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Rush Fifty Something, We’ll See You in Charlotte!!!
- Mar 30
- 14 min read
A personal perspective concerning Rush's upcoming Fifty Something Tour.
It was late in the afternoon, about 3:20 pm, on Monday, October 6, when I finally had a chance to look at my email for the day. It was the first day of the concrete pour for the foundation of our “forever home” that we are building atop a ridgeline on our property in West Virginia. The concrete crew had left about 20 minutes prior, I had grabbed a sandwich, and was sitting on the forms of the fire place pedestal to chill for a few minutes while my other contractors began breaking out the burlap that we would place and soak over the concrete for the next week to facilitate a proper cure.
The email title simply read, “Rush Fifty Something Tour.” Say what? I watched the video, then sent it and a screen shot of the tour poster to Roxette. A few minutes later, as if it were a forgone conclusion that we’d be going, she texted back, “Cleveland or Fort Worth?” I replied, “Cleveland is closer.” And then I had to get back to work helping my contractors lay out the burlap and soaker hoses.
The last time I saw Rush perform was the next to the last show of the R40 Tour on July 30, 2015 at Irvine, California. I had nearly talked myself out of going to that show that, having seen the band five times in the preceding seven years, and with my schedule the only two shows I could possibly make were in California on July 30 or August 1. However, a few days after I had arrived in Kabul for the current rotation of 60 days or so where I was training Afghan military pilots, the reviews came out from the first show of that tour. My significant other at the time convinced me that I should go for it. So, sitting there in my hooch in the middle of a war zone, I managed to snag three tickets, one for myself, my girlfriend, and her brother, who lived in LA. I ended up with twelfth row, center stage seats, and I literally flew halfway around the planet, from Kabul, Afghanistan to LAX, to see the performance.
The show that night could have easily been one for the annals of rock history. The band was tighter than I ever recall, Geddy’s voice was in great shape, and the show was over the top as the trio worked backwards in their catalog. It was a peak concert experience of the band that had all but been the soundtrack of my life.
The final show, two nights later in Inglewood, certainly made history as Neil came around to the front of the stage at the end of the encore set to take a farewell wave with his bandmates.
Though I don’t recall any of the band ever actually coming out and stating that the R40 tour would be the last, I think many of us in the fanbase knew that it would be. We all knew that that Alex was struggling with arthritis, Neil was suffering from tendonitis in his arm but perhaps more importantly, Neil had been “finished” with touring for quite some time, wanting to spend more time at home with his wife and young daughter. In the 2010 documentary, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, Geddy stated his feelings concerning the band’s potential reunion after the tragedies of the death of Neil’s wife and teen daughter in the late 90s (time mark 1:38:33),
I don’t want to play in Rush without those other two guys. There’s no replacing anybody in this band. It’s just not possible. It is the band, the three of us.
So, in 2015, I, like many others I presume, that if Neil called it quits after the R40 Tour, that would be that.
On November 3, 2016, almost nine and a half years ago, I went solo to the theater for the one night showing of Rush: Time Stand Still. The movie all but confirmed and cemented that the band was finished. They went out in class, style, and on the top of their game, something very few bands manage to pull off. Throughout the film, all three band members, manager Ray Daniels, and crew echoed similar sentiments – this was the end.
So, I had long ago come to terms with the end of Rush, at least as we knew the band for so long.
That said, the band continued to hold a cornerstone in my psyche. After we started dating, Roxette was kind enough to enjoy several concerts with me, thanks to Blu-ray. She even indulged me by letting me have a bit of a memorial to them in our media room in our home in Huntersville, complete with Rush blanket on the sofa. The five tour posters on the wall representing the seven times I had seen them live. (Snakes and Arrows and Clockwork Angels I saw twice each, so only one poster for those tours.) On my website are four articles specifically about the band, this will make the fifth, and three others with strong connections in the narrative.
