2026-10-10 Rush at Climate Pledge Arena

That was awesome.

I drove an hour out to Cass' house to grab him, then we headed into Queen Anne to find parking and get dinner. Obviously, I've been watching YouTube vids from all the previous shows. I was pretty knowledgeable about the setlist but didn't watch the shows in Denver earlier this week. I made a playlist for Cass and got on with my week.

Our seats were on Alex's side maybe not quite 1/4th of the way back and about 10 rows up from the floor. We weren't super close, but definitely not too far away. We got seated and waited for the show to start. Mike Musburger saw Cass and I and came to say hi for a few minutes. With all his drum history, this was his first time ever seeing Rush, so he was pretty excited.

They hit the lights around 7:45 and I got to watch the intro video that I hadn't spoiled for myself. After that, it was Xanadu and the show was on. Double-neck guitars out, arena sounding loud and bassy, Anika on fire and hit all the fills. Alex and Geddy sounding great as well. Really promising start!

The crowd was interesting. Floor was mostly standing and then in our area, Cass and I stood for most of the show. Luckily we were on the aisle, so there was no one directly behind us, and those that we might have blocked (as well as us) had to turn to the left to see the stage. From that vantage point, though I could see everything, I could barely see Anika's face. I've been enjoying watching her expressions during the videos, but the big screens above were great substitutes. I tried to get a few pix of her zoomed in, but they were meh.

That cymbal was my enemy

Xanadu finished, Geddy spoke, then it was Sprit of Radio. I know on other stops, they'd done either all of Moving Pictures or all of 2112 suite. I didn't know what they would do for night one, but I was ready for the ride. I think I shot some video of SoR, can't remember. But I liked what I heard. Next up was The Analog Kid, which simply ripped. I was playing air drums and missing hits, but man, it was so cool! After that it was Freewill, and I definitely recorded the solo section. I should watch it back sometime! They did Subdivisions after that and it was a strong start to the night.

Here's a clip I shot of The Spirit of Radio.

I had brought a tissue in case I shed some tears. Maybe it's because I've seen so many of the songs already; I had gotten a bit choked up at times over the last few months watching the many videos. We both sat down during the Neil tribute to hear what he had to say. Then they hit us with Bravado, which was nice, if a little low on energy.

Speaking of crowd energy, most people in our area stayed seated. The woman directly next to me was on her phone most of the night, but I think she was there with her young adult son, who may have had sensory issues of some sort; he had headphones on the whole time and was also on his phone throughout the show. As soon as the last song ended, and before the encore, they were up and leaving their seats. But I digress. The crowd was appreciative, but seemed to be pretty chill, despite it being late on a Saturday night.

Loren Gold on keys started the next song. I know he'd been starting The Camera Eye, but I didn't think they'd play that unless they played Moving Pictures, so I was stumped for a minute. After a few more seconds, it was La Villa Strangiato that showed itself. Pretty freakin awesome and I just loved it.

Caravan, The Trees and Limelight closed out the first set. Caravan was fine; not my favorite tune by any means and I wish they had played Headlong Flight instead. The Trees was great. Alex on acoustic guitar was cool at the intro. I do wish Anika did my favorite drum fill coming out of the instrumental break before the last verse. And then, my favorite Rush song, Limelight. What can I say? Alex nailed the solo, Geddy did his alternate vocal melodies and crazy bass playing. And Anika was awesome. She's made it her own and I had to accept her accenting differently on the bass drum and also not playing my favorite drum fill going into the second chorus. But what a great first set! The fact that they played Limelight told me they weren't doing MP coming out of the intermission, so I knew it was going to be 2112.

The intermission was about 25 minutes. I got a bathroom break in before the line got too long and Cass and I just chopped it up for a bit. He was enjoying Anika's playing and just the entire experience. The lighting and visuals were all great, but I would've been happy with the giant video screen split into thirds, with a single shot of Alex, Geddy and Anika individually.

Breaktime ended with the countdown timer counting to zero, and then counting up to 2112. From there, it was about 20 minutes of all of it and it was glorious.

Someone at the show shot the whole thing. Here's the link.

From the end of 2112, there was no break. Anika started with the drums for Animate, and off they went. Geddy played a P bass and it was fine. Cool visuals, for sure.

Tried to get "ANIMATE" but got "ELEVATE" instead

Next up, I wasn't sure what song was coming next but Geddy busted out the teardrop bass. It's blue, it's ugly, and evidently it used to be a Fender P. It does have a bridge pickup, though, so who knows? And then I saw Alex on the acoustic and still couldn't figure it out. Geddy mentioned going back to 1977, which I thought was Hemispheres, but it was A Farewell to Kings, with Closer to the Heart. It was fine, I would've preferred nearly anything else, but it was fine.

