Rush return to the road in June, with the tour opening on 7 June 2026 in Los Angeles. For a band whose fanbase has followed them through five decades of musical evolution, the announcement sparked something profound. MetalTalk’s Paul Hutchings spoke to fans, tribute artists, event organisers and our own writers to capture what this moment means to those who have lived and breathed Rush for a lifetime. This is their story.
Few will have more insight into the world of Rush than Steve Brown. A superb guitarist in one of the premier Rush tribute bands, Moving Pictures, he is also the main man behind RUSHfest Scotland, the annual convention which has raised thousands for charity as well as creating a welcoming environment for Rush fans from across the globe on an annual basis.
But did Steve have any inkling about the announcement that Rush would be returning? He has a lot to share with us.
“Our drummer, Jamie from St Andrews, had her finger on the pulse with Reddit. She heard rumblings the week before the announcement.”
“We were gigging a lot down South, so that particular week I had booked myself into a hotel in Kendal for three days. Over the weekend beforehand, Jamie had said, ‘Look, there’s something on Reddit. I think an announcement’s coming.’ I was like, okay, and then it was that Monday afternoon, 6th October, and the bomb dropped. It just fried my mind completely.
“I was planning to do my VAT returns and shit like that. I was just going to get bogged down in a hotel life in Kendal. That was my Monday. So, I didn’t have any insider knowledge as such.”
Steve tells me about how he has developed a friendship with Neil Peart’s sisters and got to know Neil’s mum before she passed away at Christmas, through their VIP appearances at RUSHfest Scotland.
“When Nancy and Judy came over, we did the Macallan Distillery Tour, along with Rush’s art director, Hugh Syme, and we had a great time. Friendships were formed, and MOVING PICTURES were asked to play for one of Nancy’s charity events at Lakeside Park at the Neil Peart Pavilion.
A pinch me moment indeed, playing Rush music in front of Neil’s family and a couple of hundred fans in Lakeside Park.
“My initial thoughts when I saw the announcement about them coming together with Anika, it just fried my brain. I didn’t want to bug Nancy or Judy on it. I knew their phones would be exploding that day. I didn’t know if they knew. I wasn’t going to ask.
“But later on, that day, Nancy put up a public post herself to say, right, just to publicly make it aware today that no, we didn’t know and we’re happy for everybody involved. We give them our blessings.
“Once I knew that, I accepted it more myself because my head was in turmoil with the Neil situation. It’s Rush mark three, basically, and it’s going to be enjoyable. I have bought tickets. Personally, I think the whole ticket pricing is disgusting.”
It is certainly the hot topic when it comes to this tour, and of course, there was the initial panic of the tickets in the US and Canada, where prices were set high and got more expensive once the resellers got their mitts on them.
Whilst Steve is a massive fan and has connections to the band through various sources, as you would expect, he is not impressed with the whole cost of the tickets. “Most fans would have been disgusted at the ticket prices and just the way things were released. I eventually buckled, and I’ve got tickets for the last New York show just because I’ve never been to Madison Square Garden.
“So I’m up for that and the first Toronto show, which is four days later. So, my wife and I will go, we’ll have a nice wee holiday, we’ll do New York, we’ll do Toronto. Nancy’s having her golf tournament that same weekend.
“I’m doing a RUSHfest Canada event on the 6 November in Toronto. So, another little sort of charity night with tribute bands and that sort of thing before the first Toronto show on the 7 August.”
As many of us expected, the UK and European dates came sometime later. “There were rumours abounding,” Steve says, “and we didn’t really know. But we did anticipate that they were going to bring the tour to the UK and Europe, as they did well in years gone by.”
Evidently, like me, Steve buckled, and we spent time discussing the UK shows that we’ve now got tickets for as well. And those prices again. “The prices are again through the roof,” Steve agrees. “£2,000 for front row with a meet and greet.
“I was lucky enough to get a meet and greet on the R40 tour. It was a holiday for myself and my wife. We went to Houston first, then New Orleans. Just as they did back in the day, you would just put your name into the hat on the Rush fan club, Rush Backstage or rush.com. You would pick the date that you’re going to.
“You need to buy your own tickets for the show, but you put your name into the hat for meet and greets, which were free. So, I was lucky. My name was pulled out of the hat to meet them in New Orleans on that tour.
“So, I’ve had my meet and greet, I’ve managed to shake their hands, thank them very much and get a couple of photos. Happy days. They are now charging £2,500 for that, which I think is disgusting. People are saying, oh, it’s the little way bands can make money these days.
“Just to sum it up, I’m still a huge fan. I respect what they’re doing. I’m looking forward to it. I had never heard of Anika before, but our drummer Jamie had. Once you look more into it, this is going to be really interesting because she’s bringing something new to the table. I think it’s going to be an excellent show.”
As our conversation continues, we reflect on the fact that a front row ticket for £450 is now seen as a bargain. “I’ve seen Rush 15 times,” Steve tells me. “My first time was the 1982 Signals Tour. I saw all the UK tours then. I was only going to one for each tour when they played Glasgow, but from Time Machine and Clockwork Angels, I went to two or three around the UK, and that’s when I started going abroad to see them as well.
