With only 8 shows under their belt out of a planned 88, Rush's Fifty Something tour has barely gotten started, yet the band has already been forced to cancel multiple shows. After an incredible start in LA and Mexico City, the band hit its first hurdle with the truck rigs being delayed when trying to get back into the US from Mexico, forcing them to postpone last week's scheduled June 24th show to July 2nd. Things starting to look up again when the June 26th and June 28th shows went off without a hitch. Then we received word on Tuesday that Geddy had been diagnosed with laryngitis and bronchitis, forcing them to postpone the June 30th show to July 11th, and the July 2nd show (which had already been rescheduled from June 24th) to July 13th. Luckily Rush already had a 2-week break built into their tour itinerary before their planned 4-show stint in Chicago later this month, so Geddy has a full 2 weeks to recover between performances. Geddy's illness has understandably caused great concern among fans, with many wondering what this might mean for future shows if it becomes a recurring issue. That said, there's no indication that this is anything more than what it seems; a minor illness that Ged has dealt with before and that should not be a problem long term, especially given that he has 2 weeks to recover. The ultimate test will be when July 11th comes around; if that show goes off without a hitch, then fans should be able to let out a sigh of relief. If not, then we'll jump off that bridge when we come to it.

As mentioned above, the first 2 Fort Worth shows took place without issues, and saw the band perform the exact same sets that they performed on nights 1 and 2 in LA. Assuming all is well with Geddy by July 11th, the 3rd Fort Worth show should then mirror LA night #3, which saw the band perform the entire Moving Pictures album. The Texas shows were also the debut of Rush's standard tourbook - identical to the exclusive LA tourbooks except for the photos, which include shots from the LA shows as opposed to just rehearsal photos. There was some some great exclusive merch for Fort Worth as well, including some LE litographs, t-shirts and jewelry as seen in this Instagram post. One memorable moment from the 2nd show occurred right at the end as the band gathered front of stage to take a bow. Someone threw a cowboy hat up on stage and Alex put it on, as seen in this photo.

Outside of the music itself, one of the highlights of any Rush tour in recent years has been the hilarious backdrop videos. From the Tom Sawyer South Park Lil' Rush video (resurrected for this tour as well), Roll the Bones celebrity rap video, Harry Satchel, RASH, and countless others, Rush's tour videos are always fun and entertaining. Rush's Fifty Something tour features a new opening video titled Xanadudes which follows 3 characters who visit a haunted mansion in search of Rush, with all sorts of Rush Easter eggs scattered throughout. The 3 characters all seem to be representations of Geddy, Alex and Anika and are played by Canadian actors David Spence ("Geddy"), Kate Hargrave Murray ("Anika") and Taylor S. Gokyilmaz ("Alex"). The 3 were recently interviewed for MetalTalk.net, where they describe how they got the gig, the secrecy behind it, and how they are handling the newfound fame. From the interview:

... David had only recently started acting when the audition came through. "I started with Strutt Central, and I had auditioned for this role. It was called Project X. It was a very secretive role. My agency told me they couldn't tell me too much about it, but it was going to be a major band, a Canadian band, and it would be live in front of a 50,000-person audience. "So obviously, I was very eager to get involved with it. Jules from Jules Casting and Dale, the director, liked my audition tape enough to put me in there, which I'm so grateful for, and that was kind of how it went about." And when he met the band? "I had to lean on the wall," David laughs, "so I didn't fall over when I shook Alex's hand." ...

You can check out the entire interview online at this location, and if you want to meet David, Kate and Taylor, they were recently announced as new special guests for RushCon, which is returning for 2026 after a decade-long hiatus. RushCon 2026 will take place in its traditional home of Toronto later this summer over the weekend of August 7-9, coinciding with the band's hometown tour stops. The festivities will begin Friday evening with a welcome party and pre-show hangout at The Loose Moose. The main event will take place on Saturday at The El Mocambo with games, contests, guest speakers, and more, along with a Sunset Boat Cruise in the Toronto Harbor in the evening. Sunday will include a closing party and pre-show hangout at Henderson Brewing. You can get all the details and purchase tickets at RushCon.org. This won't be the only RushCon event on the tour however; they'll also be hosting a Madison Square Garden pre-show party on Saturday August 1st - the day of the 3rd of 4 MSG shows - with tickets available here. The event will take place at The Rutherford with exact timing TBD.