They went back to 2112 again for the next song, A Passage to Bangkok. I was interested in listening to this because a reporter asked Anika about this song and she said the solo section was easy because she could chill and play a 4/4 beat. The boys, Geddy especially, does a shifting pattern that syncs with her but is different on every go-around. Sure enough, her part was pretty easy, it was cool to hear.

From this point, there were 6 more songs, 5 of which I love, one of which I don't. Here's a rapid-fire recap:

• Time Stand Still: Aimee Mann on recorded backing vocals. Song sounded great, is one of my favorites.
• YYZ: Big pop from the crowd when Anika started the morse code. The bass and drum battle in the middle was fun. The bass pads in the bridge seemed SUPER loud.
• Anthem: spoken intro by Geddy, talking about meeting Neil for the first time and this song was one of the first they wrote together. Really beefy in drop-D.
• Red Barchetta: another incredible song. Alex nailed the solo and all the rest. Geddy doing the super annoying outro solo super busy, but it is what it is now.
• The Garden: I don't get the love other people have for this song. It's merely OK. I find it odd that some fans find Clockwork Angels as one of their best records. To each their own, I guess.
• Tom Sawyer: of course, heard it a million times, but that didn't make the drum section any less awesome. Alex played the riff a little too long into the beginning of Anika's drum break, but he figured it out for the second run.

And that was that. The people next to me left, like I said. I had some more pictures before that, so here are some more.

Alex's shirt read "WE ARE IN ANIKA'S BAND"

The guys took a quick break and then came back out for an encore. I was hoping for Bytor and the Snow Dog but we got Finding My Way, which sounded pretty great. Working Man right after that and then Anika's bit at the end was to be filing her nails while the guys waited for a sec.

So happy to have gotten tickets last year and so glad that Cass' friend was willing to give up his seats for the show (he's a Kraken season ticket holder). I am thinking of going to show 2, if the ticket prices come down day of (tomorrow morning).

After the show, I stopped at the merch booth and grabbed a shirt and a hat for a cool $116. What a racket! But man, I knew if I didn't I'd be bummed.

That's enough recap for now. I may give it some more thoughts and words in the next few days.

Thoughts about Rush and the new tour!

Posted to Reddit today:

Hey, this is a great post. I am 54, and a Rush fan since 1987, sophomore year in high school. I recall an older kid in the hood, probably in the Moving Pictures time frame, calling radio stations and requesting Tom Sawyer and Queen's Another One Bites the Dust, so that's my first Rush memory. But I had started playing bass guitar in 1985 or so and in high school, I started listening to Rush.

My first Rush tape was Hold Your Fire, and after that, I just deep dove on whatever I could get. Back then, no internet, so finding any non-official recordings was wild. Any concert footage was whatever I could find on VHS, and, at that time, it was Exit Stage Left. I had that on cassette tape as well and I'd spend hours in my room with my Steinberger knock-off Hohner bass hitting Play, Stop, Rewind and then Play again, trying to figure out riffs to YYZ, or The Spirit of Radio, or the Trees, or La Villa Strangiato.

I could never do what Geddy does, I learned so much. I learned how a bassist and drummer need to sync. I learned that bass is not just all root notes. I learned what it felt like to be quirky without knowing it. Rush was all those things to me.

When I picked up some bootleg CDs in Victoria, Canada, while on a high-school band field trip, I was like, "wait, they make mistakes in concert? NEIL makes mistakes?" I was floored. I thought "professional" bands didn't make mistakes. Ah, youth!

My first concert was Presto, in Seattle. A few years later, it was Roll the Bones, when me and a friend, all of 16 or 17 at the time, drove from Seattle to Vancouver, BC, as Seattle wasn't announced yet... and then, of course, it was. Over the years, I saw them at the Gorge for Test for Echo, and then twice at the White River Amphitheater, once for R30 and then for Snakes and Arrows.

Over the years, my tastes changed. I discovered other music and artists, bands like Fountains of Wayne, Muse, the Hold Steady, while still doing deep dives on stuff Rush would release. I didn't see them live anymore and come 2020, though I had moved on from obsessing about Rush, I was still shocked and so saddened by Neil's passing.

A few years after that, maybe still during COVID lockdown, I had turned on one of the official concert videos and found myself getting totally choked up. I was super surprised and didn't know what to make of it.

Fast forward to the past few Rush performances without Neil over the years. The one with Dave Grohl playing 2112. The one at Taylor Hawkins' memorial. Decent, but simply Rush without Neil and a reasonable substitute.

Then last year they announced Anika. And a tour? I didn't know what to think, but my buddy bought a ticket for Seattle and so did I. It went on the backburner for a few months until somewhere I heard they were playing for the first time at the Juno awards in Canada. All of a sudden it was like I was in high school again. No announcement, no leaked videos, simply hearing somewhere that it would be on YouTube soon.

