The sprawling world tour began on Sunday (June 7) at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, with the show paying classy, heartfelt tribute to the band's late drummer, Neil Peart.
Alex Lifeson, Anika Nilles and Geddy Lee of Rush perform during the opening night of their first American tour in 11 years at The Kia Forum on June 7, 2026
Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
There was a bittersweet quality to the first show of Rush‘s Fifty Something Tour, which began on Sunday (June 7) at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, the same place the legendary Canadian rock outfit concluded its last tour in 2015. While elements of these two performances were of course similar, including some overlap in the setlists, this time around the group is without a key element: its late drummer and lyricist Neil Peart, who died of brain cancer in January of 2020.
Fifty Something is the first time the group’s remaining members, singer/bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist/vocalist Alex Lifeson, have toured without Peart in more than 50 years, since the trio rocket-launched out of Toronto in the mid-70s. The loss is unimaginable, not only given this half-century together, but because Peart is widely considered one of the best, if not the best, rock drummers in history.
