Kia Forum – June 7, 2026
I have been waiting a long time for this show. Well, since October 10th of last year. Actually, longer than that. I had seen that Rush had found a drummer they were happy with and were going on tour and knew I wanted to go. I paid a lot of money (for me – by now you know I love a bargain) for presale tickets but managed to get the first row at my price point of about $200 – which was several rows up the second tier. I missed the aisle by seconds as someone grabbed them while I was hovering. Can I just say some things are worth the money? When I told my husband how much the tickets were he nearly had a heart attack and told me he saw Rush from row 7 for $100. I asked him when that was and he said, “Uh, 1986?” So when you consider inflation, these tickets were a bargain.
This was the first date of the tour, so I was unable to check a setlist to see what was in store. I googled to try to find out who the opener was and it looked like Rush was playing, taking an intermission, and then playing again. My cousin joined me and I asked her to get to my house a bit early so we wouldn’t miss anything. As is my custom for shows at the Forum, I took a Lyft there and walked to Vons to be picked up after. It’s just so much cheaper and easier than parking there. Our Lyft driver was a pro. He was telling us about all the drop-offs he’s done at the Forum and said he never knew where they were going to direct him to drop us off – it’s different every show. When he saw where they were directing him, he stopped and suggested we get out there so we wouldn’t have to walk as far. Yay! We arrived with enough time to use the restroom before making our way to our seats and even had a few minutes to catch up before the lights dimmed.
The energy in the Forum was amazing. There were so many long time Rush fans with all of their merch from Rush through the decades and they had all been eagerly anticipating this night. The evening started with a film “Where’s Rush”, where 3 “kids” go to a creepy Xanahaus haunted house in search of Rush. They encounter some animated crows, the kids from South Park and Jason Segel and Paul Rudd (who did a Funny Or Die sketch about meeting Rush many years ago). Being a fan, but not a superfan, I did not get many of the call back references, but in the days after the show, the algorithm kept connecting the dots for me. The screen went up at the end leaving Rush on stage and they broke into their first song, Xanadu. The drummer, Anika Nilles totally lived up to the hype. I later found out (and saw the video) that she dropped a drumstick during Xanadu, caught it on the rebound and never missed a beat. The crowd was firmly behind her. Next they played Limelight and everyone who wasn’t on their feet before was at that point. We are old though so there was plenty of sitting as well. Often we’d all get to our feet when they started a new song and then halfway through, we’d plop back down. This is the first concert I’ve been to in a very long time where there were no rude people. There were people up and dancing through the whole show, but no one really bothered anyone else. It was refreshing. It was also great to see the musicians enjoying themselves. After a little bit of nerves at the beginning, Anika found her groove and really looked like she was having fun. Alex and Geddy had a lot of playful banter. It seemed like it felt good for them to get back onstage.
This tour is a tribute to Neil Peart and there were plenty of shout outs to Neil, along with a beautiful montage. There were also fireworks, flames shooting into the air and lasers. There was a set on stage that made it look like a rooftop and a contraption that belched out steam along with the visuals on the screen. it was an EXPENSIVE show to produce.
They ended part 1 with The Spirit of Radio and then started part 2 with a countdown which once it got to zero went back up to 2112. This was of course met with a roar of applause. About halfway through the second half, Geddy Lee went off and reappeared with someone joining them on stage. I looked at her for a few moments and turned to my cousin to ask, “Is that Aimee Mann?” It was! She joined for Time Stand Still and sang her part live with the band for the first time ever. The end of the 2nd half was a South Park intro leading into Tom Sawyer. I was like, “If they ended with Tom Sawyer, what’s the encore gonna be?” They came back out to do 2 more songs and ended the night with Working Man.
This was truly one of the best shows I have seen. The musicianship was phenomenal, the songs are well crafted and the stage show just took it to the next level. And then it turned out that they played a different set each subsequent night at the Forum! I wish I could have afforded tickets for all 4 nights. As it was though, at least I can say I was there for the tour opener of the Rush Fifty Something Tour.