Rush

Canadian band Rush began playing hard rock in Toronto bars in 1968. After financing a debut 1974 LP themselves, Neil Peart (an ingenious lyricist) replaced the band’s original drummer, John Rutsey.

The privately produced LP caught the attention of Mercury Records, which released their album and set up a national tour.

Despite criticism that the heavy metal ‘swords and sorcery’ trio relied too much on inspiration from J R R Tolkien (who wrote The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings) and right-wing authoress Ayn Rand, a succession of million-selling LP’s followed.

The ambitious album 2112 (1976) was a milestone in Rush’s career. With this dystopian sci-fi concept suite, the band decided to go ahead with their own thing, no matter what. The album was well-received by fans at the time, though critics dismissed it as overblown and pretentious.

They followed this with sprawling, technical albums like A Farewell to Kings (1977) and Hemispheres (1978).

In 1981, few Heavy Metal bands were outwardly into Talking Heads and New Wave. Rush were. By their eighth album, Moving Pictures (1981), the 20-minute songs and onstage robes were gone, and in came skinny ties and sleek, emotive hard rock.

It’s the definitive Rush album: – Red Barchetta is exhilarating, YYZ an instrumental tour-de-force, and FM radio staple Tom Sawyer (the best track on the album) is beloved of one Dave Grohl.

Towards the end of the 80s, the band began leaning into a modern pop-rock aesthetic, heavily incorporating synthesizers and electronic percussion, and producing albums like Signals (1982) and Power Windows (1985).

They eventually stripped back the keyboards again – on albums like Counterparts (1993) – and their final studio album, Clockwork Angels (2012), returned to a raw, heavy power-trio sound.

In 2013, Rush were formally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

After their 40th-anniversary tour (R40) in 2015, the band quietly retired from large-scale touring because of Neil Peart’s chronic physical pain. Tragically, Peart (pictured at right) passed away in January 2020 from glioblastoma (brain cancer).

Surviving members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson shocked the music world in October 2025 by announcing that Rush would officially reunite for their first tour in a decade. Teaming up with select guest musicians to honour Peart’s legacy, the duo returned to the road to perform their catalogue for a new generation.

Geddy Lee
Bass, keyboards, vocals
Alex Lifeson
Guitar, vocals
Neil Peart
Drums
John Rutsey 
Drums