And then that night, I watched them play Finding My Way and I was amazed. Not only was I choked up all over again, but it was Rush. It wasn't Rush with a special guest or anything like that. It was Rush with their new drummer and my god, she was great.

That stoked a huge interest in me, but after watching it a couple dozen more times, I was done for the moment. Until last week. I knew Rush was kicking off at the Forum. Didn't see any sound check videos or anything and like some sort of dork, I said, "no spoilers for me, let's hold off," but that lasted all of until the first videos started to show up on YouTube.

Like the rest of you, I watched TapeHeadToo's viral post of the Anika Cam video. I caught the Xanadu stick drop and was like, "did I see what i just saw?" Had to rewind and yup, it was, and she handled it like the pro she is.

More and more songs went and each time, I was grinning ear to ear. Did I miss Neil's signature ride pattern in Subdivisions or Sprit of Radio? Absolutely. Did she play some fills differently? Was it purposeful or did she do it wrong? I'd say all purposeful; she's too good to do it "wrong."

Throughout some other videos, I'd get caught in my nitpicking of Alex missing notes and/or whole parts (end of Anthem one night, he forgot the hits at the end, leaving only drum hits), and Geddy's overplaying nearly on every song (end of Red Barchetta anyone?). And don't get me started on the flamenco strumming he does (hate it).

But then the camera would come back to Anika and I AM HERE FOR IT. I love Neil, but as good as he was, I am now realizing that to him, Rush was so demanding, that it seemed to suck any joy he got out of it. Maybe it was the rigors of touring, his health, being away from family, etc, but he looked to be on autopilot.

Seeing Anika smile after hitting the Tom Sawyer fills, or her incredibly cool charisma when blasting through the 2112 finale, or the Bytor battle fills before the breakdown? Worth the price of admission. And as the OP says, the "older brother" energy from the boys to her during the songs is so damn endearing!

I have noticed that Geddy is all about checking in on her, watching her/ giving her cues, while Alex is almost always with his back to her, really clocking his guitar neck. Watch as they hit the first unison run in YYZ. It's never tight and almost always a minor train wreck (IMO), but Geddy and Anika are at least close; Alex, well, see for yourself. I don't think he's ignoring her, he's just hyperfocused on his own parts.

But despite all the nitpicking, they are enjoying themselves so much and I am loving seeing their reactions, interplay and hearing the songs I grew up on. I am grateful for all the attendees recording their videos and posting for us to see.

My nerdier side wants to see only Anika drum vids. The power and precision she gives is intoxicating. I've seen Alex and Geddy do their thing long enough. I want to consume all of the drum videos I can, and I'm not even a drummer! I'm watching other YT creators dissecting her playing and it is so cool to see.

I did enjoy the renaissance Rush had in the 2010s with their pop culture relevancy and was always a bit bummed it was during what I found to be their most meh recordings. However, one side of me also loved that they never found super mainstream popularity, that they were our little secret.

These days, with Anika uniting our country (/s), let their popularity grow. Let them bring organic, instrument-driven rock back to the masses. Let them show that a couple senior citizens can still play circles around most bands around. Let them get their flowers and everything that's coming. I am here for it all and I am so proud to be a life-long Rush fan.

Sorry for hijacking, but I loved the OP's post and I've been thinking about this all week.

Anika Nilles and RUSH

Totally surprised when Rush announced Anika Niles as their drummer and that they'd be touring. Cass and I bought tickets in October last year for October this year and their tour started last night in Los Angeles. I was going to avoid spoilers, but fuck that.

I watched a lot of videos. I'm so proud of Rush for picking Anika, despite knowing nothing about her. She's done her time in jazz improv bands, she toured with Jeff Beck's band and now she's the drummer in my favorite band.

I saw her perform with the boys a few months ago at the Junos and I got all choked up. I couldn't talk to Marci without getting wobbly in the voice. It was pretty cool!

Then last night happened and I watched more and more videos. The band itself is good enough. It's the first show in forever and there were nerves, etc. Geddy sounds good enough, Alex is messing up some solos and parts here and there, but for a couple of 70+ year olds, can't complain too much.

And then there's Anika. She is powerful, solid, aggressive and god damn if she isn't an incredible drummer. She is hitting all the songs, but she's not doing everything Neil did. Biggest thing isn't doing Neil's ride cymbal part in the songs that have it. Like in Subdivisions, or Red Barchetta, it wasn't there. Some fills are different for sure, and it seems the boys have told her to make the songs her own.

Some dude at the show recorded the whole show focused on Anika and it's pretty incredible. Long blonde ponytail, just great. Her face is hidden behind cymbals, but when you can see it, she's smiling a lot and it's just a beautiful thing to see all the way around.

Looking forward to this for sure, all the musicians are coming out and praising her and October's show is gonna be off the hook.

Someone said something like, "All Hail the King, Long Live the Queen." Pretty appropriate.