Rush: The comeback tour made for all the right reasons
It was a sad day for the entire prog community the minute that Rush announced their plans to call it a career.
While everyone knew that they couldn’t be playing forever, the idea of them working so hard for so long and then retiring on their own terms would have easily been a great way for them to give their final bow. But even without the beloved ‘Professor’, the band has found a way to give the people the kind of thrills that they hadn’t seen for years.
Granted, it’s not like the band ever lost their love of playing, either. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson had continued to play music in their own ways, and even though they were never billed as Rush, they did turn up for the odd charity show, like when they performed alongside a legion of drummers for the Taylor Hawkins tribute show.
Because, really, it would have been a shame if the band managed to hang things up when they were still at the top of their game. Alex Lifeson may have been going through some health issues throughout their final tour, but the main reason why they decided to hang it up wasn’t because of them wanting to say goodbye to their fans.
They had simply earned their time at home, and even if their final bows were captured in the documentary Time Stand Still, it was clear that drummer Neil Peart wanted to spend more time with his family.
But this is Rush we’re talking about. The band lived their entire lives on the road and put every other rock and roll band to shame, to the point where they never had an opening act during the final tours that they put on. They could have easily had tricks up their sleeve to perform in any other capacity, but any hope of that was dashed the minute that Peart passed away in 2021.
For all intents and purposes, Rush seemed to officially end then and there. After all, the ‘Professor’ had developed his own unique vocabulary for playing rock and roll drumming, and no one is going to have the kind of precision that comes with playing with the strength of John Bonham, the discipline of Bill Bruford, and the stamina of Keith Moon.
And yet, stranger things have happened in this world, so getting back together was never out of the question, so long as they had the right person for the group.
So, who is the new Rush drummer Anika Nilles?
And while the ongoing joke amongst all Rush fans and the band themselves was that they didn’t garner a massive female audience, Anika Nilles is one of the perfect people for the job. It’s easy to scoff at the new kid in town, thinking that they’re going to show ‘The Professor’ up every time they play, but looking at Nilles’s track record, she’s more than worthy to fill those shoes.
She already had experience playing with one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time, Jeff Beck, but the important pieces of her catalogue come from who she followed in the footsteps. Obviously, there had to be a lot of homework to even think about filling those shoes, but one of the grooves that she always goes back to is Jeff Porcaro from Toto playing ‘Rosanna’. That might trigger some alarm bells, but Porcaro was the epitome of a tasteful player, and having her step into those shoes was practically a launch pad for prog rock drumming.
…and why did Rush come back to touring?
Despite Lee and Lifeson both stomping out any rumours of the band making anything new with Rush, it would have been a shame to pass up any potential touring, especially with someone like Nilles helping them forward. They had already celebrated 40 years of being on the road with the R40 tour, now, as it approaches 50 years since their debut, this upcoming tour feels like a way for them to give fans the chance to see the band that they’ve only heard stories about but never got to witness.
And with Peart’s widow, Olivia, giving her blessing, it’s not as if they are trying to bury the legacy that Peart left behind, either. This is a band telling the story of their history one last time, and even if one very important person isn’t there behind the drum stool, it almost doesn’t matter.
Sure, it doesn’t have the same feeling as before, but this tour is about celebrating the prog legends that never compromised their sound.