“I saw them in Boston, saw them in Canada a couple of times. I went across to see them in Amsterdam, but 15 is quite a low number when you speak to some of the fans.
“I was looking at Poland because I thought, half of the fun is the show, the other half is the social aspect. You meet like-minded friends and family, extended families basically. So that side of it is coming back again, which I’m really looking forward to.”
And for Rush fans, that opportunity to meet up and chat genuinely is part of the overall enjoyment.
Dates in Glasgow are ideal for Steve. The tour will take in two dates at The Hydro, which Steve tells me he was hoping would have hosted the R40 tour. “It is a purpose-built music venue, 12,000 capacity. The sound, it’s still pretty crap, but it’s not as bad as the old SECC, which was a big rectangular hangar.”
“So, I am looking forward to seeing them in a half-decent venue in Glasgow. I’m now looking to do RUSHfest Scotland, maybe on the Tuesday in between. That will be a RUSHfest Scotland event for next year, just tie it into there. I’m looking at the logistics.”
My last Rush show was in 2013 on the Clockwork Angels tour in Birmingham. I share the memories that I assumed for R40 that the tour would come to Europe and the UK. Does Steve think that a lot of fans from the UK and Europe probably bought tickets for the US tour because of that kind of fear that they would miss out again?
“For sure. I mean, I did that. I’m now thinking about selling the US ticket, but it has nothing to do with Rush. It’s more to do with the state of America. That’s political more than a Rush thing.
“The fact that there’s a European leg to the tour, I would rather spend that money on going to more shows over here. I feel for people even in North America, who spent the first seven cities. It’s now 56 dates in North America. So I feel for people over there who have spent big bucks on one, and now, they’re doing 50 shows.
“Everybody’s been stung a little bit. It does leave a little bit of a sour taste in the mouth, but overall, it’s going to be great. I still love the guys, you know. It’s just the new management, Q Prime, the guys who do Metallica.
“They’re out there to make the bucks as much as they can. And people are buying it. I know a guy, I won’t name him, who, when the first leg was announced, was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to Toronto, first time there, going to see the guys in their hometown’. Within a day or so, it was like, ‘Oh, I’m not going’.
“So, when Glasgow was announced, he was like, ‘boom, I bought a £2,300 ticket, I’m going’. I think he said to his wife that would be the money he would spend to go to Toronto. People can justify that way, I suppose. But oh man, no way can I justify spending that amount of money on a ticket for anybody. The new box set has just come out, I’m loath to spend £300 quid on that.”
On the subject of money, we drift into the new boxset remaster of Grace Under Pressure and Steve’s view of it, which is mixed. “He’s [Terry Brown] dropped the keyboards a bit. He’s brought the guitar up. I found the bottom end/bass frequencies overpowering. You’ve probably read a lot of the reviews yourself online, and they are a mixed bag.
“Some people hate it, some people love it. I’m glad he did it. It’s great. It’s great to have that alternate mix, and it is definitely an alternate mix. But I’m not in the camp to say it’s better. I’m just saying it’s different.”
Both Steve and I have our Rush origins in the 1980s, and we spend some delightful minutes discussing the synth era of the band. “When [GUP] first came out, I was like, oh, they’re going synth heavy. I mean, that was a big thing at the time and I was in that camp. That’s when I first discovered them, on the Signals tour. I was like, where are the guitars going? Oh, Jesus Christ, that’s why Terry’s not with them anymore. Bring back Terry, bring back the guitars. That’s what he’s done, which is great.
“There’s no denying that, but to me, it’s at the detriment of the overall, because the keyboards were very prominent and you’re losing some of that detail. The intro to Distant Early Warning is shorter. The outro to After Image is longer. They now have definite endings. They’re going longer. They’re not fade outs. So that’s interesting that he’s done that. But I’ll wait until I get it in a sale at some point.”
As we head back to the present, I wonder if Steve has concerns about the forthcoming tour. We touch on Geddy’s voice, which was at its limit for many fans on the R40 run. “I remember at the time, not even being concerned about it. I thought, that’s it. That’s the way they sounded.
“But it’s in hindsight now when people have pointed out, and I go back and listen to those live albums again, or the DVDs, which I’ve watched millions of times, not being concerned about the vocal at all.
“If you home in and get his voice, you go, Oh, Christ, he’s sounded a lot better. So, if it comes out the same this time round, that does not concern me. I believe he’s going for coaching. I mean, he really knows how to take care of his throat. That’s why they have a day off in between every show, because they have a day to recover.
“It’s still a huge ordeal, you know, however many gigs they’re doing, even though they have time off in between each. It’s a massive ordeal for guys their age and all the rest of it. But I think they’re both in really good shape.
“I’m sure they’ll pick the sets accordingly. I know we do for our own shows. We’ve got to watch where we put certain songs in the night and make sure Eóin is warmed up before we get the real high ones in there. Throw in an instrumental to give his voice a breather. They would have thought all that through for sure.”