I had always enjoyed Neil’s writing, including his books and blog, News, Weather, and Sports; in fact, it was his lyrics on the LP A Farewell to Kings, which lured me into Rush fandom and held me there for over three decades. However, in the spring of 2016, he went silent, his last blog entry, on March 1, 2016, entitled BubbaGram #5. Personally, I assumed that he was enjoying retirement with his wife Carrie, and their young daughter, Olivia. We found out later that that was indeed the case, in fact, he had volunteered at her school library. But on Friday, January 10, 2020, the music world was shaken by the news of his death three days prior after a prolonged struggle with glioblastoma.
I often comment, “No one gets out of this gig alive,” which is one way I stay grounded in the reality of life. And I am never moved by the passing of celebrities; family and friends, yes, but celebrities, no. But Neil’s passing struck differently, and deep…
A few months later the world was turned upside down.
I spent considerable effort during 2020 and 2021, with almost singular focus, pushing back on the insanity, although I still managed to pen three of those four articles dedicated to Rush during 2021. But the pushback ultimately cost me my job. God bless my wife, then not even officially my fiancé, for having the love and fortitude to stand by me during that time.
The loss, however, became the final excuse for us to move to West Virginia, which is proving to be a blessing. As we made the transition, I spent the weekends driving back and forth between North Carolina and West Virginia. During many of those drives, the only thing I listened to was Rush, and more Rush, and then some more Rush.
Toward the end of 2022, Rush, now just Alex and Geddy, played two sets in September at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts. The first in London at Wembley Stadium on the 3rd, the second at the Kia Forum in LA on the 27th. Dave Grohl manned the drum kit on both dates, but Chad Smith and Danny Carey played as well in LA. Certainly, Taylor’s passing was a loss to the music world, but to be fair, because of the situation in early 2020, Neil was never honored the way Taylor was. I didn’t watch either of the tribute concerts because quite frankly I had, and to some extent still do, have an axe to grind with Dave Grohl. He did play some part in getting Rush back on the road, so I suppose I can be grateful for that.
In the last few years, I’ve listened to Rush far less frequently on my weekly jaunts back and forth to my base with Piedmont Airlines in Philadelphia. I let my ears have a guilty pleasure phase dancing down the highway to Pandora’s Disco channel, remembering songs and high school dances from the late 70s. I renewed my appreciation for Journey, especially during Steve Perry’s tenure. I dove into Bad Company, Enigma, and New Wave/Synth, thanks to a watching of Atomic Blonde, which with its 80s mix brought back floods of memories. Sometimes I just put the iPhone on shuffle and let it bounce around the six dozen or so artists I have on there, which of course includes all of Rush’s catalog. I also started listing to audio books. To be honest, after writing my review of Geddy’s memoir, it felt as if a chapter had been completed.
But then came the announcement on October 6. Because of the construction that week, it took me well into the weekend to process both the fact that Alex and Geddy were going back on the road with some young German lady drummer as well as my feelings about it all. There is a significant component of grief with the last tour in 2015, Neil’s passing, Alex’s venture with Envy of None, and Geddy’s memoir. In some sense, this felt a bit like a betrayal to Neil. Had Neil still been alive, there is no doubt that this tour would not be happening. Alex and Geddy would have channeled their energies differently. But Neil isn’t with us any longer; and honestly, can one betray a dead bandmate, brother, or friend? The living must go on living, and so did Alex and Geddy.
Over the next three weeks, I read Donna Halper’s account of her introduction of her two long-time friends the eve of Sunday October 5 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I watched and listened to their full interview/announcement, several times.
I watched and listened, several times, to Dinner with Rush, segments of which are included in Beyond the Lighted Stage.
Back and forth to Philly, I listened to Rush music, again, and again, and again. And in due time, I found myself feeling happy for Alex and Geddy. Who else can say they’ve been friends, let alone best friends for damn near sixty years? Touring is what they’ve done for their entire lives, and if they can pull it together, pay tribute to Neil and the fans as they’ve stated, why not? Count me in.
