SKF NOTE: A happy breakthrough. That’s how this video of Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson announcing a new Rush tour strikes me. Good for them.

Certainly Neil Peart is smiling at the tour announcement. I can’t imagine Neil would react otherwise. After all, he had finished his last tour roughly ten years ago and was moving on to life without Rush tours. More time for family, writing, and other projects.

Anika Niiles, Rush’s drummer for their upcoming tour, is new to me. Interviewing her about the Rush tour would be interesting.

Neil was a methodical drummer, working out his parts for Rush songs with little room for onstage improvisation. During our interview published in Modern Drummer April 1984 Neil described performing in sync with Alex, Geddy, and all kinds of sequenced electronics. Laughing, I told Neil what he was describing sounded fragile, risky. That one missed cue – a stick drop, a memory loss – would cause the Rush song in question to come crashing in on itself.

Neil, if memory serves, said playing Rush songs was sometimes exactly that fragile. And sometimes, along with human error, electronics went haywire. In either case, the band had to press on.

I’m wondering if Ms. Niiles will have to memorize Neil’s drum parts note for note. As Neil described his method of building out his Rush drum parts, it seems Niiles has no option. In a way, Neil’s approach was similar to classical percussionists, where he knew in advance exactly what he was going to play.

Adding to the Rush 2026 intrigue? Alex and Geddy mention expanding Rush as a trio, at least for some songs, to a quartet or quintet. That suggest Anika will have room to improvise and/or create her own drum parts.

And maybe the new Rush means some new songs.

Neil’s advice to Anika? No one knows for sure. (Although it won’t surprise me if someone finds a Peart essay to his unknown successor.)

But I think Neil would advise Anika Niiles, “Be yourself. You’ll do fine.”

The good news is: Rush is alive and well.