One thing is for sure. We will not be getting the full three-hour marathons we used to expect from Rush. The band have said they will rotate the set list, which, as Steve points out, means you may have to attend multiple shows to see it all.
“I saw an interview, as you probably did as well, they’re purposely not giving away anything because they know within their first week of the gigs, which is only in a couple months’ time, 7 June is the first one, it’ll be all over the internet. The sets will be out. Once they have done the fifth set, it’s all out.
“Then I suppose it’s potluck, whatever night you’re going to get, what set you’re going to get, unless they do a set five rotation, and then you can work out, oh, I’m going to get set C. I don’t know. But I like that because a lot of us do go to multiple shows.
“I’m looking forward to that, see what they do, and they say they’re going to be doing a proper tribute to Neil section. Not to blow our own trumpet, but we’ve been keeping the fire going as Moving Pictures. We don’t do it all the time. But it was just before Neil passed, a keyboard-playing friend of ours who played keyboards in another Rush tribute band here in Scotland, had passed suddenly in November 2019.
“Lovely guy called John Eadie. It was around that time that I had the idea of taking the song Afterimage, and, because of the nature of its lyrics, making it more of a ballad. I had the idea of making it more like an acoustic guitar thing. But I said it to our own Geddy, and he went away and came up with a beautiful piano arrangement.”
It is a beautiful version, available on streaming and on the first Songs For Neil CD, one of six which Steve has curated as part of RUSHfest and their charity fundraising.
“Tell your folks about RUSHfest Scotland,” Steve says. “2020, holy shit. Not just because of COVID lockdown, but with the passing of Neil, which nobody knew. It was such a shock. But let’s say in November, just two months before that, with the passing of John Eadie, I don’t know if it was John’s passing that inspired me.
“It was around that time anyway, and we put this version of Afterimage together. It’s one of the few tracks from Songs For Neil that you can find on Spotify. You can find them on Bandcamp. You can stream all the albums from there, and you can buy, download, buy vinyl and artwork by Hugh Syme.
“For big shows, we have a screen. We played Newcastle City Hall last year, and we’re playing another pinch me moment, the Barrowlands in Glasgow on 16 May as part of RUSHfest Scotland weekend. All profits from that weekend go to charity.
“We do have an in-memoriam video that we play that is basically a slideshow of people important in Rush’s lives, but also in personal, your friends and family, that we three band members and within the Rush fan community, we know about.”
“In fact, there’s a video of us playing that at Newcastle City Hall. I knew what was coming. Every minute or so, it would change to another image of a person who’s passed away with the dates. Newcastle was applauding every image that came up, and I know they didn’t know half of them.
“Then we’ve timed it. It’s near the end of the song. That’s when Neil came up, and his brother and all that, and the place just erupted. That song got a standing ovation before it was finished.
“We didn’t know Neil personally, but he affected us so much. It inspired us to do that version of the song, which Alex has heard, and he wrote us a lovely e-mail to say heartfelt thanks to the band for doing that.
“I’m hoping, or I’m sure, they’ll do something similar. I don’t know how they’re going to do it, but it’s going to be emotional. These shows can be emotional on so many levels. We played in Hull on Friday, and we play Losing It as part of our show. There was a lady with the tissues out in tears. I might have stopped the show. She’s inconsolable, but that’s near the end of the first set.
“Before we went back on for the second set, I went over to say, are you okay with that? And she says, ‘It’s just that song.’ So, Rush fans are so close to this music and these songs, and that’s why we do it.”
Discuss setlists with any Rush fan, and there will always be favourites and deep cuts that we want to hear. We dive into our own wish lists. What does Steve want to hear?
“I think Afterimage. I don’t know if they’ll put that in the set because it is so close to the bone. I made the mistake of turning around and looking at the screen at that Newcastle show, and I lost it. I lost it myself for two minutes. They will be doing a memorial to Neil at some point. They’ll have to be so hard by the time they take it on tour. Otherwise, they’ll be in a mess on stage.
“Personally, I think maybe La Villa [Strangiato] is always a favourite. It’s one of the most challenging. We do a pretty good job of it, I think it’s fair to say. We’re nowhere near the guys themselves, but I know it’s one of Jamie’s favourites, and she also says it’s one of the most technically difficult to pull off.
“So, I think personally, yeah, I hope La Villa’s in there somewhere just to see the masters at work. Then maybe Xanadu, because I think over the years I’ve come to see Xanadu as possibly the epitome of Rush. The double necks, back in the old Dungeons And Dragons days.
“Farewell to Kings is my favourite album. So, yeah, Farewell To Kings, if they can put that in.”
RUSHfest Scotland will be held over the weekend of 16-17 May 2026. Few tickets remain. Visit rushfestscotland.co.uk for more details.
Rush’s tour opens on 7 June in Los Angeles, where Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will be joined by Anika Nilles on drums and Loren Gold on keyboards. Further articles in this series, including interviews with Rushfest Scotland, tribute band Rushed, and the Something for Nothing Rush Fancast, will follow in the coming month.
To read our Rush At 50 series, click here.
For UK ticket sale information, visit: https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/rush.
