RUSH's GEDDY LEE On ANIKA NILLES: 'When We Started Playing With Her, Something Felt Wrong', But By Fifth Day 'She Just F***ing Nailed It'

In a new interview with U.K.'s The Guardian, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of RUSH spoke about their decision to reunite for a tour in 2026 and 2027. The run of dates — Lee and Lifeson's first official shows under the RUSH banner in 11 years — will begin at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, site of the last RUSH concert on the legendary Canadian band's "R40" anniversary tour. Joining the duo on the trek will be German drummer Anika Nilles, who toured with legendary guitarist Jeff Beck in 2022 and has been rehearsing with Lee and Lifeson in preparation for the tour, dubbed "Fifty Something", which will celebrate RUSH's music, legacy, and the life of late drummer and lyricist Neil Peart.

Asked about the first rehearsals with Anika, which took place in March 2025, and whether RUSH wanted someone to reproduce Neil's parts, Alex said: "It has to start there. They have to be true to the arrangements, because that's the expectation from the fans. But we don't place any restrictions on her. When she is comfortable and confident in the arrangements, she's free to enhance them with her own spirit."

"And she will," Lee added. "But I don't think we knew when she arrived what our expectations were, to be honest. "When we started playing with her, something felt wrong. And I was, of course: 'This is not gonna work.' Those seemingly impossible fills were not a problem for her at all. What was difficult was understanding a relationship between snare, bass drum and hi-hat that's different from her training.

"The first four days were up and down, and she was nervous, and she was jetlagged, and we were unsure. We had a little chat before the last day — 'I don't know, Al, is this going to work?' We talked about all the things we liked about her, and what a work ethic she has, nice person and deep knowledge, deep technical ability. So there's a lot of positives. So let's not be hasty. And we went into that last day and she just fucking nailed it."

"She suddenly understood what we were talking about that whole week," Lifeson said, "not about the technical aspect, but about the stuff in between the big stuff, that Neil was just so amazing at and those internal dynamics that only another drummer can understand, and it clicked in her."

Geddy and Alex previously talked about the initial rehearsals with Anika earlier this month in an interview with Leona Graham of U.K.'s Absolute Radio. Alex said: "[Anika is] a wonderful person. So that was half of the quest, can we find somebody that's gonna be really fun to be with? She's really a lovely person. She laughs easily. She felt immediately comfortable. I think she was quite nervous in those first few days… But she worked really hard. She prepped for it. She had five songs, and we went through those songs. But by the fourth day, Ged and I, we talked and we were quite sold on it. There was something that just wasn't there quite. And we talked to her about the importance of the feel that Neil had in his drum arrangements. And then on the fifth day, which was the final day that we rehearsed — bang! — she just nailed all those songs. And that turned everything around. And we again got together at the studio and thought, 'Okay, this is really gonna be worth doing. Let's talk to her about it.' And we brought her in and asked her if she'd be willing to continue. And she was really enthusiastic about it. And then we just continued throughout the year. That was in March. And then we got together in June and August and November, and [we went through] more material. And she was feeling more settled."

Added Geddy: "But that was the moment that the final tumbler clicked into place. On that day he's describing, it was very much like that. We had all these questions, and that day those questions were erased. And we knew we had someone that would be fun to travel with us down this road. That's when we had to get serious — 'cause we were starting from scratch. We had no crew, really. We had no management. We had to learn about the modern state of touring: how are we gonna put this show back on the road? So, it's been a lot of work, but we've surrounded ourselves with some great people. And now we're on that road."

RUSH will perform multiple shows cities across Canada, the United States and Mexico, beginning June 7, 2026 at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles. 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 40 songs including their greatest hits and fan favorites.

Speaking about the setlist for RUSH's upcoming tour, Alex said: "Yeah. [There will be] two sets each night. And our intention is to mix it up from one night to the next in a cycle of about five nights, so that every set will have other songs in them. So that we can really service the fans that like to come to our shows multiple times, give them the opportunity to hear other music. And it's not just the same show over and over. It's a lot more pressure [on us], but it's good. It's a challenge. It keeps you on your toes."

Added Geddy: "Last night we were talking to Anika. We saw her in Berlin. We were doing press there, and we were rehearsing together a few days ago. And there was this one song that we thought, 'Oh, we should add that to the set.' We're up to 39 songs. And so I said, 'Anika, we're adding one more song.' She said, 'Noooo. I'm just getting comfortable with the first 25.' So it's a lot of pressure on her, obviously. I think she has the constitution and the mental capacity to handle it, 'cause she's gonna be under scrutiny."

Asked what tracks they are most excited about playing, Geddy said: "Oh, we're not gonna talk about setlists yet, because there are very few secrets in the world of the Internet now. And we know it'll only be a secret for one week, and then everyone will know. So, obviously there are the big songs that people know and love that we will have to play regularly and we want to play regularly. But there's gonna be a turnover — about 40% of the set will be different night to night to night. I think we have five different days' worth of sets."

Earlier last week, Alex and Geddy were asked by U.K.'s Planet Rock what the "challenges" are of putting the "Fifty Something" tour together. Alex responded: "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."

Geddy went on to say that the overwhelmingly positive response from RUSH fans to the tour announcement took him and Alex by surprise.

"Originally the tour we wanted to do was just going to be six or seven cities and we would thought we'd do these small residencies," Lee explained. "And when we announced it, people went crazy, and we were taken aback. Our new management was very heartened and very bullish. They thought the shows would do well, obviously, but we didn't expect them to sell out in a few days. It was insanity. And so we had not been prepared for anything beyond that. But management always thinks ahead. And we had hoped that we could come to the U.K. in the fall of 2026, but we couldn't get the dates. So we added an American leg, which is also selling incredibly well. And so finally we can organize coming over to Europe and the U.K. [in 2027].

"So it's a lot to take on," Geddy admitted. "We haven't done a tour that big in many years, so we're just gonna make sure that it is effing note perfect."

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.

Earlier last week, 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.

For "Fifty Something", Lee and Lifeson will be accompanied by Nilles and keyboard player Loren Gold (THE WHO, Roger Daltrey).

On October 6, 2025, fans got the news via a RUSH newsletter from a home video that announced the celebration of upcoming dates with Lee and Lifeson at Geddy's home studio.

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.

Since Peart's death, Lifeson and Lee have not recorded any new music or performed live under the RUSH name, although both of them confirmed that several drummers reached out to them in the days after the legendary drummer's passing about the possibility of stepping in for Neil.

RUSH 2026 press photo credit: Richard Sibbald