Oh, but social media was going crazy, especially some folks on the Facebook group Cygnus-X1.Net. “This isn’t Rush!” “No one can replace Neil!!” “Anika who?” “Geddy’s voice is shot!!” Blah, blah, blah… I just tuned them out because there is already enough negativity in the world, so who needs any more, especially thrown on something so positive? And really, Geddy’s vocals have always drawn criticism, and been a bit of an acquired taste, but if former opera singer, vocal coach, and youtuber Elizabeth Zharoff, aka The Charismatic Voice, can give him props, then the rest can just stuff it. Geddy has been working with a vocal coach, and the days of running themselves into the ground are long past them, so I think he’ll pull it off.
Because the initial tour was just a handful or two of shows, prices immediately went thru the roof. I’ve seen the band from the nose bleed section at the back of the stadium, and from the twelfth row, center stage, which I paid $597.00 per seat over ten years ago. I was more than a little disappointed that prices for nosebleed seats were going for something close to that, and floor seats were pushing well past three times that amount. I really didn’t want to see them from the back of the stadium again. Plus, I missed the presale because of my flight schedule. Ah the aggravation! As with R40, I almost talked myself out of it.
On October 20, the band announced more dates, which included November 20, 2026 in Charlotte, which is closer by at least an hour than Cleveland. On October 22, yet more dates were added, including a second date in Charlotte. Things were looking better, but still the flight schedule kept getting in the way of snagging some decent tickets.
I got home from Philly late in the evening on Monday, October 27. Tuesday morning, I told Roxette that I wanted to check Ticketmaster just to see if any decent seats in Charlotte might be available. I was home for only the night so I opened my laptop on the kitchen table, rather than setting up with the extended monitor upstairs in my “office.” She went upstairs to tend to some chores. I had no expectations as I logged in. To my surprise and sheer delight, I was able to snag two floor seats on November 20 – 17th row (Q), center stage – for $695 a piece!!! I put them in the cart, ran upstairs to ensure that my lady was indeed on board, there’d really be no point going solo, which of course she was, ran back down and completed the purchase!!
I only bring up the ticket prices because it was, and is, something of a sore subject among many concert goers. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to afford tickets for even a single show. There are some fans who drop tens of thousands of dollars for multiple shows during each Rush tour… Honestly, the subject is one for an entirely separate article, but the short story is that the increase in prices is driven primarily by the venues and promoters, not the artists. My ticket stubs are boxed away with the LPs for the time being, but I’m pretty sure in 1982, I paid about $11 for floor seats back by Howard Ungerleider’s lighting board. I think I paid about $87 for comparable in 2011. It has only gotten worse with time.
Well, we had our tickets and decide to make a bit of a holiday out of the affair and later booked a room for the weekend at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Charlotte, which is only a ten-minute walk from the venue, the Spectrum Center. Time and schedules permitting, we’ll be able to catch up with some friends in town.
The story isn’t quite over yet, and we haven’t even gotten to the opening show, which isn’t until June 7 in LA, and by no means incidentally at the same venue, The Forum, where they wrapped up the R40 tour over ten years ago on August 1, 2015.
Last month, on February 23, the band announced that they were extending the Fifty Something Tour into 2027 and heading to the UK, Europe, and South America, bringing the total number of shows to 86 over ten and a half months. The same day, the band’s management released two interviews. The one with Absolute Radio below, with Alex and Geddy discussing the decision to go back on tour, how Anika Nilles came to be chosen as the drummer, as well as announcing the selection of keyboardist Lorne Gold to join the tour so that Geddy can focus more on vocals and bass, something they alluded to back in October. Anika also posted an interview with Slagwerkkrant that day.
And finally, as if that wasn’t enough excitement for us die hard Rush fans, this past Saturday, the band sent out a cryptic newsletter, stating only,
We want to let you in on something...
Celebrate a special moment with Geddy & Alex.
Sunday, March 29
Hamilton, ON
You need to be in your seat by 7:45 PM SHARP
A link for tickets to the Juno awards was included. The scuttlebutt immediately was that the band might play during the awards show. And it turns out, that is exactly what they did! They opened the show with Finding My Way, the first song off their 1974 self-titled debut LP.
