadian progressive rock legends opened the ceremony with a performance of the song "Finding My Way" from their debut album. The event also served as an official introduction to the new RUSH drummer Anika Nilles, stepping in for Neil Peart, who died in 2020.

Speaking about what it has been like to play with Anika, Lee said: "We've been rehearsing with her, on and off, for about a year now. And now it's very comfortable, and she's expressing her personality, which is nice to see, because she's a fantastic person, lovely, easy to work with and really deeply talented. So we consider ourselves so fortunate, because she was really the only drummer we tried to work with, and she's just been perfect for us. And she fires us up too. She's a bonus."

Lee added he thinks Peart would approve of RUSH's choice of a new drummer in Nilles, a German drummer who toured with legendary guitarist Jeff Beck in 2022 and has been rehearsing with Lee and Lifeson in preparation for RUSH's upcoming tour, dubbed "Fifty Something".

"Neil is irreplaceable," Geddy said. "And if he had something to say to us right now, he'd probably say, 'You guys are idiots.' But music lives beyond tragedy, beyond anything that can happen in your life. One thing we've learned over the last 10 years is that music is still a part of us, and so to play it now with someone as young and exciting as Anika, it's just another tribute to him. I think he'd be very pleased with our choice of drummer, and I think he would have a bit of a smirk on his face. A thumbs up, I hope."

Nilles reflected her first rehearsal sessions with Lee and Lifeson in the new issue of Classic Rock magazine. She said: "I had a few songs prepared before I flew over, and we played those. But during the session, we also talked a lot about Neil — about his view on music and drumming. We spoke a great deal about the feel of the songs. The most important point is simply to capture the feeling — that it feels right for the two of them to play their music again. And ultimately, it will feel right for the fans as well. We talked about that a lot. The first session was really about getting to know each other and seeing how we function together."

Keyboardist Loren Gold, who will also join RUSH on its upcoming tour, rounded out the group's lineup for the Juno Awards appearance, which can be seen below.

Lee and Lifeson's first official shows under the RUSH banner in 11 years will begin in June at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, site of the last RUSH concert on the legendary Canadian band's "R40" anniversary tour.

The 2026 leg of the "Fifty Something" tour, which will cover Canada, USA and Mexico, initially consisted of 22 dates, which sold out immediately, prompting the addition of more shows. The tour now totals 58 shows across 24 cities, with over half a million tickets sold for 2026.

In February, RUSH announced the addition of South America and Europe tour dates to the "Fifty Something" tour, in early 2027. The dates will be the first time the band has played in Europe since 2013 and 17 years since visiting South America.

Performing 24 shows across 13 European countries, these special "evening with" shows will find the band playing two sets each night. Each show will feature a distinct selection of songs and RUSH will build each night's setlist from a catalog of more than 40 songs, including their greatest hits and fan favorites.

Last month, Geddy told Darren Redick of U.K.'s Planet Rock about RUSH's decision to tour again: "What started this whole thing is [Alex and I] started jamming, and the jams were kind of interesting, but in the middle of it, after we sort of got tired of jamming, we said, 'Well, let's play a RUSH song.' And then it changed the subject. So we got to the point with that where it was either we're going to follow through on this or we're never gonna talk about it again, because you can caught in this thing, 'Shall we? Shall we not? Shall we? Shall we not?' And for me, it was, we're not getting any younger. If we're gonna do it, let's do it now, or let's just not do it."

Regarding how Nilles ended up joining RUSH's touring lineup, Geddy said: "My bass tech Skully [John McIntosh] — he hates when I tell this story, but he had been on tour with Jeff Beck; he worked for Jeff Beck for the last three, four tours before [Jeff] sadly passed away. And on the last tour, there was a drummer, Anika Nilles. And he came back from that tour just raving about how great she was and how nice she was. And he said, 'Well, if you ever decide to do a solo project or something with Al, think about it.' So here it was. I had done some investigation about her — I'd watched her videos and listened to her play — and she's deeply talented. And so I brought her up to Al, and he went out and did his own research on her and came back and said, 'Wow, she's great.' So we just arranged a Zoom call with her, and it went really well. And we said, 'Would you come to Canada very quietly and jam with us for a few days and play a few RUSH songs and see how that goes?' She said, 'Sure, I'd love to.' And that's how it all began. And by the end of five days, we sort of had a drummer."

Asked what the "challenges" are of putting the "Fifty Something" tour together, Alex said: "We always rehearsed a lot, and in the past we would rehearse on our own individually for maybe a month, and then we would get together and rehearse for a month, and then we'd do a couple of weeks, full-production rehearsals in a venue. So by the time you hit the stage on the first show, you're seasoned; it's like the 20th show. The difference this time around is that we're rehearsing for about a year — seriously — before the [first] show. We just really wanna be at our absolute peak by the time we start the tour in earnest."

Geddy added: "And it's a lot for Anika to take on. Even though we're rusty on some songs, they're lying in the grooves in the brain somewhere, and it comes back. But she's starting from scratch. And she's starting from scratch trying to fill the shoes of a guy whose shoes are impossible to fill. So she has her work cut out for her. But she's incredibly, deeply talented, both technically and from a musical knowledge standpoint. She's got a fantastic work ethic. She's easy to be around. She's a great person, and she's ready to take on the inevitable scrutiny of RUSH fans. And so far they've been very welcoming, they've been very warm, and she's really appreciative of that."

Peart died in January 2020 after a three-year battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 67 years old.RUSH waited three days to announce Peart's passing, setting off shockwaves and an outpouring of grief from fans and musicians all over the world.

RUSH 2026 press photo credit: Richard Sibbald