With every new Rush tour comes a new visual experience for fans. For tours past, Rush was usually touring in support of a new album, and the visuals from that album would then generally drive the visuals for the tour as well. Rush's Fifty Something tour is unique in that the band is not touring to promote a new album; this tour is a celebration of Rush and Neil Peart's 50-plus year legacy. So Rush album artist Hugh Syme had to take a different approach for this tour when tasked to come up with some visual symbology to feature in the band's backdrop videos and merch. Hugh recently spoke with Ultimate Classic Rock for an interview to explain his process for the Fifty Something tour, and how he came up with some of the new visuals - including the new Horns of Odin-inspired symbol, and the stoplight imagery:

... "I knew that we had to have some kind of image that spoke to, it's a go again. We're on again. Somebody gave it a green light, you know? I thought, 'green light, Oh,'" he shares. "So I very literally put a stop light together with the green light shining brighter than the other two."

"It was quite evident that meant that it's a go. The sparrows were an afterthought," he reveals. "I'd already used that motif on some artwork that I did in one of the box sets of Tom Sawyer walking on a fence and sitting on the fence are two sparrows, but flying slightly away from the fence is one sparrow, obviously an allusion to Neil having taken flight." ...

As many are aware, a pair of devastating earthquakes hit Venezuela last week, killing hundreds and inflicting untold damage to the country and its people. FANTOONS creator David Calcano is from Venezuela, and - with the full cooperation of Rush - has created a new limited-edition Rush t-shirt in order to support the Venezuela earthquake relief fund via the Hogar Bambi Foundation. From the announcement:

In June 2026, the ground broke open beneath Venezuela. Two earthquakes, one after the other, took thousands of lives and left countless families with nothing but the dust of where their homes once stood. David Calcano - a Venezuelan director whose studio, Fantoons, has worked with Rush for more than ten years - reached out to the band in the rawest hour, asking for help. The band answered the way they always have: without hesitation, with open hands and open hearts, collaborating on this one-of-a-kind shirt that will change lives. All profits go directly to Hogar Bambi, which since 1996 has sheltered Venezuela's orphaned and abandoned children - and is now racing to care for the youngest victims of this disaster, turning every dollar into food, medicine, and shelter. ...

The t-shirts cost $40 and can be purchased online at this location, or you can donate to the Hogar Bambi Foundation directly.

Rush's canceled shows prompted Guitar Player magazine to look back at another tour where Rush had to cancel multiple shows - the 1979 Hemispheres tour:

... Rush have never taken canceling shows lightly. But there was one other memorable occasion when injury forced the band off the road. In 1979, while touring Hemispheres, Lifeson broke the ring finger on his fretting hand, leading to three canceled European dates just before one of the biggest festival appearances of the band's career.

The opening Paris show was canceled after the venue caught fire shortly before the concert, forcing the band to reroute through Belgium. Worse was still to come.

Lifeson brushed off both the injury and its cause, saying simply, "I was foolish, and I hit it," as seen in the footage below. But the band's press manager offered a far more colorful explanation, claiming the guitarist trapped his finger between the bed and the mattress while spending time alone with his wife - a story that has raised eyebrows ever since.

Whatever actually happened, the cancellations gave Lifeson the best chance of recovering in time for Pinkpop, where Rush shared the bill with The Police, Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, Peter Tosh and the Average White Band before a crowd of roughly 50,000. ...

Loudwire posted an article on The Best Prog Rock Album of Each Year of the 1970s this past week, and Rush's Hemispheres was chosen for 1978:

Did you think we'd totally cast Rush by the wayside? To be clear, their stretch from at least 2112 to at least 1981's Moving Pictures - the best prog rock record of the 1980s - is exceptional, yet the works preceding Hemispheres were obviously overtaken (if only by a hair). On the contrary, there was no chance of another option surpassing the threesome's sixth studio outing (which was also their final one in the 1970s and the direct precursor to their foray into new wave). The concluding part of the "Cygnus X-1" epic (which began on A Farewell to Kings) upholds the thrillingly erratic yet absorbing quality and mythical/philosophical/sci-fi direction of its first half. Combining excellent musical heft with involving production and sound effects, it's easily one of the best examples of Rush's knack for world-building. The similarly multifaceted and adventurous "La Villa Strangiato" is an outstanding introduction to the trio's purely instrumental side, and middle entries "Circumstances" and "The Trees" showcase their mastery of penning concise compositions. Some people contend that Hemispheres is the definitive Rush experience and it's easy to see why.

Here's Alex Lifeson's video message to fans that he posted to Instagram regarding the rescheduled shows:

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9 years ago today, on July 3, 2017, Oregon State Representative Mark Meek sang Rush's The Trees on the floor of the Oregon House in acknowledgement of the tension surrounding the passing of the state's budget prior to the July 4th holiday:

That's all for this week. Happy Independence Day to all of those in the US, and a belated Happy Canada Day to everyone in the Great White North.