By Ralph Greco, Jr.
Yes, Anika Nilles is killing it. Yes, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee seem to be having so much fun, flashing smiles and playing expertly. The filled-out sound with keyboardist Loren Gold adds a whole other dimension to the live performance. The band is rolling through some great songs, hits, and deeper cuts, both. And full disclosure, I haven’t attended — nor will I — any of the shows.
Is this Rush?
I know we are happy to see Alex and Ged back on the boards. So many fans either wanted to hear Rush music live once again (me included) or see these classic rockers for the first time on what they are calling their Fifty Something Tour. I get the attraction. And again, Anika Nilles is aces. She seems to be having so much fun, and from what I have heard and seen online, the crowd, not to mention Geddy and Alex, are so supportive, loving her every fill and snare snap. But for a band like Rush, a three-piece all of their lives, and Neil Peart having been such an integral part of the trio, as well as such a distinctive player, maybe one of the best rock drummers ever, without his presence and feel, is the band fans are racing to see on this new tour Rush?
Even the most casual fan knows the history here. Rush was all but done as a touring band, managing one last go-round on their R40 Tour in 2015. Then when Peart passed away in 2020 (really, that was so inconvenient of him!), there was truly no hope (at least in my mind) of ever seeing Rush live again. Geddy Lee had even said when the band ended, it was only Rush with Neil Peart in it. “But…” he added, “we will be playing 40 Rush songs. So what the fuck should we call it? Iron Maiden?” So now we have this four-piece lineup on this Fifty Something Tour.
And again, I ask: Is this Rush?
Nobody can damn Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, friends since they were 13, wanting to play, and again, it seems from what I have seen and heard, they still can, pretty much. And surely people want to see them still play, if evidence of tour ticket selling is any indication. And one can argue that Anika is just a hired hand, just like so many other hired hands in multiple classic bands using their original name going out with replacement members — The Who replacing drummer Keith Moon with Kenny Jones, even making albums with him, and the Stones producing what will be two albums sans drummer Charlie Watts, plus they have toured and the rumor is they will again.
Again, it’s been done before and I get it.
I just read Phil Ehart’s autobiography (see the review here), and a great read it is. But I disagree with the great Kansas manager and drummer in his view that his band still has legitimacy, filled as it is now with substitute musicians, playing concerts as Kansas, since it is, as Ehart says, the music that most matters. I’m paraphrasing Phil Ehart slightly, but that’s mostly his point on the matter.
To me, though, it is not only what the OG’s played but how they played, their very essence, if you will, their ‘feel,’ that makes the tunes. So, while the mighty Ms. Nilles might be able to replicate a Peart drum fill here and there, and she surely rocks hard, youthful exuberance aside, she does not possess the unique stuff that made Neil Peart Neil Peart, stuff that is so evident in Rush’s recordings and live sound.
I’ll save the last word of this probably less-than-popular opinion of mine from the great rock and roll movie, 1989’s Eddie & The Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! In the film, saxophonist “Hilton Overstreet,” played by Anthony Sherwood, says to “Eddie Wilson,” played by Michael Kevin Paré, “The way a man plays — he’s born with it; like fingerprints. He can hide under another name. But he can’t disguise the way he plays.”
Just like Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Anika, you, me…and surely Neil Peart, a musician, painter, writer, what have you, can’t disguise themselves, their “fingerprints” are all over what they produce. And Neil Peart’s fingerprints, his Neil-ness, are all over Rush’s wonderful oeuvre, recorded and live. The band touring as Rush presently has Anika Nilles’ fingerprints on their live drumming and great as she is, she ain’t Neil Peart.
And I ask again: Is this Rush?
