Fly By Night
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson somehow beat their tour opener in an over-the-top second show. Playing all of ‘2112’ was only one of the triumphs
At their core, Rush were always about glorious musical excess, routinely cramming more riffs and time signatures into single songs than some bands managed on entire albums. And as much as the band absorbed the lessons of punk and New Wave by the late Seventies, they were always about conspicuous effort, too – hard-won chops, literary lyrics, inhuman onstage precision.
So maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that night two at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum of Rush’s first tour since 2015 went so incredibly hard, somehow surpassing the already spectacular tour debut. As the first show without late drummer/lyricist Neil Peart since 1974, the kick-off was suffused with nearly overwhelming emotion, both onstage and off. Lee audibly choked up during songs, and fans openly wept during the Peart tributes. Night two was just as much of a Peart tribute, but it was also a chance to fully unleash the firepower of the revamped Rush, with the additions of astonishing touring drummer Anika Nilles and the band’s first-ever outside keyboardist, touring member Loren Gold.
