Rush reunion becomes a moving tribute to Neil Peart and Anika Nilles coronation at Kia Forum
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It was a celebration, a time machine and a delirious three-hour workout of air-drumming.Storming the Forum in Inglewood on Sunday, Canadian prog-rockers Rush played their first official concert since 2015, when the band ended what seemed to be its final tour, even if they couldn’t bring themselves to say so.
During its more somber moments Sunday, the show also felt like a tribute to Neil Peart, the group’s revered scholar of a drummer who died of brain cancer in 2020, a loss that made such an evening unthinkable.But maybe most of all, it was a coronation of sorts — for 43-year-old German percussionist Anika Nilles, sitting on Peart’s throne.How did she wear the crown? Confidently.
She nailed complex paradiddles and splashed nearly a dozen cymbals with abandon.Rarely did her expression stray from a furrowed brow.
(To be fair, Peart’s never did either.) This is the most fearsome repertoire in all of pop music, and Nilles supplied its heartbeat and muscle, and most of its nuance.I sincerely hope she’s having fun.The devout crowd — is there any other kind of Rush fan? — certainly was.
A dad-heavy audience accompanied by teens here and there (hopefully a few future Anikas), these longtime listeners were vocally transported throughout.That began with the shocked roar that met Rush’s first number, 1977’s “Xanadu,” a chugging slab of custom-van-tested shag splendor, akin to kicking off a trick show with the most dangerous stunt.“I’m going to start playing a song now,” guitarist Alex Lifeson said after a little banter, a mumble that became the ultimate flex when the song turned out to be “Limelight,” the strutting riff that launched a million amp-jacked hopefuls.
Only 10 minutes in and Rush could go anywhere, into nearly 50 years of material.Wisely, that path included five selections from “Moving Pictures,” the group’s totemic 1981 release, its ...