A few hours earlier, I had checked into the Sheraton in Harrisburg, PA, where I’m sitting reserve for a few days. Roxette and I were watching, in unison, the last episode of the first season of Scarpetta, which is a very dark and twisty show by the way. I had the computer hooked up to the TV in the room, with two browser windows open. One was the live feed for the Junos. The other was Scarpetta. I also had the Juno live feed open on the phone. When the Junos finally opened, and it was obvious that Rush was going to perform, I texted her “Pause”, switched to the other browser tab, and caught the performance live!
Before posting, and commenting, the videos of the performance and the short post-performance interview, a note about Ms. Anika. For starters, she’s got some mighty big shoes to fill, which she discusses in her interview. Neil spent forty years with Rush, and the three of them were fast friends, even though he was always “the new guy.” He wrote nearly all the lyrics on every album after the 1974 debut, Rush. And he became arguably the best rock drummer on the planet while he was at his craft. The comparisons are going to fly. Already in social media some are calling her a DEI hire, forgetting the amazing drummers that Karen Carpenter, Shelia E., and many others were. Anika is an accomplished drummer in her own right, has her own band, Nevell, and teaches drumming; but other than watching a snippet or two of her work, and reading her interview, I don’t know much about her. What I do know is that it takes an awful lot of gumption to step up and even attempt to play with respect Neil’s parts with the two remaining members of Rush. Obviously, she had to have the technical skills and the fact that she came recommended by someone in band’s inner circle was no doubt a bonus for them to even consider her in the first place. The chemistry above all else had to be right for Alex and Geddy to ask her to tour with them, which as they discuss in the interview above was not a forgone conclusion. If they didn’t have the confidence in her, they wouldn’t have asked her to do so. But they did, and now her life has been forever changed, and only for the better. And to all the naysayers, well you’re entitled to you opinion.
I intentionally wanted to be surprised come November, but that will be next to impossible come June 7 as everyone will be posting reviews and making comparisons. I’ll be watching Rush Is A Band like a hawk for Rush news just as I used to “back in the day” for the better part of a decade before the last R40 show. And sidebar, props to Ed Stenger who runs that site, which I’ve been reading damn near since its inception in 2005!
As I watched the show last night, and again several times today, besides how good they sounded, the usual high production value, and the videos of the band thru the years, especially of Neil, flashing behind them, the thing that stuck out for me was how happy everyone was! Admittedly, there wasn’t much keyboard work to be done on this song, so Lorne wasn’t quite as engaged musically, but he was there emotionally and having a great time. Alex and Ged were back in their groove. Again, fuss about his vocals but I thought he pulled off a song originally recorded when he was 21 with grace and class. And then there was Anika; she brought it, as expected, and seemed as if she was having the time of her life. I also think, after listening to both the original cut with John Rutsey and a live cut from the 1974 (ABC) with Neil, that she added quite a bit more cowbell than either of them! Her youth and energy give these two walking legends a kick in the butt, and it shows! Sadly, there were none of Alex's much anticipated dance moves on display. Nonetheless, I must admit to getting a bit welled up watching it all unfold!
They were tight already after rehearsing for only six to eight weeks, although Geddy says it’s been on and off for the better part of a year. I texted Roxette afterwards that I was a bit happy our tickets were a later in the tour as they were only going to get better with each performance.
The tour is going to be awesome, a night of joy for those of us lucky enough to see it live. For those who can’t make it there will no doubt be a Blu-ray release to memorialize it, which hopefully will bring a semblance of the same amount of joy. In this crazy ass clown-world we live in these days, joy is in a bit of short supply, so kudos to Alex and Geddy for having the gumption to take it on the road again. I must agree with Geddy, Neil is probably saying to St Peter, "Those two are nuts!" But he’s also more than likely smiling down on them in approval, even if it is might be with a hint of a smirk.
Well, there you go folks, the Rush tour machine is revving up and getting ready to hit the road. If you've missed seeing them live in the past, here's your chance. No, its not going to be the same without Neil. But all four of these artists take their craft seriously, especially Alex and Geddy, so I've no doubt that they will bring it each and every night throughout the tour. That's just what they do.
Namaste folks,
Thanks for reading, and if you need some joy in your life, go listen to some Rush music!
🥃🥃
Mark
March 30, 2026
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