Rush’s Geddy Lee has confirmed the band will draw from a pool of 38 songs for the Fifty Something tour, with each night’s setlist varying across the band’s multiple-date stands in cities across North America and beyond.
In a new interview with YouTube personality Rick Beato, Lee revealed the band started with an initial list of 45 songs before narrowing the selection. “Our initial list was 45 songs,” Lee said. “Then you start working through them and still do justice to and which ones are too much of a pain to relearn and which ones you really love.”
The challenge of preparing the material proved substantial, particularly because new drummer Anika Nilles—who replaced the late Neil Peart—had to learn the entire catalog from scratch. Lee elaborated on the difference between rehearsing for a new album versus reviving decades of material: “When we would prepare for a tour with Neil, we’re working really on new material that we just recorded, because the old stuff we knew. For this tour, we’re starting from scratch and we’re really teaching an incredibly talented, exciting drummer that comes from a very different school of music how to understand 40 songs from this weird, idiosyncratic band.”
Guitarist Alex Lifeson added that the band benefited from four months of preparation time, allowing them to work through the material before full production rehearsals. The Fifty Something tour kicked off on June 7, 2026, at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, and continues through 2027 with dates across North America, South America, the UK, and Europe.
Sources
- Consequence of Sound — Geddy Lee interview details on 38-song setlist pool and preparation process
- Wikipedia — Fifty Something Tour dates and launch information
